Bollywood’s Bhaijaan Salman Khan recently appeared on his nephew Arhaan Khan’s podcast, ‘Dumb Biryani,’ and he shared life lessons and personal stories. He offered words of wisdom gleaned from his own experiences of acting and guiding young minds.
Salman shared his own experience, recalling his father questioning his ability to act and suggesting alternative career paths.
He said, “I entered the film industry, and my father said, ‘Can you do action? What can you do? Are you going to beat up 10 people?’ He said, ‘You can’t do that. You can become a lawyer, no? You can become a policeman, no? You can become the local don, no?’ But that didn’t stick. At the most, I thought I’d get a love story. But that got stuck in my head.”
Salman advised Arhaan to identify his competition and set clear goals. He encouraged Arhaan to compare himself to contemporaries like Tiger Shroff, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses to find his path to success. He said, “There’s Tiger Shroff, there’s Shahid Kapoor, there’s Varun Dhawan, there’s Siddharth Malhotra. You see yourself better than them right now. So, that is your goal. Now, he does this work, he does that work, he looks like this, he fights like this, and these are my targets.”
He also shared the importance of bridging the gap between fan and hero, striving to connect with audiences and surpass expectations. “That distance from a fan to a hero, I’m going to get that as close as possible. And I’ll try, and I was surpassed. This is what I did with myself,” said Salman.
One moment that stood out was when he playfully scolded Arhaan and his friends for not knowing Hindi well enough. During the podcast, Arhaan, son of Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan, and his friends were speaking primarily in English. Salman interrupted them and said, “Pehle to aap ye sab Hindi me karo (First, do all of this in Hindi).”.
One of Arhaan’s friends responded that his Hindi was “bhot kharab hai (very bad).”. Salman jokingly repeated his words and then added, “Speak in Hindi from now on, and I will correct it.”. Arhaan laughed and mentioned they were now getting Hindi classes, suggesting it would be a language barrier.
Salman then playfully scolded them, saying, “You should be ashamed of yourselves that you don’t know Hindi.”. He spoke about the importance of catering to an audience that speaks Hindi, though he also acknowledged that they might be doing the podcast for themselves and not to show anyone.
At the beginning of the podcast, Arhaan and his friends opened the show where one of his friends asked the ‘Tiger’ what he thinks of the name of the show, and he said in a lighthearted moment that it’s a “dumb name” and called his friends “dumb and dumber” and joking that they were the “dumbest” for doing the podcast together if the show doesn’t turn out to these guys.
The podcast also provided a platform for Salman to share personal stories and offer advice to the younger generation. He shared advice that he also gives himself.
The podcast episode with Salman Khan is part of Arhaan’s “Dumb Biryani” series, which has previously featured other family members like Arbaaz Khan and Sohail Khan.
Meanwhile, Salman Khan is preparing for the release of his upcoming film ‘Sikandar,’ directed by A. R. Murugadoss and starring Rashmika Mandanna, set to release on Eid 2025.
