The Unforgettable

For all those who wanted me to write about HIM! (Trust me, there were lots of u!!!)

It's a profile I dashed out for a magazine recently... Brickbats, bouquets, comments, Oh-iamme...bring it all on!

Here it is....

When Salman Khan walked out of the Jodhpur Jail clad in ganji and jeans, a top Bollywood actor remarked, "Look at him. It seems as if he's coming after a work out session in Gold Gym."
Khan's rival didn't intend the statement as a reproach. It was an affectionate acceptance of the way Khan chooses to live his life.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni didn't take off his shirt when ICC declared him as the Number One Batsman in the World. But Khan did a shirtless dance on the rooftop of his Bandstand home when he was granted bail.

In the normal course of his stardom, Khan shies away from media. But on this instance, all big and small television channels were granted candid one on ones. "That's because bhai wanted to thank his fans for their unflinching support in his hour of crisis. This was the only way he could reach out to them," says Khan's close aide.

Fair enough. All his sound bites reeked of genuine wonder and gratitude to millions of his supporters. But if you were expecting any explanations then obviously it's the wrong Khan you're tracking.

Close friends confess that though Khan took the verdict of five years imprisonment in his stride, he was really disturbed. But he decided not to show it.

Over the years, Khan's personal life has been dotted with many crimes of passion. The black buck incident apart, Khan is also fighting a hit and run case as well as the reputation of the worst boyfriend in the industry. His soap opera-ish dalliance with Aishwarya Rai is the stuff that Bollywood gossip rags are still thriving on. It's been six years and Rai has milked the I-Was-Salman's-Victim story to the hilt. But Khan chooses to keep silent.

The same law applies to everything that goes wrong. "While I'm doing something, I give it my 100 percent and once its done, it doesn't matter. I've always believed that nobody can break me because nobody made me," is his binding belief.

This insouciance is both, the most frustrating and fascinating aspect of Khan. His public demeanour suggests that he likes being the bad boy. It's almost as if Khan thinks of himself as a Springsteen like rock star who lives hard, parties hard and doesn't owe anyone an explanation. The swagger, the shirtless antics, the exasperating Southhall-meets-Manhattan-meets-Bandra accent and no explanations given: are all part of the Great Salman Khan Star Packaging.

Good friend Sushmita Sen takes up for him. "When people say Salman is the most misunderstood guy around, they're right. But Salman doesn't want to do anything about it. He says that if you've got to explain yourself, then the relationship doesn't have anything going for it."

Obviously he applies the same yardstick with his fans also. Till date, Khan has never told his side of the story. Ask Simi Garewal and Karan Johar. Garewal has been trying to get Khan on her Rendezvous show since the last three years. Johar used all his showbiz charm to get him on his couch for Koffee With Karan. But the Khan maintained that he has nothing to tell.

If it's an image then it suits him just fine. The obvious proof is the whopping box office returns of his movies. "Most of Salman's movies earn their recovery in the first three weeks itself because of the thumping initial he commands," says trade analyst Amod Mehra.

And because he is aware of this staunch fan base, he can afford to take the I-don't-give-a-damn stance. Mahesh Bhatt feels Salman is the endearing bad boy. "He has a vulnerable charm and people like his recklessness. They feel he is a badmash bachcha but since he's so charming on screen, he gets away with it," says Bhatt.

Nobody can blame Khan of being publicity conscious. He is every showbiz image consultant's worst nightmare. Yet he enjoys tremendous goodwill within as well as outside the fraternity. He has a reputation of being a friend's friend.

From giving free physique building tips to Hrithik Roshan in the beginning of his career to helping colleagues sell their movies at the cost of his name, Khan's generosity is well known. Recently, he helped out Revathy, Saawan Kumar Tak and Boney Kapoor with special appearances in movies like Phir Milenge, Saawan: The Love Season and No Entry respectively.

To Khan's advantage, he directly works on his audience. He patronizes the St Anthony's Old Age Home in Mumbai and makes sure that the proceeds of almost all his stage shows go there. Fellow actor Govinda vouches that Khan has a heart of gold. He narrates how Khan played saviour to an unknown accident victim a decade ago. "I was driving home quite late on a rainy night when I chanced upon an accident victim. I was debating what action to take when I noticed that Salman had also reached the place. Immediately he took charge. He assured me that he would take the boy to the hospital. He really took care of the boy," he says.

"Jis insaan ke dil mein itna dard ho woh aisi koi bhi galat harkat nahin kar sakta (A man with such a heart can never do anything wrong)," says Govinda.

In January, his car hit a school going girl. Khan took the girl to the hospital and dropped her home. The next day, he presented the little girl with a brand new bicycle. And no, he didn't call a press conference to boast his Good Samaritan act unlike most of his colleagues.
Khan gets away with most of what he does because he has never projected himself as larger than life. He's almost nonchalant about his celebrity hood. He cycles to work, walks his dogs, Myson and Myjaan on bandstand every morning and conducts his meetings at Barista. There have been instances when he's taken auto rickshaws to make a quick dash at the Subway outlet in Linking Road.

