Media may bitch about me, but my producers love me Salman Khan

Salman Khan, who is cornered by Jyothi Venkatesh tells him that he is confident that Wanted will turn out to be a hit at the box-office.

Salman Khan who is desperately in need of a hit after quite a few films of his have successively proved to be duds at the box office, like Hello, Yuvraj, God Tussi Great Ho etc, is quite confident that his next release Wanted, produced by Boney Kapoor and directed by the ace choreographer cum actor Prabhu Deva will hit the bull’s eye at the box office.

Salman is also banking on his other releases this year- Anil Sharma’s Veer, Prem Soni’s Main Aurr Mrs Khanna in which he has been cast opposite Kareena Kapoor, and last but not the least Vipul Shah’s London Dreams, in which his co-stars are Ajay Devgan and Asin.

When I meet Salman Khan for this interview at the Hotel Leela Kempinski, the actor seems quite excited about the outcome of the film, so much so, that he tells me that though the comedy quotient in Wanted is nowhere nearer to what was there in Boney Kapoor’s No Entry, directed by Anees Bazmee, he hopes that Wanted will turn out to be a hit.

Salman also asserts that Wanted will not be just an out and out action film, but also have content as well as great visuals because for the first time, the audience will be able to see a Hindi film which has been shot in the exotic locales of Greece in places like Santorina and Rodos.

Wanted is the Hindi remake of the Tamil super hit Pokkiri as well as its Telugu remake, which also had turned out to be super hits. Both the films were directed by Prabhu Deva with Vijay in the lead. Salman confesses that it was quite tough to execute the steps for his dance numbers because he does not have a flexible rubber-like body, like that of Prabhu Deva who has not only directed the film, but also choreographed the dance numbers. “Yes. I did try to copy the steps of Prabhu Deva Sir but was shocked when I saw the final outcome, because I realized that I had taken an entirely different step.”

Salman elaborates. “I would not say that the steps that I have taken in the film are great, but I would unabashedly state that the steps that I have taken are better than what I tend to do normally. In that sense, I would admit that it is better than my capacity, thanks to Prabhu Deva, though I would modestly go to the extent of telling you that I am not at all comparing myself with either Sunny Deol or for that matter Sanjubaba, as far as dancing is concerned.” (Laughs)

Salman clarifies that the character of Radhe that he is playing in Wanted is quite different from the character of Radhe Mohan that he had played in Tere Naam, which also was the remake of a Tamil hit called Sethu. “I played the role that Vikram had played in Sethu when it was remake in Hindi as Tere Naam. In Wanted, I have essayed the character of Radhe Mohan that Vijay had done in both the Tamil as well as Telugu versions of the film, which was titled Pokkiri in both the languages. However, I made it a point not to observe both the actors in the original versions, because I did not want to be influenced in any way by either of them when I set out to act”

Salman sets out to explain the basic nuances of his character in Wanted. “If the Radhe of Tere Naam was a college kid, the Radhe of Wanted is a hard core man, who is the most wanted man in Mumbai by several people for different reasons. If Radhe is wanted by the innocent Jhanvi to be her knight in shining armor, he is wanted by the corrupt Inspector Talpade for being in the wrong place at the right time. If Radhe is wanted by the dreaded gangster Datta Pawle for coming in his way, he is wanted dead by Don Gani Bhai, because he knows too much. Radhe is also wanted alive by the Commissioner Ashraf Khan because he wants to know what Radhe knows”.

Salman says that he does not want the audiences to go to watch Wanted expecting it to turn out to be another action packed blockbuster like Aamir Khan’s Ghajini. “Ghajini belonged to an entirely different genre. It worked not because of the action it had, but because of Aamir and the fact that it was a tender love story. The concentration of the public was not on Aamir’s body or his six packs abs but on Aamir per se in Ghajini”

Salman Khan reiterates that Wanted is a film on heroism. “I liked the script when Boney narrated it to me, because I felt that after a long period of time, a film was being made on heroism and hence ek jazba tha mehnat karne ka. When you go to watch the film, you would want to be in the shoes of Radhe. This, I feel is the triumph of the film as well as its director, because way back in the 70’s and 80’s, I remember the viewers wanted to be in the shoes of either Amitabh Bachchan or Vinod Khanna when they watched the films in which they starred.”

Salman was also equally impressed by the excellent hospitality accorded to him as well as the entire unit when they were shooting in Greece. “I was impressed tremendously by Greece and the hospitality of the people there. I should say that it is an amazing place. At an unearthly hour when we landed at a restaurant, which had just closed, we pleaded with the owner to provide us with at least two dishes because we were famished. To our pleasant surprise, not only did they serve us 40 different dishes, but insisted on being paid only for the two dishes that we had ordered, though Boney offered to pay the bill for all the dishes

Do you ever bank on any film of yours? I ask Salman. “Take it from me. Till date, I have not banked even on a single film of mine, because I am extremely normal contrary to what the media is keen on portraying me as. Success or failure of any film of mine does not at all rattle me as an individual. The moment my film clicks at the box office, I do not become deliriously happy and if a film flops, I do not lose my head or become upset. I do not care for success or failure because I am just normal. That is because, at the risk of sounding to be immodest, I want to say that I know my job well.”

Salman admits that he has had his fair share of hits as well as flops as an actor and confesses that if tomorrow his films fail to click at the box office, if not as a hero, he can always get into the slot of the character artiste or become a director or a writer because he knows his work and is already into production.

What does Salman think of success or failure as an actor? “I am of the opinion that failure has made more successful people than success itself. Success has made more failures than failure itself. I feel that failure is a better teacher, provided you know how to handle it intelligently. I have seen my father handling his failure successfully and emerging victorious too. If some one were to push me into water, I would not yell, “Save Me, Save Me’. Instead I will try to come out of water to find out who the hell had pushed me into the water, because I know how to swim. I know my work. I know my craft.”

Salman feels that an actor should only play parts that suit his personality. “You cannot expect me to play Devdas, Mughal-E-Azam, Zanjeer or Deewar kind of roles. As an actor, I have always tried to be as natural as possible. I cry the way I would, and laugh the way I would in real life, in reel life too. If you try to be what you are not, the strain and the effort will certainly show. I will always be the way I am, so that the audience expectations will not become too heavy a cross to bear, as far as I am concerned. In any case, I do not want to or have to prove a point to any one, least of all the critics. Otherwise acting could become much too tiresome.”

Salman Khan is happy that he has been loved as well as appreciated as the affable host of the game show Dus Ka Dum on Sony and admits that he is very choosy when it comes to signing on films. “I do not like to go on a spree of signing on films left, right and center. What you need is the right script to sail you through as an actor. The most important factor, which makes a film run, is the script. Nothing else, no one else .I feel that the script is the real hero of any film, not the actor, not even Salman Khan”.

Salman adds. “I have been repeated by most of my producers till date, much as you people from the media may hate me and bitch about me behind my back. Achche aadmi ki pehchaan yahi hona chahiye ki uski naukar purane hone chahiye, uski dost purane honi chahiye. Aur mere tho donon hai”.

-Sampurn Media