In a candid exclusive group chat with Pinkvilla, Salman Khan opens up about the success of his Diwali 2023 release, Tiger 3. Salman shares his thoughts on doing action films, the idea of balancing the action genre with comedy and drama, his thoughts on Zoya Spin Off with Katrina Kaif in lead, and plans to open new theatres. He also explains why he doesn’t like the term superstar or megastar and informs that he fears losing respect in the eyes of family and friends. Watch Video
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00:00 As a film, this tiger is one of the best tigers.
00:02 As the script and the plot of the film.
00:05 I hear people say, "This film is made for us."
00:10 "It's made for us."
00:11 Then why are you showing it to people?
00:13 Don't show it.
00:14 I think Mr. Anand Swastikar and Mr. Sylvester Stallone
00:18 used to have a competition.
00:21 Long ago, who's carrying bigger guns.
00:24 You know, believing, going out, gossiping,
00:28 bitching about people, tracking, following.
00:32 What's happening to this, what's happening to that.
00:34 What's the number of this, what's the number of that.
00:36 I don't believe in all these things.
00:37 Before I even became an actor, I've seen this failure, success,
00:43 failure, success with my father.
00:46 This has crossed my mind a billion times.
00:51 When they say superstar, megastar, I don't like that.
00:56 I don't like that at all.
00:57 (MUSIC)
01:00 Hi, Salman sir. I'm Titas from News18.
01:03 It's a very special day for you.
01:05 It's your father's birthday today.
01:06 And has he watched the film?
01:09 What was his reaction?
01:11 And do you still consult him for scripts?
01:14 So it is a very special day for me.
01:16 It's my father's birthday.
01:18 And Ali Say's film has released today.
01:20 Which was shown to the press and they all loved it.
01:23 I don't know if you guys have seen the film.
01:25 And yeah, so today these two things have happened on the 24th of November.
01:33 I'm really, really happy.
01:35 Tiger's done well.
01:36 So it's good.
01:39 And your question was that, does he still see my films?
01:43 So the films that we produce, we narrate him the subject,
01:48 the plot, till today.
01:52 And we make sure that the ones that we take to him
01:57 are the ones that he would like and he would approve.
02:01 Hi, Salman sir. Himesh this side from Pinkula.
02:04 Sir, this is the third film of the Tiger franchise.
02:06 And all three films are made by different directors.
02:08 From Kabir, Ali and now Manish.
02:10 How do you view each one, like each of their approach to the character of Tiger?
02:15 And whose approach and what do you like the most of the three?
02:18 I don't know the answer to this.
02:22 I can only say that everyone has given their best for these films.
02:29 Ali, Kabir and this time Manish.
02:34 And which is your favourite?
02:36 My favourite is Maine Pyaar Kiya.
02:40 This one is special because it has a journey of both the first and the second.
02:45 A journey before Tiger became Tiger and Zoya became Zoya.
02:50 So there is a continuation.
02:52 Before Zoya met Tiger, before she joined ISI,
02:58 what was she, what was Tiger, how they met.
03:01 And they've met early means like they've crossed each other but
03:06 they've never met each other and destiny brings them together in Tiger.
03:11 So, that's all. I think as a film, this Tiger is one of the best Tigers.
03:18 As a script and the plot of the film.
03:21 Hello, sir. This is Ankita from ETimes.
03:24 People who've seen Tiger 3 feel that you've reinvented yourself
03:30 within the Tiger character this time around.
03:33 And that is showing that Tiger, Tiger 2 and up Tiger 3.
03:38 And they still see that you've reinvented and put in so much effort.
03:42 So, was that a conscious choice and how have you worked
03:46 towards reinventing the Tiger character
03:48 while keeping its essence intact?
03:51 It's like me doing Chulbul Pandey.
03:54 You've done one, you've done two, you've done three.
03:58 So, it just grows. That is in your blood now.
04:02 Your mannerisms are there.
04:04 It's just there, it just flows.
04:06 And it just gets only better because you have one and two.
04:10 So, Tiger is the same thing.
04:13 Because I had Tiger 1, Tiger 2, Tiger 3.
04:17 So, the character just grows.
04:19 You know, one and two are backing the third Tiger.
04:24 So, automatically, without me doing anything,
04:28 it looks that this is our Tiger and he's better than the previous one.
04:35 Hi, Salman sir. My name is Urmin. I'm from Bollywood Hungama.
04:38 While there's everything in your film always,
04:41 the one thing that all your fans definitely look forward to
04:43 is when you remove your T-shirt.
