When Salman Khan dubbed the dialogue:  “Dil mein Aata Hu, Samajh Mein Nahi”, little would he have realized that it summed up his personality so well.

An enigma to most, Salman Khan is a constant subject of discussion. In fact, if someone finds more mention on social media than netas, it is Salman Khan. 

What would have happened had Salman Khan quit the film industry long back, when he was having a bad run at the box office?

Devapriya Sanyal, through her book – Salman Khan: The Man, The Actor, The Legend --  hopes that the reader will encounter new perspectives on cinema and the aura of the film star and also analyses the peculiar glow of a superstar like him in a consumerist society.

Sanyal is right when she says – “To date, no book has been written that seeks to cut through the many layers of his personality…” This book is about an actor who is endlessly talked about and criticized yet is also an object of adulation, fantasy, reverence and culture, she says.

But, is Salman Khan truly a legend? 

Real vs Reel life

The contradictions which is seen in his real and reel life have been well documented, and therefore, the author doesn’t err in capturing them. But as she states, “One has to take Salman Khan’s public life beyond his screen roles into account. In this book, I have attempted to take cognizance of both Salman Khan, the actor, and Salman Khan, the celebrity. I have done so by examining the different stages of his career and the growth of his celebrity status, explaining the complex relationship that exists between the two facets.”

Salman Khan is one of the few Bollywood actors who have broken the age barrier. In fact, he became more successful in his forties and so we got characters like Sultan and Bajrangi Bhaijan. Definitely, on screen, he has presented a new kind of masculinity as the author puts it which is not vulnerable and quiescent, but accommodative and appreciative of women, respectful and tough. His critics would definitely question this part of contradiction in his reel and real image. Now which one of them is real Salman Khan?

A parallel can be drawn between Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan, as the author points out -- “Much like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, too, has tested the bitterness of failure.”

“Just like Bachchan, Salman, too, has reinvented himself time and again with the changing times, which vouches for his enduring mass appeal across generations.”

But what about his personal life? “Salman Khan is ardently unapologetic about his private life and he is unusually close to his family,” writes Sanyal. 

The chapter “With Human Failings” attempts to draw out the more personal parts of the man. “More than the numerous brawls resulting out of several failed romantic relationships, fights with umpteen scribes, and flops, what has plagued Salman Khan for a very long time are his court cases. It is his extra-textual role as a repeated offender that often grabs media headlines,” the author says.

Also, what cannot be ignored is ‘Brand’ Salman Khan. To study the brand and the stakes that run on it would probably require knowing the man himself. It will also require one to think -- is he really a non-starter businessman or razor sharp given the high valuations he commands?

The author has tried hard to bring out the true personality of the man. However, the real Salman Khan still remains unknown as the book ends. Maybe a chat with immediate family would have worked.

“Characters like Chulbul Pandey, Radhe and Tiger have helped Salman transform his screen image toward a tougher one but laced with a sense of mellow maturity,” the author observes.

“Perhaps, the self-destructive streak in him that Salim Khan, his father, had once warned him about may well be instrumental in bringing about his downfall. But as of now, Salman is continually going from strength to strength and could, in the distant future, even realize his dream of directing a film,” she says.

The characters he has played recently display “an obsessive determination to conquer or win at all costs. Their fighting spirit is a recurrent motif, which is central to Salman Khan’s persona, and in a way, echoes his personal story in his fight to the top.”

Salman Khan aka the eternal ‘Prem’ and today’s Chulbul Pandey actually exemplifies the line -- “nothing succeeds like success”.

(Richa Mishra is a senior journalist with The Hindu Business Line)

About the Book

Salman Khan: The Man, The Actor, The Legend

Devapriya Sanyal

Bloomsbury India

234 pages ; ₹558 (hardcover)

Check out the book on Amazon

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