SALMAN: BOX OFFICE GOLD

Salman Khan's riding high... and Bollywood is cheering.

It's Salman Khan time in Bollywood. With his full-on action film Wanted becoming a hit, the superstar has millions of rupees riding on his shoulders with three more big-budget films lined up. And all his friends in the industry - from David Dhawan to Vipul Shah - are joy at the actor's success.

Wanted earned about Rs.38 crore (Rs.380 million) across the country in its first week and industry experts feel that the film's good business will help Salman's approaching releases - Main Aur Mrs. Khanna, London Dreams and Veer.

"Salman always knew when and where to strike. He was always very confident about Wanted and this is the reason why he went all out to promote the film," Dhawan, who has worked with Salman in more than half a dozen films, told IANS.

"Forget first weekend collections; it was sheer disaster when Eid festivities began. Audience response inside auditoriums was unprecedented," he added.

Directed by Prabhu Deva, Wanted is a raw action-drama comparable to Aamir Khan's Ghajini.

"Salman may have done one or two bad films in recent times due to which it appeared to some that he was no more in the reckoning. They were mistaken though because he is beyond hits and flops," said Abbas Burmawalla of director duo Abbas-Mustan.

"His strong fan base could sense from a distance that Wanted was a film to watch out for and turned it into such a huge success," he added.

Salman's Yuvvraaj and God Tussi Great Ho bombed at the box office and many believed he was down and out. But the industry doesn't quite believe so.

"Wanted is Salman's one-man show. Yes, everyone involved with the film has done a fabulous job, but it is Salman's pull that got the audiences into theatres. Otherwise director Prabhu Deva was making his first Hindi film while Ayesha Takia isn't amongst the top three heroines that we have today," said Sanjay Kapoor, brother of Boney Kapoor who produced Wanted.

"He gave Wanted his full support and led the entire promotional campaign. He was supremely excited about the film and gave his heart, body, soul and time to its making followed by promotion," he added.

Vipul Shah, who has worked with Salman in the film London Dreams that releases Oct 30, is happy that Salman's three-film stint this year has got off to a good start with Wanted.

"My promotion plan though is not as expensive as that of Wanted. We are going right ahead in creating awareness around London Dreams, but the spillover of Wanted should also help our campaign. Since Wanted is all over, I am sure the euphoria and Salman's presence amongst audiences will continue for many more weeks to come," said Shah.

Filmmaker Suneel Darshan, who has never worked with Salman, is a little guarded before declaring this as a golden run of the actor.

"Wanted has done quite well in India but its fate in the overseas market has been contradictory. With crores of rupees riding on his shoulders in the current season on Veer, London Dreams and Main Aur Mrs.Khanna, all due to release shortly, god forbid if anything goes wrong, it will have severe repercussions on the industry's economy. This is just another interesting phase for Salman...," he said.

Himesh Reshammiya, with whom Salman has had a decade-long association, has a final word though. "Salman was a superstar, is a superstar and will always remain a superstar."

RITEISH'S BILLA NUMBER 007

Riteish Deshmukh’s mimicry acts have often left people rolling on the floor with laughter. Riteish’s talent was noticed by comedy king David Dhawaan at an award function who inculcated an interesting cameo for Riteish in his upcoming film, Do Knot Disturb.

Riteish co-stars with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan in Aladin and has mimicked everybody’s favourite hero in his approaching comedy. The mimicry was no mean feat as Riteish recreated Vijay Verma’s famous billa scene from Deewar.

A source informs us, “In the scene, Riteish is dressed in a blue shirt with a rope on his left arm and a beedi in his mouth Riteish Deshmukh sways a bundle of thousand rupee notes imitating Amitabh Bachchan from Deewar. Adding tadka to the scene is Riteish’s billa no.which reads 007 instead of 786. The scene shouldn’t create any problems because Riteish and Amitabh Bachchan are on good terms as they have worked together in Aladin. Also, Riteish and Abhishek are good friends and Riteish idolizes Mr. Bachchan so he would never do anything to offend him.”

Talking about the spoof scene, David Dhawan says, “Riteish’s mother in the film, played by Himani Shivpuri imagines his son to be Amitabh Bachchan from Deewar, so we decided to have a scene with Riteish imitating him. It’s an absolutely hilarious scene that will have the audiences in splits and Riteish’s comic timing and body language is spot on. He is a flawless mimic.”

