Salman Khan Dabangg

The first shock of looking at Salman Khan is that he is no way closer to his character Chulbul Pandey in his upcoming film Dabangg. It's only when you hear him talk that his many dimensions come to the forefront. Its five minutes into our conversation and Khan knocks me off with his dare-devil answers. No, he ain't a pro-wrestler with a torso that looks as if it's been inflated with an air pump. Oh no. But he does sport his famous silver turquoise bracelet on his arm; his hair side parted like we see in many of his films and his full sleeve black shirt showing off his shiny cufflinks which all goes to say that today, the actor looks dangerously demure. But then, he's also Salman Khan, although it takes another five minutes before I accept that this must be true. Even then, this realisation comes only because I know Salman is the leading man in the film and that Chulbul Pandey is, indisputably, the leading man too. So where's the pretty boy with the sardonic smile? He's gone from being the up-and-coming young talent, talked of in the same breath as Amitabh Bachchan, to being a Bollywood hell-raiser tooling around town in his black SUV with a fully paid-up entourage wearing gold chains, to the actor who threw it all away when it came to his personal relationships. But why do we care today for a man who has been there done that? Why do we care about a man who is forty plus and still has attitude and style which gives birth to lethal acting prowess? There is one good reason - Salman Khan. This special correspondent gets the concession of meeting the actor, who has inspired hundreds, advised thousands, loved millions but respected only one thing: his acting. And when Dabangg releases, you just won't regret the fondness and fascination for a man who has taken all the above in his stride. Salman Khan, you're unstoppable.
"Chulbul is totally unpredictable"