Salman Khan

You can love him, you can hate him but you can never ignore him. Coz he is our very own super hero: Salman Khan! A man who has revolutionized the term called entertainment and has taken Indian cinema to the remotest places, reaching out to the masses in full throttle, Salman is a true epitome of grit, strength and immense solidarity! Make that platinum, because while he turns 48 this year, we at Koimoi sift through the 48 most memorable, unforgettable, important, good/bad as well as happy/sad events in Salman’s life.

1. Bubbling with machismo and a naughty nonchalance, it was back in 1988 when a rising star had first stepped into filmdom, not knowing what destiny had in store for him. Playing Farookh Sheikh’s brother in Biwi Ho Toh Aisi served as the perfect platform for a striking Dabangg debut!

2. While his debut film had him playing supporting lead, his second film, a rom-com changed the dimensions of Indian cinema. A perfect ode to love and friendship, Maine Pyaar Kiya scored huge and more than that, created a trend when it turned out to be the first film to be dubbed in English and Spanish and yet be commercially viable! Don’t forget the Best Debutante Award that tugged along.

3. At the recent Koffee With Karan shoot, Salman admitted that once a friend had advised him to stop partying on his baap-ka-paisa and that was the last day he partied, spending his dad’s money. Salman considers that day the Biggest turning point in his life!

4. A personal favourite, Hum Aapke Hai Kaun changed the course of Salman’s life in the best possible manner as it stands as one of the biggest all time blockbusters till date. Prem got a new meaning and how!

5. Leave aside acting, this multi-talented star showed his writing prowess when he conceptualized the story of his film, Baaghi: A Rebel for Love on his own. Breaking out of the stereotype, and doing something totally different was what Salman suddenly got famous for! Writing was well within his genes, you see.

6. Little did people know that along with cat fights there are instantaneous bull fights in the industry as well. Such occurred on the sets of Andaz Apna Apna where Salman and Aamir decided to be not so cordial on the sets and hence the tug of war to stardom had already begun. But post Aamir’s split with his first wife, Salman and Aamir patched up and the rest, as we know, is history! Didn’t you watch him scream Dhoom Machaale after every Bigg Boss 7 episode?

7. Bonding on the lines of Karan Arjun and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shah Rukh Khan gained solace in Salman as the two were inseparable until something devastating occurred!

8. So was their bonding that Shah Rukh even gave away his Best Actor Award at an Awards function to Salman, his co-star from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai who, he felt performed a lot better and was more deserving than he, himself.

9. Nudging past an entirely dull phase, it was Prabhu Dheva who turned the tables for Salman and made him the most Wanted superstar of the decade.

10. Be it his films, brand endorsements or lucrative deal signings, Salman’s stars took a topsy turvy turn with the entry of a woman. Before you let your criminal minds do the thinking, here we are talking about Salman’s manager Reshma Shetty. Transforming Salman’s bad boy image to the good guy next door looked impossible but Reshma achieved the feat with aplomb! Definitely the best thing that has ever happened to Salman.

11. Being bereft of stupendous Television icons, barring an enigmatic Big B on KBC, it was Salman who wielded his magic wand on the viewers at a time when strong contemporaries like Shah Rukh, Anupam Kher and even Akshay Kumar failed to marvel!

12. Following his successful stint on Dus Ka Dum, Colors made full use of Salman’s massy connect and converted them into huge TRP as Bigg Boss, Salman’s khud ka show now gained momentum and was monumental in putting Colors much ahead of the other channels in the big league.

13. Watched Tere Naam and you might have loved the content, but what made all go gaga was his unconventionally trimmed hair-do, a stark change from what we saw him do on screen. Critics went eww and we went aww!

14. He might be the newest Emperor at the Box Office but true to his name, he has had almost nine films which stand as the highest grossing films from their year of release, a feat un-attained by any contemporary actor.

15. And when you talk of record smashing, thy name is synonymous to Salman Khan! Be it Dabangg’s 100 crore trend or Ek tha Tiger’s highest first day collections then, Salman’s Eid-mania worked wonders for the actor.

16. The first ever Best Actor Award for the star came from Dabangg, a film that changed all pre-conceived notions about cinema.

17. In a bad nightmare of sorts, Salman started losing his hair and had to turn bald, before resorting back to hair weaving to do the trick.

18. Embroiled in numerous controversies, Salman’s Hit and run case is still pending a proper judgment whereas the youth icon has been accused of culpable homicide, a heinous crime under the act of law.

19. During the shooting for Hum Saath Saath Hain, Salman unfortunately got involved in a poaching case as he and his fellow co-actors went hunting and they ended up killing a Chinkara, an endangered species.

20. Following the bad blood because of this huge national issue, Salman was jailed and had to spent days in the Jodhpur jail as prisoner no.343! Life started to look bleak as a superstar of his caliber was reduced to a three digit number!

21. As a consequence of the sub human conditions that he had to face throughout his jail term, Salman honed his desire for painting and even today, Salman’s art has been appreciated by all and sundry.

22. Sangeeta Bijlani was the former love angle of Salman Khan and Salman was deeply in love with Sangeeta in his earlier days.

