Catch the bhaigiri on Dus Ka Dum

by Meenakshi Shankar

Sep 06, 2008, Mumbai

"How many people try to run away from their house…" was a question that was posed to Arbaaz Khan by his brother, Salman Khan on Dus Ka Dum. It was also the question which brought the mighty Khan to barely a lakh into his kitty, it was not the money, but the easy camaderie and the fun that the three brothers – Salman, Sohail and Arbaaz Khan had on the Khan hosted game show – Dus Ka Dum made it a must watch special weekend treat.

We caught up with the duo in an exclusive chat with us and Sohail was still getting over the fact that in the mock rehearsal, "I won a crore and when the moment came to play, I was out even before I could blink and make my presence felt." And a gloating Arbaaz cannot help, but rub in the fact that he made it and bagged a lakh! The easy sense of humor between Arbaaz and Sohail is hard to miss.

The prize money wasn't a criteria at all; the proceeds of which have been channelised to Salman Khan's charitable organization. The fact that the three brothers, for the first time, have come together on the screen truly makes it a memorable moment for them.

Just when the Bollywood bandwagon is riding pillion on the small screen to promote their showcases, we couldn't help, but wonder, if the brothers had come together to promote their long list of upcoming movies, which ofcourse, Sohail and Arbaaz denied.

Trying to deflect a hungry media from probing into Salman's personal life was a daunting task for both the brothers. "Salman will surprise all of us. He is more open to marriage than what he was and we do see a lot of positive changes in him. He is not an eternal bachelor…and he is a one-man-woman." But on the same footing, they also blamed the media for probing into the personal life of an actor, so much so that there was no personal life for the actor because before he even thought about it, it was splashed all over the media.

The Khan family is a very close-knit family. They respect each other's need for space, but at the same time, are always there every occasion, be it joy or sorrow. And, Arbaaz and Sohail mentioned, in unison, "We accept Katrina in our family. She's a very nice girl and has made a niche for herself in this industry. But, that is all we are going to talk about Salman and Katrina."

Both Arbaaz and Sohail are TV buff. Though, their interests are varied, they do make it a point to catch the cricket games or a Nat Geo or Discovery special together. "Yes, when Dus Ka Dum was offered to Salman Khan, we were a tad bit nervous because the viewers were used to seeing hosts who were 'propah'. Shahrukh did try to break the mould, but Salman broke the norm of hosting with Dus Ka Dum."

"The Salman Khan that you see on the game show is the real Salman bhai. He's a child at heart who loves people. "

As a host, both the brothers rate Salman as being a notch above the other hosts and they defend this, not to family bonding, but because Salman's a natural on screen. There cannot be pretensions when it comes to TV. As a host, Salman bhai brings freedom to the show. On the same note, the brothers could not deny the fact that TV is indeed a powerful medium and something, which we cannot ignore