Abhinav gave me no reason for leaving Dabangg 2:Arbaaz

When asked what made the `Dabangg` director pull out of the project, Arbaaz said, "I don`t know what happened. I just received an sms from Abhinav saying that he was not interested in the project anymore."

"The decency and professionalism requires one to say such things face to face. He gave me no justifiable reason and walked out. I take it as an opportunity to fastrack my directing aspirations," Arbaaz told PTI here on the sidelines of the Indian Film Festival 2011.

He said the sequel for `Dabangg` was planned right after the film became a roaring success.

"We found that the dates for shooting with Salman Khan is early next year and then I contacted my director," Arbaaz said, adding that he wanted to keep the same team for the sequel as well.

And he did initially meet up with Abhinav, who made his directorial debut with the film, to discuss the next one.

"We exchanged some ideas, it was a good meeting... For some strange reason Abhinav sent me an sms after 15 days and refused to be a part of it. He said he was not interested in doing the film.

"I found that a little strange and to some extent it was upsetting as well. May be the sequel does not excite him anymore. I would have loved though if Abhinav had stayed on to be the director because no one wants to disturb the winning combination," he said.

Arbaaz, who had worked as an assistant director before venturing into acting and production, said his goal had always been to eventually become a director.

"I was assistant director with Mahesh Bhatt for almost three years. I had a silent ambition of becoming a director. I see this as an opportunity and will use it," he said.

Arbaaz said he had faith that a film like `Dabangg` would work and its success did not change his views on Bollywood cinema.

"That kind of film has an audience. You have to have certain amount of belief in the film and character and hope that it will work," he said.

He attributed the success of `Dabangg` to the breaking of the growing trend of films which only catered to NRIs.

"Dabangg was a typical Indian and rustic film. It was a great film with good music and character but not something that was to change Indian cinema."

Giving a huge chunk of credit to brother Salman for its success, Arbaaz said, "People wanted to see him. Salman came as an avatar for the movie."