bookreview

If there’s one thing that’s fairly obvious, it’s the simple fact that you can’t pen a biography about any subject without having a wealth of information and well-researched knowledge to work with. Unfortunately Jasim Khan’s latest book, Being Salman is one such venture which tackles the life of India’s biggest superstar – Salman Khan without any insightful conversation with the man himself. The book quotes nearly everyone in the Khan household except for Khan, lessening the value of this work in entirety.

Salman’s biography has been written as a flop film of the ‘80s; the hero makes his entry after the first hour and doesn’t fight back until the climax. No one in their right mind would have expected this particular book to serve as a historical lesson on Khan’s family. But that’s what it attempts to do and consequently, the family lesson dominates the first half of the book.

All could have been easily explained with the help of a family tree and some graphic designs that could’ve highlighted important facts. But the writer deemed it appropriate to bore the readers with gibberish that had little to do with the star - except explain his Pathan ancestry.

The information presented in this book is easily found online and can hardly be called a scoop or pass-off as a deeper understanding of the man. Nothing previously unknown about Khan is written about. His relationships with Sangeeta Bijlani, Somy Ali, Aishwariya Rai and Katrina Kaif make it to the pages but the real reason behind these break-ups is not mentioned, which is what readers want to read about. Conjecture is offered as insight as the author offers assumptions on why Salman’s high-profile relationships didn’t pan out.

The fact is that readers are curious about Salman’s entry into the film industry as well as his earlier films but the author’s attempt to explain those days, when Salman was nowhere near the superstar he is today, come across as amateurish and predictable.

What the author claims as a victory on his part is the interview he managed to conduct of one Salim Khan, Salman’s father – who the writer labels the first Khan in Bollywood totally forgetting the likes of Dilip Kumar (real name Yousuf Khan), Nasir Khan and others.

Salim Khan, who was part of the legendary writing duo Salim-Javed, has been living a retired life for a long time and though he did give his honest views regarding Rajesh Khanna for the latter’s biography, his words on son Salman seem biased perhaps because he is Salman’s father. Salim Khan defends his son when asked about his love life. He also claims that he didn’t help Salman in his early days and believes that the younger Khan is right about not attending award ceremonies. This is no longer true though since Khan has made his presence felt at several award ceremonies in recent years.

Back to the book, which also quotes Salman’s many relatives, friends and acquaintances in unnecessary details… comments that can be easily skipped.

Then there is a cab driver who defends Salman Khan when asked about the blackbuck controversy as well as the hit-and-run case; the lawyer involved in the trial does stake his claim but when you read about it, you feel as if Salman was an innocent bystander against whom nothing could be proved. In the same chapter you get to know about Being Human, Salman’s NGO that aims to paint him as a saint instead of a sinner.

Being Salman, the book is therefore, a waste of your time. In fact, except for some private photos featured in the book, everything else is available online.

Another peculiarity is the incomplete feel this book creates. For instance, Salman’s flop years are mentioned as if it’s something benign and hardly worth noting. In reality, the years of flop films remains unexplained.

The author also doesn’t talk about Salman’s one-dimensional acting and writes only about and for the millions of fans who adore their Sallu bhai, 24/7.

Without any one-on-one conversations with Salman or any of his close allies in Bollywood, co-stars and directors, why Jasim Khan chose to call this book a biography is perplexing.  With most details available online, this particular literary affair is worth ignoring in totality and should be avoided by those who have the ability to Google the A-list star.

Omair Alavi is afreelance journalist  and can be contacted at omair78@gmail.com