Career

1989–93: Debut and breakthrough

Salman Khan made his acting debut with a supporting role in the 1988 film Biwi Ho To Aisi in which his voice was dubbed by someone else. His first leading role in a Bollywood movie was in Sooraj R. Barjatya's romantic family drama Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), one of India's highest grossing films. It earned him a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut, as well as his first nomination for a Best Actor at Filmfare. Later the film was dubbed in English as When Love Calls, a 125-minute version, was the biggest hit in the Caribbean market at Guyana and also dominated the box-office collections at Trinidad and Tobago. Maine Pyar Kiya had also been dubbed in Spanish as Te Amo, the first experiment of its kind. This 125-minute film also proved its universal appeal with a glorious 10-week premiere run at Lima, capital of Peru. In Telugu as Prema Paavuraalu, it crossed the 25 weeks at Visakhapatnam and had 100 plus day run at six centres in Andhra Pradesh. It was also dubbed in Tamil as Kaadhal Oru Kavithai and in Malayalam as Ina Praavukal.
1990 saw one film release starring Khan, Baaghi: A Rebel for Love,was a box office success. followed by three moderately successful films in 1991, Patthar Ke Phool and Sanam Bewafa, Kurbaan. In the same year, Khan co-starred with Sanjay Dutt and Madhuri Dixit in the Romance Drama film Saajan. The movie was critical and financial success. Despite these early successes, nearly all of his 1992–1993 releases resulted in box office failures.

 

1994–2009: Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!! and other films

Khan returned to success in 1994 with his second collaboration with director Sooraj Barjatya in the romance Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! co-starring Madhuri Dixit. During the 1995 awards season, the film won 3 Filmfare Awards for the Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress. It also won the National Award for being the most popular film of the year.  Earning over 1.35 billion (US$23 million) worldwide, the film became the biggest Bollywood hit of the year, as well as one of the biggest Bollywood hits ever. It is one of the films on Box Office India's list of "Biggest Blockbusters Ever in Hindi Cinema". This film was the biggest hit of that year, and turned out to be one of Bollywood's highest-grossing films ever, becoming the fourth-highest earner of all time. The film broke all the previous records and maintained itself as the highest-grossing Bollywood film throughout history for 7 years.
In 1995 he starred in Rakesh Roshan's Karan Arjun alongside Shahrukh Khan, Karan Arjun is a mix of an upbeat Bollywood musical, religious overtones and an action movie. The film was released on 13 January 1995. The two played brothers who are reincarnated after being killed by family enemies. The film was the second biggest hit of the year, and his role of Karan once again put his name among the nominees for the Best Actor award for Filmfare Awards.
In 1996, Khan performed in two movies, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directional debut Khamoshi: The Musical, a box office failure but critically acclaimed and Raj Kanwar's action hit Jeet. He had two releases in 1997: Judwaa and Auzaar. The former was a comedy directed by David Dhawan where he played a dual role of twins separated at birth was a commercial success while later, an action thriller was "below average".

Khan worked in five different films in 1998, his first release being the romantic comedy film Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya opposite Kajol, one of the biggest commercial successes of that year.
This was followed by the moderately successful drama Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai where Khan played a young man who has to take a child who claims to be his son, under his custody. Khan's performance in the film earned him several positive notices and favourable reviews from critics. He rounded of the year with an extended cameo in Karan Johar's directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for which he earned a second Filmfare Award under the Best Supporting Actor category.
In 1999, Khan starred in three films: Hum Saath-Saath Hain: We Stand United and Biwi No.1, both were the highest grossing films that year and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam alongside Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan, which earned another him Best Actor nomination at the Filmfare awards. The film was a critical and commercial success along with its music.

