Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 20, 2018)

Sonu Sood will pay tribute to the action heroes of Bollywood at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) scheduled to open today in Goa. As part of the closing act of the opening ceremony, the actor will groove to chartbusters picturised on Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar among others, in films like Dabangg and Pratigya.

“I have always loved this genre and most of my movies have a lot of action. So, we thought why not pay a tribute to these heroes since I’ve worked with all of them, be it Mr Bachchan, Salman or Akshay. Besides the song-and-dance, I will also be performing some stunts and mouthing dialogue from iconic hits which should be interesting. It’s a well-crafted act, a great team effort. Every day we have been adding new elements to make it a larger-than-life performance,” the actor promises.

Speaking of the idols he admired before he had even entered the industry, Sonu admits the Big B tops his list and instantly rattles off his famous line from Kaalia, “Hum jahan khade hote hai, line wahin se shuru hoti hai.”

He goes on to add that since the Ranveer Singh cop caper Simmba, which has him as the antagonist is coming up, he wanted to use something from one of Rohit Shetty’s films. “We have incorporated a dialogue and the theme music from Singham. Rohit is an action director I’ve always admired,” asserts the 45-year-old actor, adding that he will be flaunting his body in leather, studded jackets.

During his performance at the fest, Sonu will hat-tip Dharamendra with the hook step of his hit yesteryear song, “Yamla Pagla Deewana,” which also featured his Pratigya leading lady and wife, Hema Malini. Way to go, Bhaiyyaji!