‘I won’t do anything I don’t believe in just for money.’
Photograph: Kind courtesy Salman Khan/Instagram
He was the most difficult star to interview, and yet the easiest.
Once he trusted a person Salman Khan surrendered himself completely.
Words rolled out in a surprisingly coherent and cogent stream of consciousness when Subhash K Jha did his first interview with Salman back in 2003.
Having interacted with him earlier I knew the mask of diffident arrogance was just that.
Throughout the interview Salman was like a restless meteor zooming in and out of his thought processes as rapidly as his feet took him from one corner of the room to another.
“Awards don’t concern me. I do one film and I move on to the next. My award is the success of my films,” Salman said in this throwback interview.
Though the media was largely hostile, audiences welcomed your new films.
I don’t think the general public actually believes everything that’s written about me. No matter what the crisis, I am always supported by my fans.
One doesn’t have to shout from the rooftops to prove one is a good guy.
Everything is going right for you. Then why do you sound so unhappy?
We’re all born with unhappiness. That’s the one ‘given’ of existence. In school you get constantly berated by the teacher, you get out for a while, play cricket and feel better.
Then you land up with a wretched job, marry a woman whom things aren’t okay with, worry about your children… People you love leave and die.
I was so shocked when Director Anant Balani died. I did my second film with him. He was a dear friend and I lost touch with him.
One of my schoolteachers also passed away recently. I wish I had met him. He used to beat me in school but I knew he intended well for me.
Has your career suffered a setback because of your legal problems?
Do I look like a jobless actor? If my career was in trouble, why would Sanjay Bhansali and Sooraj Barjatya come to me again?
Why would Raj Kumar Santoshi want to work with me?
IMAGE: Salman Khan in Tere Naam.
They are probably as suicidal as you are?
Good one. I’m here. All my troubles are as temporary as my stardom.
Have you seen the calibre of these kids who’re coming up? Have people seen how Hrithik Roshan dances? Even if I rehearsed for five years I wouldn’t be able to do it.
You watch him in Koi…Mil Gaya. Now is his time. He’s going to kick ass.
Tere Naam looks like one of your most difficult roles to date.
(Dismissively) What was so difficult about it? Unless you mean the wig. But then I can’t say I was uncomfortable wearing it. Because I’m comfortable with anything in life.
Though I hate wigs and disguises I had to be long-haired in the first half and go bald in the second half. The last time I wore a wig was for Sooryavanshi.
IMAGE: Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
Were you disappointed when Sanjay Bhansali didn’t cast you in Devdas?
Not at all. NOT AT ALL. I don’t want to play any character which can influence the young generation wrongly.
In fact, my warning about Radhe to the audience is, do not follow his wrong actions in life but learn from his mistakes.
I want to do roles with a heart, a clean heart at that.
There was a time when heroes gave their life for love.
But most of the time when people kill themselves for love, it happens on the spur of the moment.
Once that moment is through you can’t put the clock back.
So yes, I won’t do roles that set the wrong example. I was offered Baazigar. I didn’t do it.
So this star who has the image of a rebel won’t do any role that compromises on morals?
That’s correct. I won’t do anything I don’t believe in just for money. As for the image, whom have I hurt in real life? If I’ve hurt anyone it’s me. My family feels the pain, yes. But not as strongly as me.
That’s why it’s very important for an individual to love himself first. Only then can he be loved by others.
But you don’t love yourself. You’re always hurting yourself.
How am I hurting myself? As for those who damn me, that will go on, because of who I am, and the bad press that I seen to attract. I think I matter to people.
They won’t write about truckdrivers who meet road accidents every day. But my car and my accident mattered. Because I was in the car.
It wasn’t a hit-and-run. There was no running away. Why did a simple road accident become ‘culpable homicide’? They sent me away.
Do you know from the time I was 6, I know those people who own the laundry and the bakery where the accident happened?
