Before they get together for the third Dabangg film, the duo shot for a song that features in the actress’s upcoming comedy
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 12, 2018)

While her upcoming comedy-drama, Welcome To New York, features several cameos, including filmmaker Karan Johar in a double role as Karan and Arjun, Riteish Deshmukh, Boman Irani, Rana Daggubati, Sushant Singh Rajput and Lara Dutta, Sonakshi Sinha admits that she had the most fun when she re-united with her Dabangg co-star, Salman Khan, in the Big Apple.

Last year, the two stars who have shared a great camaraderie since the actress’s 2010 debut with him, had performed together in Hong Kong and Delhi as part of the musical Da-Bangg tour. Now, Mirror has learnt that they will be seen in a song in Welcome To New York.

“Nain Phisal Gaye” has been composed by Sajid-Wajid with lyrics by Kaunsar Munir. “It was really exciting to be re-uniting with Salman for our third film together after Dabangg and Dabangg 2. We shot the song entirely in New York. It was nostalgic in many ways, the romantic, melodious song has been filmed beautifully,” Sonakshi gushed.

She was quick to point out that Dabangg 3 rolls in a short while and she’s already looking forward to shooting her fourth film with the 52-year-old actor. “I’m definitely a part of the next film in the Dabangg franchise. We start shooting this summer and our recent song together only makes me more excited about Dabangg 3,” Sonakshi exulted.

Meanwhile, Welcome to New York director Chakri Toleti was quick to add that the Salman and Sonakshi number is the perfect mood-setter for Valentine’s Day. “The film is about two youngsters who land up in New York for an awards ceremony and the roller-coaster ride that follows is all about love and laughter, songs and masti,” he informed, pointing out that when the producers approached Salman he immediately agreed to do the song. “Shooting was a delight because Salman and Sonakshi have such great on-screen chemistry. We were done in a matter of hours.”

Sonakshi points out that while filming for the song with Salman was a smooth ride, since it was an indoor sequence, another song, “Pant Mein Gun” shot during a live award show was complete chaos. “No one knew what we were doing and even the fans on the red carpet were thoroughly confused. First, Diljit (Dosanjh, co-star) and I came out in our costumes for the shot and spotting us, the fans started calling out to us. We had to stop and announce that we were shooting a film and requested them to let us continue filming. However, they failed to understand and continued screaming for us. Later, I changed and went back on the red carpet in a different outfit and that flummoxed them even further,” Sonakshi giggles as she recalls the incident.

She adds that she was just as surprised when she heard the film’s narration. “My initial response was that we would be introducing a genre called ‘stage-reality’ with this film and it struck me as a super-cool concept. I was really excited about shooting it live during a gala in New York. It’s been an all-out laugh riot.”

The 30-year-old actress adds that the script, written by Dheeraj Rattan, allowed scope for a lot of impromptu banter between her and Diljit’s character of a farmer’s son who refuses to follow the family profession as he wants to become an actor and travel the world. “He’s a really talented actor and his comic timing is impeccable. He had so much to bring to the table and it was such a wonderful experience filming with him. We were constantly feeding off each other’s energies,” Sonakshi signs off.