Salman never idolised anyone

Salman Khan fearlessly moves ahead with his next ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ as he feels secularism should be something which everyone needs to follow. He feels, we, homo sapiens are very similar to each other, therefore there need not be any discrimination with respect to cast, creed, language or even belonging to any country.

“Human beings all over the world have been created with the same blood and flesh and I am sure no controversies will be ignited by any religious organisations as everyone enjoys each ones’ festival. Have we all not seen a Maulana sitting for Ganesh Visarjan,” asks Sallu who strongly professes, "secularism."

In an exclusive rendezvous with Hans Talkies, Salman talks about promotions, Kareena, his cinema and more. “Earlier there were no extensive promotions but films still did well. We didn't know what the circulation of a paper was – whether it was in thousands or mere hundreds; we were never bothered about it. Press fooled us a lot at that time. Most importantly people read magazines. I would be worried for a whole month about what had been written in the interview.

Then the everyday tabloid! Morning news and afternoon news followed and now social media is an every minute affair,” says Salman speaking about how film promotions have changed over time. The superstar has teamed up with Kareena for the fourth time and says she has changed over time. “The first time I met Bebo, she was a nine-year-old. She had that star quality. I told Lolo (Karisma) you are a hamaal and your sister is a star! She eventually became one,” he reflects.

Hailing from a writer’s clan, one wonders if it is a conscious effort to be a part of his kind of cinema.“Yes. It is. I’ve always done cinema which I believed in. As I was growing up (am still growing!), I was always impressed by the characters and changed myself to sync with the character. Whatever the reason for watching a movie may be, but you come out as a better person. You believe in your hero.

You wish he was a person you knew – father, brother, boyfriend. We do films- good or bad -- that revolve around human emotions. Most of us go through the same emotions in real life,” observes the actor. While he is an onscreen idol to many, he himself has never seen anyone as a ‘hero’.

“I have watched a lot of films over the years and became a fan of many characters. But somewhere inside, I knew they were actors enacting roles. I understood they were great performers but I never idolised anyone in particular. I just took what I liked from them,” he shares.

By Lipika Varma