04:45 - What? In this film? - We didn't get a chance this time.
04:48 - Exactly. - We didn't get a chance.
04:49 - We're disappointed. - I was yearning for a shot
04:53 where the shirt comes out.
04:56 Sir, would you call Katrina Kaif your box office lucky mascot?
05:00 No, I wouldn't do that because we also have Yuvraj together.
05:03 And neither I for her.
05:06 But the films that we've done have been very successful.
05:10 Sorry, just one more thing.
05:12 Are you personally looking forward to
05:14 if there is a Zoya spin-off which she headlines someday?
05:18 Yeah, why not?
05:20 Why not? Seriously, why not?
05:23 But I think Zoya would be very incomplete without Tiger.
05:26 So, Tiger will have to be there and save the day in the climax.
05:32 Even though it won't be in the entire film.
05:34 But it's important to have an introduction of a Tiger
05:38 because it's somewhere else.
05:40 It's important to have a telephone call.
05:43 It's important to have a hook in an interval.
05:47 And in the climax, when Zoya...
05:50 ...needs a mission,
05:56 then Tiger lands up there
05:58 to make sure that Zoya and Tiger accomplish the mission.
06:03 Because Tiger and Zoya have become so synonymous
06:06 that either one, me without Zoya or Zoya without me,
06:10 the film will feel a little empty.
06:13 But if we tell Zoya the same thing,
06:15 that there will be an introduction, you will come in the interval,
06:18 and then there will be a climax,
06:20 she won't be able to handle it.
06:22 She will keep on increasing her role.
06:27 Sarwan sir, you know, from 2017,
06:30 since the time Tiger Zinda has released,
06:32 there is one trend which has taken up in the Indian cinema,
06:34 which is the machine gun sequence.
06:35 We have seen it, the South filmmakers using it,
06:38 or now even so many Hindi films.
06:40 And you are the original trendsetter of that
06:42 because ever since then it has taken off.
06:43 How do you look at that trend?
06:45 And were you ever contemplating on having a machine gun sequence
06:48 in Tiger 3 as well?
06:49 Was there? I don't think there was.
06:51 - There was not. - No, there was not.
06:53 Now it's done.
06:55 Now we're coming back to smaller guns,
06:56 and then we go back to just back to hands.
06:59 Man on man.
07:01 But how do you view the fact that you set a trend
07:03 which everyone, not just Hindi, but even South has followed it?
07:06 You know, we always highlight how when...
07:08 - Other way. - I have never thought of this.
07:11 No, no, you're asking me this question.
07:13 You've noticed this.
07:14 I've never noticed this.
07:16 So all this, I think...
07:18 I think Mr. Anand Swansnagar and Mr. Sylvester Stallone
07:25 had a competition going on a long time ago
07:28 about who's carrying bigger guns.
07:30 Eventually, these guys started coming out with rocket launchers
07:33 and the guns that were used on helicopters,
07:38 they started using all of that.
07:40 Right now, when you're 30 years in the industry,
07:44 - and you have this... - A little more.
07:47 A little more.
07:48 But let's take three decades for now, but more than that, of course.
07:52 You've developed this aura and your personality
07:56 which always translates in your characters.
07:59 But is it a conscious choice to sometimes mix them both
08:03 in terms of your character along with that aura?
08:06 Do you have anything in mind when you're working on a Hindi film?
08:08 No, not really. Not really.
08:11 Nothing. I've never thought of these things at all.
08:14 Ever. Ever.
08:16 The scenes that come in, I improvise on them.
08:20 See, I look at it, "What do I want to see?"
08:24 If I'm sitting in the theatre, what I want to see, and I just do that.
08:28 So if I want to see something in the theatre,
08:32 I'm sure the fans also want to see that.
08:34 I make movies like a fan.
08:39 That this is the kind of movie that I would go and watch in a theatre.
08:43 And to add to that, there were films like Tere Naam
08:47 where you completely broke that stereotype.
08:50 So specifically, do you feel that any character
08:54 where you had to really work hard to break that...
08:57 I don't know.
08:59 See, all the hard work that I...
09:04 I mean, usually people right now say that, you know,
09:06 "We'll work on the movie only if we get the picture."
09:09 So all these things I have done much before I came into the industry.
09:15 The four, five years of struggle that I did before I did
09:19 Maine Pyaar Kiya, Bibi Hota Aisi,
09:21 all these things, all this hard work was put in there.
09:24 And so after that also, whenever I sign a movie,
09:29 I have to like it in the first narration.
