A temperamental tiger

In an interview to a film magazine, Hindi film star Dev Anand had once said that in films, the hero cannot be a police officer since he can’t be emotional, can’t sing and dance or wear colorful clothes. Over fifty years later, a film police character called Chulbul Pandey did exactly that. Not only did he create a tremor at the Box office but also revived the career of Bollywood star Salman Khan who was floundering with a series of flops for many years and had no clear idea of who his target audience was.

Having debuted as Prem, the quintessential lover, who proves to the girl’s family that he’s worthy of marrying the girl he loves, Salman had developed an instant fan following. But towards the end of the 90s, the media dropped him out of the Three-Khan race to the top of Bollywood. While Aamir Khan had a clear audience of intellectuals who loved his strong storylines, Shah Rukh Khan had found an appeal amongst the Diaspora and the new domestic multiplex audiences, but Salman Khan couldn’t define who watched his films. Finally, playing Chulbul Pandey in the movie Wanted, Salman hit box office gold and found his audience. Irreverant, comic, sincere and cool, Salman Khan transitioned to the action genre after nearly two decades of romance and comedy.

Mohar Basu’s biography of Salman Khan is a refreshing take on the story of perhaps Bollywood’s most mis-understood star.

IN her previous book on Shah Rukh Khan, Mohar couldn’t add much of what we didn’t know already since SRK is quite a public figure with frequent public appearances. Perhaps her self-declaration of being a fan also came in the way of objectively presenting SRK’s story. With Salman she maintains a distance and so presents him very matter-of-factly, without any fan talk, making it a good read.

A private life

Salman has remained an enigmatic and private person. We know of what comes to the surface, the controversies, and the industry fights but there’s much we don’t know about his life. Mohar does a thorough job and uses her access to insiders in his family and to the archives of the rare interviews he’s given, to peel off, like the layers of an onion, and discover the person Salman really is.

Could being a man-child who still lives with his parents in the same house for over four decades have something to do with his character? Or is it the need for frequent approval from his father and the extreme closeness with his mother, formed when his father Salim brought home a second wife, the actress Helen? Or his brothers who have needed support from him for all their endeavors added to his impetuousness? Mohar dwells into these questions.

Prem vs Raj

When all the three Khans debuted as romantic heroes within years of each other in the late eighties, they broke Amitabh Bachchan’s two-decade angry young man hegemony on the box office. The 90s created two of the biggest love icons in Indian cinema – Prem and Raj. As Prem, Salman had created an image of the familiar neighborhood lover without any lofty declarations, with blends into any family appeal to the single screens while SRK’s Raj had yuppie charm, urban appeal with his love rooted in risk and rebellion.

Salman’s audiences watch his films for his vibe, his attitude, and his vulnerability. With his shirtless scenes and quirky comedy, he made it cool to be ridiculous while SRK built a fan based on his wit and charm.

The giver

In my early morning walks on Bandra Bandstand, I always notice a long line of people assembled with files in their hands. I learnt later that they were all waiting for Salman bhaijan to give them money for their medical needs. Mohar says Salman has gone out of his way to help people, including quite a few out of work actors. Actor Govinda had once said that Salman only comes on time when someone is in trouble.

The bad boy

The one image that has stuck to Salman is of the irresistible bad boy. Mohar details vividly the episodes that define the building of his temperamental image including when he slapped a director, or lay drunk in Aishwarya’s trailer during her shoots, resulting in her losing some film deals. His brush with the law for the killing of Blackbucks or the Bandra incident on the day Aishwarya said in an interview that her relationship with Salman was a nightmare.

When the Salman-SRK rivalry was at its peak, fans of SRK began boycotting his films. Salman learnt of that and vowed to pay attention to his career and win them over. His comeback film, Wanted, re-defined him with unprecedented Box office success. He has since delivered 19 films that have crossed a 100cr at the box office, the highest of any actor in the film industry, and twice as much as SRK.

Unlike any other actor, Salman has created a great list of unforgettable characters – Prem, Radhe, Chulbul Pandey, Bajrangi Bhaijan, Tiger and Sultan, each of them with an incredibly loyal audience. Mohar’s book is rich in detail on the creation of each of these characters.

As his next, a war film, Battle of Galwan, based on the recent Indian army skirmishes with the Chinese in Ladakh, releases in the next few months, Salman may have just made yet another transition as a serious army officer, without his cheeky persona and his irreverent attitude.

Salman has always been greater than the stories of his films, giving his audiences unadulterated, joyous cinema where the temperamental, but good guy, wins in the end.

Mohar’s book makes a decent attempt at decoding why everyone loves Bhaijan.

The reviewer is Founder and CEO of 91 Films Studios that produces and distributes regional language feature films.

Check-out this book on Amazon

Published on April 5, 2026