Producer Vashu Bhagnani didn’t want the scene to create any controversy or show Amitabh Bachchan in a poor light. “We have ensured it is not disrespectful to Amitji or the film Deewar. In fact we had even spoken to Rajiv Rai to tell him about the scene before we started shooting it,” he said.

Riteish Deshmukh was unavailable for comment. The multi-starrer romantic comedy which stars Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen, Govinda, Sohail Khan, Ranvir Shorey, Riteish Deshmukh, Himani Shivpuri and Rituparna Sengupta hits theatres on October 2.

SALMAN KHAN SUCKER FOR SOCCER

Will lead Kolkata's top teams on to the field for a friendly match, as part of Wanted promotions.

Salman Khan will be in Kolkata for a friendly match to mingle with the top soccer teams of the city - East Bengal and Mohun Bagan.

It's part of the promotions of Salman-starrer Wanted, which released last week. Producer Boney Kapoor confirms, "Salman will be in Kolkata on September 26 for a friendly soccer match to be played between Kolkata's top teams. It will be called The Wanted Cup and Salman will lead the teams on to the field and will work out with them."

This is also the first time Khan will be in Kolkata during Durga Puja - which is a huge festival there. He is looking forward to the experience. Boney adds, "Salman has a huge fan following in West Bengal. Though he's been there for shootings, this is the first time that he's going to promote a film there. The whole team of Wanted, including Prabhudheva (the film's director) and the cast members, will also be there to cheer the teams."

The match will be held at one of Kolkata's biggest sports stadiums - the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium.

Initially, the match was to be held in the Salt Lake Stadium but now it has been shifted to the RSS because of security reasons. Salman will be interacting with his fans and the media at the event. Khan had earlier been roped in as the brand ambassador of Indian football by the All India Football Federation to promote the game in the country.

SALMAN KHAN WANTED VICTORY PARTY, SHAH RUKH KHAN, BACHCHANS, NOT INVITED

Salman Khan, the macho man of bollywood who tasted success with his flick ‘Wanted’(wherein he plays a hit man opposite lovely Ayesha Takia) after a long time, has decided to celebrate the event by hosting a grand success party tomorrow at a Juhu’s hot night spot.

Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan’s sizzling hot girlfriend, has already extended her holiday for the big bash tomorrow and will be returning to shoot ‘Rajniti’ only after that. The buzz doing the rounds in the industry is that Salman Khan has spoken personally to chef and other people from the venue to make arrangements perfect. He wants the party to have everything from his favorite chicken tikka to vegetarian dishes for those who would not have non-veg items.

Though Salman Khan has plans to invite Karan Johar and Farah Khan (close Shah Rukh Khan loyalists) but excluded from the guest list the names of King Khan, Bachchans (Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai for obvious reasons) and Vivek Oberoi.

Insiders reveal that the entire bash for the success of ‘Wanted’ is being exactly supervised by Salman Khan himself. He has been taking care about every little detail and has even marked out that the DJ will be playing hit numbers from ‘Wanted’ and his other hit films on the occasion.

The buzz is that Salman Khan’s pleasure comes from the fact that ‘Wanted’ is likely to fetch around Rs 40 crores to distributors in India alone, and that too, after paying theatre rentals and other overhead expenses. In fact, sources close to Salman say that flick has already been declared as one of three biggest hits of the year.

Even in overseas territories, Salman’s latest flick has caught the imagination of the people. For instance, in Pakistan ‘Wanted’ has become the biggest bollywood flick to be released so far in such a limited period. Similar encouraging reports have also come in from other parts of the world.

The gossip has it that Salman Khan has dual purpose in hosting such a huge bash for the success of his film. Insiders reveal that the main purpose of Sallu bhai is to show his strength and influence in the industry to his rival Shah Rukh Khan camp, through this huge bash.

It may be recalled that Salman and Shah Rukh had a fight last year on the occasion of Katrina’s birthday bash and since then never miss a chance to pull each other legs or show their strength.

Salman has also not invited Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai for obvious reasons. Vivek Oberoi, who had apologized publicly, has still not managed to get Sallu bhai’s amnesty and so not invited to the party.