09:32 If I do not like it in the first narration,
09:34 if it doesn't excite me, that...
09:36 Yeh do pichon ki dates aage shift karo.
09:40 Is film ko leke aao.
09:42 Till the time I do not sign the film.
09:45 And if I say, "Yeh do filmon ko aage shift karo,"
09:48 then those films are not happening.
09:51 So I work on it as...
09:53 Okay, I want this to come out as fast as possible.
09:58 So that is what I usually concentrate on.
10:02 And I don't think you guys see me going out,
10:05 you don't catch me anywhere.
10:06 No parties, no... So I shoot, I go back home.
10:10 All the discussions that I have, either it's on being human,
10:14 it's family stuff, or friends, and movies.
10:20 Keh kal kya scene hoga, parso kya kya karein, isko kaisa karein.
10:23 That is also...
10:25 That hard work is done at home with the director.
10:30 And on the script.
10:32 So that's why on the sets,
10:34 yeh aata hai, dekhta hai, udhar-udhar coffee peeta,
10:37 shot deke chala jaata hai.
10:39 But all that work has been done before I land up on the sets.
10:44 So I do not believe in going out, gossiping,
10:50 bitching about people, tracking, following,
10:54 iska kya ho raha, uska kya ho, iske kya numbers, uske kya numbers.
10:58 I don't believe in all these things.
10:59 I just concentrate on what we're doing now.
11:02 So even the people who come home are those people
11:06 who have been working with me, have worked with me,
11:09 or are working with me currently.
11:12 Or some people who I'm going to be working with ahead.
11:15 And of course, I have a set of four or five friends
11:18 who have been there since time unknown, and that is my life.
11:22 You just mentioned that you make films for the fans,
11:25 and there's a sense of relief that the fans get
11:28 as soon as they see you on screen, especially in a fight sequence.
11:32 Ek bahut trending joke hai ki villains saal bhar body banate hain
11:36 taaki aapse pith sake.
11:38 My question to you is, aap kisse darta hai?
11:41 Respect se darta ho main.
11:43 Respect.
11:46 Especially, agar kisi ko let down kiya hai, usse darta ho.
11:54 Jo ones, the people that love you, the family, the friends, the fans,
12:01 you should not lose respect in their eyes.
12:03 Usse se darta ho, baaki...
12:06 Salman sir, over the last few years, in a lot of interviews,
12:09 you have said that you are looking for a non-action film,
12:12 be it a comedy or a drama.
12:14 - I've got them. - Okay.
12:16 So hopefully we'll get to see you in...
12:18 So there's going to be action, non-action, action, non-action.
12:22 Even those... See, it has to be...
12:26 It has to be love, it has to be a goal, it has to be a sacrifice,
12:31 it has to be purity, sincerity in a movie that...
12:37 And then the songs, and then the dhamal, and then the humour,
12:41 and a climax that will blow everyone's minds.
12:45 And that does not mean that you're fighting with 100 fighters.
12:50 It just doesn't mean only... That is... Physical action is action.
12:54 Action also could be, you know, drama, could be love,
12:59 it could be, you know, a reach to goal without even raising a finger.
13:05 That also is, I mean, something that you can go and watch a film,
13:11 and a whole family, joint families, 40, 50 people,
13:14 go and watch a movie together.
13:16 That is action in the theatres.
13:19 Why? Because they love the script.
13:21 Ever since you started out, the movies that you did in the 90s
13:24 to the films that you're doing now,
13:26 and right now, the way you mentioned that, you know,
13:28 you wouldn't mind just coming for a small cameo in a spin-off of Zoya's film,
13:33 how have you managed to be so secure as an actor?
13:36 All your co-stars say that, you know, you always keep your co-stars ahead.
13:40 How have you managed to be so secure over the years?
13:43 And of course, the kind of stardom that you enjoy now is a different story.
13:47 But I think ever since you started out,
13:50 you've got that sense of security always, I believe.
13:53 I've seen it at home.
13:54 I don't think that anyone can take anything away from you that you deserve.
14:00 I don't think that is possible.
14:04 What you deserve, you will get.
14:05 And I don't think that you can snatch away anything
14:08 from anyone that that person deserves.
14:11 So, it just doesn't...
14:14 I mean, you give, you know, you give it your best.
14:18 And while giving your best, I mean, you shine as well,
14:23 but you don't need to, you know, outshadow somebody,
14:27 or, you know, cut somebody's role,
14:31 or, you know, show somebody down.
14:34 You don't need to do any of these things.
