Interview: Salman Khan

Salman Khan. Shirtless, yet cloaked in mystery. Bad boy, yet a box-office hero. A boy who refuses to grow up, yet a man who looks hopelessly in love. A troublemaker, yet a rockstar. The enfant terrible of Bollywood is both this and that. That’s why he remains such a big draw as Prem in Partner 17 years after he burst on to the scene as Prem in Maine Pyar Kiya.
Director Rajkumar Santoshi once said, “If Salman would have been serious about his career, he would have been the biggest star ever.”
But Salman had other ideas. He chose to live life on his own terms, which meant living on the edge. Constantly. From the jungles of Mawad in Rajasthan to the streets of Mumbai, he would keep doing things that are just not done. And yet, the paying public kept giving him some of the biggest openings in Bolly history.
Why? “The audience also loves bad boys and Salman is an unapologetic bad boy,” says trade analyst Indu Mirani. “His films are always entertaining and he is invariably good in them. Also, Salman chooses roles that take his bad boy image forward.” But always with a seeti-taali twist.
Often it doesn’t matter what role Salman is playing. We have seen girls cosying up to their boyfriends in the darkness of theatres but going “oooh” every time Salman goes topless and “aha re” every time Salman goes teary.
“He is a complete rockstar,” says Partner director David Dhawan, who has worked with Salman on many hits like Judwaa and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. “He is any director’s dream and he can give you whatever you want. Also no one can improvise as much as him.”
There is another Salman, swear his close friends. The one the outer world will never get to see, they add. The one Govinda had appealed to when the out-of-work minister was desperately seeking a role. He was promptly given Salaam-e-Ishq and Partner. And let’s not forget how Salman Khan was the one who recommended his friend for the role of Prem in Maine Pyar Kiya when he was being offered a career by Sooraj Barjatya.
He is the one so many Bollywood stars turn to in a crisis. “He behaves like a don but is really a darling,” says a leading lady.
With two Salman Khan releases — one with good ol’ David Dhawan and the other his first English movie — within a month, Pratim D. Gupta chats up the man...

A Salman Khan release this Friday after so long… How were your Partner(s) in crime?
Very good… (Brother) Sohail (Khan) as producer, David (Dhawan) as director and my brother Govinda as Partner. It’s the best place to be in — it’s like the extension of my home.

Govinda says his family will always be grateful to you because you gave him work…
Don’t believe him. He had spaced out his film work because he wanted to work on his constitution. When we read the script of Partner, we knew it had to be Govinda. So it’s not like I gave him a new lease of life or anything.

What was it like being in the same frame as Govinda?
Scary… (pause). He is too good. No one will look at me (smiles)… No, we aren’t competing with each other. We are partners… Govinda is just mad. He would not eat anything the whole day and then hog at night. He has the most unhealthy diet in the world.

Why did you sign an English film like Marigold?
Only because of Willard (Carroll)... He is the most genuine and straightforward guy I have met. He wanted to meet me for 15 minutes and he ended up in my house for the next four days. Also, Marigold is a simple love story and I really liked the narration. I play the Prem of Maine Pyar Kiya, 17 years later. If I did it in Hindi, people would have found it unbelievable. So Marigold is the first English film that I have done.

But you, of all the stars around, have never aimed to conquer the west or anything…
(Pause) I still don’t belong to that world… I feel I still have a lot to do in our Hindi film industry. So this is not an act of crossing over at all. Even if the film does very well or becomes a blockbuster I would continue to work here… I have approached the film the way I do my films here. It’s a love story and that too a musical one. It reminds me of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam…

Would you have done the film if it was shot outside India without any Indian connection?
I would do it. But only if it was Willard Carroll… otherwise I am not very sure… Willard wrote the dialogues just like the way I speak in real life. He would even sit with my father (Salim Khan) for suggestions. My dad, you know, is the best scriptwriter ever. So it was like a family thing.

Is there a difference in the working methods of the Hollywood crew as opposed to what you are used to in Bollywood?
Well, they are more organised in their work. They go about film-making as a process. Here the movie is sold even before it is made. So that is the difference. The work gets easier and simpler for them because they go step by step. Otherwise we are all people, human. They speak in English and we speak in English (smiles).

What do you have to say about your first phirang heroine Ali Larter?
When she first came to Mumbai, she hated me. We met at this restaurant called Olive and she hated the way I was being treated as a star. I would enter the place and 10 people would come across and greet me. She sat there and sulked. I told Willard, what perfect casting! Because in the film too her character is arrogant and hates all things Indian initially. But then the ice broke. We got along very well.

You play a choreographer in Marigold. How would you rate yourself as a dancer?
I dance a little better than Ajay Devgan and a little worse than Hrithik Roshan (laughs). But they always create steps for me which are easy enough. If they are complicated my fans can’t copy them, you see. But in Marigold, since I was the dance director, I had to work really hard to know all the steps.

Will you do more Western productions or maybe crossover films like Marigold?
No chance at all. Hindi films rock! First let me capture here, then I will think about Hollywood (smiles).

It’s said that very few people understand Salman Khan. Do you agree?
(Long pause) Whatever the press writes about me is just fine. They can write as many lies as they want. (At the) End of the day they feed their children, take care of their families, educate their children… from the salary they draw. If they are okay about that I am okay with that too. It’s fine. It’s like social work for me. If you are writing shit about me and you are writing something which is not true about me and supporting your families with it, I am fine with that kind of shit written about me. And if they want to do it at my cost, they are more than welcome. (Silence).

Finally, everyone’s talking about you getting married soon. What is the official news?
You tell me, dude! You have got me married so many times. I have no problem, just that my fans get worried every time (smiles).