Sardaar Gabbarsingh

Fan page of Pawankalyan's upcoming movie Sardaar Gabbarsingh.

Description

Development

In October 2012, Pawan Kalyan agreed to act in a film produced by his friend Sharrath Marar, the former CEO of MAA TV, after completing work on Trivikram Srinivas' Attarintiki Daredi (2013).[1] Before the theatrical release of Dabangg 2 (2012), producer Bandla Ganesh registered the title Gabbar Singh in Hyderabad at the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber which fuelled speculations that this would be the remake of Dabangg 2 and the sequel of Gabbar Singh (2012). It is the official Telugu remake of Abhinav Kashyap‍‍ '‍s Dabangg (2010), featuring Kalyan, Shruti Haasan and Abhimanyu Singh reprising the respective roles played by Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha and Sonu Sood in the original. Devi Sri Prasad and Jayanan Vincent were retained as the film's music director and cinematographer from the prequel's technical crew. Sampath Nandi was chosen to direct the film and Marar was announced to execute the film's production. At the same time, the film was reported to have a fresh storyline.

Besides producing the film, Kalyan himself wrote the story and made it clear to his team that Gabbar Singh‍‍ '‍s sequel would be based on an original script and would not be a remake of Dabangg 2. Considering the response generated by Attarintiki Daredi and the subsequent change in his on-screen image, Kalyan put the pre-production activities on hold and made changes to the script. Some elements of family drama were added and the aggression and expressions of the lead character were toned down. Kalyan also opted to complete his work on Kishore Kumar Pardasany's Gopala Gopala (2015) first and Nandi meanwhile planned to produce the film Galipatam (2014) on a low budget

The film's official launch ceremony took place on 21 February 2014 at Hyderabad and was tentatively titled Gabbar Singh 2. L. Satyanand supervised the film's script and was assisted by Sridhar Seepana and Kishore Gopu. Harish Pai was chosen as the film's creative head and Gautham Raju was signed to edit the film. Due to delay in finalising the female lead, Kalyan was reportedly upset and joined the sets of Gopala Gopala and start works related to his political outfit Jana Sena Party. The crew of the film were instructed to regroup when Kalyan summons them. Nandi walked out of the film in November 2014 and refused to reveal the reasons, saying that he is not authorised to speak about the same. Vincent suggested K. S. Ravindra to Kalyan who was impressed with his narrative skills and finalised him as the new director. Sai Madhav Burra was chosen to write the film's dialogues.

The film was renamed to Sardaar in late July 2015 in order to avoid paying royalty to the title Gabbar Singh to a Mumbai-based studio that held the rights of the title. Kalyan chose this title since the character of Gabbar Singh played by Amjad Khan was referred to by his henchmen as Sardaar in Sholay (1975). Eros International announced on 15 August 2015 to IANS that it would co-produce the film in association with Pawan Kalyan Creative Works and Northstar Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and the film's title was renamed to Sardaar Gabbar Singh.

Casting

Kalyan sported a long hair and thick beard for a few important sequences in the film and a clean shaven look for the rest of the film. The makers considered to sign a new actress after considering Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Pranitha Subhash and Anushka Sharma for the same. Shruti Haasan and Asin were approached to play the female lead in the film. Navneet Kaur Dhillon was reported to be signed as the female lead in late May 2014. Akshara Haasan was approached for the same later who declined the offer gently saying that it would raise expectations on her next films and so responsibilities. Deepika Padukone, Sonakshi Sinha, Parineeti Chopra and Katrina Kaif were approached for the female lead role who turned down the offer citing unavailability of bulk dates. Anisha Ambrose, who made a cameo appearance in Gopala Gopala, was chosen by Kalyan as the female lead.

Ambrose was trained in the nuances of acting, perfecting dancing and several other aspects in the workshop sessions conducted by Ravindra in April 2015 before joining the film's sets. She was dropped after two days and both Rakul Preet Singh and Rashi Khanna refused to replace her due to their existing commitments. During the shoot of the first schedule, the makers saw Sharad Kelkar‍‍ '‍s performance in a soap opera and approached him to play the antagonist. Kelkar's inclusion in the cast was confirmed in June 2015. Kajal Aggarwal, who initially declined to be a part of the film two years ago due to scheduling conflicts, was approached again in August 2015 for the female lead role. She met the film's unit and gave her consent, marking her first collaboration with Kalyan.

During the scripting stage, there was a shorter role for a second, parallel female lead which was developed by the creative team on par with the first female lead after the shooting began. A source from the film's unit called it a "very energetic and active character". Trisha Krishnan was approached for the same in mid April 2015.
Filming

Anand Sai and Rajesh were signed as the film's art director and costume designer respectively. Bhaskar Raju was signed as the film's production controller. The film's shoot began on 29 May 2015 at Malshej Ghat in Maharashtra. Some important sequences of the first schedule were shot in a special village set and Kalyan was expected to join the sets from the first week of June. The film's unit took a break after completing the first schedule since Kalyan was busy with his political activities. A fight sequence featuring Kalyan and others were shot at the Aluminium factory located in Gachibowli in late July 2015. The second schedule was wrapped up in 5 August 2015, and filming continued at Ameerpet in mid August 2015.
Marketing

The first look still was released on 31 July 2015 to a viral response and was shared on social networking sites upon its release. The first look poster featuring Kalyan dressed as a police officer and holding two guns was released on 15 August 2015.