How A Problematic Film Like 'Tere Naam' Converted Millions Into Die-Hard Salman Khan Fans!

Remember Radhe Bhaiya's hair-style -- middle parting and long hair? Movie enthusiasts till date wonder why became a rage back then in early 2000s when the movie had released.

Movies and particularly Salman Khan is known for introducing iconic trends that usually doesn¡¯t involve much of brain work. For instance, he would move a belt up and down, and it would become a hook step of a song. Soon, thousands of his fans will follow the suit and go people go gaga over the moves. Choreographers don't have this magic that Salman has!

While you would take a moment to understand his eccentric moves, his fans, on the other hand, would have already caught the whim and fancy of the hook step which is mostly labelled as iconic. Be it this turquoise bracelet or weird way of hanging the aviators at the back of the collar, Salman is a demi-god to his die-hard fan following who ape anything and everything he does. After all, Bhai Ka Style Hi Kuch Aisa Hai. Swagat Nahi Karoge Bhai Ka?

It all began after his movie Tere Naam was released in 2003.

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Before that, Salman Khan was all about different shades of Prem that we saw mostly in Sooraj Barjatya movies that created a man so perfect, it pained us to see something terrible happen to him.

With Tere Naam, he showcased his toxic masculinity and also glorified stalking. In the role of a jilted lover, he unknowingly turned millions of people into his die-hard fans.

Tere Naam, or the OG Kabir Singh?

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When Kabir Singh was released, it entangled itself in a number of controversies. Why? We as a society had grown beyond the age when patriarchy was a fashionable idea. Back in the day, when Tere Naam was released (in 2003), we were still encompassed in the shackles of toxic masculinity, and we did not release how problematic the movie was, and remains to be -- just like how only after years we have realise that films like Biwi No. 1 and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai were regressive and how!

If you think about it now, the basic idea on which Tere Naam was based was fu**ed up

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To sum up, the movie was about a gangster stalking and harassing a girl to the point that he ruins her life by breaking her engagement and forcefully makes her fall in love with him.

Radhe Mohan, fondly known as Radhe Bhaiya, had disturbing qualities like threatening a woman of beating up her dad if she refuses his love. He kidnaps her, Nirjara, but because he saved her sister from prostitution, he is kinda cool. He is a gangster with disturbing personality traits, but that¡¯s what the women in that age, many believed, fell for -- bad boys!

Who did it better- Dwight Schrute or Radhe Bhaiya?

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Even before Dwight Schrute from The Office made middle-hair-parting popular post 2005, Radhe Bhaiya from Tere Naam had an entire generation of young fans who got this haircut. It wasn¡¯t as widespread as coronavirus, but it definitely gave it a decent competition to the pandemic. From auto-wallas to road-side romeos, everywhere you would look, you would find at least one person sporting the hairdo.

And that gave rise to Bhai fans!

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His name has been embroiled in many crimes. He has been to jail more than once. Yet, Salman Khan is a hero in the eyes of his fans. Be it a brainless film like Race 3 or an over-dramatic movie like Dabangg which normalised police brutality, nothing stops Khan from being an enigma that is followed like a religion. Each time you find yourselves wondering how that happened, just remember Sallu Bhai once said, ¡°Mere bare mein itna mat sochna, main dil mein aata hoon samajh mein nahi¡±.

After Tere Naam, there was no stopping to Bhaitards

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Bhai has apparently taught people that you don¡¯t need money or women, you¡¯re a hero in yourself. Strangely, he has given them self-confidence that really speaks to them.

Who would have imagined that a movie will be hailed iconic solely because of the memes it gave rise to!

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At the time when the film had released, Facebook was still being imagined and Twitter was nowhere close to its inception. Memes were not even part of our vocabulary. But years later, Sallu-bhai¡¯s 'heart touching' performance, unforgettable dialogues like "Main request nahi kart, ek hi baar bolta hoo, aur full and final ho jaata hai", songs like lagan lagan lagan (x 9768 times) lag gayi hai and his out of the world look, are quite popular. The fact that the movie is considered iconic is mostly because of its admiration in the meme world.

We're not sure if he liked the hairstyle, but he for sure didn't like the idea of growing chest hair for the film.

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No one could mess with Khan even then. Did you know, Anurag Kashyap was the assistant director on the film, but Khan got him replaced?

According to Kashyap, he wanted Salman Khan to grow some chest hair. He also didn't find Khan apt for the role of a person who belonged to Mathura, Agra.
"I told the whole suggestion to Salman and asked the actor to grow some hair on the chest. When I said this to him, he was just staring at me and didn't say a single word to me. Next day Anurag got a call from the producer and he reached to meet him at his office. The producer throws a glass bottle to him and said - 'Saale Tu Salman Ko Baal Ugane Ko Bolega'."

Later, Ram Gopal Varma was replaced as the director with Satish Kaushik. And rest as they say is history!

If you¡¯re an ardent Salman Khan fan or even if you¡¯re not, you must know that a sequel of Tere Naam might be in the works, here¡¯s all the dope on it.