Like most actors in Bollywood, Salman Khan is most accessible to the press before the release of a film. It’s also the time when the “controversy’s child” is, perhaps, at his most measured. The air of cautiousness is palpable when we meet Khan at Mehboob Studio in Bandra ahead of his upcoming film Tubelight. Dressed casually in a black T-shirt and denims, enjoying a cigarette while talking to us, he appears somewhat distracted and preoccupied in the tent pitched outside the vanity van. It could be to do with the exhaustion of promotions. In the film (set in 1962), however, he is supposed to be a chirpy and effervescent character who believes that goodwill can stop a war. Edited excerpts from the interview.
This is your third film with Kabir Khan, and the previous two have been huge successes. What is it that works for the two of you?
The scripts work. The fact that we both agree on the films we do. After Ek Tha Tiger (2012) we did Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), which turned out to be better than Tiger . Then we got a film, which we thought was better than Bajrangi Bhaijaan , which is Tubelight. Both of us have to agree on doing one particular script and both of us have so far been lucky with that.
In Tubelight you play a simple, earnest character. Is that too much of an effort or does it come naturally to you?
It was difficult in the beginning but once two-three days of shoot go well and you’ve understood the script, it just comes to you one day. You know you should walk like this and this should be your tone. When that first walk comes in then you know you can improve on it [then] it gets better. Once you walk right, then even your language changes, the way you speak. Once these two things are there — when you can walk the character, talk the character — then you automatically look the character. Since this is a period film, there’s also a lot of support from the costume designer, there’s my sister, there are people who designed my clothes, there’s the DoP (director of photography), then there’s the art director who made it look like its 1962.
You’ve had consistent hits sinceWanted (2008). Why do you think you’ve been this lucky?
I have been lucky. People are working hard on scripts and people have worked hard as producers and directors. I’m lucky that good scripts and directors are coming to me so my level goes automatically higher; because they are working much harder on themselves, on writing, on directing, on the music … the whole package is elevated. Everyone has become work conscious right now. Everyone wants to do good quality work.
Around Wanted, your popularity was primarily among ‘single-screen audiences’, but now even the ‘multiplex audiences’ look forward to your films. Is there a new found pressure to appease both the sections?
There’s always a pressure. But if you’re confident of the film, the pressure isn’t that much. If you yourself are not sure and if you have signed a film just because you have worked with a director before, or the producer, and you don’t want to say no, then it becomes awkward. Then that film doesn’t really work. It’ll do average business, it’ll do okay, but that satisfaction doesn’t actually come. So you need to be very careful.
Female characters aren’t really at the centre of your films. Would you agree to a movie with a female lead?
(Takes a long pause) No, not really at this point of time. If it’s a guest appearance, I’ll do it but only if the script is a beautiful script. If it’s a story I like and if it is a female-oriented film, and I know this story should be told, then yes, at that point of time, perhaps yes. I’d do a guest appearance in that film just to see that the film releases. Like I did Phir Milenge [2004] with Shilpa [Shetty]. That was a very small role, about 15-20 days of work. I did it because I liked the story, and I like the director [Revathy], who was my co-star in Love (1991).
At one point you amassed a large female following by taking your shirt off. Has that changed with time?
Different films, different approaches. In a film like Tubelight , if you take your shirt off, you will not evoke that response. But in a Wanted or Dabangg (2010), it’s stylised and there’s a lot of swag in it. Reaction to these things do help.
The three Khans -- Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and you— still dominate the industry. Why do you think that is?
I keep on saying this over [and over] again, I am just lucky to be here. It’s just that I lucked out on the right films. And then when I didn’t do the right films, the fans, they passed by. But the good films came back again. So I’ve just been lucky. Lucky that I got accepted and when the three-four bad ones came in, the fans didn’t reject me outright.
You have a cult following of sorts in several parts of the country. Is there a feeling of responsibility to act a certain way since you’re being imitated?
Everyone should feel that sense of responsibility. The fact that you’re in this industry where you can bring about peace or you could disturb people, you should be very careful. And it’s not just our job or my job but your job also. As a reporter, you might feel that this might go slightly wrong, so why [would] you want it to go wrong? Because you are writing your piece, and you want your TRPs and your viewership, you create a controversy. You should avoid that for the bigger picture. Don’t you think so? But still people do that.
Is that also why you don’t kiss in your films?
Yes, yes, yes, because I’ve felt awkward when we used to watch films on VHS (Video Home System) at home. Our whole family used to watch an English film and when the main lead and the heroine used to smooch on-screen, you know, we used to feel awkward and turn around and start talking. That’s stuck in my head, so I’ve never done that.
