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Salman
Khan:
“All these big filmmakers don’t want to work with
me. They think I’m a difficult actor to deal with.” |
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| Friends
of Salman Khan swear by him. Those outside the Khan
circle of trust don’t matter. He’s loved and
loved-to-be-hated with equal fervour. And though people
say he’s mellowed, Salman remains a dormant volcano. |
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| Ask
him why he’s still single and he questions
defensively. “Are you married?” When we say we’re
not celebs and people aren’t interested, he grins,
“I’m interested; I want to know why you aren’t
married. I know my reasons why, I want to know yours.”
Can’t argue with that. |
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| We
switch to his upcoming birthday. How does it feel
to be on the other side of 40? “I’m 41, but I
don’t feel it. I run and cycle 10 km
everyday,” he’s proud of his obvious fitness.
It’s like he reads our mind, “I’m fit. Both
mentally and physically. My eyesight is intact,
heart pumps well and both kidneys are fine!” he
says mischievously.
It
makes us wonder. The top stars in Bollywood- Aamir,
Shah Rukh, Sanjay Dutt and Salman were all in the
40s; and still ruling the roost. Shouldn’t they
open the door to some newcomers? He states,
“We’re not stopping anyone. They're welcome to
topple us. Infact, we have so many newcomers
coming in everyday. They can strike gold
anytime.” he avers.
Talking
of which, how come he took risks with a movie like
Babul, where he isn’t the central
character? “It was the beauty of the subject. It
tells the story of widow remarriage. It needs guts
to make a movie like that. It’s a film that’ll
appeal to the rural areas too. When I heard the
subject I told Ravi Chopra I was willing to play
any character in the film,” he avers.
In
Baghban he played Amitabh’s adopted son
and in here he’s the real son; did they make a
good father-son duo? He’s candid, “More than
me, Mr Bachchan and Abhishek look super together
onscreen. They have amazing real life chemistry as
father and son; they’re more like friends.
I’ve yet to see a relationship like that!” We
decide to broach the taboo topic of an apparent
cold vibe between him and Babul co-star. One
who’d been praising him all over?
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“Whom
are you talking about? Please take his name. Can you see
any difference in my body language? (He smiles and looks
at himself)” When we say ‘John Abraham’, he looks
poker-faced, “Haan, John! I must say he makes
politically correct statements! What did he say?” We
ask him to guess who John considered his ‘fitness
icon’ and Salman, in a rare display of his incredible
humour says with straight face, “Who? Anil Kapoor?”
‘Salman Khan’ we say and the expression stays
straight, “Say thanks to him!”
We
ask if the ultimate macho hero counts John as one with a
good physique too and he adds, “Well, there are a
whole lot of new actors, Dino, Ashmit etc. … John is
fit, but I think he was fitter earlier. Infact, he’s
lost lot of weight.” Changing lanes, we quiz the hunky
Khan if, like SRK’s Don, did he also have a
dream role he’d like to reprise? The answer is quick, “Ganga
Jamuna, I’ve always wanted to do that. But I know
I won’t be able to carry it. I’ll probably mess it
up. In fact, I keep telling Shah Rukh he should do
it.”
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Was
he upset that Jaan-e-Mann didn’t fare as well as Don?
Salman is generous, “Arre, kya Karen! Shah Rukh
saab promoted his film so much that he didn’t
give us a chance.” Well, he was among the star
attendees too at the premiere of Don, inspite of
his film releasing the same day? “Yeah! Since the
original film was written by my dad. But after watching
the film, I realized it was a completely different film.
They should’ve called it Bond,” he laughs.
Finally,
we ask him of his ‘distance’ from big banners and he
shrugs, “What to do? All these big filmmakers don’t
want to work with me. They think I’m a difficult actor
to deal with.”
‘Misunderstood?’
we query? “That’s a wrong notion; I’m a fully
understood guy … and if you are talking about the
media, let me say, I love them, but I think they hate
me!”
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