Dabangg 2 -Rev/Coll. - Gross 271 Cr WorldWide - Page 91

Born as the eldest son to screenwriter Salim Khan and Salma Khan, Salman Khan made his debut in the Hindi Film Industry in a miniature role in the family drama BIWI HO TO AISI in (1988). But it didn't take him too long to become and overnight star. The year was 1989 when he collaborated with Sooraj R. Bajartya to give India its Highest Grossing film MAINE PYAR KIYA, which earned him a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. The film was later dubbed in English as WHEN LOVE CALLS, a 125-minute version, and was a runaway success in the Caribbean market at Guyana and also dominated the box-office collections at Trinidad and Tobago. MAINE PYAR KIYA was also dubbed in Spanish as TE AMO, and the film went on to prove its universal appeal with a glorious 10-week premier at Lima, capital of Peru. It was also dubbed in Telugu as PREMA PAAVURAALU, in Tamil as KAADHAl ORU KAVITHAI and in Malayalam as INA PRAABUKAL. Despite the early success in 1990-91 with films like BAAGHI, PAATHAR KE PHOOL, SANAM BEWAFA, KURBAAN and SAJAAN, Salman had a spate of flops in the next two years.

But Salman returned to his glory days in 1994, when he teamed up with Sooraj R. Bajartya for the second time to give the industry one of its biggest hit ever, HUM APKE HAIN KAUN. The film went to earn over more then 135 crores worldwide. Breaking all the previous records maintained itself as the highest-grossing Bollywood film throughout history for 7 years. In the following years to come, Salman acted in successful films like Karan Arjun (1995) with Shah Rukh Khan, Jeet (1996) opposite Sunny Deol, Judwaa (1997) and Auzaar (1997).

Salman continued with his box office dominance in 1999 featuring in all three major grossing films that year – HUM SAATH SAATH HAIN, BIWI NO. 1 and HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM, the later earning him the Best Actor nomination at the Filmfare.

From 2000-2009 Salman was seen working in some hard-hitting subjects, CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE, which dealt with the issue of surrogate childbirth, TERE NAAM, which till date is rated as Salman's best performance. He subsequently continued his success at the box office, with comedies like MUJSHE SHAADI KAROGE, NO ENTRY, and PARTNER.

But it was the year 2009, when there was upsurge in Salman's popularity. With WANTED (2009) Salman Khan reinvented himself as the star of the masses. With DABANGG (2010), which broke several box-office records upon release, went onto gross 215crores worldwide to become the all-time blockbuster.

Then started an era of Salman Khan's dominance at the box-office, where, Salman was competing with himself for setting and smashing records. With top grossers like READY (2011), BODYGUARD (2011) and EK THA TIGER (2012). EK THA TIGER went on to become the second Bollywood film to gross over 300 crores worldwide behind only Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots.

Salman continues to control the box-office with his latest release DABANGG 2. Currently, the film is minting money and is likely to maintain the momentum for some more weeks. In that case, 'Dabangg 2' will be a strong contender to cross the Rs 200 crore mark.

One of RGV's tweets can sum up the situation, "I think Salman khan smashed the auteur theory forever by proving that a director is irrelevant to the success of a film."

On his 47th birthday, we wish him good health, success and happiness.

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