Why should I remain a bachelor: Salman Khan

With Salman Khan, you never know what mood you’ll get. But on Sunday afternoon at Mehboob Studio, he’s jovial. His next film, Ek Tha Tiger, releasing on August 15, is already the subject of much speculation, with trade pundits wondering if it will create a Rs. 200 crore club. Whether it does or does not, his fans are eager to watch their superhero on the big screen again. Between shots of Dabangg 2, the star answers HT Cafe's questions.

Today, you’re more successful than ever. Are you working twice as hard, or has this happened by chance?
In the past, I had a knee-jerk approach to work and it showed on screen. I was doing movies for the wrong reasons — trying to juggle dates, do too many guest appearances, take up projects under pressure or for emotional reasons. But now there’s a method to my madness. I have heard people say, “Salman has changed, he’s lost it,” and stuff like that. But it doesn’t affect me. Today, I am doing movies only for my fans and I am enjoying every bit of it. They are happy and so am I.

Isn’t it showing on screen? There seems to be a Salman Khan mania in the country. Are you proud? 
It feels nice to be loved, but let me tell you there are 10 times more better looking, stylish and talented guys than me. So there’s no solid reason for me to be proud! I don’t think I have done anything extraordinary to change people’s lives. Yeh sab showbaazi hai aur isme credit lene ki baat kya hai? Mein chaand pe thodi pahunch gaya, ya koi cancer ka dawa invent kiya? (This is show business; there is nothing to take credit for. Have I gone to the moon or invented a cure for cancer?). Like most of you, I also have a job. If at all I am proud of anything, it’s my charitable trust, Being Human, which helps the needy. 

You are now the new tiger in Bollywood. Powerful, but also scary. 
Is the tiger aware of the traits you attribute to him? He is not, so it doesn’t matter to him, right? However, has fear ever discouraged people from hunting it down in the jungle, whipping it and taming it? Log toh tiger ko bhi circus mein nachate hai (people make tigers perform in the circus). But they are beautiful creatures. See how they cuddle up when you show them love. 

But people are scared of you, Salman. Why?
That’s just a myth. I think people just give me my space. In fact, those who are supposedly scared of me have taken the maximum liberties with me. Like the media, for instance, who have pitilessly attacked me without finding accurate proof or giving me a chance to clear my stand. For 20 long years I haven’t reacted, because I was wounded. And the same people come to me for interviews. So, where’s the question of fear?

Are you scared of ever losing the fan following you have now? 
If the adulation has not affected me now, how will it affect me at all? There are people who take their onscreen image seriously. Luckily, I don’t. Rajesh Khanna is the classic case of a superstar forgotten until he passed away… I have never seen or heard of such unparalleled adulation as his. I was happy to witness a sea of humanity descend on his funeral. But I wish it had all happened when he was alive! He would have been very happy! Love and respect should be accorded in your lifetime. Honestly, I wouldn’t want such pandemonium when I am dead and gone! It’s no use then, because I won’t be able to see or feel the love.

Is it lonely at the top?
Whoever coined the phrase may have been a lonely soul himself. I am blessed to have people with me and around me always. Nothing is more important to me more than the three Fs in my life — family, friends and fans.

Your career has been rocketing. How satisfying has it been?
The present is good. Things are moving in the right direction. Coincidentally, my destiny, luck and chance all came at the same time. I sent out a positive energy to the universe and it all came back to me. Personally, everything is fine. There have been health problems on and off, but I can handle those. I am enjoying the phase while it lasts.

There are reports that you are single. No chance of love again?
I have love all around me, very close to me, ahead of me and by my side.

Does Bollywood’s bachelor boy intend to remain a bachelor? 
No. Why should I?

You’ve been hurt on your way to this super success. Are you immune to pain now?
I feel blessed that I haven’t seen or felt real pain to be immune to it. But I am dreading the time it comes. I feel blessed to have everything going fine. My parents’ health is good, my brothers are well-settled, I have a great brother-in-law and my own career is doing fine. I hope and pray that I am fit and fine always.

Who is more important to you — the girl in your life or your family?
I will side with whoever is correct at that point.

Have you signed Sooraj Barjatya’s film? 
We are in talks. He has narrated a script to me. But I am starting Sohail’s next film. It’s a great script and I am totally driven by it. Let’s see what I take up after this.

