Salman makes designer watches to save money on gifting

By Subhash K. Jha, Mumbai, June 30 : Bollywood star Salman Khan, who has given watches worth as much as Rupees 50 crore to his friends and family, has found a method of beating his expensive gifting habit. On his mother's advice, he has asked his charity foundation Being Human to manufacture inhouse designer watches.

And the first proud recipient of the Being Human designer-watch was actor Aseem Merchant, Salman's co-star in Boney Kapoor's "Wanted".

"He gave me his the first Being Human watch. It's awesome. Its look and movement are as slick as the super-exclusive Swiss Breitling watches," Aseem told IANS.

"You're right. He did say his mom advised him to find a way of cutting down costs on his watch-gifting habit. He gave me the watch and said, 'Your time begins now.'," he added.

Apart from the watch, Aseem also received a Being Human shirt from Salman.

"He made me strip in front of him and try on the shirt. I really don't want to talk about his generous nature. But I've been shooting with him for a year and Salman's generosity is unbelievable," said Aseem.

Salman also gifted Aseem a role in his brother Arbaaz Khan's first production which will star Salman and Shatrughan Sinha's daughter Sonakshi, to be directed by Abhinav Kashyap.

"And since I play the main antagonist with Salman in 'Wanted', he said he wanted me to do a positive role in Arbaaz's production," said Aseem.

Ironically, the real-life buddies are at each other's throat throughout "Wanted".

"And it's not the choreographed, synchronized action movements we see in our films. Salman and I have real basic fist to fist street fights composed by a stunt director called Vijay from the South. Salman and I were fighting on the sets and drinking together once the camera was switched off," said Aseem.