Preface and Chapter-1

SALMAN KHAN-The Good, The Bad, The Misunderstood...

Yashodeep Sengupta
Television Stream
Asian College of Journalism

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to Ms. Subhasini Dinesh, my mentor, for approving the topic for my dissertation. Biswadeep Ghosh’s book on Salman Khan has also helped me a lot to confirm my research done on the actor.

I would also like to thank my parents and Ms. Jayashree Mukherjee for helping me with my research.
PREFACE
So what’s so unique about this man that I chose to examine him in my paper?
Those who keep a track of his activities would know how adventurous his career is-how full of crests and crevasses his journey has been. How many times has he got into trouble, how often has he reached the pinnacles of success and how frequently has he tasted dust. Written off by some of the people from the movie fraternity, he is looked up and admired by millions in the country and abroad.
I take this opportunity to trace the journey of the character till now and scrutinize the events that have surrounded him and how have they reflected on his nature and work. I would also recapitulate his road to stardom and the innumerable potholes and pits he had to endure, some nearly resulting in devastation and the untimely end of his illustrious career.
For my reference I have largely drawn from Biswadeep Ghosh’s book Salman Khan : The Hall of Fame (co-written by the editors of Stardust, Magna book, First edition-2004)) I have also extensively used articles from newspapers and websites.

So what moulds the man? What makes him? What mars him? What makes him THE Salman Khan?

I present to you—Salman Khan-The Good, The Bad, The “Misunderstood” (*)

(*) – As said by Amitabh Bachchan (The Hall of Fame, Biswadeep Ghosh)

CHAPTER 1 : Lights Camera…ACTION !!

Biswadeep’s book offers a glimpse of Salman Khan’s troubled childhood with his parents having their share of problems which he and his brother Arbaaz were witness to. Most of the times Salma (Mother) would translate her sheer insecurity towards Salim”s (Father) mingling with women, to quarrels. It had a strong, unpleasant and disturbing impact on the children. “ I remember the terrible quarrels they had”, Salman was to tell Stardust years later. “My dad used to try and explain things to my Mom, tell her that there was nothing between him and those women. But Mama was too consumed by jealousy.” There were times when the children, including the eldest Salman used to get beaten up by their father. There was an incident when, young Salman and Arbaaz emulated a martial art movement and in the process left ugly imprints on the wall. When their father saw it, he turned livid but the kids had already locked themselves up in the bathroom. When Salim’s anger turned into repeated threats with dire consequences, the two came out but were showered with the worst thrashing of their life. Such a situation was an unpleasant reality for Salman who was always introvert and wanted to see familial harmony and peace around him. When Salim Khan decided to marry actress Helen, it left Salma shattered. For a person who loved his mother a lot, it was very shocking for Salman to see his mother in such pain. “My mother just couldn’t take it. It hurt her terribly. When she cried, we children used to cry with her.”, Salman was to tell years later. But the Salman of today loves Helen as much as he loves his mother. As a student, Salman was an average joe. The young Salman studied in St. Stanislaus in Bandra. Poor in Mathematics and not even close to his brother Arbaaz who was brilliant in his studies, he never earned the ire of his teachers, though. Dev Sharma, who taught mathematics to Salman during his schooldays is full of praise for his now celebrity pupil. “I never had any complaints against Salman with regards to his academics because he was a lovely student and very involved in extra curricular activities like drama and other competitions.” How was he as a person? Was he a brat? Arrogant or any of the adjectives that the media pile on to him now? Confirms Sharma, “He was very friendly with everyone and never gave anyone trouble inside the school premises.” Salman was also quite popular during those days. Coming from a family where his father was such a renowned scriptwriter, he sure did harbour an interest to join the movie world but was never haughty or held himself superior to others. According to the teacher, Salman hasn’t let success go to his head, and is still the same respectful person he used to be. Still now, he finds out time to visit them for any function. “I still find in him the same warmth that he had as a child.”, confides Sharma. He adds that “ He’d never get angry and used to be really cool-headed. So I get shocked every time I read about his temper and the media calling him a hot-headed person, because I’ve never seen that side of him in school.” The quiet recluse that Salman was in school was a pole apart from the brash and impulsive man he later grew up to become. Drissula Fernandes, another teacher from his school adores the person Salman is. “If he loved you, he loved you very deeply.”, she reveals. The lady recalls that how after a near fatal accident of Arbaaz Khan, Salman called up Fernandes first and asked her to help them because their parents were not present home. At that time Salman was only 15 years old. “My heart has been weeping for him for the last couple of years. It was as if my own son was going through all the turbulence.”, recalls the teacher years later when Salman has been a part of many controversies surrounding his personal life. During his childhood, Salman was a good sportsman who excelled in the games of cricket, football, hockey, swimming and bicycling. His family wanted him to become a sportsman and was not at all keen on him becoming an actor. But as destiny would have it, Salman went on to become one of the most successful stars in the Indian film industry.

