'Heroes' is not about jingoism: Salman Khan

Salman Khan on religion, patriotism and his upcoming film, 'Heroes'.

Q. Hello Hero!

(Laughs) Nice way to start huh! But the ultimate hero is not me but Sohail Khan. Watch out for him in 'Heroes'.

Q. Sohail has done really well for himself, hasn't he?

Yes. When Sohail did 'Maine Dil Tujhko Diya', he was appreciated in the film but the film didn't do really well. He got a bit demoralized. He was doing well as a director and with his production company. At that point of time he wanted to do action but the fact was that he was good at comedy. He is one of the few people who can do justice to action and comedy. But as a family we thought that he should concentrate on comic roles. That's when 'Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya', 'God Tussi Great Ho', 'Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na', 'Hello' and now 'Heroes' happened.

Q. 'Is Heroes' a tribute to the Indian jawans in a way?

'Heroes' isn't about the Indian jawans or the Indian soldiers or against Pakistan. It's about two guys who just want to have fun in life and then they get an exercise to find out whether joining the army is important or not. The jawans in 'Heroes' played by Sunny, Bobby, Dino and myself can be Pakistani, American, Chinese or Japanese but you will find such guys anywhere. Infact, there is one of my dialogues in the film saying, "Yeh jung kab khatam hogi?" and my co-star replies, "Yeh jung thodi hain. Jung to tab hoti thi jab raja maharaja khud aage aate the ladne ke liye. Jis din woh neta jo yeh treaty sign karte hain, woh ladenge, tab yeh jung khatam hogi". It's a very meaningful film.

Q. Vatsal Seth brought to our attention that you did not smoke a cigarette just because you were wearing a turban. Very touching I should say?

Yeah, that's true. That's the reason I am trying to quit smoking. I normally don't talk about smoking and I try not to smoke whenever possible.

Q. Well, it means that you not only respect your country here in Heroes but also other cultures.

If you're going to respect somebody's religion and somebody's culture, I think they're going to respect your culture and your religion. I believe that all the religions are basically the same. They preach and teach the same things. It's just that they have different ways of doing it. But I don't understand this Hindu - Muslim rifts sometimes. Tell me one Hindu man or a girl who does not have a Muslim friend or the vice versa. This is just a card that the politicians play and some people do this for money too.

Q. Do you think Vatsal Seth has a long and a bright future ahead of him?

He is the cute 'Tarzan' Boy. He is an adorable kid. Even though he is around 26 or 27, he looks 15 to 16 year old. He is training hard and trying to put on a bit of weight. And once he gets that, he will be an even better looking boy. You know, those lover boy roles which Kumar Gaurav, Aamir Khan and I've done in the past don't work now. It's time for a change, a drastic change. Vatsal will have to change his image if he wants to survive in the industry. With this film, he will do justice to his role just as Riteish, Aftab and Arshad have done in their films. Two hero projects are good for him right now. I think he has already signed three to four films.

Q. From a serious conversation to something not that serious - Preity Zinta. Let's talk about her.

(Laughs) She is a serious actress but sometimes she is a complete brat. She went to some acting classes to learn the Punjabi accent. Can you believe it? When she came and started talking in Punjabi, I was shocked. It was too good. I've worked with Preity in more than five films now. So we jell along well and have a good rapport.