Salman Khan: The new IIFA ambassador Bless Him

The actor seems to have fully taken over from Amitabh Bachchan

It’s a change of image almost for the star who was once known for picking fights and being ultra-aggressive, especially with the media. Ever since he started with the promotions forDabangg and then more recently Ready, Sallu bhai has been at his PR best, not rising to bait and even answering pointed questions about his love life. And that seems to be paying off. He is now taking on a new role – he will be the main man for the IIFA Awards to be held next month in Toronto. Now there is a long and convoluted history: First it was all about the Big B, who held the post as official ambassador for IIFA for more than 10 years. Then, when there was a bit of a stink about the awards being held in Sri Lanka, Amitabh Bachchan was sort of distanced from the ceremony and, while it was not made official, it seemed as if Salman had taken over, since he was so prominent during the event. When it was announced that the 2011 awards would be held in Toronto, we heard noises that Akshay Kumar was going to be The Man, because of his close ties with Canada. Now it is known that Sallu will be the ambassador, we expect all eyes on the superstar and many trophies for the Dabangg gang. After all, if the Bachchan family can win so many when AB was in the haute seat, we know Salman and co will follow suit

Salman: What’s wrong with being a larger-than-life hero?

Not too long ago, ‘realism’ in films was the thing. However, with Wanted and Dabangg, Salman Khan managed to bring back the ’70s type masala entertainer that had critics and audiences alike dancing in the aisles. On a sunny afternoon in Mumbai, the superstar talks about his re-found glory, marriage and Being Human…

Salman Khan is no longer an elusive man. The magic of movies (read film promotions) has enchanted him as well. So there I was at Filmcity waiting for the Dabangg dude to give me some time to chat about Ready, his next film. The actor usually arrives two to three hours later than the designated time, but it’s my lucky day – he arrives only an hour late. Dapper in a light blue T-shirt and black pants, Salman settles down to being friendly…

Wanted was a remake of a south Indian film. So is Ready and so are some of your forthcoming films. Is this a deliberate move?
Apparently the punches and dialogues are in those films. I don’t know if this is a coincidence. Earlier they used to copy our films because we made films on heroism. Most of my father’s scripts have been broken down and copied in the south. Now Dabangg is being remade there. When you do Hollywood remakes, the whole world is watching. But these films have not been seen except by people from that region. Also, they have not let heroism go. Suddenly we have gone into these phases of making love stories, rom-coms, niche films, gay films…

Today everyone is doing different and niche films…I don’t think anybody is doing that anymore. I think from Amsterdam they want to go down to Andheri. And I don’t want to do neech (niche) films (smiles).

It looks like you have finally hit upon a success formula…
No, it’s not like that. I am sure I would go wrong in that formula as well. Because once you start doing something, you tend to get carried away. You start taking that image to be you and think you can do anything, so then it gets farfetched and you become a caricature of yourself.

Don’t you fear being typecast as this larger-than-life hero?
What’s wrong with that?! You are enjoying it!

Last year you were nominated for so many awards and won some as well. Do you think people have woken up to your talent at last?
I don’t want any awards. I don’t go to awards functions. In fact, I tell my producers also to not put me as a nominee in the Best Actor category. When that one nominee section is vacant, it can go to somebody else.

But every actor – big or small – craves for that the kind of recognition…
I get it when the theatres are full. I get it when I hear the claps in the theatres. When the film goes from the single theatres to multiplexes – that’s also an award for me. I’d rather believe in these rewards than those awards.

When films were failing at the BO you hit the jackpot. What did you do right, d’you think?
There were also times when everyone’s films were working and my films were bombing, left, right and centre. But I didn’t panic at that point of time, because I knew those films were going to bomb. I had to do them because I liked the script, but I could not put my foot down. Today I have realised one thing: the guy who pays 10 rupees and someone who pays 500 rupees to see the movie – I have a responsibility towards them.

One hears that you have been deeply involved in the making of your films, from the script to songs to the editing…I always did that. But when you get kicked in the ass, na, you’ll always go two steps forward.

Does that mean like Aamir, you too would like to get into direction?
No. But I will work under Aamir’s direction, when I have lots of time, hanh!

Today, before we started chatting, you were at a Being Human activity. Aren’t you tempted to tie up your charity work with your film promotions?
That was not part of the promotions at all. I haven’t started to publicise the film (Ready) yet. This new funda has come out that you need 15 days of promotion. So I will be doing all this, but I want to make sure that there are 15-20 places where I can go to help people under the Being Human banner and then come back. Let’s not just go and smile in front of the camera. I think that’s the biggest fraud of all. I hope that after me, other people catch up with this concept and have a competition of doing charity using publicity money.

Aamir Khan told the media that he wishes you would get married. And he said it would be possible by tying your hands and legs….
Tell Aamir that I will tie up his hands and legs and see to it that he does not get married again!

