Heroism in cinema will never die: Salman Khan

Mumbai: Fresh from the success of "Dabangg 3", Bollywood superstar Salman Khan says there are times when the makers go overboard with "heroism" but believe he is lucky to have struck the right balance in his films.

"Dabangg 3" saw Salman reprise his role of Robin Hood-like cop Chulbul Pandey and the film released on December 20, minting over Rs 90 crores in its opening weekend. The actor, who has cemented his image as a larger-than-life hero with films like "Wanted", "Kick", "Bharat" and the "Dabangg" series, said heroism is here to stay.

"I feel when fans go to theatre they should want to be you and they should come out happier. Basically that is my funda to do movies. I don't think heroism can ever die. "It can never die. There are times when you feel there is too much of it (heroism) so you try and control it, to get the right balance is difficult. I am lucky on cracking it," Salman, 53, said in a group interview.

Growing up, the actor said, he watched Bruce Lee on screen and used to imitate the moves of the Hollywood martial arts legend. "I am a big movie fan myself. We would see the posters of a film and decide whether we want to see the film or not. Today, we have trailers and people make their mind to see a movie if they liked it. When I would come out of a movie theatre after watching a film, I wanted to be that hero, feeling good.

"We would watch all the films of Bruce Lee and we would fight and kick people around (like he used to). Everyone was a martial artist at that point of time in a fun way," he said. Salman said no star has the power to hold the audience in the theatres if the film is not good. "... Till the time the emotion is correct... If you do something selflessly for someone -- it could be your mother, family or wife or dog or country -- that emotion works. You say star power (works), but if the film is not good, then it doesn't hold at all," he said. "The subject is important. The scenes and music have to be good. If a boring scene comes, people get busy with their phones," he added. Salman is currently busy shooting for "Radhe". "I am hearing scripts from Farhan (Akhtar) when something comes up, we will see," he added.

The actor also has "Kick 2" and "Veteran", the Hindi remake of 2015 South Korean film.