Salman Khan is Back with a KICK

Salman Khan is back with a  KICK

Salman Khan, the most powerful and the biggest superstar in the country, has cooed, stuttered and danced his way into the hearts of Indian movie buffs starting in the late 80s and early 90s respectively and to this day continue to entertain and enlighten us. Despite the arrival of fresh faces, he still remains the ‘biggest superstar’ of Bollywood while we bask in the power, passion and energy he radiates on screen.

Salman Khan, the most bankable star in the industry today, started his career with Sooraj Barjatya’s Maine Pyaar Kiya which remains one of the biggest hits of his career. Barjatya was also instrumental in giving Salman a film like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun one of the biggest blockbusters in the history of Indian Cinema.

Some of his other hits in the 90s are Baaghi, Saajan, Karan Arjun, Jeet, Judwaa, Biwi No 1, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya.

It was after Hum Saath Saath Hain in 1999 that Salman’s career began to nose-dive. In the next 5 years (2000 – 2004), Khan had only two hits – Baghban (special appearance) and Mujshe Shaadi Karogi (multi-starrer). Tere Naam and Garv did reasonably good business.

Between 2005 and 2009, Salman had a few massively successful films like Partner, No Entry, Wanted;  but most of his films like Jaan-e-mann, Baabul, Salaam-e-Ishq, Yuvvraaj, Marigold – just to name a few – sank without a trace at the box office.

Dabangg released in 2010 and went on to break all possible box office records – the opening day, weekend and first week record of 3 Idiots. Ready was the biggest non-holiday grosser of all time. Bodyguard surpassed all records set by Dabangg only a year ago and Ek Tha Tiger almost joined the 200 crore club.
As things stand today, Salman Khan holds several records and is the undisputed ‘king’ of the domestic box office.

But before Salman, there was someone else … Rajesh Khanna. He became the first ever superstar of India in the age of 27. He had 9 consecutive major hits including six blockbuster/super hit films in the span of 15 months from October 1969 till February 1971. This is without any doubt the best ever run at box office by any superstar in the history of Bollywood. 

The second best run ever by a male lead in terms of consecutive major hits in the history of Hindi Cinema is by Salman Khan post Dabangg till Jai Ho. Prior to Jai Ho Salman Khan had five back to back blockbusters in a run lasting around 30 months.

But t he Rajesh Khanna run was ended by a film called Mehboob Ki Mehndi which was his most expensive film till that date and the Salman Khan run came to an end with Jai Ho which fetched the highest prices of any Salman Khan starrer till date or for that matter highest prices for any star.

After Jai Ho‘s box office debacle, the questions are raised whether Salman Khan’s Kick will manage to set the cash registers ringing just like its Telugu counterpart did in the box office.

The 2009 Telugu original starring Ravi Teja and Ileana D’Cruz was a runaway hit down South. Ravi Teja’s charisma along with a quirky story line proved enough to set the box office cash registers ringing. The Telugu flick grossed nearly Rs 22 crore at the box office and back in 2009 it was considered to be a big deal for a  regional film to earn so much amount.

Seeing the unprecedented victory at the box office, Kick was later remade into Tamil as Thillalangadi in 2010. But alas the Jayam Ravi-Tamannaah starrer failed miserably at the box office. So when Salaman Khan decided to star in the Hindi remake Kick, it was a bold decision as it could easily back fire as Tamil remake Thillalangadi did at the theaters.

The much-awaited trailer of Salman Khan’s Kick is finally out … In a fast-paced, well-cut video, the trailer gives brief introductions to the main characters of Salman, Jacqueline, Randeep and Nawazuddin. The first few seconds of the trailer may remind you of Dhoom:3 but not for long. As soon as Salman makes his entry, he looks like a combination of two larger than life heroes (or villains). Sallu’s mask reminds us of Hrithik Roshan’s masked look in Krrish 3 and his antics on a bicycle and motorbike first bring to our Aamir Khan in Dhoom:3. The dialogues hint Dhoom-style adventure where the bad guy is more than happy to be chased and called a baddie. Sample a few: 

"Aap Devil ke peeche, Devil aapke peche. Too much fun."

"Mere baare me zyada sochna mat. Dil mein aata hoon, samajh mein nahi."

The trailer manages to hold interest through gripping dialogues and showing a man (Salman Khan) who does everything in life simply to get a kick out of it. In scenes where Salman is shown in his usual self - the ever-comic romantic, you might feel a little distracted.

So going by the promo, one can say, it’s a wait and watch situation. But for his fans, one thing is sure that Salman Khan is back with a KICK ….