By Surendra Bhatia
Is there anything Bollywood stars can’t do? Actually, no. They are the only ones who create miracles, one every 15 minutes, they can kill 2,000 enemies in less than two minutes of screen time, they can jump backwards from ground level to the terrace of a 15-storey building, they can sing like professionals and if they play the role of a poet, they can reel off ghazals with the most soulful expression on this side of Asia… they really, please believe, can do anything. If only the country was handed over to them for three hours, they would finish off Pakistan and China, and push the US aside and make India the greatest nation in the world.
But, and this is a huge but, they can wring in miracles only on screen. Off screen, they probably can’t cross the Bombay roads on their own and if they are ever confronted by a mugger on a dark night, it would mark the easiest Rolex the latter ever scored. It was, therefore, very brave of Salman Khan to not only co-write the screenplay of Dabangg 3 but also take credit for the original story. If he was playing the role of a writer on screen, we would have believed in him, certain that he would come up with great stuff… but in real life? Well, Salman is not so new to story writing, he’s done it before: he bombed in Veer and Chandramukhi and did okay in Baaghi… However, with his creative writing contribution in Dabangg 3, he has raised a question mark over whether he spells writing with a ‘w’ or an ‘r’? Going solely by his Dabangg 3 output, it would really suit him to leave the writing to hired writers or the one he has at home, the respected Salim Sahab. Or, and this being written most kindly, simply hire a ghost writer.
