An Exclusive Interview With Salman Khan

Salman Khan's among the hottest hunks in town today. He had a roller coaster life till now. From super star status to jail and what next...

DOB : December 27, 1965
Sun Sign : Capricorn
Place of Birth : Bombay, India
Height : 5 ' 9"
Eyes : Brown
Address : 3 Galaxy Apartments
BJ Road,Bandra
Mumbai 400 050

What about your tantrums and the much-publicised outbursts with Aishwarya Rai?
Can anybody force anybody to do something? What one doesn’t want to do? So, let that go.

Your accident happened the same night when an interview with Aishwarya was published where she said you used to beat her up…
I hadn’t even read it. And in any case I think she has denied it all. There’s no connection between the two.

  You friends and your family also say that you are an obsessive lover and so emotional that you forget everything.
Being emotional — is that good or bad? Who decides that? Everything keeps changing. Maybe tomorrow I’ll not be thinking like this at all. But if I do change it’ll be for the worse, because then I’ll become manipulative and calculative and start being nice to people I hate. Would you want that? I went in with my head held high and I’ve come out with my head held high.

  Your obsessive love for Aishwarya gets you into trouble.
It’s not that at all.

  Do you still love her?
I’m not going to talk to you about this. It is for me to know and only I shall know about it.

  What was the jail term like?
It was educational. It was meant to be. I had to see that side. Perhaps, I needed to go inside. I’ve always seen only luxuries and good things in life. Never seen discomfort. There are so many people who are in jail for no fault of theirs and they are suffering. This has helped to put things in perspective. At first it hurt, not because I was in jail. It was like home to me. Because normally I don’t step out of the house. I’m hardly an outdoors person. On one hand, I got so much respect and on the other hand so much flak for something I did not do. That was what hurt me the most. But it was destined to be. No one could have stopped it. I had to see it all.
It was very unfortunate. My car had never been scratched before, let alone be involved in an accident.And I was always the one who picked up people from the street whenever there was an accident. The saddest part was that when my car hit somebody I couldn’t pick them up and take them to a hospital, which was 20 metres away.
People started throwing stones at me. I was there and did not want to leave. I did not run away. I went away only when they started throwing stones. A rock hit my knee, another one hit my thigh, another my head. I survived that. It was very sad that people said that I ran away and my brother came to pick up the stereo, which was completely wrong. But then it was all destined. Something went wrong and I had to see it all.
I hope it never happens to anybody else. I keep seeing my car going over those people. No one actually asked me if I cared, they just wanted a piece of Salman Khan and they got a lot of it. It was disgusting.

  But you must’ve thought a lot in prison…
In any case, I get a lot of time to think. Didn’t have to go to jail to think. I do think a lot. The accident was very unfortunate. I wasn’t even driving but no one wanted to listen to me. What can one do? What was destined, happened.The thing I’m saddest about is the mother whose son died and whom I’ve still not met because if I meet her someone will say I’m trying to buy evidence. Her condition makes me most sad. Her image keeps coming back to me whenever I try to sleep. It haunts me. How will she survive in her small hut? That is the thing, which makes me most mad. I can’t bring her son back to life. I can only say maaji, I’m very sorry.Accidents mean accidents, it was a mistake. But why is there so much hatred and animosity against me? I don’t think I deserve it. No one tried to verify rumours. The media carried reports without cross-checking information. It was only when my fans started getting upset that people started coming out with the truth. Is it some kind of a game of money and power?
Then they say I’m rich and powerful. If I was so rich, powerful and so famous how come I ended up in jail? There are a lot many people who are much more richer and powerful than me. They are the ones who send people like me to jail. Why did I have to go to jail to repent? Why couldn’t I have repented at home? Why did people try to change the law?

  What were the lessons learnt?
Move around on a bicycle, talk to the press and reach political functions on time.

  But what about your short-tempered, arrogant image?
My image has been like this for many years. Why change it? Let people believe that I’m ill-mannered, short tempered and arrogant. Those who really know me — friends, family and fans — know what I’m like and I’m nothing like this.Who has given me this image? Those who wanted to know about my personal life and didn’t have access to me have given me this image of being a brash brute. But my friends and staff wouldn’t have stayed with me for so long if I was that way.
About other people’s impressions, let them think what they like. I just want them to stay away from me. Those who hate me, I don’t hate them because they are not relevant or important to me. They demean themselves. I thank God for making me what I am, that he has given me this position.

  Have you grown after the accident? Do you plan to begin life afresh?
You grow each day. It’s not that you really grow wiser. You just relate to all these things. When they happen to you they become so personal and disturbing. Life is an accident. Death is not. Everybody has to go one day. When people come and tell me ‘take it easy, it was a mistake, accidents do happen’, they don’t know what I’m going through. I’ll have to live with this for the rest of my life. But really there’s nothing inside me that has changed because only those people change who are only doing bad deeds, and are deliberately doing wrong things.
There were people who said that I should be sent to a mental asylum, that I should be hung… those with the power of the pen, who have now weakened it so much. It is they who should get themselves mentally checked — the ones who have made their powerful pen so weak. They did not even listen to my side. Didn’t want to know my side. Maybe I didn’t want to talk about it. So my silence was taken as being rude, rash, selfish — like I have something to hide.

  What are your plans now?
When you want to make God laugh, make plans. Let’s see what happens next. But one thing is certain, till I’m in fine, healthy in mind and body and God is with me, nobody can stop me. Nobody.