Salman Khan’s iconic hairstyle from his 2003 film Tere Naam had sparked a fashion frenzy across India. The middle-parting was being copied in barbershops in the early 2000s. In a surprise, Salman recently revealed that the hairdo was actually inspired by the Missile Man of India, former president APJ Abdul Kalam.
During his appearance on the first episode of The Great Indian Kapil Sharma Show Season 3, Salman spoke to host Kapil Sharma and said, “Ye Tere Naam ka jo look hai, woh actually inspired tha Abdul Kalam saab se (This Tere Naam look was actually inspired by Abdul Kalam’s hairdo)”. He added that actor Rahul Roy also had a similar hairstyle in one of his films but for Tere Naam, he thought the long hair will fit the image of a small-town hero. He explained, “I thought that small-town heroes always had long hair. All the old-school heroes had it too – that’s where the inspiration came from.”
Salman had deep respect for the former president. He had taken to X (then Twitter) multiple times to praise him. In 2015, after the passing of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Salman shared a series of heartfelt tweets expressing his admiration.
He wrote, “I will miss Kalam saab. India will miss him.” Calling him a role model, Salman also tweeted, “Kalam saab was an amazing teacher and in his last tweet he said he is on his way to IIM... as scientist and as President, Kalam saab was a true inspiration for many generations of Indians.”
In another emotional tweet, Salman shared his regret of never meeting him, “When your heart says you should meet someone, don't delay. I always wanted to meet Kalam saab and I should have made the effort. My loss.”
On the film front, Salman was last seen in Sikandar. As per reports, he is doing his next with Atlee.