Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan is popular as Bhaijaan of the entertainment industry, barring a few exceptions, has been ruling the Indian Film Industry popularly referred to as Bollywood. #SalmanKhan, even after 34 years, is still one of the most sought after actors and at an advanced age of 58 years, he is one of the fittest actors of the industry. But he modestly denies this and mentions that actors like #SunnyDeol, #AnilKapoor, #AkshayKumar, #SanjayDutt are fitter actors among others. Salman Khan started out playing a supporting role in ‘Biwi Ho To Aisi’ but landed a lead role in the #SoorajBarjatya directorial ‘#MainePyarKiya’ and the rest is history. Sooraj and Salman once again came together in ‘#HumAapkeHainKaun’ and ‘#HumSaathSaathHain’ and both the films were super hits. He has a special place in his heart for Sooraj Barjatya because he likes his family entertainers and Salman personally prefers films which could be watched together with an entire family.
Salman Khan has seen ups and downs in his career. Salman Khan was part of films like ‘#KaranArjun’ for which he won Filmfare’s Best Actor Award. ‘#Judwaa’, ‘#PyarKiyaToDarnaKya’, ‘#HumDilDeChukeSanam’, ‘#ChoriChoriChupkeChupke’, ‘#TereNaam’, ‘#MujhseShadiKarogi’, ‘#NoEntry’ are few of his films. After a lull in a career he got a new lease of life with ‘#Wanted’, directed by #Prabhudeva. Salman also starred in ‘#Ready’, #Dabangg’s three instalments, ‘#Tubelight’, ‘#Radhe’, ‘#Antim’, ‘#BajrangiBhaijaan’, ‘#PremRatanDhanPayo’ etc. Salman’s Tiger franchise is one of the most successful franchises and so far it consists of ‘#EkThaTiger’, ‘#TigerZindaHai’ and ‘#Tiger3’. ‘Tiger 3’ was released this Diwali and has become the biggest grosser of Diwali. Our Sr Editor Keerti Kadam met Salman Khan during the success meet and greet of ‘Tiger 3’.
You have tasted success and failures too but have remained grounded throughout. How do you deal with success or failure?
I don’t deal with it. After a film is complete, my job gets over. Then it’s the viewers job to watch the film and decide whether to make it a hit or a flop. If the movie runs successfully, it feels good and it definitely hurts if it doesn’t do well at the box office. But a flop doesn’t crack me. I don’t think much about it because it’s a part of the game. I’ll say that everyone should taste failure so that they can enjoy the taste of success. But if the film doesn’t do well I take the entire responsibility. If a film is a hit then the credit should go to the entire team.
There is a lot of hard work that goes into making a film. Everybody toils to make a good product. Sometimes it may fail. I, as a star, can bring the audiences to the theatre on the first Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But if the movie holds it’s grounds on Monday then the credit goes to others including the director, script writer, cinematographer etc. But I take flops seriously, in the sense that it teaches me to work doubly hard for the next project. Of course success and failure, both come with a responsibility. In both the cases you need to work harder next time so as not to disappoint your fans and the viewers. Indeed, no one can guarantee success but putting in hard work is in your hands. Retrospection is necessary. When your heart is not in the script or a film then you should not do the film, whatever the reason.
Success should not go to your head. For that matter nothing should go to your head. Everything has it’s expiry date. Even success and failure have it. Hard work is the solution. If your film is successful then you should work hard to offer another good product. If your film flops then, you must put in extra efforts to bounce back. Fans want to enjoy your hard work put in a film.
Some say some of my films were flops. But in actuality, some of my films did not give the expected result. For my fans, I have reduced the ticket prices, i.e. Popular prices and thus the collection numbers were not high. Had I continued with the multiplex’s rates i.e. Blockbuster prices, then there could have been higher numbers. But many are not appreciative enough and want to declare those films as flops. But all my films are at break even points. There are no losses to the producers. If you want I can go only for Blockbuster prices, then you’ll see the blockbuster numbers.
Now, talking of the Tiger franchise’s success, it lies in the vision of the director. ‘Tiger 3’ is written and presented well and it has translated into a good product. ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ was conceptualised and directed by Kabir Khan and it was a huge success. In the second part ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’, Ali Abbas Zafar took it to a higher level. Kabir Khan paved the way for the sequel and TZH’s success culminated in ‘Tiger 3’ which is directed by Maneesh Sharma. There could be Tiger’s fourth instalment but nothing is in the pipeline at present. Also there should be a good gap between the two franchise films. ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ was released in 2012 and after 5 years came ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’. ‘Tiger 3’ has recently been released, so it’s 4th part should not be made immediately. Of course, good script is the prime prerequisite. While making ‘Ek Tha Tiger’, we knew that it had the potential to become a successful film. But when it was a super hit then the thought of a sequel popped up.
I am more than happy that ‘Farrey’ which is produced by Salman Khan Films and my niece Alizeh is debuting with it has received good response from the viewers and the critics too. There was or is a perception that only action films are doing well in theatres. But that is not true. Good films are being appreciated by the viewers and I am happy that we produced ‘Farrey’. This film talks about today’s youth’s present rather than their past and future. The problems they are facing while growing up are supposed to be addressed and Farrey does exactly that which is why the youth will relate to this film. It’s a clean film without any action or romance but still it’s a well made film. All the four new actors, including Alizeh, have given super fine performances. More than Tiger’s success I am happy for Alizeh’s film getting good response. I am happy for Alizeh’s parents, my sister Alvira (Khan Agnihotri) and her husband Atul (Agnihotri) too.
