Turning 50: Salman Khan relives all the tales of his life that makes him the biggest star today

When you see Salman Khan, clad in a simple, pink Being Human T-shirt, sitting on a tent chair, he looks nothing like the larger-than-life on-screen hero from the movies. The superstar, who will be turning 50 this year, has seen a career dotted with plenty of ups and downs. But make a mention of that and he interrupts with raised eyebrows. “Ups and downs in my career? Where yaar? There have been only ups in my career, no down phases. I mean down is…” he trails off in deep thought and suddenly spots a delivery boy coming his way. “You know what dude, we will do this in a while,” he announces, as soon as he realises that his cheese pizza from his favourite eatery has arrived. He then calls his team members to join him for a bite.

SALMAN WHO?
The name “Salman Khan” creates a showreel in our minds, of the man we see on screen and read about off screen. His innocent face that made him an instant heartthrob, the signature dance moves, romancing heroines and the flying bad guys. He has been the face of commercial Hindi cinema and has managed to stay on top his game for decades. The month of December will see him celebrate his 50th birthday, but in his head he is only 27, as he awaits the release of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. “It’s a story that had to be told. It’s an eye-opener,” he says. But today, we try and understand his story, a man who has never failed to entertain, whose fan following remains unparalleled despite all the controversies he has been embroiled in time and again, a man who was destined to be larger-than-life both on screen and off screen.

BEING HAPPY
His pizza done, Salman resumes the chat. “Dad married twice, very happy. Brothers are married, very happy, they have kids, again very happy. Arpita just got married, Ayush is a good boy and once again I am very happy. What more do I need? Now, when it comes to work, I try not to embarrass myself, my fans. You don’t embarrass your country. The things you do on screen, you are doing them off-screen now, the good deeds,” he says, referring to his charitable endeavours. “You fight the bad guys onscreen. You do the same off-screen. Not fight per se, but fighting a battle that people don’t usually win, fighting against the wrong.”
The hero is no alien to tags like the “sexiest man” or the “most handsome” and so on. We remind him of his own dialogue from Patthar Ke Phool, where he said, “Yeh face ka hi toh value hai”. Must be tough to maintain it? “Yes, the industry is filled with stress, we attend parties, we have late-night shoots. But I feel if you are clean from the inside, if you don’t stress about the little things, if you have goodness in you, it shows on your face.”

DISASTER DEBUT
Salman made his entry into the Hindi film industry with a blink-and-you-miss role in J.K. Bihari’s Biwi Ho To Aisi in 1988. The film had Farooq Shaikh and Rekha in lead roles. It was not the kind of “launch” Salim Khan’s son had in mind. “I misunderstood that film. I thought there would be a separate track around me. When I shot the film it was different,” Salman reveals.

JOBLESS AFTER BLOCKBUSTER
Salman wiped off the memories of a dud debut with his second film Maine Pyar Kiya that went on to break all records. “At that time, none of the heroes who had worked with Rajshri Productions (Sooraj Barjatya’s production house) had managed to make an impact. They used to say, Rajshri ka koi hero chalta nahi hai. If there was any truth to that, then I guess I have been very lucky.” Salman has had a solid association with Sooraj Barjatya ever since. Even his next film Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is under the same banner. He shares an anecdote. “I recently went to their office and saw my screen test of Maine Pyar Kiya. At that time Farah (Khan) was called to make me dance to Oh Hansini during the auditions. She left me and ran away as I could not do it. She told Sooraj, if you take him tu mar jayega,” Salman says with a laugh.

The blockbuster was followed by nine jobless months. Then one day, a film was announced in a trade magazine that changed the tides again for Salman. “My father made the announcement, according to which the film would be produced by G.P. Sippy. When Ramesh Taurani saw that, he gave a signing amount of '5 lakh for the music of the film. Because of that money, Patthar Ke Phool could be made.”

