Imtiaz Ali talks about Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan's popularity abroad but ignores Salman Khan completely

Imtiaz Ali said that Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are the two superstars whose combination "of exuberance and content" would help film-makers to breakthrough new and different markets. However, surprisingly, he did not mention Salman Khan's name, whose Bajrangi Bhaijaan has also been running successfully in China.

Speaking at a panel discussion at FICCI Frames, Imtiaz talked about Shah Rukh and Aamir's popularity across the globe, and their ability to connect with the foreign audience.

"I think you need Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir as a combination of exuberance and content to break through and get into different markets. Of course, I have shot with Shah Rukh in Europe, so there hardly a place that we went and people didn't mass recognize him. That's a great thing for us," PTI quoted Ali as saying at the event.

The Tamasha director further said that the film-makers' work also improves when the films get good attention in the international markets.

"What it does is, it changes the quality of your own work when you get aware of the fact that different people from all over the world are watching. I think there is a qualitative improvement in cinema as a result of it traveling abroad," he added. Imtiaz made the statements referring to the overseas performance of SRK's Devdas and Aamir's Secret Superstar.

However, Imtiaz did not mention Salman here, who is considered to be one of the biggest superstars of India. Not just in India, Salman has proven to be highly popular in China also, as his film Bajrangi Bhaijaan has been performing brilliantly in China. The film is set to cross Rs 100 crore at the China box office.

This is Salman's first film to have been released in China, and it has been performing well there. In such a scenario and considering Salman's stardom, it might appear little strange to Sallu bhai's fans that Imtiaz did not even take his name while talking about the two Khan's popularity in the foreign market.