Amitabh Bachchan is fondly referred to as the Shahenshah of Bollywood. Shahrukh Khan is called the Baadshah. Now we won’t be surprised if Salman Khan is bestowed with the title of Godfather. Salman Khan has always been considered Bollywood’s Good Samaritan among few others. Millions of his fans and well-wishers including his actor friends, who have been closely associated with the generous and large-hearted Khan for years, don’t call him bhai for nothing! After all, our beloved Sallu has encouraged, supported and introduced several Bollywood aspirants to excel in their respective areas of passion and helped them achieve a position where they can stand proudly today.

Not to forget composers like Himesh Reshammiya and Sajid-Wajid who till date can’t stop thanking the Dabangg star for not only uplifting their careers by providing them major breaks in his films, but also giving the much required boost to their future projects. For that matter, even Sanjay Leela Bhansali was a nobody before his debut film Khamoshi, when Salman agreed to do the movie and formed a successful association with the filmmaker which resulted in yet another musical blockbuster – Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Remember how Govinda was practically forgotten by our industry, and was written off by the critics and the media? However, Sallu saved the day by giving the actor a role tailor-made for him in Partner and the rest, as they say, is history.

Among the younger generation, we know how he has helped actors like Sneha Ullal, Zarine Khan, Mahek Chahal and Hazel Keech…but it’s a different matter than none of them have managed to make it big, and Sallu definitely can’t be blamed for that. But then there are names like Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor who went on to carve a niche for themselves and didn’t let Salman down. He has also been a catalyst and an inspiration for some B-town hunks to get into perfect shape and be tagged as having the best hot-bods – from the Greek God Hrithik Roshan to the young lad Arjun Kapoor. Recently, the generous Khan came to the rescue of one of his best buddies – Sonu Sood, who’s currently recuperating in a Mumbai hospital after suffering multiple fractures while playing for a Celebrity Cricket League match in Dubai last week.

It’s learnt that Sonu called up producers whose films he was committed to shoot in the coming months and offered to return the signing amounts simply because he didn’t want any of them to wait for him and bear the losses. When the Mental star learnt of this, he decided to offer Sonu his role in the Hindi remake of Mahesh Manjrekar’s 2010 hit Marathi movie Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho that he had been planning with Mahesh since almost two years now. Salman has decided to mentor his longtime loyal bodyguard Shera’s son as well. And, the list goes on… Well, what more can we say! Long live Salman – the Godfather of Bollywood.