Salman Khan has long been associated with fitness, action and a larger-than-life screen presence. After Sanjay Dutt, he was among the earliest Bollywood stars of the 1990s to become synonymous with a muscular physique. Over the years, Salman’s passion for bodybuilding and fitness also influenced several younger actors, including Hrithik Roshan, whom he trained during his early days in the industry. However, behind the actor’s action-hero image are several risky moments that could have ended very differently. In a recent conversation with Variety India, Salman opened up about dangerous stunts from his earlier films and recalled how some of them nearly cost him his life. Salman Khan Recalls Jaagruti Stunt Speaking about a stunt from Jaagruti, Salman remembered being asked to jump from an 80-foot mountain. At first, he thought he could manage it, but once he reached the top, the height and angle made the jump far more dangerous than he had imagined. He said, “There was an 80-foot mountain with a stomach. So when I saw it from down, I thought, yeah, I can do this jump. Earlier, we used to get like one or two boxes to jump on, but this jump was a high jump. Like, so they put three layers of boxes for me and a mattress on top. So I said, ‘I’ve arrived now,’ and climbed up. From there, I couldn’t see the boxes because the stomach was there. I had to jump based on my judgment.” Salman admitted that after reaching the top, he no longer wanted to attempt the stunt. However, with a crowd gathered below, he felt backing out would hurt his ego. He added, “I was not going to do that jump, but the crowd had already gathered there. So then going all the way down and saying that I will not do this jump would have proved to be very bad for my ego. So, I told myself I have to clear this and I knew the boxes are somewhere down there. When I looked at the boxes, it looked like a matchbox from that height. I had to jump, so I took a run-up, came, and slipped on the gravel. My hair grazed the rock of the mountain, and I fell down.” Salman Khan Says He Could Not Breathe After Patthar Ke Phool Stunt During the same interview, Salman also recalled another stunt from Patthar Ke Phool that almost turned fatal. The sequence was shot near Mount Mary in Mumbai and involved the actor skating and jumping over boxes. He said, “So in Patthar Ke Phool, I am skating in that film, so I had to jump over that. They put boxes and everything. So the first jump I did, I landed right here. It was like people from all the buildings were looking at me, and I could hear them laugh.” After that failed attempt, Salman decided to do the stunt again. This time, however, he gathered too much speed and realised he was about to overshoot the landing. He recalled, “Then I said, I’m going to do this once again. The camera was on the road on Mount Mary. So I had to come all the way from, there’s a building called Balmoral Hall, so from there I started skating. And I realised I had gathered too much speed, and I was going to cross everything. So I took that jump, and I could see the boxes going by. Then I could see the road, and I landed in a ditch right next to the camera. And after that, I couldn’t breathe for about a minute and a half because of the impact on my back.” Salman Khan Says He Has Never Read A Script In the same conversation, Salman also made a surprising revelation about his process as an actor. Despite having writing credits on films such as Baaghi, Veer and Dabangg 3, the actor claimed that he has never read a script. He said, “I have never read a script in my entire life. I have written them, but I have never read them.” Salman Khan’s Work Front On the work front, Salman Khan will next be seen in Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace. The actor has also reportedly begun filming an upcoming action project with director Vamshi Paidipally and producer Dil Raju.