Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan trailer launched

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The agencies and film people are getting smart—either there are no Q&As at prestigious media meets or orchestrated ones, where the questions and the national media asking them are pre-decided and aimed at everyone on stage.

Such was the case also, after the media meet for the trailer launch of Citadel (orchestrated Q&As) last week, at the trailer launch of Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan (no Q&As) at the Juhu PVR Cinema on April 10. Excerpts from the ‘massy’ songs were shown, the cast and major crew stepped in, the trailer was shown twice, and the anchor shot questions at everyone present, mainly about their experiences with Salman Khan, hero and de facto producer, who was, as usual, in his witty element. Most of the cast stated that it was a dream come true, or something they had “never even dreamed of”, to work with ‘Bhai’, as Salman is known.

Those present also included director Farhad Samji (obviously one of the co-writers too, though the writers were not given importance as usual), co-composer Payal Dev, singer Palak Muchhal, Shariq Patel of Zee Studios, which presents the movie, and the cast. The action comedy is a remake of the 2014 Tamil movie, Veeram, the story of a man whose younger brothers want him to get married so that they can settle down too.

Pooja Hegde (that comely lass who has made it big down South but has made mostly bad choices here until now), Bhumika Chawla (ditto!), Shehnaaz Gill, debutants Palak Tiwari and Vinali Bhatnagar, dancer- choreographer, actor and television presenter Raghav Juval, Siddharth Nigam (of Dhoom:3 fame), Padma Shri-laureate boxer Vijender Singh, and singer-actor Jassie Gill. Also present was singer-composer Sukhbir, who has scored the song Billi billi and has worked on Balle balle as well. He revealed that Salman himself had written most of the lyrics for the first song, which was finalized at first hearing. He also added that Bhai asked for a slower tempo for the song.

Singer Palak Muchhal revealed that Salman had always been a pillar of support to her from the beginning, and besides helping her as a singer, had also financed several heart surgeries, a social cause that has been dear to the singer from the beginning.  Salman added that most people felt that he had “lost it” when her song, Naiyo lagda, was approved (it has been composed by Himesh Reshammiya) by him. “I had this song with me for 10 years. Everyone said that it was dated and old-fashioned. But I am not one to listen to such advice and never will be!” he added.

The cast, especially the youngsters, raved about Khan, who later unbuttoned his shirt because trolls suggested that his six-pack abs were not real!. “Tumko lagta hai VFX se hota hai (you think this can be done with VFX)?” he asked. He was good-heartedly ribbing all the youngsters and praising them generously as well.

Talking of Bhumika Chawla, who was introduced to Hindi cinema with his film Tere Naam 20 years ago, Salman joked that she was a woman of few words who always had spoken with staccato remarks and questions like “Good morning sir!” “Have you had lunch?” and so on during that film, and this has remained unchanged! To this, Bhumika grabbed the mike and stated that she was just like what Salman described. “I am like that even with my family!” she said.

Director Farhad Samji stated that it was “bhagya (good luck)” to work with other top stars, but “saubhagya (fortune)” to work with Salman.

The anchor harped on the fact that “Bhai was coming back after four years”. What he meant was that Salman was having a proper, Eid big-screen release after Dabangg 3 in 2019. During the pandemic, apart from some cameos, Salman had featured only in two lead films released in a limited way in theatres—Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai and Antim—The Final Truth.

Salman Khan’s Eid scoreboard

2009—Wanted , Hit

2010—Dabangg, Blockbuster—Year’s Biggest Hit, Home Production

2011—Bodyguard, Blockbuster—Year’s Biggest Hit, Home Production

2012—Ek Tha Tiger, Blockbuster—Year’s Biggest Hit,

2013—No release as actor

2014—Kick, Blockbuster

2015—Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Blockbuster—Year’s Biggest Hit, Co-Production

2016—Sultan, Blockbuster

2017—Tubelight, Below Average, Home Production

2018—Race 3, Average, Home Production

2019—Bharat, Average, Home Production

2021—Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, Flop, Home Production

2022—No release in Hindi