Posted:
'When a film flops, the hero gets the jhaapad'
... says Salman Khan, who risked life and limb for brother Arbaaz's film
Mark Manuel I TNN
IT is late night at Galaxy Apartments, Bandra West, Mumbai. Salman Khan and I are discussing cinema over a drink; at least, I am drinking, he is talking. This is the holy month of Ramadan, he doesn't touch alcohol. But he is high on our conversation. And his words flow easily. First, on Sylvester Stallone's film The Expendables, the new worldwide hit; then, his own forthcoming film Dabangg, an Eid release. Salman's last big hit was Boney Kapoor's Wanted, which released last Eid. It's not that he's superstitious, but well, London Dreams, Main Aur Mrs Khanna and Veer after that all failed to rattle the box-office tills. Now he's got a gut instinct that Dabangg will do well. The promos have excited people. "It's entertaining," he said carefully, "there's more heroism in the action, and the action
itself was strenuous, bahut mehnat kiya."
He's in that countdown period to the release that actors dread. Firstly, there's the uncertainty over how well the film will do. Will the critics junk it, the audiences appreciate it, the box-office rate it as a success? But there's no time to think, because he's busy promoting the film. "I've not worked so hard on the film itself," he grumbled. "But everybody's doing it. This is now part of an actor's job. It's the hero who gets the jhaapad if his film nahi chali. First there used to be Doordarshan, Ameen Sayani on AIR, hoardings and posters. Now there's a competitive media, 15-20 press interviews, there are so many channels. Who knows who's watching what and when! Everybody's so busy. So the producer's principle is — hammer them with everything. Jitna kar sakta hai, karo!"
This is a home production, brother Arbaaz Khan's film, so Salman is involved in post-production work. Things like editing, for instance. "I believe it's important to have a tight script," he said, "why write 45 to 50 scenes when a film can only take 25-30? Then to cut out even one extra scene is a criminal waste. The producer feels, it's a nice shot, so much money has been spent on it, it would be bad to sacrifice it. Yeah, but then the film goes onto three hours. And watching it takes the whole day. Home to theatre in terrible traffic, then back, plus the three hour film... that's why two hours is good. Have more shows, there's repeat value in that, but don't keep the film heavy. Say what you want to in two hours. I believe a film should be only as long as it is interesting. From high point to high point."
His experience in Bollywood has made Salman wary about putting his foot down. "I feel the director might mistake my knowledge of cinema, my connect with the fans, for my stardom and power," he admitted. "I don't want them to think Salman Khan is throwing his weight." However, he managed this time. "Arbaaz and I had many arguments, but the sensibilities were the same. I don't believe in doing post-mortems on my films. There's no formula for success, I do my work to my fullest ability, then leave the post-mortem to fans. Nobody knows what's going to happen on September 10. If the film is a hit, people will say, 'We knew it would work.' If it flops, they will say, 'We don't know what happened.' But by and large, I've been lucky with Eid releases..."
Before Dabangg, he talked about The Expendables. He is a Stallone fan. He admires what the 64-year-old actor has done with his body, how he manages to write, produce, act and direct a film. If Bollywood had those kind of budgets, if the actors trained for the action, then rehearsed for a month, Salman was sure Bollywood could kill Hollywood. "Hamara kya hai, we go onto the set and ask, 'Shot kya hai?' We take it easy," he admitted. But it was different on Arbaaz's sets. Salman got involved with action director S Vijayan of Wanted fame. And he took chances that normally he wouldn't. But then, Salman Khan's on-screen and off-screen image is always the same for fans. "There was a possibility of getting hurt in every shot," he said. "The stunt guys were trained, they made it seem easy, but I was not the expert. I had to go on sets with everybody watching... and make it look a lot better."
source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIPU/2010/08/23&PageLabel=19&EntityId=Ar01900&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T
Seher Hone Ko Hai
20