The taming of the Bhai: How Salim Khan bailed out Salman Khan

Of late Salman Khan had been seen behaving with uncharacteristic restraint. Not that he could ever curb his cute arrogance. But we wonder how his fans, often called Salmaniacs, feel now that he has replaced his habitual brashness with a coy clamping-down? But in the past months, we have most decidedly seen the taming of Salman Khan, brought on by the only person on this earth who can tame the bratty Bhaijaan. His father, Salim Khan. It was his Dad’s idea to, shall we say, do a brush-up job on Salman’s image. Salim sa’ab to this day signs all the cheques on Salman’s behalf. Salman carries no money and spends none. It’s his dad who decides how Salman’s millions are invested. [caption id=“attachment_2540856” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Salman Khan with his father Salin Khan. Image from AFP.[/caption] In an episode of Koffee with Karan that Salman was a part of, we saw the actor’s brazen wittiness on display for everyone to see. Karan Johar and Khan spoke about his films, his virginity and many other colourful topics. However, when his father Salim Khan made an appearance, Salman behaved like any obedient son: reserved, quiet and respectful. As kids, when Salman and brothers Arbaaz and Sohail would “do dhamaal” it was Salman who would invariably get walloped by his dad. Even when Salman became a star, Salim Khan continued to control Salman’s tendency to “lose it”, much in the way that Sunil Dutt tried to control his son sanjay Dutt’s wild ways. Salim sa’ab, it seems, has been more successful in taming his wild child. The first step was to shake hands with the Narendra Modi government, even if it meant offending a strong and sizeable section of Salman’s fans. In January 2014, when Salman was seen flying a kite with prime minister Narendra Modi at the Makar Sankranti festival, a section of movie-going audiences demanded a ban on Salman’s film Jai Ho. There were reports of Muslim organisations in Hyderabad asking Salman’s fans to boycott the film because of Salman’s show of solidarity for Mr Modi. In a prior conversation with this writer, Salman’s father rose to his son’s defence, “First of all no organisation is so big that audiences would listen to them and boycott’s Salman’s film. If some organisations were actually influencing audiences against the film because of Salman’s visit to Gujarat, then I’d like to tell these organizations that no solution to the world’s violence has emerged out of hatred. So please stop talking the language of animosity.” On the uproar over Salman’s Modi visit, Salim sa’ab says, “Once someone asked Prophet Mohammed what was the greatest form of worship. And He answered, love. Then the same persson asked the Prophet what the greatest charity was. The Prophet said, forgiveness. This whole refrain that Narendra Modi did not ask for forgiveness (for the 2002 Gujarat communal riots) is so futile. Maaf karna padta hai maafi maangi nahin jaati. Jo kuch ho gaya so ho gaya. Ab aage badho(Forgiveness is granted, and not on demand. What happened has happened. Let’s move on). No sensible or sensitive human being would justify what happened in Gujarat (during the riots). But how long can we cling to the past?” After pondering a bit Salim Saab adds, “Every community in the universe is both in the majority and the minority in different parts of the world. I think communal discord is a larger problem in our country than corruption. The minority community should not get into a confrontation with the majority. No one has ever benefited from such confrontations.” This was clear indication which way Salman’s father wanted to swerve his son’s judicial destiny. When in July, Salman had tweeted against Yakub Memon’s capital punishment. Salim Khan had acted swiftly, apologising on his son’s behalf and getting the ‘offensive’ tweet removed immediately. No doubt the BJP has found itself a new mascot. Don’t be surprised if Salman Khan becomes the new brand ambassador for Gujarat tourism. The politics of appeasement works both ways.