SOME FACTS ABOUT ME

+ Salman Khan, Bobby Deol and the rest of the cast and crew of Mera Bharat Mahaan had to make do without toilets on location in upper Ladakh for 18 days. There were no bushes for cover either

+ The shooting of Salman Khan-starrer Veer was stalled due to economic meltdown. Since the cost of this period film was high and buyers at low prices, it made sense for the producers to put the film on hold.

+ When Salman Khan realised that the entire unit of London Dreams was bored of western food and was missing homemade food, he called his cook, Jafferbhai, all the way from Mumbai to London. Jafferbhai is especially known for his delectable biryani. The kitchen department was handed over to Jafferbhai during the schedule.

+ KAADHAL ORU KAVITHAI, the dubbed Tamil version of MAINE PYAR KIYA, which was declared a disaster, picked up from its fourth week at two major centers – Chennai and Madurai. The weekly box-office collections were:- Chennai: Week 1: 75.90%, Week 2: 64.12%, Week 3: 64.60%, Week 4: 84.80%. Madurai: Week 1: 57.40%, Week 2: 46.80%, Week 3: 48%, Week 4: 65.20%. The Tamil version eventually celebrated 100 days in Chennai.

+ Not many are aware but Rakesh Roshan’s big hit KARAN-ARJUN [SRK, Salman] celebrated silver jubilee at a record 33 cities, including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Agra, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur and Kolkata.

+ After a string of hits at the very start of his career, Salman Khan was being referred to as the next superstar. In an exclusive interview then [in 1991], when this writer asked Salman how it felt being in Big B’s shoes, Salman came up with a witty retort: ‘His shoe size is 11, while mine is just 6 or 7. They’re too large and loose for me.’ Well said!

+ Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Divya Bharti and Arbaaz Khan were teamed in AYE MERE DOST, to be directed by Esmayed Shroff. The film was launched on March 4, 1991 with a song recording by Nadeem-Shravan. However, this project never got made

+ Rajkumar Santoshi had teamed Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia [guest appearance], Meenakshi Seshadri and Salman Khan in DIL HAI TUMHARA. Shekhar Kapur had also been signed to enact a key role in the film. An official announcement was made in October 1991… For another project, GHERAO, Santoshi had teamed Salman Khan and Manisha Koirala in the lead. However, the project never got made.

+ The song ‘Jhanjharia’ [picturized on Karisma Kapoor] from KRISHNA had caught the fancy of practically everyone in the industry even before the film was complete. Stars like SRK, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Govinda, Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla had watched the song and were singing praises of the track.

+ At a point of time, producer Xavier Marquis was toying with the idea of repeating the MAINE PYAR KIYA team of Salman Khan and Bhagyashree for his new film, titled RANKSHETRA, to be directed by Dilip Shanker.

+ Before finalising the title CHANDRAMUKHI [Sridevi, Salman Khan], the makers of the film were toying with the idea of calling the film PARI.

+ To promote his Salman Khan starrer BAAGHI, producer Nitin Manmohan had got made attractive car stickers, with a hair-raising caption: ‘Shut up, I am BAAGHI. Unnecessary honkers, beware…’. Meanwhile, the producer added a song to the film, ‘Tap Tap Tapori’, after the film was ready and its release date had been announced.

+ He was endorsing Red Tape shoes but, in real life, Salman Khan would rather walk around barefoot. Bystanders at Bandstand were amused, when they spotted Khan on a Sunday morning, jogging with his dogs Myson and Myjaan—in the buff. His feet, we mean. He was wearing his trademark shorts and ganji. Guess after cycling to film shoots, this is another eccentricity of the shirtless wonder.

+ Even his first blockbuster, Baazigar, landed in his lap only after Salman Khan had turned down the chance to play a negative character. And, but for Aamir Khan’s constant interference, the role of the obsessive lover in Darr would never have happened for him

+ Sanjay L Bhansali HeÙs so reclusive that every two weeks, actor and best buddy Salman Khan calls to check if he’s still alive.

+ Salman Khan often takes two bodyguards along with him to the gym to stand around while he works those muscles

+ What’s lucky for you?
This bracelet – my dad wears the same thing and I got it made. It’s got a turquoise stone.

WAIT THERE’s EVEN MORE

Here are 10 facts about Salman that you may or may not know.

+ Salman could have become a pro swimmer if he had so wanted. He was a swim champ at school and even tipped to represent India.

+ Salman’s favourite actor is Sylvester Stallone and favourite actress, Hema Malini.

+ Salman was offered the lead in Abbas-Mustan’s Baazigar but the idea of playing a negative character didn’t appeal to him. The role went to Shah Rukh Khan and made him famous.

+ Even though Salman has been ambassador of a shoe brand, he prefers going barefoot in real life.

+ Salman always wears a turquoise stone bracelet on and off the screen. His father Salim Khan also wears a similar bracelet and considers it to be very lucky.

+ Salman reportedly flew his own cook to London from Mumbai to dish up biryani to the cast and crew of the movie London Dreams who were tired of eating continental food.

+ The actor loves to drive and is fond of BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Land Cruisers.

+ Salman loves Chinese food and his favourite restaurant is China Garden in Mumbai.

+ Salman has a soap fixation. His bathroom at home is stacked with soap of every sort and he especially likes those made with natural fruit and vegetable extracts.

+ Salman is the subject of two fatwas issued by Muslim organisations – one relates to the wax statue of him in Madame Tussaud’s, the second is in connection to his presence at Ganesh Chaturthi pujas. In both cases, the fatwas allege that he contravened the Islamic law that forbids the worship of idols.