Five best Eid releases of Salman Khan

Salman Khan All ImagesCourtesy: AFP

Over the last 12 years, Eid has become synonymous with Salman Khan. This is the festival that helped the leading man rediscover himself as a star. He was always one, just not able to deliver the bucks at the box office. But the kind of rise he saw after he began releasing his films on the said festival, there was no stopping him.

He dropped the trailer of his next, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, a film that has been awaiting release since last year. It also becomes the first film to release simultaneously on Pay Per view and in cinema halls. The move is both unique and unpredictable. The commercial (and critical) fate of this actioner will be sealed on May 13, but until then, here's looking at the five best Salman Khan releases on Eid:

Wanted (2009)

There has to be something about Salman Khan that changed his career and charisma overnight in 2009 in the form of Wanted. Prabhudeva projected a larger-than-life persona of someone who emulated the psyche of his celluloid character in real. Radhe, the undercover cop in the guise of a rakish goon was Khan's most entertaining moment on screen in years. Was it superstition that led him to release nearly all his films on Eid ever since then? Who knows! But he was back to being the Bhai of Bollywood.

Dabangg (2010)

Inspector Chulbul Pandey is not very much different from Radhe. There's an apparent naughtiness in his demeanour, he's puffed with conceit and unabashedly flaunts it on his sleeves. Bollywood has been bombarded with small-town stories that tell us the tales of people of the heartland over the years. Dabangg belongs to the list too. Here, the intent was to amplify what the star already achieved with Wanted, his magnetic persona tailor-made for the fans.

Ek Tha Tiger (2012)

This espionage thriller was very stylish and still remains one of his best shot films. Barring the abrupt love story that pops up post-interval, Ek Tha Tiger could have been the Indianised version of Mrs. And Mrs. Smith. Khan's character that of a RAW agent got a solid introduction and he (expectedly) singe-handedly fought an army of ISI agents cleverly using all the weapons possible, including a scarf and a table. He's made of steel but softens before the woman he's fallen for, unaware of her true identity. Watch it if you haven't only for the slick action.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015)

The trilogy of Kabir Khan and Salman Khan may have ended on a forgettable note (their last collaboration being Tubelight), both the Khans gave each other their best film yet. The eponymous character was coy, shy, and also a devotee of Hanuman. Kabir says he has projected all the shades of his leading man's personality with the three films he's made with him. In the second one, he tackled the human side of the actor. Sharply written and effortlessly performed, this still remains one of Khan's best.

Sultan (2016)

All Pictures/AFP

Ali Abbas Zafar's sports drama delves into the personal demons of a wrestler. He goes on from being callow to conceited to culpable. Khan was never this vulnerable before the camera. Khan delivered something that could be recognised as a performance. Fair to say this is the hardest Bhai may have worked for a role in his 33-year career.