WANTED: How Salman Khan rediscovered his stardom with this film!

Salman Khan’s Wanted completes nine years today. The actor had six consecutive flops before the Hindi remake of the Telugu blockbuster Pokiri. Bhai tried every genre and every possible character to connect with the fans but failed all the time. Be it the quiet lover in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya or the fearless army officer in Heroes, there was hardly anything the actor didn’t dabble with. However, success still continued to elude him.

Then came Prabhu Dheva’s action potboiler, on the occasion of EID, which portrayed Khan as Radhe, a charming and reckless assassin who would do anything for Money Bhai (Remember?). The actor dropped all the efforts to perform and only focused on his persona and larger-than-life celluloid presence. Another surprising factor about the film was to witness Khan’s untapped dancing skills. The actor danced as if no one was watching but everyone was, and that too in amazement and surprise.

It was clear, this was Khan’s calling! Action, Comedy and a little dose of romance with a leading lady who doesn’t have much to do apart from doing romance. With the success of Wanted, Salman realized he needs to explore this genre of mindless entertainment more often, and that too on EID. And then began his bandwagon of Eid releases with one blockbuster after another like Dabangg, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger and Kick.

From almost being written off and labeled as a disinterested and dozed-off actor to becoming one of the biggest stars in the country, Salman has indeed come a long way, but he never reacts to either massive success or mammoth failure. In real too, he’s just like the character of Radhe, unfazed and unaffected!

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