Even when he is fashionably late (always), testing the patience of journalists waiting for three hours, Salman Khan has something up his sleeve. `Only personal and controversial questions allowed,` he announces mischievously at the outset of the interview. A few minutes prior to the interaction, in a real-imitating-reel moment, Khan entertains a two-year-old boy, allowing the child to play with his celebrated biceps. It is close to the defining image of his latest film Bajrangi Bhaijaan that released on July 17. In the film, Khan befriends a mute Pakistani girl who is lost in India and attempts to reunite her with her mother. `Things that I do on screen, I want to do them in real life as well,` he says as he lounges in Mumbai's Mehboob Studio.

In Bajrangi Bhaijaan, the superstar is propagating communal harmony. Khan, a Muslim, plays Pavan Kumar Chaturvedi, a devotee of Hindu god Hanuman. `My parents belong to two different religions and I am a strong believer of secularism. So, are most Indians. All my life, I have seen skull-cap wearing Muslims dancing at Ganesh puja and Hindus visiting dargahs,` he says. Over the past few years, Khan has assumed the image of a big-hearted soul spreading the message of love, peace and humanity, similar to what he is seen doing in Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The roles he has played in movies such as Bodyguard (2011), Jai Ho (2014) and Kick (2014) have contributed to this image. Khan's box-office record in the past five years have been unquestionable even though he has played essentially similar characters with superficial variations. According to the actor, he has always been `experimenting`. `In Bajrangi, my character belongs to a family of wrestlers. Much to the disappointment of his father, he cannot be one because he is ticklish. In Sultan, I play a professional wrestler for which I will have to gain 10 kg, bulk up and learn mixed martial arts,` says the actor. Will Prem Ratan Dhan Payo, his other release in 2015 with old collaborator Sooraj Barjatya, bring back Prem? In the director's films in the '90s, Khan had become synonymous with soft, romantic leads, far from his present-day action hero avatar. `You will see when the film comes out in November,` says Khan. The actor acknowledges that a section of his audience is not his fan. `Yes, there is always 10 per cent of the audience who one will not be able to please. Even they buy a ticket and watch my movie when it releases,` he adds.