Salman Khan has been working in Hindi cinema for the last 37 years continuously. He is one of the biggest superstars the country has ever seen. Between 2010 and 2017 the kind of success he saw at the Box Office will always remain unprecedented. In those eight years, he had eight blockbusters and one all-time blockbuster. The actor is all set for another Eid release called Sikandar that’s directed by AR Murugadoss.
In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, as he’s fondly called, the Bhaijaan of Bollywood spoke about the definition of mass cinema and why he’s not really pleased by the culture of selling tickets in black at single screen cinemas.
Salman said, “Dekho yaar wo jo mass aur class ka separation tha na wo to Ekdum mit hi Gaya hai. Ab aap single screen mein chale jao ya multiplex mein bhi chale jao wo seeti veeti maarne ka chakkar wahan pe bhi shuru ho Gaya hai. In Gaiety Galaxy, Chandan ab nahin raha, you have the same thing. (The divide between mass and class has now faded away. The practice of catcalls and whistles has also begun at multiplexes. It’s the same thing in cinemas like Gaiety Galaxy. Chandan is not there anymore.)
The actor added, “Main hamesha kehte aaya hoon jo black ka system hai jo single screen mein hota hai, wo itna zyaada paise deke wo picture dekhte hain, unko to seedha jaake multiplex mein dekh lena chahiye. Kabhi 1.5K ticket, kabhi 2K ticket. Usme aapko teen ticket mil jaayegi bhai. PVR and Inox waale log, even they prefer to watch a film at Gaiety Galaxy. (I’ve always said about the culture of selling tickets in black at single screen cinemas. They sell the tickets at such a high price that you can easily watch a film at a multiplex. Sometimes the prices shoot up to 1.5 or 2K. You can buy three tickets at that price brother. Even the people at PVR and INOX prefer watching a film at Gaiety Galaxy.)