6 Life Lessons Sohail Has Learnt From His Bhai Salman Khan

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Sohail Khan has collaborated with his elder brother Salman in 15 projects to date in the capacity of director, producer and co-star. From countering the spontaneous surprises his 'bhai' throws on set, to watching how he remains connected with his huge fan following, Sohail has witnessed the many moods of his brother on set. "We are one of the few fortunate families that have the opportunity to be around each other even while working, so why deny each other that emotion."

Ahead of the release of the Kabir Khan directed Tubelight, we speak to Khan about six of the biggest acting lessons he's learnt by just observing and being around his superstar sibling.

In my various experiences of working with bhai, Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya was my favorite. Back then, he was a simple, young teenager but he used to surprise me in every scene with his take on the character. I remember, there was this one scene in the film where his character just had to walk out of the room and get Arbaaz bhai's attention after a long and tiring day at work.

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But the next thing I know, Salman bhai comes running out of the room with a chicken in his hand yelling 'I'm chicken man!' I remember calling cut when that happened but thankfully nobody heard me and the camera kept on rolling. We ended up getting something quite special. Bhai started laughing and said let's re-shoot it. But I refused. The fact that the unit, who has been living with this film for so long, has enjoyed it so much meant it really worked. It's this ability to spring a surprise and think out of the box that I admire most.

He's very easy to work with. There's just no pressure when he's on set. One thing I've learnt observing him over the years is that he will never restrict himself by a mark. He doesn't like it when an actor is told that he can only come in and turn 30 degrees to the left or is forced to look in a certain direction. He always wants to give an actor the space to best convey an emotion.

Tubelight is full of extreme emotions, be it sadness or joy. So on set we would often ask each other "What if this happened in our family?" and we would start laughing or get emotional depending on what it was. Salman bhai had to deal with the emotion of knowing that his younger brother has gone missing at war. So being the actor that he has now evolved into, I can see that he has stopped acting  and started feeling a certain way.

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He would put himself in the emotion of that character and that was really difficult for him. We would often see him in a calm, limbo after an emotional scene because it really used to bother him.

He doesn't like to come on set prepared for a scene because he feels that's when things get mechanical. After he hears a script once, he revisits it again only when he is on mark for the shot. This comes from knowing that his first reaction will be the reaction that is most genuinely his and not rehearsed.

That's how he would react to it on an instinctive level being Salman Khan – he hates that getting corrupted. So when it comes to his performance, if you see his first or his fifth take, they will be very similar.

He is one of the few big actors in the industry to whom a fan feels connected. Despite being such a big star, they find him to be very accessible. It's amazing how he maintains that just by being himself. Movie stars have a lot of images that they create around themselves, but Salman bhai is not interested in that. If you see his candid pictures you will notice that he has not tried to pretend in his real life. He is just like any of us and feels the same way when mom is upset with him or unwell. There is no pretence or bravado; he's just a normal guy doing a 9-5 job.

A lot of stars start believing in their larger than life images & that's what disconnects them from the masses. He just thinks he's Salman Khan who has gotten really lucky in life and had the opportunity to work with very competent writers, directors, and co-stars.

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When people say "Wow! Look at the success Salman Khan has achieved." He just thinks back knowing that it's been a 28-year long journey.  That's three generations of hard work. So when people ask him "How are you feeling ahead of the release of Tubelight?" He says, "Tubelight is happening now yaar, I've been doing this for so long now. It's the body of all that work that has made me who I am. After Tubelight, there will be Tiger Zinda Hai and Dabangg 3 so work will go on.