Salman’s family, today is the epitome of communal harmony. The family consists of people belonging to different religions. While younger brother Sohail’s wife, Seema and sister Alvira’s husband Atul Agnihotri are Hindus and stepmother Helen and Arbaaz’s wife, Malaika are Christians, the rest belongs to the Islam religion. Everyone dotes on the adopted kid Arpita too. The days when Salman and the other kids were tormented by odd moments of insecurity have been buried. The family, that stands now is happy and united. There have been numerous media reports about gala celebrations held in the Khan household-be it a birthday bash, or festival celebrations, or simply inviting the who’s who of Tinsel town over a supper of Gohsht biryani, Salman’s favourite dish, when a football match is on- The family’s hospitality is appreciated and loved by one and all. Even Fatwas issued by Muslim clergies and groups for his participation in Ganesha Chathurti festival and expressing his desire to play Lord Rama on screen haven’t been able to stifle Salman secular mindset.

It all started…

As it happens to all wannabe Bollywood stars, Salman was also starry eyed about joining the Hindi movie industry but not once did the fact that he can get an added leverage as he is the son of renowned scriptwriter Salim Khan, came in his mind. He started off as a model but was considered unfit to be one as he was very short in height and very thin. In his initial days, Salman assisted director Shashilal Nair, during the making of Falak, a film written by his father, Salim khan, which had Jackie Shroff in the lead. The film did not work at the box office but it got good response from the critics. J.K Bihari’s Biwi ho to Aisi happened to be the launching pad for the actor. Though the film was unspectacular and Salman had a lean physique, he was noted as an actor who had the energy and potential to make it big in the industry. Soon he started working out dedicatedly and now sports one of the most enviable and amazing physiques in Bollywood. He was labeled as a superstar with Rajshri’s grand production Maine Pyaar Kiya which transformed him into an overnight hero and the favourite poster boy for all his female fans. The film was declared a superhit nationwide. Soon more hits like Baaghi and Sanam Bewafa followed and they made him the most saleable actor in the industry. During that period, his career was headed towards a direction where nothing could go wrong. Producer actor Viveck Vaswani went to the extent of paying him the ultimate compliment. “I would not say that Salman is the second best selling star after Amitabh (Bachchan) but would say that he is the first, the most saleable star today.” So how was he able to achieve so much success in so short a period of time? “Luck”, Salman is quoted in Biswadeep’s book. He said that he always knew that he would make it someday but also believed that he had a lot to achieve. Salman even made a massive impact in two hero flicks like Saajan where he teamed up with Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit. But his run was stopped midway in the tracks by box office duds like Suryavanshi, Ek Ladka Ek Ladki, Dil Tera Aashiq and Chandramukhi. Reporters were just on the verge of writing down his professional obituary, when a path-breaking film called Hum Aapke hain Kaun happened, arguably, the most successful commercial film in the history of Indian Cinema. As Salman says, “The good things about bad times are that they always come to an end.” According to the entertainment trade web site ibosnetwork.com, among the top 20 films of the 1990s, five of them stars Salman Khan, namely Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Karan Arjun and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. In his book, Biswadeep observes that Salman ‘acted’ the least on screen. He tries to be as natural as possible, which is clear winner among his fans. “For me, acting comes straight from the heart. In that sense I don’t act at all”, says Salman. So in spite of quite a few flops in his career, he managed to retain his superstardom among the audience with hits like Jeet, Judwaa, Tere naam, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, No Entry and Partner. Biswadeep also examines that after the two popular Kapoors, in the industry-Shammi and Rishi, Salman is the only actor to have had the confidence to act with so many newcomer actresses in films. The list includes Bhagyashree, Revathy, Raveena Tandon and Ayesha Jhulka. He is one of the few stars to have four or more releases in one year (1998), which were all hits – ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hain’, ‘Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya’, ‘Bandhan’, ‘Jab Pyar Kisse Se Hota Hain’. ‘Biwi No.1’, ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Hum Saath-Saath Hain’ were the top grosser in the year 1999. In 1994, ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’ smashed ‘Sholay’ records (gross) to become the biggest grosser film at that time and did excellent business in the overseas for a Bollywood film. It was the first film to do business of over Rs. 10 crores in the overseas market. He has also done a number of guset appearances in films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Stumped, Sirf Tum, Deewana Mastana, Baghban just to extend a noble hand to his director and actor friends in the industry. Salman has also acted in a Hollywood movie , directed by Wiiliam Carrold and co starring Ali Larter, called Marigold. Today reports show that he is one of the biggest stars of the country and has made a brand name for himself in the industry.