The incident that happened in Vishakhapatnam earlier this month has had a snowballing effect on the Telugu film industry.
Apparently, Salman took on the LA trainer for impromptu arm-wrestling in front of a number of prominent members of the Telugu film industry. This led to this pricey trainer being sent back to Los Angeles.
Sonu Sood, who was with Salman that evening, verifies the incident. "Yes, Salman challenged the guy who trains Telugu doyen Mahesh Babu's two sons Vishnu and Manoj and many other big actors from the Telugu industry. We were at a party in Vizag. It was on the Park hotel's premises. Both Salman and I were trying to have a good time.
"Many prominent stars from Telugu cinema were also present at the bash. Everyone was talking about this huge bulky 150 kg trainer from LA who was also there. They were all talking about how powerful and invincible he was, and how all the leading men from the Telugu film industry were queuing up to work-out with him."
That's when Salman decided to indulge in serious 'masti'.
Says Sonu Sood: "He announced that I'll be taking on the LA trainer for arm-wrestling. I was quite embarrassed. But by then Salman was in full form. He wouldn't take no for an answer.
And the bigwigs of the Telugu film industry were staring at us. There was no smooth surface to arm-wrestle. So I took on the trainer on a rough wall. Though at the end of it my elbows were badly bruised it was surprisingly easy to defeat him."
Encouraged by Sonu Sood's victory Salman then decided he too would arm-wrestle with the trainer.
That's when the big-name gathering from Telugu cinema that evening got keenly interested. They watched with avid interest as Salman arm-wrestled with their star-trainer from the US -- and defeated him.
For a good 20 minutes thereafter there was utter chaos with Salman and Sonu receiving congratulations from the entire congregation.
News spread in Hyderabad like wildfire the next morning that Telugu cinema's favourite trainer, imported all the way from LA, had been defeated by the "Dabangg" duo. And the trainer has now been packed off back to the US.
Chuckles Sonu: "I wouldn't like to comment on what happened to the trainer. But both Salman and I were surprised by how easy it was to defeat a man as heavy and physically-fit as this trainer. We couldn't stop laughing. We celebrated our victory till the morning."
