What was so bad about Salman Khan 2000-2009

Ludicrous reasons are wheeled out by his critics to perpetuate this myth. The movies in which he made guest appearances are tagged as his movies. HELLO, SAAWARIYA, HEROES, BAABUL, SAAWAN, etc. are some of the examples. By the same logic, does one count DULHA MIL GAYA, HEY RAM, BHOOTNATH, SILSILAY, KRAZZY 4, etc. as Shah Rukh's movies?

It is amusing that naysayers discount superhits like MUJHSE SHAADI KAROGI, NO ENTRY, and PARTNER all of which released between 2000 and 2009 as these are multi-starrer movies. While the contribution to each and every member associated with the movie must be acknowledged, it is clear as daylight that Salman was the dominant star in those movies who pulled in the audience. The producer of NO ENTRY is still waiting for Salman's approval and dates to start its sequel. The project has not taken off only because Salman is yet to allot the dates. While Anil Kapoor is a fine actor, he has been playing side-roles since 1999 and is dependent on the dominant star to pull through the movies. Same goes for Govinda whose heyday as superstar ended in 1999. Govinda has said in numerous interviews that he would always be grateful to Salman for offering him a film when no work was coming his way. If one look at Govinda's movies from 2003 onwards, all of them have opened extremely poorly except PARTNER and BHAGAM BHAG. He no longer gets the lead roles.

Also, if we deploy the same rationale and yardstick, should we discount KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GHAM, DEVDAS, KAL HO NA HO, OM SHANTI OM, etc, from SRK's oeuvre... and RANG DE BASANTI, 3 IDIOTS, DIL CHAHTA HAI, etc. from Aamir Khan's body... or PHIR HER PHERI, WELCOME, HEY BABY, SINGH IS KINNG, BHOOL BHULAIYA, etc. from Akshay Kumar's filmography?

People condone TERE NAAM, MAINE PYAAR KYUN KIYA, CHORI CHORI CHUPKE, WANTED, DULHAN HUM LE JAYENGE, and HAR DIL JO PYAR KAREGA as if they didn't exist. These all movies were declared either hits or semi-hits by all trade experts alike, but when it comes to Salman anything less than a blockbuster is a flop?

Just for the reference of readers, GARAM MASALA, WAQT, NAMASTEY LONDON, DIL CHAHTA HAI, CHALTE CHALTE, KAL HO NA HO, DEVDAS, ANDAZ, etc. are all either hits or semi-hits. But are they called flops or disasters? The larger point here is that it is not appropriate to dub successful films (hits or semi-hits) as flops just because they were not blockbusters.

Another notable point is that even the films like GARV and LUCKY which were ultimately declared below-average at the box-office opened to packed houses.

Having said all this, one must admit that Salman was not as successful between 2000 and 2009 as he was in 1990s, a decade when he was undisputed numero uno. From 2000 to 2009, Shah Rukh and Aamir certainly had an edge over Salman, but to say that Salman's stardom had dipped considerably is a gross exaggeration. The perception and general consensus about Salman among hoi polloi has always been that of a larger-than-life superstar.