India Abroad - June 3, 2011

SUPERSTAR
Ever since last year’s record-breaking hit Dabangg, which bagged a National Award in India recently, Salman Khan’s next has been on top of Hindi film buffs’ must-watch list. The Bollywood bad boy, who is now Ready, talks about the film (slated for a June 3 release), his equation with his heroines, and marriage.
After Wanted and Dabangg, you are being called the
Rajnikanth of Bollywood.
I don’t want to be anyone. I just want to be Salman Khan.
Is it a conscious effort to bring the macho hero back in
Bollywood?
Yes, because I had started missing them. When my father
(Salim Khan of the Salim-Javed combo of the 1970s) used to
write, the heroes used to be strong and central to the story,
doing heroic things. I would go to the theatre and clap and
whistle when I saw the hero on screen. The macho hero
seems to have vanished. Today’s generation is missing the
macho man and I wanted to bring him back on screen. I
wanted to make sure people remember the hero when they
leave the theatre. That’s why I am doing such films.
Don’t you fear being typecast in the image of a larger-than-
life hero?
What is wrong with that? I am enjoying it; everyone is
enjoying it; and I am sure you are enjoying it, too (smiles).
Wanted, Ready and Bodyguard are remakes of South
Indian films. Are you going to continue this trend?
There have been so many instances where they (southern
films) have copied our films. A lot of my father’s films were
being remade in the south. In the recent times, we
have Dabangg and 3 Idiots, which are in the process of being
remade.
I don’t believe in making remakes of Hollywood films
because those films have been seen across the world. The
movies being made these days, have one gag from a French
film, one action scene from an German film, and one char-
acter from an old film. This is usually the case unless a
writer-director makes the film.
Have you seen the southern original of Ready?
Bringingmachoback
Salman Khan discusses his new film, Ready, with Sonil Dedhia
No, I haven’t. I had heard the film’s plot and loved it. There
are a lot of twists and turns in the movie and it’s very clever-
ly written. The humor works amazingly well. The dialogues
are good.
Were any changes made for the Hindi remake?
A lot has been changed, keeping in mind the audience.
Your father is the script consultant for the film.
He gave suggestions wherever we went wrong. He has
seen the film thrice and I have never seen my father laugh so
much (smiles).
Will we see him writing a film for you?
I don’t think he has the patience to sit down and write a
whole film.
What’s your equation with Anees Bazmee, the director of
Ready?
I signed a film with T-Series and Anees Bazmee long ago.
The only thing that wasn’t working out was the script. There
have been so many instances when they selected the script
and approached me, but I rejected it. After that, Ready came
to me and I fell in love with the script… I don’t do films for
the sake of doing them. No matter who the director is, if I
don’t like the script I will not be a part of the film.

; M7

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