On Salman Khan's 59th birthday on December 27, here's a look at his Best of 5.
Easily the most heartfelt performance of Salman's career, he immersed himself in the role of the wastrel Radhe, who loses his mind to love. A remake of the Tamil film Sethu, director Satish Kaushik's Tere Naam looks at a ruffian's obsessive love for an ordinary girl. Salman impresses despite that hideous hairstyle.
Playing the goodhearted, dependable Haryanvi wrestler, Salman brings a kind of feisty vulnerability along with a spiritual certainty to his instantly likeable character. The physical and emotional transformation is so authentic, its reminds us of what de Niro achieved in Raging Bull. Okay, that's an exaggeration. But you get the drift.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali brought out the best in Salman in their second film together after Khamoshi: The Musical. In Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Salman's innate sense of mischief was soundly tapped. He was a success as a prankster guest in a disciplinarian musician's household.
Salman played an innocent Hanuman bhakt whose self-righteousness would have been boring had it been played by any other star-actor. It is Salman's most accomplished performance, as he takes charge of a little girl's travel plans back to her home in Pakistan.
David Dhawan brought Salman and Akshay Kumar together and flipped their personalities. Salman played the God-fearing, saintly lover-boy while Akshay played a devilish, hard-drinking suitor. Both wooed Priyanka Chopra, and eventually Salman got the girl.