There’s a newfound enthusiasm in Salman Khan’s voice and it has nothing to do with his films. Rather he is excited about his paintings and would like to talk endlessly about it—how he spent the time with his brushes and canvas. In his words, it was this passion for painting that kept him busy during the Covid lockdown period.
“I had enough time on my hands so I did a lot of paintings. I did around 36 of them during that phase,” says Khan, who is just back from Russia where he was shooting for his forthcoming film Tiger 3. Painting is a passion that the actor had secretly nurtured for over a decade. However, it came to the fore a few years back as he started talking more about his artworks publicly. “Now, I plan to hold an exhibition in Singapore in a few months and later in Abu Dhabi,” he says. Khan has inherited this talent from his mother who started painting 25 years ago but left it in between. “But she picked up the brush again 14 years ago, left it and restarted recently,” says the 55-year-old star.
However, if it’s Khan, it’s his movies that will make more noise. About his latest release Antim, he says, “It is a remake of Mahesh Manjrekar’s Marathi crime drama Mulshi Pattern. The script of the film stayed in my mind, especially the cop’s role. In fact, it’s the story from every village in India—how people sell off their land to fund their child’s education or daughter’s marriage.”
Khan, who stars alongside his brother-in-law Ayush Sharma in the film, found the cop’s character so interesting that he requested the director to lengthen his role. Originally he had just five scenes. There are other changes too. “My character earlier had a love angle. We had finalised Mahima Makwana and even shot a song with her but later felt that the character would get diluted hence we decided against it.”
Khan is all praise for Sharma. “He is an educated boy and belongs to a family of politicians. I was shocked with his dedication and the way he handled his character.” The Bollywood ‘bhai’ also can’t stop lauding the efforts of his director Manjrekar with whom he has acted earlier. “But working with him as a director was a different experience altogether. He is a multi-talented man. He also paints and sings. We used to discuss paintings during our shoots.”
It’s not the first time that Khan has essayed a cop’s character; he has worn the khaki in Garv: Pride and Honour, Wanted and the Dabangg series. “My grandfather was a DIG, so my character in the film is a lot more mature like him. My character is very calm but eventually does what he wants to do.” And there’s always a special place for the critical opinion of his father, writer Salim Khan. “He liked my film Antim. Eventually, you want your family to be proud of your work. My father tells me what he liked or did not like, and I make changes accordingly,” he admits.
Khan believes that Antim will work better as a big-screen release. “For us, watching a movie with the family is an outing itself. It’s the cheapest form of entertainment. People may say that OTT has taken over but the big screen will always be missed. It is difficult for people to not go to theatres. They may not appreciate a bad film but they will still not stop going to theatres. They love to see the hero on the big screen which you cannot replicate on a small screen,” he explains.
Any plans for picking up direction? “I have already turned a producer but I have not thought about direction as yet. But, I do give my inputs as far as my characters are concerned. I discuss them on the writing-table itself and don’t interfere with the director’s vision. The character in Antim was very important. Hence, I gave my inputs before we worked on the film.” And for now, he is Being Salman, the actor.
COP ALL THE WAY
Garv: Pride and Honour (2004)
Wanted (2009)
Dabangg (2010)
Dabangg 2 (2012)
Dabangg 3 (2019)