‘I’ve fans between 3 and 13 years’

Deepa Natarajan

Bollywood actor Salman Khan, known for losing temper at the drop of a hat, showed his hot and cool side to the City The superstardom of Salman Khan was proven again, when the actor made a flying visit to the City to promote his upcoming flick Main Aur Mrs Khanna. Salman had the crowd outside a jewellery store in Indiranagar go crazy. But calm as he was, he made his way and even managed to speak to his fans and media for a few minutes. However, all was not well when the actor went to inaugurate a hospital in another part of the City and to spend time with a few children. Salman lost his cool when he was accused by the angry media for making everyone wait. But when Salman came back to the city hotel, where he was put up, he seemed to have calmed down (maybe it was the effect of the desserts he relished as he spoke). He talked at length about Main Aur Mrs Khanna, his philanthropic side and his fan following. “My character in the film is very much into his wife and has a great sense of responsibility towards her,” he says. Salman feels that the characters portrayed by him and his brother Sohail in the film are similar to their personalities in reality. “The only difference is that Sohail is not married in the film and is married is real life, while I am married in the film and not married in real life,” he jokes. But on a serious note, Salman feels there are some differences between him and Sameer Khanna. “Mr Khanna would have reacted differently to what happened at the hospital with the media.”  Which part of the actor’s personality are genuine — the good boy who helps the needy or the bad boy who gets into brawls? “Both are me,” he quips. “When I am with fans, I am a different person. But I feel when a journalist writes an interview, it is the individuality of that journalist that comes out in the story.” He adds, “At the end of the day, you are doing your job and I am doing my job.” But he admits that he does laugh at the stories about the spat between himself and Shah Rukh Khan. Ask him about his increasing fan following, he shows a sign of worry. “It bothers me when I see cops hitting fans to manage the crowd. I feel bad especially when children and women get hurt.” And what about his female fan following that spans across generations? He jokes, “I have fans between 3 and 13 years and 14 and 16 years. Between 16 and 45, I have no fans and above 45, all are my fans.” How about his gay fan following? “I have not had a first hand experience,” he answers.  Now, Salman is all geared up for his forthcoming releases — London Dreams, Veer and Dabang, but doesn’t speak much about them. So, how is life at 44? The actor says, “It’s amazing. You should get there. At least for men, it’s great.”