Did anyone bother to find out how much pain that accident caused me? Did anyone take the driver’s statement?
What I see are people climbing onto my shoulder to scream , ‘See, we put him in. We’re the good guys.’
Why do you want to put me down? To pull yourself up? Hold my hand, and I’ll take you where you want to go.
IMAGE: Salman Khan dances to Jeene Ke Hain Chaar Din in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.
Why are you so misunderstood?
When someone says that to me doesn’t it mean he has understood me? Those who write about me don’t know anything about me.
The honest truth about me is, I keep on growing. I’m not a stagnant person. I keep moving. Sometimes I fall.
But you fall harder than others.
How do you know that? At one point I’d get upset about the way I was perceived. No more. Does anyone know how much it troubles me to think about the mother of the person who died in the accident?
How much much does it take to write a page-long article kicking Salman’s ass? I don’t have problems with what mediapersons write. Because they don’t know me.
Your defiant attitude has cost you heavily in terms of a media image.
There’s no defiance. I’m very clear about my priorities. You want me to talk about my personal life. I won’t. Because my personal life isn’t only about me.
I’ve no right to talk about an issue that involves another person. Today I may be upset with someone. But I ‘m not capable of permanent grudges, no matter how much that person has wronged me.
I don’t want to lash out at that person and spoil the person’s image. If I decide to open my mouth I’ll be heard. Because I don’t talk.
IMAGE: Salman Khan with Anushka Sharma in Sultan.
Well, if you don’t talk, you end up looking like a monster?
To whom? My fans are with me. My career is doing fine. Look, I may have have ****ked up in life. Everyone makes mistakes. But if you keep publicising my so-called wrong, you’re only setting the wrong example.
Where’s your conscience when you keep playing up negative aspects of my life when I’m supposed to be a role model for youngsters?
There are two kinds of people who are alone in the world — the honest and the brave.
I’m honest enough to face up to my mistakes. But I’m also very clear about my priorities.
I smoke and drink in real life. But I won’t do these on camera. I do smoke in Tere Naam. But that’s because the character is like that.
I was once asked before a press meet why I smoked I ironically said, “Because it’s cool. Go ahead put it on camera. Destroy a whole generation.”
They call me a brat because they can’t comprehend the sense I make. A fool and an intelligent man will always have a problem in being understood.
Would you endorse alcohol or cigarettes?
You know they’ve repeatedly come to me with offers. But no thanks.
Why the media hostility towards you?
I never had a fight with the media. I never believed the media can make or break me, only God can do that.
You’ve starred in some of the biggest successes in the post-Bachchan era….
…And that’s just the beginning. Do you actually feel I’ve lost out on anything? Awards? They don’t concern me. I do one film and I move on to the next. My award is the success of my films.
You say four of the biggest? I think I’ve done about 90 films out of which about 9 haven’t been hits.
Don’t you think being media savvy has helped some of your colleagues considerably?
Everybody is made differently. Some other star has a different approach to his career. But most actors who take this profession too seriously are fooling themselves.
Any star who thinks cinema will collapse without them or that he’ll never go has a serious problem.
This industry has been around longer than all of us. How many superstars have come and gone? They forget birth is an accident. Death is not.
Those who say they’ll make their own destiny should just go ahead and try. Let God laugh.
Let any star or director try to make a film on his own. A film is team work. What a star appears on screen is a grand illusion created by a group of capable technicians.
IMAGE: Salman Khan and Sonu Sood in Dabangg.
But most stars get carried away by that illusion.
You know, I laugh when people say ‘X’ star has changed after success. Actually he was this ‘changed’ person all along. He was being nice only to make his way up.
The survivors are the ones who stay the same before and after success. I don’t think I’ve changed in any way after becoming a star. I know there are people who don’t like me.
I’ve seen no reason to justify my behaviour ever.
I don’t need to. Those who know me know what’s right. And the media can write and say what it likes.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
