SALMAN KO SALAAM , SALLU BHAI KE DILDAARI AUR DILERI KO BHI SALAAM.......

Since time immemorial , some of the great epics and masterpieces of plays , poetry and short stories have told moving stories about brave men who have faced all kinds of criticism and controversies , but have ultimately emerged as winners of the hearts of people who have hearts and Salman Khan is one such magical characters from modern history .- Ali Peter John

One has to just go into a brief flashback into Salman's story till now to realise the popularity and the power of his personality , his charisma and his presence on the screen or anywhere else and the sure confusion will be that he is one man and actor who has made a permanent place in the hearts of the millions of his die - hard fans and his dedicated fans say it is what their Sallu Bhai is and does that matters to them and not what the enlightened critics , intellectuals and pseudo - intellectuals say and scream about their Sallu Bhai that is what matters to them when it comes to the macho hero they have been adoring for more than three decades .

The last one and a half yeae has been dark , dreary and depressing for the whole world , including India , and the film industry has been no exception.

No film especially the ambitious , big , spectacular and dream - like films made with some of the biggest stars had been held back and had to wait for the appropriate time for their release .

And Salman's ""Radhe Your Most Wanted Bhai" which was completed almost about a year ago , was certainly one of them .

Radhe.... " was to be Up released a little before the first wave of the pandemic was to strike , during last Eid , but the makers took a sensible decision to postpone it's release till the situation improved .

But the situation didn't improve , but on the contrary , it' got worse when the second wave struck more ferociously and filmmakers who had their films ready for release were forced to stall their releases again and among the films to be hit hard were Akshay Kumar's" Suryavanshi", Amitabh Bachchan's Chehre , Brahamastra and Jhund and many other smaller films, which was not a very healthy thing to happen to an already ailing industry.

But , Salman had a commitment Madi to himself and to his adoring army of admirers to release "Radhe" on Eid 2021.

It was not an easy task , but a commitment was a commitment in the book of principles according to Sallu Bhai .

Radhe was given some final and meaningful touches in every department of the making of the film.

Some changes were made , some scenes were deleted to make way for new scenes which were relevant and topical today's time.

The film had no chances of being released in single screen theaters or multiplexes and so was sold to ZEE at what is said to be a huge prize.

It was like a dream come true for ZEE to release a Salman Khan film and it released Radhe on Eid on its ZEEPLEX and ZEE 5 OTT platforms.

That was the beginning of toungues to wag wildly about the reaction to the film . The Official reports said that Radhe had a bumper opening not only in India , but all over the Gulf and the USA where Salman has a huge following .

It was released in regular theaters in all these places and the response was like that for any other Salman Khan film.

But the entire critics "clubs" and the lobby of the intellectuals went hammer and tongs and lashed out against Salman for what they said was one of his worst films in recent years and also his most lackluster performance .

They found every little small and big reason to attack Salman , even as Salman admirers like the taxiwaala , rickshaw waala , the paanipuri waala and the most common of men and their families lapped up the film with relish .

The film was the same magic that Salman performed with all his previous films which is what his followers have been loving for years and given a choice would never like their Sallu Bhai to change in any way whatever the critics say.

The general time of the criticism was that it was based on a Korean film called "The Outlaw" and that most of the scenes were either lifted from the original or from the Telugu film based on the same story with Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde in leading roles .

The other criticism was about the gross and glaring mismatch between Salman and his new young heroine Disha Pattani and the romantic and dancing scenes between the two.

And the most harsh criticism was about Salman looking too old,. to play the character of Radhe.

And it is the screenplay dailogue and the direction of Prabhudeva that has been criticized for not being able to make a coherent film .

Criticism like this has become the in thing these days . And very few (:or no ) critics go into the background of how a film is made and why .

Salman has had to keep the expectations of his audience in mind all the time he is doing a film.

Salman also knows that filmmaking is also a business proposition in which crores are at stake.

Salman also knows that it is difficult to break his own image ( if he has successfully broken his image , it has been with his role in "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" ).

Salman also knows that it is the money of many which goes into the making of a film. It is quite a risk to make a big film with a big star like Salman

But the credit has to be given to Salman for taking all the risks just to see that the audience gets the entertainment it pays for and those who invest their money in it get back their money and make some money too .

It is under these trying and chalanging circumstances that Salman has taken the calculated risk of making a film like "Radhe" . And his risk seems to have paid off in a good way .

At this crucial juncture of Salman's career , we talked to Salim Khan , Salman's father and his ,"friend , philosopher and guide " about what he thought of Salman's career today and he said , " a time like this comes in the career of every big star , whether it is Dilip Kumar , Amitabh Bachchan or Salman .

The image created for them clings to them and they have to live with the image . They alone can change their image and I am sure , Salman will change his image in his next few films.

Give the man some breathing space . The odds have been against him for too long and he has the talent and the will power to overcome all the odds and come up a winner again and in a bigger way ."

Salman has only one film called "Antim" on hand and we are sure that it will not be the last .

An actor whose best potential has still to be explored will not rest till he has given his best to Indian cinema which has been a part of his life!.

We can only say , "chalte raho , Sallu Bhai, bhool jao ki log kya kehte hai aur inko dikha do ek baar aur phir baar baar ki tum jeetne waalo mein ho aur jeet kar hi rahoge. Hum sabki duaaye aur shubhkaamnaye tumhare saath hamesha rahegi.