Are you aware of the high expectations from Ek Tha Tiger? Apparently no other filmmaker wants to release a movie around that time. 
Great, na? Two big brands — Yash Chopra and Salman Khan — are hitting the theatres together. High expectations toh banta hai na? (there will be high expectations, right?) But we hadn’t planned anything like this. I loved the script and set out to make a good film. And the product is out there.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Bollywood/Why-should-I-remain-a-bachelor-asks-Salman-Khan/Article1-905418.aspx  

Laapata Song - Ek Tha Tiger

Ek Tha Tiger Comics Pics

Banjaara Song - Ek Tha Tiger

Actors don’t do movies to break records: Salman Khan

At a suburban studio; between takes, Salman Khan sits outside his vanity van, surrounded by his in-house doctor, some members of the cine artistes association and his own team. Bhai, as he is fondly referred to by most people, is organizing an eye-camp for the less privileged in Bollywood. Once he has wrapped that, he takes a short break to talk to TOI. Excerpts:

How is your health now?
I'm fit. Thank you for asking.

Your screen chemistry with Katrina has improved since in Yuvvraaj (2008)...
Oh, is that so! Katrina is a big star now. She has grown in stature. She seeks perfection in everything she does. She practises her dance numbers for two and three days relentlessly. For someone who couldn't speak a sentence in Hindi, she now says her Hindi dialogue almost as well as any of us.

Remember the time during Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, when you were her Hindi coach!
Yes I do. She has definitely come a long way since then... 

In the movie, she has a dialogue where she tells you - aap ki shaadi ki umar ho gayi hai. Do you have a befitting reply to that?
Well, that's a dialogue and it is not to be taken seriously. Honestly, I don't think even Katrina meant it seriously.

Two decades into the business and the Khan-trio is still ruling the roost...
Kya boloon. It's destiny. I'm grateful to Sooraj Barjatya for Maine Pyar Kiya and so many others who believed in me. I guess all three of us (Aamir, Shah Rukh and I) have been lucky. Sometimes we got good scripts that turned out to be even better films. And at other times, our very ordinary films have done wonders at the box office. But above all, we have God's blessings and have managed a faithful fan following.

Who according to you is the biggest Khan? Aamir, Shah Rukh or you?
Next. This question doesn't interest me.

Are you doing Sooraj Barjatya's next film?
He has narrated a script to me. But I'm starting my younger brother Sohail's film next. Actually when I heard Sohail's script, my immediate reaction was 'wow.' If a script doesn't do that to me; I'm not even going to attempt a film anymore.

So how does this wow thing happen?
Bante bante ban jata hai. A script may be just adequate in the first draft. It becomes extraordinary with a few good dialogues; some good emotions; a great music track; somefantastic action. A lot of small things go into making the big picture. What is first put on paper has to be garnished. The garnishing happens with constant thought, a lot of emotion and a deep understanding of the medium. Having said that, I'm the first one to admit that despite everything we do, sometimes we actors go horribly wrong with our choice of movies. After all, we are just human.

The box office expectation from your latest film is so humungous that no other filmmaker wishes to release his film around that time!
Well, it should be. It's the coming together of two big brands — Salman Khan and Yash Chopra. So naturally the expectations are bound to be high. But that is not something I orchestrated. It is something that the trade is expecting. I only set out to make a good film. On second thoughts, our industry needs more money yaar. Now the government has decided to burden us with a 12.5 per cent service tax! It's crazy the way this business functions.

Will the Bodyguard figures be toppled this August?
Actors don't do movies to break records. The idea is always to make a film with utmost sincerity. Records get made and broken because of statistics. The numbers of theatres that play Bollywoodmovies globally have increased; the release of films is now very wide. Naturally the returns have increased. Frankly from now on, I want all films to start crossing the 200 cr mark. I was sitting with some members of the junior artistes association today and I was sad to hear that many junior artistes and technicians in the industry still don't have money to pay for their medical needs and basic amenities. I hope all our movies make enough to at least provide these guys with a decent livelihood.

