Thaindian News

Mumbai, Aug 21 (IANS) Action films take a toll, says Salman Khan, who is recovering from a facial nerve disorder, and adds disarmingly that a “Tiger” can’t make excuses like “I am not well” , a reference of course to his action film “Ek Tha Tiger”.

“I am the ‘Tiger’, I can’t make excuses like ‘I am unwell, I can’t do it’,” Salman, who recently underwent treatment for trigeminal neuralgia in the US, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

“I have done all the things like running, beating, falling, jumping from one place to another…. if you are physically fit, you can perhaps do all this. But it takes a lot of toll on your body as you are doing the same thing the whole day,” he explained.

Salman’s hard work seems to be paying rich dividends as his espionage romp “Ek Tha Tiger” raked in Rs.33 crore on its opening day.

Now Salman wants to go back to the romantic genre.

“I am doing a romantic film soon. Action is very tough… One has to get up at odd hours, like early morning, to do action films, work till late night, do action in worst conditions like in hot weather, fighting on rooftops and dirty places. It is difficult,” he said.

The 46-year-old is destiny’s child. Controversy, it appears, could be his middle name; he is neck deep in legal battles and health issues and has yet emerged box-office king with back-to-back action blockbusters - “Wanted”, “Dabangg”, “Ready” and “Bodyguard”.

All of them entered the Rs.100 crore club and “Ek Tha Tiger” is on a record-breaking spree too. After setting a new record by raking in Rs.33 crore on opening day, it has also smashed the weekend collection record by earning Rs.45 crore.

In Salman’s view, with the increasing number of theatres and the rise in ticket prices, Rs.100 crore could soon be equivalent to Rs.10 crore.

“The exact collection starts from single screens and multiplexes in cities and small towns. With ticket prices and number of theatres also increasing, the films are likely to do a huge amount of business. Soon, this Rs.100 crore will be like Rs.10 crore,” Salman said.

“And talking about the overseas business, who knows what business the film is exactly doing in overseas? Once the distributor starts giving actual figures, the numbers will definitely go up.”

Salman forayed into Bollywood with 1988 film “Biwi Ho Toh Aisi” in a small role as Rekha’s spoilt brother-in-law. Success was his the very next year with the 1989 romance “Maine Pyaar Kiya”.

There was no looking back after that. He climbed the success ladder rapidly and churned out romantic hits like “Love”, “Saajan”, “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun” and “Hum Dil Chuke Sanam”.

He then did romantic comedies like “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi”, “Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya” and “Partner”. In 2009, he endorsed action with “Wanted”, the first in the series to hit the screen.

(Uma Ramasubramanian can be contacted at uma.sagit@gmail.com)