14:36 And when you do these things, these things,
14:38 the audiences, the fans, see that.
14:42 So, I don't see the reason, you know, motive to doing anything like that.
14:48 And I've seen in my house, before I even became an actor,
14:53 I've seen this failure, success, failure, success with my father.
15:01 And I didn't see him, even when he was successful as a writer,
15:04 I didn't see him going ballistic and nuts and, you know...
15:09 And when he went down as well, I saw the same man,
15:13 same father standing there, the same husband, you know,
15:17 the same brother, you know, a friend to whoever his friends were.
15:21 I saw the same man. I didn't see any change in my father's personality.
15:27 And that's where all us brothers and sisters got it.
15:31 Perhaps when the film does a business like Tiger,
15:34 perhaps at that point of time, we may not celebrate it,
15:39 but if a film does not do well, we will not cry about it either,
15:45 because we've given it our best.
15:47 I believe that even if a film is an average film,
15:50 it does a business of an X amount that, you know,
15:54 it's like, breaks all records and stuff like that,
15:57 it is a damn good film, because your audiences have liked it.
16:01 And the most brilliant film, if it does not do well,
16:04 I think it's a shitty film, because your audiences have not liked it.
16:08 The people that you made it for.
16:10 If I hear people say, "This film is made for us, for ourselves."
16:16 Then why are you showing it to people? Don't show it.
16:20 Watch the film yourself.
16:21 I make my films for fans, for audiences, for theatres, distributors, exhibitors,
16:27 you know, so that they go, they enjoy themselves,
16:33 and our films do the business that they do.
16:38 You were the only actor who said that you want to make more theatres.
16:44 And there is the need to be, you know,
16:46 we need to have more theatres and B2C centres especially.
16:51 Because of the lockdown, of course, there were, you know, no plans,
16:53 but now that films are coming back in theatres, doing so well,
16:56 what's happening on that front?
16:58 I will, inshallah, by next year, I will start.
17:02 I will start. It's a long process.
17:05 I mean, construction, Able, all that stuff.
17:10 So, we will start on that.
17:13 Slowly, steadily, but surely.
17:16 Salman, what I've understood from this entire interview
17:19 is that how important a backstory is.
17:21 And so proud that you are of, you know, from where you come,
17:26 and, you know, all that you have seen with your family
17:30 and dad's struggle to his success.
17:34 My question to you is that you're such a superstar,
17:38 and we know you as the Salman Khan.
17:40 Is there something you miss doing?
17:42 - Because you're now... - First of all, you know, today when...
17:46 I mean, this has crossed my mind a billion times,
17:51 is that when they say superstar, megastar, I don't like that.
17:55 I don't like that at all.
17:57 I mean, that is something that I don't care about.
18:00 I just... I'm doing my work, people are liking it, and that's what it is.
18:05 That is just what it is.
18:07 Superstar doesn't... I mean...
18:10 I haven't let myself do anything
18:14 that deserves the title of a superstar.
18:16 And superstar, I think it's taken a bit too seriously.
18:22 My name is Salman Salman.
18:24 Some call me Salu, some call me Bhai.
18:28 You know, so this is fine for me.
18:30 A superstar cut tag, megastar, and this star, and that star,
18:34 I find it really stupid and silly.
18:37 And I appreciate it if people, like even you guys,
18:40 don't use this superstar for me at all,
18:45 because I, myself, don't believe that.
18:48 I mean, I understand and appreciate that you guys believe it.
18:51 Why? Because the film is doing well,
18:54 and the numbers are there, so superstar.
18:56 But I don't think it's right to put that tag on me.
19:01 It's a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure.
19:04 So... And I don't deserve it. I don't deserve it.
19:08 It's just that I'm giving my best. My best is working so far.
19:11 I mean, all the films that I have done, no producer has lost money ever.
19:16 Even the ones that had lost money earlier,
19:19 today with Satellite and Digital, they've all covered it
19:22 and made more than what they had made at that given point of time.
19:26 So, there has been no failure in my life in the film industry.
19:30 And I'm really happy for them as well,
19:34 who cannot raise a finger and say, "We lost money because of you."
19:39 That is the only thing that I want,
19:42 that because of me, that nobody should lose money, A.
19:46 And when you go to the theatre and you come back,
19:49 you come back with something that in your life
19:53 would add more to you than that 400, 500 rupees that you spent
19:59 going to go and watch my movie.
20:01 - Thank you. - Thank you so much.
20:03 You're welcome. Thank you.
20:04 (upbeat music)