Salman refuses to believe 'Bodyguard' is a success: Atul Agnihotri

Salman Khan is recovering after an eight-hour surgery in Pittsburgh and refuses to believe that his "Bodyguard" has broken box-office records, says his brother-in-law and co-producer Atul Agnihotri.

Salman, who underwent surgery for a nerve problem that was causing exruciating pain in his head, jaws and cheeks, believes his family is just trying to cheer him up by telling him that "Bodyguard" is rocking the box office.

"He is not totally convinced. He is thinking that we are saying this to cheer him up. This is because he is totally cut off from his regular sources. If he had been in Mumbai, he would have had more interaction, seen more TV and read editorials. There he is totally depending on what we are saying," Atul, who co-produced the film with Reliance, told IANS in an interview.

"Bodyguard", which released on Eid Wednesday, has surpassed the opening day box-office collection of "Dabangg" (Rs.14.5 crore) and "3 Idiots" (Rs.13 crore) by garnering Rs.22 crore in the domestic market.

Salman, 45, is expected to be home in 10 days. He is currently under observation, said Atul.

First, they did some test on him and then he was subjected to the first medical procedure. The surgery went for eight hours. Now he is under three-day observation. I think tomorrow night (Saturday) or day after (Sunday) morning they will review and go for the next step. He will be there for a week or 10 days more,? he said.

Atul is riding high on the unprecedented success of the Salman-Kareena Kapoor starrer action-drama, which has received overwhelming response from the audiences despite bad reviews.

We were expecting a good opening but the number has gone beyond our prediction. For us, before the release (of 'Bodyguard'), `Dabangg? was the benchmark. That we have surpassed, which is a great thing,? he said.

The film is scoring high even in south despite being a Hindi remake of Malayalam film of the same name. It was also made in Tamil.

?Even in Cochin where people have seen both its Tamil and Malayalam version, the film is doing extremely well. Till yesterday (Thursday) we had two theatres, today (Friday) we have opened up third screen so that?s an indicator of the reaction of the audience in south,? said the 41-year-old actor-director-producer.

Atul is expecting the box office collection to touch Rs.85 crore by this weekend.

As 31st was a holiday, we did a business of around Rs 21.57 crore, then yesterday (Thursday) we have touched about Rs.19 crore again. In that sense we have already done around Rs.41 crore and above, across India. Today is a Friday. In three days (including weekends) there is a possibility that we would cross Rs.80 to Rs.85 crore in India,? said Atul.

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Super star Shah Rukh Khan copied Salman Khan!

The audiences were left asking for more when Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan took off his shirt a la Salman Khan while shooting for a special episode of a music reality show.

Shah Rukh, who went to the reality show with filmmaker Karan Johar to promote their forthcoming movie My Name Is Khan, surprised everyone when he climbed up on a table and danced to the tune of Deewangi deewangi from his hit movie Om Shanti Om.

He then took off his shirt and flaunted his abs, said a source from the sets.

On the show all the songs sung by the contestants were from Shah Rukh's movies and the superstar shook a leg with all of them.

REVIEW:Bollywood Actor Salman's VEER

Mumbai-Salman Khan in a period film?!! I won't deny I was a bit apprehensive about how Veer would turn up to be. Yes, from the look and feel it did look like a period film, but fifteen minutes into the film, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the plot as we saw cannons roar, swords clash and men on galloping horses slaying one another on the battlefield.

Set in the times when the British were colonising India, Veer is a tale of bravery, treachery and love rolled into one. As the British enslave India with their shrewd 'Divide and Rule' policy, kings and nawabs fall to their guile and entrust their kingdom to them, one of them being Jackie Shroff, the Raja of Madhavgarh. He cheats the Pindaris, a fighter tribe from Rajputana, to please the British and loses his right hand to Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty).

Prithvi, one of the proud heads of the Pindaris, swears to return and kill every white man and the Raja to avenge the deception that cost his tribe, their land and their reputation. The vile Raja of Madhavpur too harbours a similar intention behind his cool demeanour. But as fate would have it, little did he realise that one day his daughter Jashodhara (Zarine Khan) would fall in love with the bravest of them all, Veer.

Now Veer not only takes on the British rulers, he also has to fight the cunning Raja of Madhavgarh. But then he has fallen head-over-heels in love Jasho and has killed her brother (Puru Raj Kumar) too. Will he succeed or won't he is for you to figure out.

Salman seemed to be back in form. He has lost more weight this time and looked better than in Wanted. It felt good to see him dancing gracefully and emoting right at the same time, maybe because Salman himself has invested a lot in terms of story as well.

The film has good music with a few hummable tracks.

But the discussion would be incomplete if we don't talk about Sallu's action sequences and his dialogues. As in Wanted, here too he has a few punch lines kept aside for his fans. Sample this: Ek bar leta hoon toh paanch ser gosht le ke hi chhodta hoon. If this was not all he goes on to prove it by actually killing a rebel Pindari with his bare hands by scooping out his flesh. And guess what he comes up with? 'Tol lena, paanch ser se zyada hi hoga." Woof!!