MUMBAI: With two of his sons’ film, ‘Dabangg 2’, mere days away from theatrical release, the usually reticent writer Salim Khan has broken his silence and is now open to speaking about why he feels Salman Khan’s success has vindicated him.
In a freewheeling chat recently, Salim Khan held firth at his Carter Road residence in Bandra, Mumbai and spoke candidly about his sons, their successes and failures. Salim saab revealed just how upset he was when he felt his eldest son; Salman Khan was not getting his due in the industry.
“Salman has brought a lot of happiness for his people, including me, and I am proud of his success. A few years back, I felt disappointment in him not achieving the place he is now in and deserved. I always felt strongly about his talent and wanted to see him on the top before I die.”
Salim Khan also tells us how he always knew Salman would be successful, despite his generous and kind nature, which people had been taking advantage of.
“I always thought that he (Salman) was extremely talented in a lot of things. When he took up swimming, he started swimming so well that he could represent Mumbai. He started cycling and had tremendous command over it.”
“When he became an actor, I felt he was not giving it his best. He used to take up films for the wrong reasons — he was not doing films based on the story or the director. But he would do it for any friend or when someone would come with a sob story, he would do it to help him out. He has done more guest appearances than films and had become a permanent guest star in the film industry. The good part was that he was trying to help, but he was not delivering what he had promised to his audience and to himself. He had the body for action, a face for emotion and timing for comedy, but he needed to select his films correctly. I allowed him to make mistakes and learn from it, but I was disappointed with the way he used his talent.”
Salim also revealed he has no favorites among his brood of children, and that all are equal to him. He speaks candidly about the accident case which tormented Salman.
“Everybody is equal till the circumstances are normal, but as soon as a child faces a problem, your attention shifts to the weaker one and you also feel helpless for him. I gave a lot of attention to Salman as he came into a lot of problems with all his cases and an accident that could happen to anybody. As a father, I am always worried about him and hope that he will come out of it.”