THE FLOP SHOW RESUMES
There were disasters one after the other though — Suryavanshi, Chandramukhi, Chand Ka Tukda. Remembering that phase, Salman says, “At that point in time, I needed money to buy a house. So I told myself that three films offered to me were actually good and another six were duds. And the ones that would follow them would bring me back. I knew after these films I had Karan Arjun, Hum Aapke Hai Kaun and Suryavanshi — that film I really liked but somewhere during the making, it lost track of the plot.” Then there was a film with Mukul Anand that had to be shelved because of his untimely demise. He says, “Yes, that was Dus, a big film. I was really sad about that.”

A LARGER THAN LIFE RESURRECTION
A slew of superhits then followed that made his lean phase a distant, near forgotten memory. Here was a man who made it seem he could do no wrong. Hum Aapke Hai Kaun, Karan Arjun, Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya — these films of the ’90s made him a prototype of sons and lovers. He says, “When you do a film, the intention is to make people want to have a son or a brother or a boyfriend like the hero they just saw on screen. Prem had those qualities. Then there are both the Sameers from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Mujhse Shadi Karoge, Chulbul Pandey, Radhe from Tere Naam and Devil from Kick.” Salman’s dance moves form a major chunk of his entertainment quotient. This is a man who made props out of belts and towels. How does he come up with such things? “I watch people and try to take in that style. I see somebody dancing, having fun; so we take that in, modify it slightly and put it in the film.”
And who are his favourite heroines, we ask. “I shared a really great bonding with Lolo (Karishma Kapoor, who has done nine films with Salman). I also enjoyed working with Rani Mukerji (6 films) and Preity Zinta (7 films).”

THE DARK PHASE
It’s not just his films that got the attention. The goings on in his personal life made as many headlines if not more. There was a time when there was only ‘negative news’ about the actor, stories about his break-ups, alleged unprofessional behaviour, his wild parties and so on. The Dabangg actor doesn’t even try to evade this topic as it comes up in our conversation. “At that point, what you read and heard about me was too over the top. I can’t take credit for even 10 per cent of that. You heard some stories about me from sources, about alcohol or about my parties. You’ve seen me in films. If there was any truth to what was being said about my drinking, I would not have been able to do that much work on screen then. I could not have kept so fit. You count the calories — one drink is what, 700 calories? You run on the treadmill for an hour, you burn 350-400 calories. Such stories were over-exaggerated.”

It was said that during that low phase, Reshma Shetty (his manager) stepped in and gave his star status a new spin. We ask him if that’s true and he just starts laughing. “No one can shape anything. She came in when I wanted someone to handle my endorsements and stuff like that. You could have the best team, best advisors, but it is only you who is going to do it all,” he adds.

The negative vibes around him however, seemed to have had little or no impact on his fans.
“When people follow me, they should follow my image on screen. And that is a positive image right? About the negative image, then they should follow the person off-screen, not what they read. Most of what’s written about me, is exaggerated.”

Big life, small home
This superstar’s humble 1BHK flat in Galaxy Apartments, Bandra is one of Mumbai’s most famous landmarks. He had once expressed his desire to move out because now the house has become too small to accommodate his things. But he may not move out after all. One of the key reasons is obviously his father who lives on the floor right above him. The other reason, Salman explains, “Every time I think of it, I am not able to do it. All my life, I have taken the same left and the same right turn. I am sure once I move out I will adjust, because human beings do adjust. I have a few properties; I will do them up first and see if it’s viable. I am just trying to shift my gym from the house, so that I can get some more space. Everyone comes home, they are used to it. Adjusting to new neighbours is a problem. My neighbours here have been seeing me without a shirt since I was 9. For them, me without a shirt in the building is no big deal.”

Salman spoke to us for over an hour and during this time he signed contract papers, met senior actors including Mithun Chakraborty, waved out to a few fans, got a low-down on the rest of day’s activities and made time for dessert after his pizza. Just another day in the life of Salman Khan. And we leave the venue knowing the man little better than we did an hour ago.