★ Salman Khan: I May Be In Court On My Birthday !

★ Salman Khan: I May Be In Court On My Birthday !

Friday, 14 December 2012

Salman Khan isn’t the sorts to mince matters. It’s always either black or white for him and may be that’s just why he doesn’t hesitate in speaking his heart out. As the second installment of his super successful blockbuster Dabangg comes close to its release, the notorious Khan of the film industry gets chatty about considering 100cr an achievable target, plans for the third part of Dabangg, choosing action films to stay fit and the possibility of being summoned by the court for his hit and run case on this birthday! Excerpts:

People are already touting this film to touch 300crs. Your thoughts.

People nowadays speak of 300crs as if it’s nothing. First let somebody comfortably touch 200, it’s not even easy to touch 100 crores for some. There is increase in the number of fan following, increase in theaters, increase in ticket prices so business has to happen.

One thing is for sure that in our life time itself it will be 300, 400 and 500 crores.

But has touching at least a 100cr mark become a regular mundane process for you as all your films at least make that much?

Only if it’s a really bad film of a big star would it not cross (the 100cr mark) but many films will touch that mark because now there are so many theaters, ticket prizes and fans. It’s not easy but it is an achievable target. 2-3 years ago touching 100crs was a mammoth task but now it’s not the same, for few of us.

Arbaaz debutes as a director with this film. How was it working with him?

Arbaaz has worked as an assistant director before; he has been on the sets so he knows the tricks of the trade. It’s wasn’t like a new guy is directing a movie. Moreover, Arbaaz and I share a comfort zone. He and I are very close and we used to help each other out. He is a fantastic story teller and a very sensible guy.

It is your home production too. So how was the atmosphere on the sets?

It was good. We had the confidence built by the first film, we had a good script and it was our home production. If it were for making the film with somebody’s money it would’ve been a big task. Since it was a family affair things were easy. We had the scope to redo things although we didn’t have to.

When you first worked with Sonakshi Sinha she was a debutante but now she is a superstar. Have you seen any difference in her?

No difference. We started working for the sequel just a year after Dabangg released so there wasn’t too much of a time gap for me to notice substantial difference. Right from the time she entered the industry we all knew she is very talented. All she had to do was lose weight which she did. But then she had to put on for the sequel as she plays a pregnant female in the sequel and media started panning her badly for it. She could not have a body of a model. She plays a house wife who is 3-4 months pregnant. And since she had to pull off that weight in other films too you people started criticizing her. Now that the shoot for Dabangg 2 is over she has started losing weight.

Bollywood films usually show the love before marraige while Dabangg 2 is going the other way round. What are your thoughts about it?

Romance usually comes to an end post marriage right? (Laughs) Very few married couples have romance left in them. And hence we are trying to bring in the romance in the post marriage phase through this film.

Usually sequels are more like series with no reference to the first part whatsoever; however, Dabangg 2 takes off from where part one ended. Was it a conscious decision to bank on part one as much as possible?

Chulbul Pandey is nothing without Rajjo, Prajapati Pandey, Makkhanchand Pandey, Tiwariji and Chaubeyji. These people are now moved to another state, from Lalganj they have moved to Kanpur. Now everything is bigger just like the way Kanpur is a bigger city than Lalganj.

Do you have a third part in the mind already?

Yes, if this one does well, we already have the script for the third part ready. However, it will be a prequel. It will go back and show how Chulbul Pandey becomes Chulbul Pandey.

Will Sonakshi be a part of the prequel too?

There is a place for Sonakshi in Dabangg 3 as well. She is there and so is her father but we don’t meet.

With the tags of Tiger or Chulbul Pandey oft given to you your fans usually expect you to be like the characters you play onscreen. What do you have to say on that?

There are like a lot of shades to everybody’s character. For example – I have lived the life of Chulbul Pandey in some cases. There will be a huge amount of Salman Khan in Chulbul because these are the things that Salman can’t do. I would want to do all the things that my onscreen character does and at some given point of time would perhaps do too but only to land into trouble (laughs).

Which character are you like in real life?

It depends; at house I am like Prem, in high society I am like Tiger and for masses I am like Chulbul.

You have done romance, action and comedy but which genre do you prefer doing personally?

Personally, I prefer not working itself (laughs). Especially, with the kind of work I am doing right now demands a lot of hard work. Although I was appreciated for Maine Pyar Kiya, I was very raw at that time. Now at 47 I am expected to do 10 times better than I had done when I was 21 or 22. You are not forgiven now. The older you grow the better you have to look, the younger you have to look the harder you have to work for everything. And till the time I am doing it all fine all is good, the day it starts to fail I shall be called Salman uncle.

You had announced a while back that you will reduce action films but you took to it majorly instead.

The reason why I started doing action is to keep myself fit. I was slipping in my fitness. I was taking up films that didn’t require me to do a lot of hardwork. So I started taking up action but that doesn’t mean any kind of action film it had to be an action that comes with the baggage of emotion. If the emotion is correct then the action works. The action should go with the screenplay.

Dabangg 2 release on 21st close to the heels of your birthday, so are you planning a double whammy?

I am not doing anything on December 27th.

While the likes of Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or even Amitabh Bachchan celebrate their birthday with media and fans, you chose to keep it very low profile. Why so?

All those things will never happen with me. Woh fraudgiri mujhse nahi hogi. And for all you know this year during my birthday I may just be in court.

Have you been summoned by the court for the Jodhpur case?

No, this is for the Mumbai case. I think they have asked me to come on 27th but if the lawyers say I don’t need to go then I won’t and if the lawyers say I have to then I will definitely go on 27th.

Have the years spent in the industry taught you something?

Yes, the art of putting my foot down! I wasn’t happy when they showed me Veer. I had asked them to cut it down to 1 hour 55 minutes but eventually they released the film with 2 hours and 30 minutes as the duration which is not a done thing. They thought they will get away with that but they didn’t. I was very upset with it. Since I have written the script I knew for a long duration I need extra 18 days of shoot to bring out the high points but since that didn’t happen it was wise to keep it short. I tried talking to Anil (Sharma) but he gave me Gaddar’s example. Till the time it’s interesting its fine but the film has to hold. The reason why we took Anil for this film was because he is the only person we thought would be able to deliver this kind of a film.

But does the stardom make you feel that you can get away with anything?

When I put my foot down sometimes I hope I am not taking the advantage of my stardom and that’s a big guilt. Eventually the audience first looks at me in the poster and so it becomes my responsibility. However, if you remain too polite the film goes for a toss. Aamir (Khan) does it very correctly. He does not care and lays his demands outright. Now I have started making clear in the beginning only. I make sure that the final cut goes with my approval. It took me a Veer to get down to this practise.

When we speak of stardom while others flaunt their mansions, you still prefer staying in your Galaxy apartment.

Well, I like all that stuff too but I have not been able to move out of that house. I have been living there since childhood and I am used to almost everything about it. But now it is about time I get out of my current residence. It is getting increasingly uncomfortable here. There is no place for my shoes and clothes. As much I could stay here I have, now I may only stay here for a year more. We have a property which we are constructing.

By Swati Rohatgi


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