Bollywood idol Salman Khan’s films are critic-unfriendly but his box office hold is becoming invincible. Take his latest blockbuster, Bodyguard: he plays Lovely Singh, a man who can leap from trains and bash up baddies single-handedly, all the while holding onto the helpless damsel with his free hand. Each blow he dishes out is accompanied by crackling sound-effects, making him out to be an indestructible force.
He’s even been bestowed the epithet of being Bollywood’s answer to Rajnikanth, the South Indian grand-daddy who oozes style while executing unbelievable on-screen antics.
But Khan, 46, shrugs off the title and says there can only be one Rajnikanth.
You have enjoyed a phenomenal run at the box-office with Bodyguard and Ready. How are you taking it all in?
Now that these films are a hit and have become a phenomenon, it feels good. But I have always believed never to expect anything till the audience haven’t give the go-ahead. If they haven’t liked your film, my efforts are useless. I may feel that I have made the best film on earth, spent ludicrous amounts of money [on it], but if the audience straight out rejects it, then what’s the point of it all?
I want the audience to go and enjoy my films. I don’t care for the rest.
How are you feeling health-wise after the surgery?
My health is fine, but I just need to take it easy for a while. The pain is gone, but the aneurism is still there. I am going back to the US soon for another check-up. If the aneurism is a size smaller, then we may have to take it off again.
Did you have to slow down because of the nerve problem?
I can’t slow down, even in the literal sense. In my next film, Ek Tha Tiger, I have to run really fast and kick really high. And since I had to begin shoot immediately after the surgery, I couldn’t take the rest that I was originally asked to take. But I feel good.
Ek Tha Tiger is creating a lot of buzz. Is it bigger and better than Bodyguard?
I don’t know about that. I prefer calling it Tiger, because when you translate it word by word it means “there was a tiger”. Somehow, it gives our audience the feeling that my character will die at the end of the film. But I won’t die.
You are being touted as the Rajnikanth of Bollywood. How do you take that?
No, that’s not true. Rajnikanth is in a different league altogether. I just try and do my bit. I try and select films that are good for me and based on what I would go and watch in a theatre personally.
Perhaps I have been lucky with it so far. But there may come a time when I may go a bit overboard with the action sequences and the audience may go: “Itna bhi nahi yaar, aisa kya thodi hota hai” [Not so much, pal, this is too much for us to digest]. And that film might not go down well with the audience.
Right now, I am holding on to the table as tight as I can and enjoying the run.
Would you call this the best phase of your career?
No. The best phase of my career is yet to come. I am not done here.
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