Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Inshallah would have been one of the best films of Salman Khan’s career,alongside Hum…Dil De Chuke Sanam, Tere Naam and Bajrangi Bhaijaan. These are those rare Salman starrers where the actor actually acted, where he overcame the crippling complacency of an arrogant superstar who thinks his presence on the screen is all that his fans want.
This was going to be Sanjay Bhansali’s fourth collaboration with Salman Khan, with the hope that the actor would get an opportunity to surface beyond the suffocating trappings of superstardom that have engulfed his career.
Soon into the pre-production, Sanjay discovered it was not working out. Salman “ideas” on how to improve the product included a dance number by his friend Sushmita Sen and a cameo by his protégée Daisy Shah. None of these fitted into the director’s vision. The final and decisive blow to Inshallah was when the mega-star “advised” his director to cancel the proposed Eid release to allow another of his projects(Radhe, I think) to release on Eid as, in his opinion, it was more in tune with what his fans expected.
This is when Sanjay Bhansali decided to shut down Inshallah.
Salmaniacs only want him on screen. They don’t care about what he does with the screen space once he’s there. But isn’t Salman Khan answerable to posterity? Doesn’t he want future generations to talk about his performances? More than a film actor Salman sees himself as a rock star. He loves to be on stage while thousands of fans cheer from the audience. During that moment his most intimate infantile fantasy—of the child who climbs the parapet to get Mom to come running—is fully realized.
At home he’s a wonderful son, not just to his biological mother but also to ‘Helen Aunty’ , the woman whom his father married. The Khans run a very liberal household. Islam, Hinduism and Christianity have a free passage. It’s a large open house where unexpected guests are always expected ….and welcome.
Unlike the two other Khan superstars who haven’t known proper parental guidance(Shah Rukh lost both his parents at a young age and Aami couldn’t see eye-to-eye with his father) Salman’s familial background is as normal as it gets.
Contradictorily the rebellious streak shows up in his behaviour all the time.Whether on screen or off it, Salman opts for the maximum-attention mode of functioning. If he’s known to get physically aggressive with his directors(Subhash Ghai, David Dhawan, Satish Kaushik and Puneet Isaar will ouch….sorry vouch for this) he’s also known to go out of his way to accommodate filmmakers.
Shah Rukh Khan and not Salman, was supposed to play Mr Bachchan’s son in Ravi Chopra’s Baghban. When he backed out because of his back problem Salman sportingly stepped in. Mr Bachchan is full of praise for Salman. “Salman is God’s child. Very misunderstood, but has a heart of gold. Like Sanju(Dutt) Salman Has a penchant for getting into trouble. But he means well, and is extremely kind-hearted,” he once shared with me.
Revathi in whose Phir Milenge Salman played a supporting role to Shilpa Shetty will also vouch for the kind heart. Salman not only agreed to play a supporting role, but also refused to charge any money from Revathy who was his co-star in one of his earliest films Love.
So will the real Salman Khan please stand up? Is he an enfant terrible or a restless child with a heart of gold? Salman often says and does things which he doesn’t mean . His naked aversion to the press doesn’t add to his popularity.But ask Salman if he cares. He would rather be a rock star than a rocksteady movie star.
