With Tiger 3, Salman Khan could confirm the return of Hindi cinema’s Superstardom

Tiger 3 might be the Yash Raj Films’ Spyverse’s boldest acid test yet. (Photo via X/@BeingSalmanKhan)

In the long line of unconventional film releases, asking people to swarm theatres on the country’s or at least north India’s busiest festival day, is a brave experiment. No behavioural data or track record suggests the decision to release Tiger 3 on Diwali itself will aid or scupper its potential growth through what is a generously occupied week for festival celebrations. But with Salman, things don’t have to be straightforward to click. His recent films, including the horrible Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, have been unsuccessful, but he commands a fan following that can’t really be measured in material terms alone. For this is an actor, who unlike his compatriots Aamir and Shah Rukh, has commanded longevity and fandom without really serving it with memorable piece of art. Love for him then must transcend general rules around artistry and celebrity. To which effect, not War not Pathaan, but Tiger 3 might be the Yash Raj Films’ Spyverse’s boldest acid test yet.

Scour the internet, and you’ll learn that the decision to release Tiger 3 on Diwali hasn’t been arrived at by accident. Astrologers have been consulted, experts considered, religious events summarized to arrive at a date that feels as perplexing as it also feels counter-intuitively fascinating. This is Yash Raj studios’ biggest film ever, made on a rumoured budget of around Rs 300 crore. There is then pressure to recover the cost. But there is also the expectation to follow up a blockbuster like Pathaan with something commendable if not extraordinary. Moreover, there is also the burden of continuity, for the film has to prevent a multi-arm ambitious project from keeling over just when it looks close to being invincible. YRF is onto something with its ‘spyverse’ but in its oldest inductee, in isolation at least, it still has a shapeless horse. A horse who looks as distant from winning as he looks from losing.

Also read: Before Tiger 3, Salman Khan’s spy games began as a goofy love story

Compared to the other two spies (Kabir and Pathaan), Tiger has had a taste of the ocean. It’s the third instalment in a franchise that, strangely, gained greater relevance after the success of War and Pathaan. These films have given the universe a sense of style and class that it lacked; and for everything typically broad-faced and superficial about the first two Tiger films in the franchise, this third one has crowdsourced the odour of sophistication.

In fact, Tiger looks like a bigger, better-than-it-actually-is franchise after that shrieking, era-defining cameo in Pathaan. Little parts in a good film can do more for you than entire canvases in one that fails to register. But as much as success begets success, it also invites scrutiny. Tiger’s shoes have grown bigger, the bar has unmistakably been raised and the stakes are maybe the greatest Salman has ever faced up to.

Not that he looks like he’s up against it. Salman is, and probably has been for the longest of the three Khans, as mainstream, raw and blunt as male actors come. Which makes the fandom around him possibly as earnest as devotion for a certain ideology. It probably takes little to love do-good handsome men. It takes the sincerity of a village to love and support difficult, hard-to-relate-to men like Salman. If it’s real, this love must come from a place of genuine affection. Especially for a man who most of the time, doesn’t even look like he is courting it.

Even Salman’s TV career contradicts the comparative elitism and somewhat bourgeois choices of his compatriots (Shah Rukh with KBC and Aamir with Satyamev Jayate). He is flawed, historically messy and maybe a tad unapologetic for who he is. It doesn’t make him a great actor but it does idolize him in ways that maybe none of his peers can be.

It’s telling that in the trailer for a film which to YRF’s credit look visually stunning and every bit the over-expensive yarn it has been marketed to be, Salman speaks the least. Even when he does, he sounds corny. And not in an ironically good way. Emraan Hashmi’s voice reigns over the trailer and he does for good reason offer that x-factor as the more-than-decent actor who has been pigeonholed by directors and storytellers far too often. You’d expect him to bring the guile, the flair, while Salman will predictably bring the brawn. In a strictly performative sense, it’s probably as even a match as John Abraham’s stiff but sultry exterior offered in Pathaan. True to that film’s blueprint, you’d hope Katrina Kaif has more to do here than just be the hot prize for patriotic duty.

If the visual language and the scale of some of the set-pieces in the Tiger 3 trailer are any indication, it is safe to say that the studio has put money where its ambitious mouth is. It’s understandable to double down on brand value while it’s still on people’s mind, a model that Marvel Studios perfected to the point of becoming the victim of its own success. YRF are nowhere close to enjoying that proven, immune-to-bad-filmmaking cycle of success just yet, but if they can get Salman’s tough love over the line, in a year where people’s expectation of big-ticket Hindi cinema has been raised by one Shah Rukh Khan, you’d probably have to admit that more than just the one Khan, is well and truly back.