On that, the superstar remains elusive…

Ghayal Returns: first teaser Sunny Deol brings back his trademark muscle power

A sequel to his blockbuster movie Ghayal, the film is directed by the not-so-successful director Ashwini Chaudhary who has made films like Good Boy Bad Boy and Siskiyaan in the past. Let’s see if this one can create the same impact as Sunny’s earlier action-packed films like Ghatak, Ziddi and Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. The film is slated to release in 2012

Ready Bumper Opening Pyaar Ka Punchnama Steady

A Strange Love Story is a total non starter and was just left totally over shadowed by Ready. the opening was 0-1%.   Ready took a bumper opening and is likely to be the top four openers ever and biggest non holiday opener ever. There were hopes of a Dabangg type of opening in some parts of the trade as the release was bigger and ticket prices hiked but that was a tough task. Overall the word of mouth is mixed but on the strength of its bumper opening the film should emerge a hit. The distributors have paid huge prices due to mega success of Dabangg and for them to just cover it needs Super hit business and that will depend on what happens on Monday.      Pyaar Ka Punchnama held up well in week two witch collections of around 3.50 crore nett. The two week total is around 9 crore nett but due to release of Ready the film will have huge drop in week three. BELOW AVERAGE   Haunted 3D added another 1.75 crore nett in week four taking its four week total to 26.25 crore nett. HIT  .......

Dashing picture...

Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman Khan battle the ‘butt’

Today is World No Tobacco Day. This day highlights the hazards of smoking and ensures that a unified tobacco-control message resonates around the world; but amidst all this, there are three top Bollywood actors who are still fighting their battle with the cancer stick...

Three of the top actors in Bollywood — Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan — have been fighting a hitherto unsuccessful battle against smoking. For the last 10 years, they have declared their hate for cigarettes in public many times. They have also tried kicking the butt, only to pick it up after a point of time.

Shah Rukh had tweeted recently, “They (Shah Rukh’s children Aryan and Suhana) don’t like me smoking. I see that as a blessing. If they had no objection, I would have continued smoking.”

Shah Rukh also had a public spat with former health minister Ambumani Ramadoss when the latter urged him to quit smoking. “It is just a misinterpretation that I have snubbed the Health Minister. I too want to quit smoking in real life,” Shah Rukh had said at a news conference when he was asked about the controversy. The fact remains that Shah Rukh even today is a heavy smoker and according to his close friends, can’t do without a cigarette for more than three hours. “Sometimes he still ends up smoking 8-10 packets a day,” says a close friend of the star.

Next case in point is Salman Khan. His close friends say Salman smokes lesser number of cigarettes than Shah Rukh. But one would see him incessantly lighting up the cancer sticks when he is chilling out with friends. “I am a heavy smoker but I don’t want you to write that. I don’t want your children to take up smoking just because I do. I smoke because I haven’t been able to kick the habit,” Salman had told DNA when he was promoting his last film a few months ago.

“Bhai is not proud of the fact that he smokes. But he has cut down a lot on his smoking. These days, he tries not to smoke more than 3-4 packets a day and that too the ‘Milds’ brand of cigarettes,” says a close friend of the star.

Aamir, meanwhile, remained off the butt for months on end but he too gave up one day. “I am sorry to tell you that I have smoked again,” he wrote on his blog and justified it saying it was because of the tension as his film was about to release..

"Heer And Ranjha A Famous Punjabi Love Story"

Heer & Ranjha is the most famous true love story of Indian & Pakistani history. Similar to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, it tells a story of two Muslim lovers: Heer Saleti & Dido Ranjah; whose families were in conflict with one another and became seperated for many years. Heer is known to have been an extemely beautiful woman with a wealthy father named Chuchak. Ranjha was the youngest of 4 brothers, all of whom were married except him. In his late teens he set off to find work in a distant village where he met Chuchak who offered him a job taking care of his cattle. Having met Ranjha, Heer became mesmerised by the way he played the flute in the field with the cows every day, and eventually she fell in love with him. For his part, Ranjha fell in love with Heer at first sight. They would meet each other secrectly for many years until they were caught by her parents who found out who Dido Ranjah really was. Her parents were very angry because of the feud between their families.,

Heer was married against her will to another man, while Ranjha was left broken hearted; and left to walk the quiet villages on his own until he eventually met Gorak, a Yogi (devoted beleiver in God). Having entered Gorak's tilla (shrine), Dido Ranjah could only think of his departed lover. and being emotionally scarred, he voluntarally became a Yogi. Reciting the name of the lord on In his travels around the Punjab, he found the vllage of Kher where he was reunited with his devoted lover, Heer. They both escaped and came back to Heer's home Village, where her parents finally agreed to their marriage and to end the conflict between the two families. The marriage preparartions went well; but on the wedding day, Heer's vengeful uncle, Kedoh (who had a limp from having been beaten by Ranjha's brothers many years earlier), poisoned her so the wedding wouldn't take place. Having heard this news, Dido Ranjah rushed to aid Heer but was too late... and she died in his arms. Dido Ranjah's heart was broken, and he also died, holding his beloved Heer to his chest.  

Although there is disagreement whether they were real or legendary, the couple’s star-crossed story has inspired centuries of flowery poetry, and every day, hundreds of lovers pay homage, and seek blessings, at their shrine in the Punjabi town of Jhang, where believers say Heer and Ranjha are buried beneath the blue, white and green-tiled shrine.