Agreed. But do you think that the monies should be chanelised better?
I was sitting with some members of the junior artistes association today and I was sad to hear that many junior artistes and technicians in the industry still don't have money to pay for their medical needs and basic amenities. I hope all our movies make enough to at least provide these guys with a decent livelihood. I feel sad every time I hear a hard-luck story.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Actors-dont-do-movies-to-break-records-Salman-Khan/articleshow/15230759.cms

Ek Tha Tiger Music Review

from happysing.com

Should I start with Mashallah? Well, I think there is enough said about the song, and then everyone seems to have heard it, so let’s just say the song is probably going to be the weaker part of the album. Or maybe I can say the weakest, if Salman Bhai’s fans allow me to. Not because he’s wrong anywhere, cuz Sajid-Wajid HAVE given some good songs for him. How can I ever forget the small preview of Tere Mast Mast Do Nain I heard at IIFA. That number within seconds told us what a hit it was going to be. But then, this time they seem to have got it wrong. Not too wrong, but not as right as it has been earlier.

And I wrote again so much about that song. OK, leave that one. Let’s see others.

Sohail Sen’s part of the album begins with a KK song and the duo seem to maintain the rapport shared in their last album, Mere Brother ki Dulhan. KK here again plays the fast track, and sings a full fledged commercial number for Salman, this time with Shreya Ghoshal. The song, though not extraordinary as such, has a nice melody and the ‘main laapata‘ part is catchy as well. So be ready to hear many fans singing this one, and in due time, some non-fans too.

The next song of the album, Banjaara, is sung by Sukhwinder Singh. And will definitely be pictured on Salman Khan. That actually tells you a lot about the song. Let me spell it out a little more clearly. The song is full of energy, so much so that without even watching it, one can see Salman Khan dancing to the tune with full energy. This one is a hit.

Teri Meri Meri Teri Prem Kahani hai Naadan Parindey. Saiyyara Main Saiyaara. OK leave the name. Let’s just say there is a sad song sung by Mohit Chauhan for Salman Khan. Can there be a thing deadlier than this as of today? OK I may again be overselling it, but I would at least say that Saiyaara is the best song of the album. The song has a superb melody, touching lyrics, the singer is superb, so is the singing. The orchestration is simple and beautiful. One cannot doubt about the presence of Salman Khan in the song. Basically there isn’t a thing that would leave me in doubt about the song, it just is going to be one of the best this year. The only minor hitch is that the lyrics of the song make me feel that the movie ‘may’ have a sad ending. Hope that isn’t the case. I want the Tiger to remain there.

But other than that, this Tiger is going to rock. As per the rumors, Salman may not be too happy about Sohail doing the score for the movie, but the result has come out really well, and Sajid-Wajid’s song turns out the not-so-good piece of the album. As for Sohail’s part, I’d just say, Mashallah.

http://happysing.com/2012/07/ek-tha-tiger-music-review-sohail-sen-sajid-wajid/ 

Mashallah (Ek Tha Tiger): Music Review

by happysing

You might call me mad for this, but the first three-four seconds into the song felt a little like Sneha Khanwalkar singing Bhaiya Bhaiya from Jiya ho Bihar ke lala to me. From then on though, the song was a different thing, with all Turkish-Arabic style patterned arrangements on an okay composition by Sajid-Wajid.

To tell the truth, I had been expecting something better, something maybe of the level of Tere Mast Mast Do Nain, but then the news that Wajid himself would be singing the song had its own problems. However, the result was just an okay one. The composition is good in some places, mostly where Shreya is singing (like tu mila mili mujhe khudai), but does not retain the quality througout.

The second best part is my ringtone, i.e. the prelude of the song that appeared in the theatrical as well.

One more positive aspect in the mediocre song is Wajid’s singing. No, he hasn’t suddenly become KK or Sonu Nigam, but he sounds better than almost all his previous attempts, e.g. Dabangg title song where he was supposed to sing just ‘hud hud dabang dabang dabang dabang’ and he sang that too as daBHang daBHang instead.

I have my own doubts about singing as Mashallah what I thought to be Masha Allah or Masha’Allah, but I am sure that Dabang is Dabang only and is not rendered as DaBHang in any dialect.

Other than all that, just to state the obvious, Shreya Ghoshal is one of the best things to have happened to the song. She’s the one who is singing it beautifully, like always.

http://happysing.com/2012/07/mashallah-ek-tha-tiger-music-review-sajid-wajid/#comments

Mashallah Song - Ek Tha Tiger

Salman Khan Caricature

Note: The third caricature of Salman Khan from Dabangg has been made by Saumitra Kabra.

Salman Khan's In Red Tape Ad

Salman Khan's Revital Ad

Salman Khan's In Mr Yatra Ad

Salman Khan's In Suzuki Hayate Ad