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Dus Ka Dum: Back in 2008, Salman Khan was hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The media had labelled him as the official “Bad Boy” of Bollywood and there was a negative perception built around his personality. Although the people close to Salman Khan back then often had great things to say about his charitable and humble nature, the media projection was diametrically different. That’s when Sony Entertainment Television announced Salman Khan as the host of Dus Ka Dum, which in my opinion was a complete game changer for the superstar.
With Dus Ka Dum, Salman connected with the audience across the country like no one else. Khan was extremely believable and natural as the host and interacted with the common man of India with a lot of simplicity. The actor made everyone comfortable, danced with them, cracked jokes and even pulled their legs – basically, the interaction between the people on show with Salman Khan was like how any two people in general would converse. As the show kept progressing, people started to realize that Salman Khan’s personality is just like another common man and he is far away from the perception created in the media. Not just that, Khan showcased his charitable side by promising to sponsor the health and education of a lot of contests who came on the show, which proved to be a gesture that impressed the people.
With every passing episode, people started getting to know a different side of Salman Khan, or probably the side that no one had ever seen i.e. The Human Side of Salman Khan. In a span of 3 to 4 months, there was a massive turn around about what people thought about Khan, thereby instantly finding a connect with the audience. In-fact, the 2007 – 2008 was not even a good phase professionally for Salman Khan, as his films were not quite doing well at the box-office. In probably the worst phase of his professional career, Dus Ka Dum came as a breeze of fresh air.
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The show became hugely popular and grabbed solid TRP’s. The recall value of the show was so high that the makers came up with Dus Ka Dum Season 2, and even the second season was a massive success. Salman Khan back then was credited to be the whole and sole reason for the success of Dus Ka Dum, and why not? There couldn’t have been a better host than Khan for the show. He redefined hosting on Indian Television, by making interactions with the participants up, close and personal. He attempted to bridge the gap between the stars and common man and succeeded with flying colours.