23. Things even turned towards marriage and cards had also been distributed but the wedding was called off a week before hand, following Salman’s hormonal locha, as he fell for Somy Ali. He even admitted to the incident during his debut stint on Koffee with Karan this December. But Sangeeta still remains to be really close to the Khan family.

24. Previously, Salman had a rollicking affair with Somy Ali and reportedly they broke up after Salman harassed her in a cafeteria and emptied a bottle of soda on her head. But now they are good friends!

25. A fairy tale romance that started off as a mushy love saga on the sets of Sanjay Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, turned uglier as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, his then partner reported of physical abuse and torture that Salman had put her throughout the relationship.

26. Aishwarya decided to put a full stop to their relationship while an almost crazy Salman got drunk and created a lot of tamasha in front of her house. Not just that, Ash later had to issue a personal press release to the Media to clarify her stand on the relationship.

27. The ugliest break up in Bollywood faced some dire consequences and the bali ka bakra here was Vivek Oberoi. Vivek, who was then linked to Ash in a special way, was harassed by Salman and not just that Salman hurled the nastiest abuses at him before Vivek decided to call a press conference and clear his points, harming the image of Salman even more.

28. In trying to move on, Salman then found solace in Katrina Kaif, who he even launched in Bollywood with Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya?. But then, they never openly admitted to their relationship.

29. But Salman’s lady luck has always been on the negative side of the spectrum, hence the affair did not end up in something constructive as Katrina went her way and developed closeness with a certain Besharam Kapoor!

30. Shah Rukh, as we said in the beginning was one of Salman’s closest buddies until a terrible feud between the two stars divided the industry into two halves. That manhood night, certainly a Katrina Kaif birthday, tuned out to be sour for both the stars as they vowed to never patch up again

31. The on-off friendship between SRK and Salman continued until Salman took the first step and made a move. While he hugged SRK at the Iftar party earlier this year, that certainly grabbed headlines, only to be called another ‘cordial’ maneuver of all. What is the status between the two is best known to them!

32. After upsetting SRK, Salman moved onwards to comment rashly and unabashedly about SLB’s Guzaarish which fumed Hrithik to the brim and hence there has never been any signs of congeniality between the two henceforth! Even his working relationship with Bhansali got strained because of this hoopla.

33. Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan reportedly had a tiff when Salman insulted Sanju Baba’s dear friend Bunty Walia at his house party. The brawl didn’t end there but Reshma Shetty intervened to clear the air between the two!

34. Another controversy popped up when Salman made some rather unnecessary and irrelevant comments about the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai which then became a national debate and was blown totally out of proportion for all the wrong reasons!

35. Along with the controversies, Salman also made some bad career moves as he rejected few immensely promising roles, one being SRK’s role in Chak De India, a film that stood out as a rising testament to the indomitable human spirits!

36. But along with some misses, he managed to have quite a few hits. He was then by far the only commercial Indian hero to have worked with a Hollywood director, William Caroll for Marigold!

37. Ranking always at the top as the Sexiest Asian has been his cup of tea and given his looks-to-die-for, anyone can simply go weak in the knees. Don’t ask, silly!

38. Not just that, Salman Khan ranked as Times Most Desirable Man no. 1 in 2012 whereas he came a close second in 2011 and third this year, thereby maintaining his status throughout the years.

39. Adding to that, Salman has always emerged as the topmost searched celebrity on the Internet.

40. He is the sixth Bollywood celebrity to have his wax statue unveiled at the Madamme Tussauds Museum, London.

41. Off late Salman had been detrimental to various health related issues, one being the dangerous eye trauma where his vision was blurred and his eye suffered a major scratch causing the reddening in eyes. We hear it was the result of a surgery implemented to fix the nags under his eyes.

42. The major issue that plagues his health is the nerve disorder that he is suffering from. Trigeminal neuralgia is extremely painful and Salman had to fly to the US for treatment. Even his shooting schedules got delayed and hence there was no Salman film ready for release in 2013. He has reportedly quit smoking for the same.

43. He launched a charity organization called Being Human, which mainly deals with merchandising watches, T-shirts in order to support the underprivileged and is one of the most thoughtful ventures by any Indian actor.

44. In 2011, Khan launched his production house, titled the Salman Khan Being Human Production, which produced the children’s film Chillar Party. The fund from the house is used to support the Being human organization.

45. In January 2012, Khan offered help of almost Rs. 4 million to release around 400 prisoners in Uttar Pradesh, who despite having completed their term could not be released due to low economical conditions.

46. After mesmerizing people on the small screen with his reality show anchoring, Salman decided to host the 2013 edition of the Star Guild Awards, and wield the microphone for the first time ever in his life.

47. Despite being a real good guy today, Salman faces his shares of ups and downs with the Media. Reluctance, anger, oppression and arrogance scores over the Media as Salman tends to be extremely rude at times and is extremely temperamental. He once even snatched the mobile phone from a fan and a reporter’s camera whom he caught clicking his pictures!

48. Finally, the biggest event that made Salman Khan are his films that are celebrated like festivals and the humungous audience connect that he shares is truly overwhelming. While others aim at the classes, Salman made the masses go Sal-man-atic!

Koimoi takes this opportunity to wish the True People’s Man a very Happy Birthday. To, Love, Perchance and Movies!

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