I personally like to watch family films. I am fond of Sooraj Barjatya’s films which could be watched with the entire family sitting together. My family is big, around 60-70 people in it. And most of us watch films together. I may have done action, romance on screen but I prefer watching the genre which makes no one cringe while watching it with family.
Shah Rukh Khan and you have been featuring in each other’s films and it’s been the high point of the respective films too.
Frankly Shah Rukh and I are great friends. Our bonding and chemistry off screen is tremendous and that translates on screen too. That’s the reason people say that we have a great chemistry on screen. A lot of people have communicated that our eyes talk while performing on screen. That’s true in the sense that we know each other so well that we do not need words to express ourselves. ‘Isharo Isahron me kaam ho jata hai’. I have a similar connect with Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) too. Even if we are at the far end of a room, the eye contact conveys a lot more to each one of us. And when you have a great bonding with someone, it is bound to be noticed on screen too.
A lot of people ask me about the interactions we do on screen, especially in ‘Pathaan’. Of course the dialogues are written in advance and we do a little bit of improvisation. There were reports that Karan Arjun are back. Of course they are back, with a bang. I have been doing two hero, three hero films throughout my career. I think my generation of actors are secure enough to do multi starrer. But the same can not be said about today’s actors. They seem to be averse to doing two hero films. If there is a two hero film, then the fans watching the movie doubles which benefits the movie’s collections. If the younger lot doesn’t understand this, let us do the multi-starrers.
You have played Prem, Chulbul Pandey, Tiger etc in your films multiple times. Which character is your own favourite?
Prem. Mainly because with Prem my career commenced and it was well appreciated by people. I have successfully portrayed different people in other franchise films. Chulbul Pandey and Tiger are my favourites too. Each character has it’s special qualities and I have enjoyed playing all of them. Tiger series is YRF’s spy universe. It all started with ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ and am happy that I am kind of a pioneer of this spy universe. Given a choice, I’ll like to start my own universe. I would like to take my other characters from other films further, viz. Devil from Kick, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Sultan, Radhe and of course Chulbul Pandey and Prem. I am fortunate to have played those characters. But ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ being my first film, Prem is closet to my heart. Your first film is always special. Your first role is very close to your heart.
You produced ‘Farrey’. Was it a launch pad for Alizeh?
No. Absolutely not. The script came to us first and after narration we decided to produce it. Then the process started to hunt four young actors. After a while we thought of casting Alizeh but she was reluctant as she wanted to debut with some other film. We somehow convinced her to do the role and that’s how she became a part of this movie. Alizeh is an extremely hard working kid and it shows on screen. She is a team player and has a special quality of taking everybody along.
We had planned a photo shoot for Alizeh, but she insisted that the other three lead actors from the film, Prasanna Bisht, Sahil Mehta and Zeyn Shaw, should also be there. In poster too, she wanted all four actors to be in the forefront. She visited the Bigg Boss set along with the other three. On the India TV show too she tagged everyone along. So, she is a supremely secure actor and even I was not that secure during my first film (Laughs).
There was an incident of burning crackers inside the theatres during Tiger 3 show…
I am totally against it. I do not respect these kind of people. Even if it was Diwali time, bursting crackers inside theatres is a big No No. Viewers, fans should show some restraint. They should not go overboard and put people’s lives in danger. Bursting crackers can start a fire and it’ll jeopardise the property and harm human lives. It’s not cool. Moreover it scares the family crowd to enter theatres. Moreover, do not, I repeat, do not pour milk on my cutouts. It’s a wastage of money. Instead use that money to feed poor people. Their blessings will come in handy for the future.
Your walk has been liked by many. They say it’s a superstar’s walk…
I am not a superstar. The way I dress, the way I interact, I don’t think I am a superstar. Superstar is a person who thinks he is a superstar in his mind. But I don’t have that misconception. I am a normal, average Bandra Boy. I know only about this field and want to utilise that knowledge to make the product better. But I never become complacent and work twice harder always. Importantly I do not compete with others. I compete with myself.
Talking about the walk, I have the same walking style since childhood. I have been walking the same, only now, there is an addition of about 25-30 kilos of muscles on my body. I can’t help it as it’s my normal gait. Yes, some people think that this has developed after my films started doing Rs 400-500 Cr business. But that is not true. But the truth is that quite a few people think that there’s an arrogance in my walk. Again, it’s not true. I have always admired the walks of Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Shatrughan Sinha etc. And maybe my walk is collectively inspired from all these superstars.
In ‘Tiger 3’, Emraan Hashmi played the antagonist. How was it working with him?
I have always liked him, as an actor and as a person too. But I was happy that he did not get to kiss in this movie (Laughs). He was amazing in ‘Tiger 3’. It’s difficult to match up to Tiger, but Emraan was equally good. He has given his best. And the best part was we were not competing with but complimenting each other’s roles.
…And Katrina?
Katrina is one of the most hard working actors I have come across. From not knowing the Hindi language to now talking fluently in it, is an achievement. And it wouldn’t have happened if she had not put in hard work. She was not a great dancer. Again she worked so hard that now she is one of the finest dancers Bollywood has. In the Tiger franchise, what is more appreciated is the family life of Tiger and Zoya. Both are passionate about their jobs and still lead a peaceful and romantic married life. Viewers have loved the Tiger-Zoya chemistry. In fact the Tiger-Zoya jodi is an ideal couple for quite a few married couples.
