The importance of being Salman Khan

He adds humour to Leela Sanjay Bhansali's films, he hasn't been able to get a few lines from Pyaasa right for years now, he doesn't believe in acting, but in being Salman Khan in all his films.Instantly, the quintessential Sallu emerges to cock a snook at a journalist, yet again.

Salman Khan comes to the interview without his bluster and his accent. So you risk asking a question he obviously has no interest in, even though you're dying to know the answer.

The false start to this interview goes something like this:

Is Saawariya based on White Nights?

What's that?

A short story by Dostoevsky.

Who's that?

Okay, point taken. It's time to reboot and restart.

Did the cameo role in itself interest you or did you take up Saawariya only because it was offered by Sanjay Leela Bhansali?

If Sanjay comes to me with a role, it's usually good. He is a fantastic filmmaker, my only comment on his films is that they lack humour. It's a common joke between us that I always put humour into his films. Sanjay feels intensity is akin to emotions, but I don't believe so. So, with Sanjay, I always change lines and turn around scenes to add a dash of humour to them.

You're known to ad-lib with lines and not follow the dialogues given to you. Does Sanjay Bhansali allow this too?

Yes, of course. He allows me to ad-lib much more than any other director. I've added subtle humour to Saawariya. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam too, the entire conversations I was shown to have with my father on screen, is the way I talk to God in real life.

That time our thoughts matched perfectly because Sanjay said he talks to his father in the same way. In fact, he was so spooked by my suggestion, and the fact that we both talk to someone up there the same way, that he went into depression for the next three days!

So much of your acting is 'ada,’(style).

Yes, it is. And it's my own style. The first and only lesson I've got in acting is to be myself. When I first went to acting school, I was given a few lines to say from Pyaasa.

I couldn't get it right for weeks, and that's when I was told that I shouldn't try to 'act', but should be myself. I've learnt my lesson. I'm Salman Khan in all my films, I don't try to be different characters.

You never try to get under the skin of your characters?

See, the point is that any good-looking guy doesn't come across as a good 'actor'. He comes across as a star. It's only when we see the ugly guys that we say, 'Oh, what a good actor.’ Chill, he's just not a good-looking guy, that's all.

How much of your image is the real you?

I'm immune to my image now, the image that has emerged from all these youngsters pushing a mike into my hand and asking me weird questions. But what image are you talking about exactly? Are you talking about my temper, etc?

That too, yes. Are you working on controlling it?

But I don't have a temper. I have a lot of anger in me. But I don't kick the car if it doesn't start or lose it if I'm kept waiting on the sets for hours. I'm chilled out about these things.

But yes, I do get terribly angry about issues, I do take a stand sometimes, and then I go all out, chahe kuch bhi ho jaye. But without anger we wouldn't be humans, would we?

You have moved on from being the black sheep of the family to the biggest star in it. Are they happy?

Come on, I wasn't the black sheep. I was always the naughty one, flouting rules and getting into trouble. Today, yes, Dad's happy that I've at least tried to give back something to all of them. But he also feels that I've harmed the family, given them all a lot of pain... All this prison business, court cases, stress him out. Put me in prison, I'm okay, but they suffer.

How's your painting coming along? Where did you learn it?

I had enrolled in the JJ School of Arts, Mumbai to do a course there. But only for two days... After two days I saw that the crowd at Xavier's (Mumbai) was better, so I changed college very quickly! Later, instead of pursuing painting, I became a pillar at every nightclub in town, as a youngster. (Laughs) But yes, I do have a knack for painting.