Chapter-6

CHAPTER 6 : THE ROLLER-COASTER RIDE CONTINUES…

Professionally Salman is going through a rough patch with his films Hello, Heroes and Yuvvraaj sinking in the box office without a trace. But with flicks like Main aur Mrs. Khanna, Wanted: Dead or Alive, London Dreams and Veer already in the making, Salman doesn’t look like an actor down and out. Different media reports predict that as it happened before, Salman has a tendency to bounce back with a big hit after a string of flops and silence his critics. Randy Lall in http://planetbollywood.com/displayArticle.php?id=112807120439 says that he is “probably the most powerful star at the Box-Office. Even today, despite flops, he can still surprise everyone.” He says that how in spite of the numerous controversies that shroud him, Salman remains the masses’ favourite. He writes that after he came out of the jail during the hit and run case, how his fans thronged the area outside Salman’s house just to catch a glimpse of the actor and show their solidarity towards the actor. Even when he was released from prison in Jodhpur (Black Buck case), his fans applauded their hero and scores of motorbike riders escorted him till the airport to showcase their support for the actor. The icon that the actor is, had made his fans vote for him to be in Madame Tussauds thwarting the chances of other actors like Kajol, Madhuri Dixit and Hrithik Roshan. Lall goes on to say that the actor is among the few Indians to be featured in the People’s magazine and voted the 7^th sexiest man in the world by the magazine. In his personal life, he has been in the news for his spat with co-actor and friend for many years, Shah Rukh Khan. But he is as usual keeping his private life undisclosed and concealed. Numerous articles and rumours about his tiffs with girlfriend Katrina kaif appears but the actor remains unfazed as ever. Still unmarried at 43, Salman is considered as the topmost and one of the most bankable stars in the industry today. Featured in Biswadeep’s book, is an excerpt from an interview of the actor to the Indo-Asian news service where he reflects, “We are all born with unhappiness. That’s the one ‘given’ of existence.” Perhaps there have been very few actors in India who have seen life in such extremities. It would not be exaggerating to state that Salman Khan has both tasted the joys in the zenith of superstardom as well as licked the dust of defamation and failure. Arguably, the most talked about cine star in the country, its doubtful whether the controversies surrounding him would ever cease to exist. What would remain reverberating in every person who has researched Salman Khan’s journey on and off screen would be in the words of Amitabh Bachchan- Salman Khan- as the “most misunderstood actor in the industry.” (http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=133433 , Biswadeep’s book)