MUMBAI: For the first time, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan will kick off the promotional tour of an upcoming film down South, when he hits the road to publicise "Dabangg 3" in Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

The decision is obviously prompted by the fact that the film is scheduled to release in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages, besides the original Hindi version.

Co-stars Sonakshi Sinha and Saiee Manjrekar, and director Prabhudeva will accompany Salman during the promotions.

Directed by Prabhudeva and produced by Salma Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Nikhil Dwivedi under the banner of Salman Khan Films, the film is slated to open on December 20.

Salman took on his supercop avatar as Chulbul Pandey with "Dabangg" in 2010. The character has gone on to become a popular icon in contemporary Bollywood, with "Dabangg 2" in 2012 following up the blockbuster show of the first film.

The third part will revolve around the life of Chulbul Pandey before meeting Rajjo (Sonakshi) and before becoming a fearless cop.