New Delhi, January 23: THERE are few who can flaunt the stature of Salman Khan. And fewer still who can rest only on the laurels of a handful super- successful films, a really TV bad show and a reputation that precedes him — that too in an unforgiving industry that spares none.
Yet, there’s an untameable quality about Salman Khan that makes women go weak in the knees and has men mesmerised.
Khan has promoted a film very publicly for the first time; otherwise he maintains his reserve after completing a project. “ I have been hearing that for the last four years,” he says. Does he think promotion actually helps a film? Yes, he says. “ But the first couple of interviews are good. By the time you reach your fifth or sixth, you get bored and feel like a parrot,” he declares.
What made him turn into a writer for Veer ? “ It’s in my genes,” he says, pointing at his father, scriptwriter Salim Khan, who along with Javed Akhtar gave us some of the biggest hits of Bollywood.
Surely, he has high hopes from his newly launched parallel
career. “ My job got over on January 22 ( when the film released).
I have said as much as I wanted to. If it doesn’t do well, I claim responsibility for it,” he says.
But he insists he is not a history teacher. “ We have just made a patriotic film — a film about father- son relationship, about romance.” In a departure from the show format, Koel gets people from the street to ask Salman questions.
A young boy asks him whether he has to work out a lot to be on top of the industry. “ I would love to answer that. It is important to keep working out so that the muscles in your body don’t turn into fat,” he says.
Khan has changed in more ways than one, and that includes sitting on the edit tables himself. “ It is very satisfying.
I love the tension,” he says.
Another aspect of his new working style is his willingness to be part of a film that also stars Shah Rukh Khan. When a fan asks him as much, he says, “ If it is a film on the level of Karan Arjun , why not?” Another fan asks him why he works only with heroines who look similar to his lady loves.
“ With Sneha ( Ullal), there was a resemblance ( with Aishwarya Rai). But with Zarine ( Khan), I see no resemblance ( with Katrina Kaif). Give God some credit; he has made a different face for everyone,” Salman says.
When asked why he has done low- grade films in the past, Salman admits candidly, “ I have done tacky films because I have had tacky producers for friends.” But the actor is kind enough not to make them cringe, even though he says he won’t do such films again.
How can a show about Salman
be without references to Aishwarya? When a fan asks him when he could expect another film pairing the two, he answers flatly with a “ never”. Whom does he prefer, Katrina or Ash? “ Katrina. Aishwarya is happily married to Abhishek.” Which of the Khans is the greatest in the industry? “ Yusuf Khan ( Dilip Kumar). If there is anyone comparable in our time, it is Govinda,” he says with his trademark nonchalance.
Salman obviously knows what to do to keep his popularity meter up!”
–Agencies