For the actor’s birthday, we round up his friends, colleagues for glimpses into the lesser known aspects of his life
Sanyukta Iyer, Avinash Lohana, Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 27, 2017)

1 Salman does not smoke, drink or eat non-vegetarian food on the sets of Sooraj Barjatya films.

2 While he turns down male directors for re-takes, Salman struggles to say ‘no’ to female crew.

3 He once hid in a bathroom to escape father Salim’s wrath. The patriarch broke the door open and gave him a beating.

4 In 1988, Salman was assisting filmmaker Shashilal Nair on Falak but walked out of the schedule mid-way because he was “bored”.

5 After Maine Pyar Kiya, a fan gifted Salman a huge sculpture of him and Bhagyashree in their signature pose. The statue still finds a place of pride in Galaxy apartments.

6 In 1998, an awards jury wanted to give Salman the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ award, passing over Manoj Bajpayee for Satya. Salman turned it down, arguing that Manoj deserved it.

7 During a Filmfare shoot in the ’90s, Karisma Kapoor rang up Salman when informed about his unavailability. The actor showed up instantly. Filmmakers took to calling Lolo every time they needed to convince Salman for a gig.

8 When a Brit journalist arrived in Mumbai in the ’90s to write a profile on him, Salman took them to Sangeeta Bijlani’s house, saying that she knew him better than anyone else.

9 The avid painter has moved on from canvas and paper to drift wood carvings.

10 Salman’s staff is encouraged to use his private gym.

11 While filming Jaan-e-mann, Salman was told that he should wear horizontal stripes to appear taller. He refused to wear anything else till the film’s release.

12 While filming Salaam-e-Ishq, director Nikkhil Advani looked at the monitor and screamed, “Ok Shah Rukh, ready…”. While over a 100 junior artistes and the crew froze in fear, Salman quipped, “Ready Karan, let’s shoot!”

13 Salman calls up mom Salma from the sets to inform her that he has finished eating his home-cooked meal.

14 When photographer Avinash Gowariker didn’t have a place to live, Salman gave him a room in his house. Avinash lived there for two years.

15 When the heroine of one of his films was dating another leading man, Salman pulled a prank by parking himself outside her hotel room with a few crew members and made suggestive noises.

16 The birthday boy loves Sushi.

17 During the Sri Lanka schedule of Ready, Salman overheard Anees Bazmee’s son Faizan say that he wanted to meet Shoaib Akhtar, who was in the same hotel as them, and got the Rawalpindi Express to bowl for Faizan in the hotel lobby.

18 During Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Salman had a cold that got worse in the presence of his Pomeranian co-star, Tuffy. He sneezed through the schedule for the love of dogs.

19 Salman likes listening to soft and romantic numbers.

20 When Katrina Kaif was shooting for an ad last year, Salman dropped by the set and whisked her off for a long drive.

21 According to Ramesh Taurani, everyone on the sets of Race 3 fears Salman’s predictions as most of them are believed to come true.

22 Sallu extends schedules by a day and sometimes a week if he is told that the light men and spot boys on set do not have another film starting immediately.

23 He believes the mangoes that grow at his Panvel farmhouse are the sweetest.

24 After a particularly tiring day, only his sisters or parents can convince him to attend an event.

25 Salman's directors have to convince him to give re-takes. If he is convinced (like he was during Sultan) he will do up to 50.

26 His poison is rum. He doesn’t drink anything else.

27 He waited outside Metro theatre after the first show of Maine Pyar Kiya to know the response. Just when he convinced himself that the film hadn’t fared too well, his ad-filmmaker friends Kailash and Arti Surendranath walked out and patted his back.

28 Salman never turns down women in need of employment and makes sure to check up on them after they land on their feet.

29 When producers are unable to get shooting permissions in Gulf countries, Salman bails them out by ringing Sheikhs and government officials in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Oman, to sort it out.

30 Salman prefers to address the media outdoors instead of his vanity van. He usually sits with four mosquito-repellent coils strategically placed near his feet.

31 During Sultan, Salman made sure that Ali Abbas Zafar counted four hours of his gym time as part of the film’s shooting schedule every day. So he shot for only five hours a day.

32 He thinks choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant makes him dance the best.

33 Salman’s films need a minimum of a four to six camera set-up because he prefers not giving multiple takes

34 After an international schedule of Ek Tha Tiger, Salman requested Aditya Chopra and Kabir Khan to create the set for the song “Mashallah Mashallah” in Mumbai so as to not upset his mother for staying away from home for too long.

35 In 2016, he turned down 15 “content-oriented” films because he believes that the audience only wants to see him in a “larger-than-life” avatar.

36 Last year, he arranged for brand new cycles for over a dozen street kids.

37 Unlike the two other Khans, Salman is not a gadget-geek and often refrains from using his mobile while on set. Neither does he use an iPad or play station.

38 While shooting Wanted, four women sweepers told him about abysmal working conditions and asked for new saris. Salman promptly arranged for a 100 saris.

39 While studying at St Stanislaus, he would often be punished by being made to kneel for running on the grass turf.

40 Salman has a cupboard full of shoes but prefers wearing his favourite black shoes everywhere.

41 Like his Bajrangi Bhaijaan co-star Harshaali Malhotra, Salman doesn’t like spicy food. On the sets, he’d taste the food before offering it to her.

42 On Bigg Boss, Salman often switches to Marathi mid-shoot; plays cricket and goes for long walks during breaks.

43 During Maine Pyaar Kiya, Salman would slip out during mealtime while everyone else ate together. He confided in co-star Alok Nath later that he preferred to eat alone as he was embarrassed of the amount of food he ate.

44 Salman hates winters.

45 When he has to host an awards function or present an award he always finishes that first and only then walks the red carpet.

46 He refuses rooms allotted to actors in studios and will only use his personal vanity van.

47 He never goes over to the director’s monitor to check his performance after a shot.

48 He greets paparazzi with a scowl but breaks into a smile after getting into his car.

49 Salman has imported 8 breeds of horses for his Panvel stable.

50 He doesn’t memorize his dialogues and mostly ad-libs during shoots. During dubbing, he reads the lines out loud and asks the filmmaker and editor to fix the continuity during edits.

51 His only requirement during shoots is that he should have sufficient outdoor space. He hates being cooped inside and his rooms are surprisingly devoid of frills for a star of his magnitude

52 Raveena Tandon recalls a photoshoot in the early ’90s during which Salman blew bubble gum into her face which landed on her nose, leading to a fight between the two. She told him she would only forgive him after she gets to blow gum in his face too.