However, there a few things I need to clarify: Salman Khan is a very interesting personality for me; not for his habit of plucking off his attire as and when he feels like but because he is the only actor who beats the maximum number of people onscreen, but off-screen he engages in philanthropy through his NGO, Being Human. This oxymoron is the reason why people love to fear and adulate him.

Nonetheless, beneath the tough exterior there is a very compassionate person. How can I be so sure? Well, ask Deepika Padukone to bring to mind her days of struggle. She may have done her first film with Shahrukh Khan, but before that Salman Khan had made her an offer that she could deny. Until now, she has spent five years in the industry but that day seems just like the day before. She was around 21 or 22 years of age and didn’t know anyone in the industry; so, to take up Salman Khan’s offer without a jitter was close to impossible.

Till date, she hasn’t worked with Salman Khan; her upcoming film is with Shahrukh Khan again and before that Race 2 will be out in cinemas by the 25th of January. Yet, she admits that she is looking forward to working with Salman Khan and is glad that she didn’t take up his earlier offer because she wouldn’t have been able to do justice to it back then. This is what she had to say: “It feels as if it were yesterday! It was so unnerving and unclear when I first came into the industry. I was a 21-year-old in a new city, living all by myself, and I got into in an industry where I didn’t know a soul.”

Let’s just hope that Salman Khan is “Ready” to sign her up for his next film.