If Aamir Khan has acquired an image of an intellectual and Shah Rukh Khan as the quintessential middle class boy who became a youth icon, then Salman's USP is his absolute commitment to live life on his own terms.

He refuses to believe that he's a hero. "There are no heroes in this world. There are just human beings who are reacting in the right manner in non-ideal situations," he declared in a rare interview.
Those who know him say that he goes through life as an observer. There is an aura of detachment with everything that happens. He's never thrown a bash on a film's success neither does he runs to the cleaners if he's implicated in any scandal.

Sen says, "Over the years, he's really mellowed. He's gotten in touch with a part of himself that was always there. He's learned not to react to anything. In his personal life, he does everything for others and where work is concerned, he doesn't take it seriously and works only for himself."
No wonder he told a TV channel that though he was mentally prepared for a long haul in jail, he contemplated a jail break when he learnt of his mother (Salma)'s ill health post his verdict.
Now he's off for a series of stage shows. In the meantime, he's already sent a cheque to the Jodhpur jail authorities to construct better toilets.

The stuff heroes are made of?

Allez Zizou!

“He smiles like St Teresa and grimaces like a serial killer.”

So said rock singer Jean-Louis Murat about the greatest conductor of football in the world, Zinedine Zidane.

Everything that has been said about the maestro is true.

If they say he’s the greatest footballer of his generation, they aren’t wrong. If they say he is in the same class as Pele and Diego Maradona, they are right. Yes, he has the grace of a dancer and the agility of a panther. For me, Zidane is a bald poet. Born with a sublime touch, he can do anything with the footy- tease, cajole, dominate and mock! He is football’s Pied Piper.

The world’s most complete footballer of the past 20 years, Zidane is an attack-minded midfielder like David Beckham, but unlike Beckham he can thread the ball through the middle of the field and his goal-scoring record is higher. He mesmerizes defenders with a repertoire of skills that range from drag-backs and flicks to cheeky little passes.

He is a wizard. And like all genius, Zizou has a temper too.

Yeah so he head butted Italian defender Materazzi. And yeah, maybe this cost Les Bleus the cup. If reports are to be believed then the unrefined Azzuri had it coming. Apparently, he taunted Zizou by calling him a “terrorist.” That’s a clear-cut racial slur against Zidane’s Algerian aka Muslim origins.

Nah, I’m not condoning Zizou’s outrageous act. It would have been best if he had ignored the idiot Italian and shown him the finger by lifting the cup. That would have been the best reply not just to Materazzi but also to everyone who approves of sledging.

But then Zizou too is human. He reacted on the spur of the moment. While the rest of the world will forget the incident soon enough, Zizou will have to live with it for the rest of his life.

Clanking with every honour the game has to bestow, Zidane is also burdened with the almost insupportable weight of France’s expectations. Go back to the era of 1998 when graffiti and rap songs declared “Zizou President” and the Algerian flag flew beside the French tricolour in the Champs Elysées. Just last year, he topped a newspaper poll as “the most popular Frenchman of all time”.

“I am not Zorro,” he insisted time and again. But for the French he will always remain a latter-day Joan of Arc. Why blame them? We all expect too much from our heroes. Maybe its because there are such few contenders of that tag.

Bet it must be hard being Zizou right now. God knows whether he’s an angel or a demon but he’s damn good on the field. Somehow if Zizou is on the field, you know he will do everything to win it. And for a soccer fan that’s what matters.

It’s ok Zizou. I know that sometimes, somethings can’t be explained even when understood.

I Choose To Be….

Jean Paul Satre’s loaded- “Je suis mes choix” (translated, I’m my choices) has always intrigued me. Every so often I find myself meditating on Sartre’s wicked choice of words.

Last night I ended up having an uber deep discussion about it with The-Man-In-My-Head. In case I forgot to mention, The-Man-In-My-Head has led quite a ahem, colourful life. He likes to say that he’s played the game on his terms.

He supplies a lot of such one-liners. Over the years, I’ve developed a pretty solid statement-detector. Now I can easily make out when something has to be stored in memory and when something has to be rejected out rightly as pure bullshit!

Anyway, this isn’t about him. It’s about choices. Without going into the non-interesting parts of the conversation, let me just re-tell a very ahem, “interesting” part of HIS speech.

Brace yourself. Here goes-

“I believe a great many people are born writer or artist, and die without ever realizing it. Books go unwritten, paintings unpainted. The fortunate ones are those who discover what they were meant to do. I might have been an excellent soccer player; I might have been an excellent writer. If I’d tried to do both, I’d have been no more than mediocre. I chose not to be mediocre.”

Pretty loaded, right? But pretty nonetheless. Don’t know if you identify with it but last night, this was just what I needed to hear.

Everything is about choices: What you want to be? Who you are today? How are you feeling? Who you want to be with?

Rest all is mere technicality.