While certainly not his biggest fan, often sick of his silly antics on-screen and reputation off-screen, I had to grudgingly give the actor his due credit when he braved the potential backlash of the South Indian film fraternity to attend the IIFA weekend in the country. As amused as I was at the high pitched screams emitted by women and girls of every age every time this actor was seen at the Cinnamon Grand, I simply had to admit there may, in fact, be something quite endearing about the actor.

His cool swagger and well groomed appearance, not to mention an incredibly built body, are only a part of the charm... his antics with costars and the media undoubtedly make him Bollywood’s most playful Bad Boy!.

As he greets us with a “Good morning... Good afternoon,” he admits to being the latest celebrity to consult with the renowned Dr. White (Famed healer/doctor to H.E the President), “Just changing my habits a little bit, he (Dr. White) is restricting me from doing a lot of things that I usually do”, he adds.

Moving on swiftly to talk about his decision to shift the filming of his latest movie “Ready” to Sri Lanka, despite many potential setbacks and controversies, he says “IIFA happened, and we all came here, and we absolutely loved the place. As far as film making is concerned, we go to ... different kinds of locations where you get grandeur, beauty, palatial structures, etc, because we don’t get everything in one country. Just imagine if we got everything in just one place, which is about 2 hours away from India - everyone would want to come here! That’s how beautiful Sri Lanka is!”

But isn’t he worried about the potential backlash from the South Indian Film Fraternity, who vowed to boycott the movies of any stars who attended the IIFA weekend? Apparently not! “I am an actor, not a politician,” he claims, “once we get into politics we can play these games, but right now, being an actor, I don’t think anyone wants a controversy.”

He adds that the decision to shift the screening of the movie away from Mauritus, (and following that Thailand, Mumbai and Singapore), was made, not due to political reasons, but solely based on the fact that the location was more economically feasible, “the location (Sri Lanka) was most suited for our script, and if we can finish up everything in one place, we thought that for the production and the budget of the film, it’s much better.”

“Our intentions for coming here were not political. It’s nothing. It is just simply that your country suited our film locations.” He adds, “we are here, and we are just doing a movie here, and we hope that economically, everything works in our favour.”

He’s also full of praise for presidential son Namal Rajapaksa. “Namal,” he adds, “this wouldn’t have all been possible without Namal & without the honourable President. He (Namal) has been such a great support, and I see a really bright future for him. I think he’s an incredible man! He’s a dear friend now, and I absolutely adore him.”

For any emerging artist to make it into Bollywood, he advises aspirants to firstly learn the language, “and then, know your destiny,” he adds. “there are lots of people, including me, who never thought they would make it in the film industry, and today I have reached this position.

“I just got lucky. At that point in time, there was not a lot of competition, today there’s a hell of a lot of competition. With competition comes in a lot of hard work, effort, manipulation, jealousy, and when we came in, it was not that difficult. Today in this time you have to be totally prepared, and of course you need destiny on your side.”

Destiny has clearly been on this star’s side, but let’s not forget all the immense hard work and dedication he has put in, to be able to last longer than many of his contemporaries. His acting debut came in the year 1988, but his first commercial success came the following year with the blockbuster romantic drama “Maine Pyar Kiya”. The rest, as they say, is history, as Salman slowly and steadily climbed the ranks in Bollywood as one of its’ biggest stars. His last movie, the action packed “Wanted”, released in early 2009, went on to be declared a smash hit in its first weekend of release itself - and then, one of the most successful films of that year. Whether a movie is a hit, a flop, or unnoticed largely, the actor always seems to be unfazed.

Similarly, whether it’s his failed romance with Aishwarya Rai (now Bachchan), his legal issues, or the feud with Shah Rukh Khan, the star bounces back from many media lashings about his personal life, which clearly, he has developed an immunity to!

He answers any unwanted questions with a cheeky grin, and an impudent question, with all the charm he can muster. It’s a situation only he can pull off with such cheek!

Salman Khan’s “Ready” releases in 2011. Let’s see if the actor can claim another hit to his already impressive collection of these!