25 years of Dhinkchika in Bollywood!

Towel dance. Aviators worn on his shirt collar. Smoking hot swag. Bad boy. Lover boy. Most eligible bachelor in town. Loves to roman shirt-less. Embroiled in every possible controversy, but is not in Jail!

Pehchano kaun?

When this scrawny man burst onto our screens as the lovable ‘Prem’ in ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’, nobody thought he would become a phenomenon one day. With an average body (yes, before he became the poster boy for steroids, he was rather skinny) and not so groundbreaking a face, he was never meant to achieve stardom. But being the ‘Dabangg’ hunk that he is, he transformed himself, and how!

If you are still wondering who we are referring to, we have one question for you…are you for real? Well, jokes apart, it’s none other Salman ‘beefy’ Khan, who completes 25 years of ‘dhinkchika dhinchika’ in Bollywood this year.

We love his ‘bad boy’ image, which is made up the countless crimes the Khan has been embroiled in and the myriad love affairs he has had. We love his fake accents that he puts on for press conferences, his uber cool swag that seems to be born with him, his sex appeal that refuses to fade with time and of course, the Chulbul Pandey-esque attitude that he has off and on screen!

After playing almost second fiddle to the leading ladies of the 90s in films like ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’, ‘Saajan’ and ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’, among many others, he bounced back with ‘low on logic, yet high on funda fun films’ like ‘Wanted’, ‘Ready’ and the ‘Dabangg’ franchise, among others. With a chiseled body and his famous rogue attitude, there’s nobody in Bollywood who can play macho roles like him. Even Ajay Devgn looks like poor man’s Salman Khan in ‘Singham’, while Sanjay Dutt looks plain stupid in ‘Policegiri’.

From his infamous fight with former flame Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan to the much publicized spat and later patch-up with his nemesis Shah Rukh Khan, he has always been controversy’s favorite son. Be it his blazing affairs with Somy Ali, Sangeeta Bijlani or more recently Katrina Kaif or his alleged involvement in poching, drunk driving, he has had a life more colorful than any of the larger-than-life characters he has played onscreen.

The most generous and loyal ‘bhai’ of Bollywood is supposed to be quite a tough nut to crack, or so we are told. And he is one of the least humble stars in the industry right now (go and watch his Revital advert, he has that ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ about you look on his face throughout the ad). Despite his multi-crore hits, he lacks the kind of craze Shah Rukh Khan enjoys, because Sallu mia is more aloof and arrogant than others. He knows his ‘Khan-daan’ is one of the most powerful families in B-Town and whatever he touches will turn into gold. But does that make him a good human being?

He has completed 25 years in the industry and how many of us like him for who he is and not for all the characters he has played? Tough call, eh? Let me go do the famous ‘towel’ dance from ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’, while you figure that out!

And one special tip for Sallu bhai, ‘Aapke thappad se dar nahi lagta, saheb…aapke fake American-Brit accent se lagta hai’.