What next for Salman Khan? Trade experts speak

Taran Adarsh: “It's time for Salman Khan to reinvent himself. The biggest of stars did it after a point. After Mrityudaata and Lal Badshah, Amitabh Bachchan changed tracks and did Mohabbatein. Salman enjoys a massive fan base. He's the Pied Piper of the industry, the darling of the masses. But he needs to go think out of the box. He did Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultan and the audience loved him. The BO numbers also crossed 300 cr mark in India. It's time for a change. That would only cement his status.

I feel he was much more brave as an actor when he started out. He did varied roles, stepped out of the comfort zone. Why can't he do it now when he's at the peak? He must change. He should change. The fandom will only grow if he did so. Make movies that will be remembered. He's the biggest star here, he should work with makers who make qualitative cinema. On a personal level, I would love to see him work with SLB or SS Rajamouli. Imagine the film with this combination. Salman needs to work on scripts that do justice to his stardom.”

Amod Mehra: “He should stop playing 'bhai' and reinvent himself. In this age of OTT the taste of audiences has matured .He should stop making meaning less films.”

Atul Mohan: “The stardom of Salman Khan is unquestionable. If we see the opening of his last 4-5 films he is drawing opening day collections of 40+crore. It's just the choice of films and it's making which are going wrong. His lowest earner is these years was also 125 cr and decent one did 190+ cr. He is scoring above 100 crores with average of 150 cr.With Tiger he will be back in game for sure. After Radhe he is doing Tiger and after that he can do Dhoom4.”

Girish Johar: “Salman Khan has to re invent and re-package himself. He has been doing the same kind of films for the last so many years and providing same content to his fans again n again, which has become a downer. He needs to realize that the audiences’ taste has changed, their preference for content consumption has changed. So he has to mould accordingly, which till now he hasn’t. Undoubtedly, Salman is the biggest crowd-puller we have. He has humongous star power with a jaw-dropping fan base. He is a pan-India mass star, which very few are .But he has to match the content with his stardom. He has to select content which not only the masses like but is lapped up by millennial audiences too. Smart, quirky, intelligent content is being consumed presently, so to capitalize his immense powerful screen presence, he has to ensure that going forward, he attracts the millenials keeping his mass fan base satiated too. A tricky mix, but no other than SALMAN KHAN can do it.”

Mayank Shekhar: “Honestly I’m not convinced the film had a woeful response. From reviewers (like me), and a certain predictable set on social media, yes. But his core base, that comprises masses that flock to theatres on Day One, especially Eid—that Radhe was made bearing in mind; checking almost every box—did not have theatres to go to.

Salman’s Bollywood appeal/power is really tested at the box-office. It’s a lot like electoral politics—it doesn’t matter the quality of party/candidate, all that matters is who got more votes. The votes, in this case, weren’t counted. I’m no one to tell what Salman should do. What he might, I suspect, is more or less continue to make similar, self-centric, bird-brained films. That’s what’s brought him this ‘Rajnikanth of the North’ image anyway.”

Pritish Nandy: “Salman Khan has to act in films made by today’s producers. Radhe was far too retro. That audience has died, not from Covid, from old age. Radhe spoke to people over 80. Totally outdated. Salman is capable of much better films. So is SRK. But they are scared of doing different kind of roles because they fear they will lose their traditional audience. They don’t accept the fact that that audience has died a long time back. And young people today are running away from that kind of outdated, boring cinema."

Raja Sen: "It is time Salman Khan started making an effort. This country may finally be wary of entitled icons who believe the cult of their personality is enough to sway the masses. If Salman just chose to work with talented directors -- and I believe most directors in the country would love to work with Salman to make a solid commercial film -- he is capable of making solid entertainers.'