In 2000, Khan acted in films including Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega and Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, which addressed the issue of surrogate childbirth; Khan played the role of a rich industrialist, who hires a surrogate mother after his wife becomes infertile. Critics noted his turn towards a more serious role, which reportedly had more substance in comparison to his previous roles. In 2002 he starred in the delayed release Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam.
For Tere Naam, (2003) Taran Adarsh said of him, "Salman Khan is exceptional in a role that fits him to the T. He breathes fire in sequences that demand uneasiness. But beneath the tough exterior lies a vulnerable person and this facet in particular comes to the fore in the latter reels. His emotional outbursts are splendid..."^[Tere Naam is to date considered Salman Khan's best film with critically acclaimed performance. He subsequently continued his success at the box office, with comedies like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and No Entry (2005). Khan's work in 2006 included Jaan-E-Mann and Baabul, however neither of these films were successful in the box office.
Khan started 2007 with the ensemble film Salaam E Ishq. His next release Partner did very well at the box office, receiving a blockbuster verdict. He next appeared in the Hollywood movie, Marigold: An Adventure in India which told the love story of an Indian man and an American woman. Khan starred in three films throughout 2008, all of which underperformed.
 

Khan hosted the second season of 10 Ka Dum in year 2009 which turned out to be even more successful than his first season as host of the game show in year 2008. 

The show got very high TRPs for Sony Entertainment Television and according to reports, the show helped Sony TV regain its third position in the Indian television ratings. 

2009–present: commercial success

2009 marked a significant turning point in Khan's career. Starting with Wanted, directed by choreographer turned director Prabhu Deva became a box office success and earned superhit status. In the same year, he appeared in two other films, Main Aurr Mrs Khanna and London Dreams. While London Dreams doing average business, only due to the uninspiring music, but Main Aurr Mrs Khanna was a commercial failure. Khan's first release of 2010 was Anil Sharma's commercially and critically unsuccessful film Veer.

His next release, Dabangg was released on Eid, 10 September 2010. Khan played the role of a fearless cop with comic effect in the film. It opened to generally positive reviews and broke several box-office records upon release. The film set another box office record, grossing 808.7 million in its first week, thus becoming the highest opening week grossing Bollywood film, overtaking the previous record of 3 Idiots. Dabangg went on to gross 2.15 billion worldwide and Box office India declared it an all-time blockbuster in the second week of its release. It is the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2010 and, as of 2012, the fourth highest–grossing Bollywood film of all time. Dabangg went on to win several awards, including the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It was later remade in Tamil and Telugu, The film was produced by his brother Arbaaz Khan, and released on 10 September 2010. It made a record opening at the box office and Box Office India declared it an all-time blockbuster. Dabangg at that time was the second and now the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film and for his performance, Khan received a Star Screen Award for Best Actor and a Stardust Award for Star of the Year – Male and was nominated for his sixth Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Anupama Chopra from NDTV wrote about his performance, "It's the role of a lifetime and Salman Khan bites into it like a starving man devours a feast. He inhabits it fully, strutting and swaggering and even, spoofing himself."
Khan's first release of 2011 was Ready. Upon release, Ready became the second highest opening day grosser, as well as the second highest weekend grossing Bollywood film at that time, after Dabangg, another Salman Khan-starrer. It also held records for being the second highest grossing Bollywood film of 2011. He next appeared in Bodyguard, a remake of the 2010 Malayalam film of the same name. The film was not well received by critics, though became a financial success, with a domestic total of 1,409.5 million (US$26 million)—India's highest-earning film of the year.


2012 was a prolific year for Khan. His first release of 2012 was Ek Tha Tiger where Khan starred opposite Katrina Kaif and act as Indian Spy. The film garnered positive to mixed reactions from critics whilst opening to extremely strong box office collections. The film went on to break the opening day box office record with a collection of 312.3 million (US$5.2 million) and became the second Bollywood film to gross over 3 billion (US$50 million) worldwide behind only 3 Idiots with an eventual gross of 3.1 billion (US$52 million). It marks his first association with Yash Raj Films The film also broke the record of Opening weekend net gross (First 3 Days of Release), Opening week net gross (First 7 Days of Release) and entered 100 crore club in just 5 days of release breaking Salman Khan's own record set by Bodyguard in 7 Days.
Salman Khan's 2nd release of 2012 is Dabangg 2 which is a sequel of his blockbuster Dabangg under production of Arbaaz Khan. Upon release, the film netted an excellent 192.1 million (US$3.2 million) on its opening day and became the biggest opener for a non-holiday Friday in India, beating the previous record held by Don 2. and collected 582.6 million (US$9.7 million), beating the previous three-day record set by Ek Tha Tiger. Dabangg 2 eventually emerged as a huge financial success with revenues of 2.5 billion (US$42 million) globally.