Happy Birthday Salman Khan: Is it time for ‘Bhai’ to revamp and reinvent?

Does Salman Khan need an overhaul?

Filmmaker Anees Bazmee, who has directed Salman in masala entertainers like No Entry (2005) and Ready (2011), says no one can do what Salman does. While he feels the actor doesn’t need rebranding, he thinks Bhai should do comedies once again, pick topics that excite the audience.

Bazmee tells indianexpress.com, “I don’t think Salman needs to change his brand, because people love him. Even if he needs to change, he is the best judge, he has been working for so long and he himself knows very well what to do and what not to do. From the time I have worked with him, over the years I have only seen him grow and improve himself. He always did good work but in the last decade he is doing even better. His longevity in the industry only proves his caliber.”

The filmmaker states that he wants to see Salman step out of his “macho hero” image for a bit and do comedies again because ‘mahaul aise hai‘ (times are such). He says, “I don’t think he needs to make major changes when it comes to his work. However, I miss him doing good comedy because he has an extraordinary sense of humour. Wasn’t he fantastic in No Entry? I think we should do comedy films. I have loved working with him, bohot maza aataa hai (it’s a lot of fun). He is also very easy going, he never gives trouble with dates, he will give as many days as required to complete the shoot.”

Mismatch of content

Known as one of the most successful stars of Bollywood, Salman Khan’s last few releases — Radhe, Antim and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan — did not perform as expected at the box office. Trade flags a “mismatch of content” in his last few releases. Salman’s Tiger 3, even after making Rs 400 crore at the box office, has been one of the least discussed films this year. In fact, his cameo in Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan received more love than his last few releases combined. Discussing the possibility of what’s going wrong, trade expert Komal Nahta says it’s about time the actor pays attention to the scripts as “no amount of stardom is going to come to your rescue if the content is not good.”

He says, “I think the main thing that is going wrong with Salman Khan and his career is his choice of subjects. He seems to be selecting films that one knows can’t work wonders at the basic script level. So he needs to change his choice of films and be careful about selecting films. A film can only be as good as the script, no amount of stardom is going to come to your rescue if the content is not good. And conversely if the content is good even the lack of stars will not come in the way of success of a film. So I think he just needs to be very careful about the kind of films he needs to be doing. According to me, he needs to work with better directors, I think he is not working with the right kind of directors who can do justice to his super stardom, and keep him in check.”

Nahta also notes that the actor needs to “concentrate on his acting”. He says, “In Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan there were sequences in which his hairstyle changed midway. I don’t say that because of this a film can be a hit or a flop, but these things add up, and it antagonizes and irritates the audience. Audience is very smart today, they want to be respected, so I think he needs to change his entire approach to selection and then shooting. He should work with topline directors and give them a completely freehand. He should concentrate on his acting rather than getting involved in music, lyrics, dialogues, and screenplay.

“Over the years when you start appearing in films that are unsuccessful, stardom comes down and the fans lose confidence in you. That is slowly happening so he better take corrective measures,” he adds.

Time to jump the hurdle

Film exhibitor Vishek Chauhan says Salman is known for surprising his audiences with his performances, and its time for him to do it yet again, get away from his “macho hero” image.

“If you look at Salman’s career graph, he made a big bang entry with Maine Pyar Kiya and then he followed it up with a few regular love stories like Kurbaan, Saajan and then he hit a low. Then he did multi-starrers like No Entry, he received and then came the family comedy phase where he gave some of the bests like Hum Aapke Hai Koun, and then milked it with films like Judwa, Biwi No. 1 with David Dhawan. He then again had a slump with Yuvvraaj and a few other films that didn’t work as expected. However, he then hit another high with Dabagng and Wanted and has ever since he maintained this macho alpha image and even the films that he has done, have fed that macho hero image,” says Vishek.

He emphasises on the need for Salman to reinvent. He says, “However, the real renaissance was Wanted and since then, whichever film he has done he has maintained that image, barring Tubelight. While it has worked for him for so long it is now time for Salman to reinvent. He has hit that ten year phase where he now needs to go to the next level. What Salman Khan really needs to do is explore his acting abilities more than just rely on the star power. His star power is mammoth, but another dimension needs to be added which the audience has not seen yet. His next (The Bull) with Shershaah director Vishnuvardhan might just be what we are waiting for,” Vishek concludes.