Salman Khan: Flawed, fearless & unfinished at 60 |
New Delhi: As Salman Khan turns 60 today, on December 27, Bollywood marks a milestone not just of age, but of endurance. Few stars have occupied the cultural imagination as persistently, or as paradoxically, as Salman. Loved and criticised in equal measure, dismissed as a ‘bad actor’ by purists yet worshipped by millions, he has built a career that refuses to follow the dictums of stardom. If Hindi cinema had a case study in survival, Salman would be its most compelling chapter — one that can be easily divided into two: superstardom and his brand of loyalty.
His rise was never textbook. From the boyish charm of Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) to the swaggering masculinity of Wanted (2009), Dabangg (2010) and Sultan (2016), Salman reinvented himself not through craft alone but through instinct. He understood the pulse of the mass audience long before the term became fashionable. The body, the bravado, the Bhai persona — these were not accidents but calibrated choices that turned him into a phenomenon larger than the films he starred in. Box-office logic bent to his presence, and release dates orbited around his name.
Controversy, however, has been Salman’s constant shadow. The 2002 hit-and-run accident, in which he was accused of driving under the influence, and the long-running black buck poaching case kept him entangled in legal battles for years. Court appearances, verdicts and appeals threatened to derail his career entirely. Yet, remarkably, none of it dismantled his stardom. In an industry where perception is everything, the superstar emerged bruised but unbroken.
The actor’s romantic life, too, has been relentlessly dissected. High-profile affairs with leading actresses, turbulent break-ups and allegations that spilled into the public domain shaped his image as Bollywood’s most controversial bachelor. Relationships that began on film sets often ended in headlines, reinforcing his reputation as a difficult partner and a complicated man. Over time, these narratives fused into the larger myth of Salman Khan as the flawed superstar who lives by his own rules.
Labelled an ‘eternal bachelor’, Salman has worn the tag with a tinge of humour. Marriage, like many expectations placed upon him, remains optional in his world. Instead, he has cultivated another narrative — one that highlights loyalty to family, deep friendships and an unusually strong support........