'Dabangg' director Abhinav Kashyap tells Salman Khan to 'stop stealing other's work', claims he should have been paid Rs 200 crore

The war of words between Salman Khan and Abhinav Kashyap, director of his 2010 blockbuster ‘ Dabangg,’ continues. In the Bollywood Thikana podcast, Kashyap slammed Khan for “stealing other people’s work.” He also claimed that aside from helming the hit film, he was also one of the writers and should have been paid Rs 200 crore.

Abhinav’s Claim Over the Script and Creative Ownership

Kashyap asserted that Dabangg originated entirely from his script and creative vision, long before it became a Salman Khan production. He emphasized that the foundation of any film lies in its screenplay, and he considered himself the film’s true architect. Drawing attention to Salman Khan’s lineage, Kashyap remarked that no one understands the importance of writing better than the actor himself, given that his father, Salim Khan, is a legendary screenwriter.

Salim Khan, along with his writing partner Javed Akhtar, formed the iconic duo Salim–Javed, celebrated for crafting some of Hindi cinema’s greatest classics, such as Zanjeer (1973), Deewaar (1975), and Sholay (1975). Kashyap noted that during the 1970s, the duo’s scripts were so influential that they were often paid more than megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who headlined those very films.

Demand for Due Credit and Compensation

Kashyap reasoned that if Salman Khan reportedly earned around ₹150 crore from Dabangg, then the writer who created the story deserved at least ₹200 crore for conceptualizing and building the entire framework. He further revealed that Salman’s brother, Arbaaz Khan, had personally approached him with requests to let him produce the project.

In Kashyap’s view, Dabangg was always his creation from the ground up, and yet, the Khan family tried to take control of it. He likened this act to a “chain-snatching,” symbolizing how his intellectual property was taken from him without acknowledgment or fairness.

Kashyap also slammed Salman after the latter claimed on Bigg Boss that falling out with the Khan family had resulted in unemployment for him. “Why don’t you do some work first? Do a decent job, instead of only stealing other people’s work. Don’t give others gyaan (wisdom),” Abhinav said.

Despite the controversy surrounding its making, Dabangg remains one of the most successful films in Salman Khan’s career. Released in 2010, it introduced audiences to the unforgettable character of Chulbul Pandey and marked the acting debut of Sonakshi Sinha. The film went on to collect over ₹221 crore at the box office, setting new benchmarks for commercial cinema and spawning two sequels that further expanded the Dabangg franchise.