n Friday, the Indian public will see Salman Khan perform his commonest role.In Tubelight, for the 96th time, Bollywood's Bhaijaan will be in love with a younger woman.
Salman was just 23 in 1988 when his first Bollywood film, Biwi Ho To Aisi, came out in theatres. He played Vicky Bhandari, a spoilt brat who finds a friend in Renu Arya. They were almost the same age.
His second film, Maine Pyar Kiya, debuted the following year. It made Salman Khan and Bhagyashree the nation's heartthrobs. They were 23 and 20 at the time of the movie's release.
Salman's career progressed to the point of superstardom, which he reached sometime in the beginning of the 2000s. With each hit, the age gap between Salman and his heroines increased.
Other than Srivedi, Salman's co-star in Chandra Mukhi (1993) and Chaand Kaa Tukdaa (1994) and two years his elder, every single one of the heroines Salman was paired with was younger than him.
(Illustration: Piyush Aggarwal)
Sneha Ullal of Lucky: No Time For Love (2005) was only 17 when the film was released. She is the youngest heroine Salman Khan has ever worked with.
Then there was Katrina, Sonam, and Ayesha Takia, heroines in their 20s while bhai was approaching 50.
Something remarkable happened with his last release, Sultan (2016), in which Anushka Sharma played his love interest. At the time of its premier, Anushka was 28 while Salman was 50. This is the biggest gap between Salman Khan and any of his heroines throughout his whole career.
In Tubelight, Salman is acting alongside a Chinese actor, Zhu Zhu, who is 32, fully 19 years younger than he.
Will fans protest? The previous 95 extremely successful films suggest an answer: probably not
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