Salman Khan waves to his fans from the balcony of his Bandra residence in Mumbai on Thursday. (AFP)

Jodhpur, April 13: Salman Khan walked to freedom waving a bail order today, but he didn’t really need all this help to get out of jail.

Filmdom’s macho man could have just broken free.

As a Jodhpur court ended Salman’s three-day stint in jail, his mother Salma, too, was discharged from Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital. She took ill on Monday hours after Salman was handed a five-year term for killing a chinkara, an endangered antelope, in 1998.

“They told me my mother was ill, but (not) the extent of her illness,” Salman told a TV channel after his release against a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties of Rs 1 lakh.

“If I had known, I would have broken down and broken out of jail.”

It would have helped that the star had been getting up at 4 am in his cell to do push-ups despite being on a jail diet of chapatis and dal.

But had he taken the cheaper way to get out, minus the bonds and sureties, he would have deprived himself of an enriching experience.

“One good thing he (the judge) did was to send me to jail. It put me in touch with the real world.”

The real world is about stinking toilets. “I have to get some TVs here (to the jail) and get the jail toilets fixed, or do something about them.”

The judge cited how Salman had always complied with summons and never jumped bail as he granted bail and fixed June 19 for the final hearing on suspension of the sentence.

Salman emerged out of Jodhpur Central Jail through a small gate, wearing a white cap, white vest and denims. He parted from cellmate and lifer Mahesh Sharma with a hug.

“It’s difficult to see people (serving terms) when they have been in jail for (their) past mistakes. Mistakes they made as 19- or 20- or 21-year-olds,” Salman said.

At the jail superintendent’s office, girlfriend Katrina Kaif, siblings Sohail and Alvira, and Bollywood friends Govinda, David Dhawan and Sajid Nadiadwala were waiting for him.

Throngs of fans cheered as the three-car convoy sped towards the airport where an NRI friend’s chartered plane waited to fly them to Mumbai.

“We are thrilled that justice has prevailed and inshallah, we will all have breakfast with mom tomorrow morning,” brother Sohail said.

At his Bandra home, Salman gave his fans a darshan from the balcony, posing, waving and even hugging those who managed to climb up to him.

“I will now prepare for my world tour (from April 17),” Salman said. He needs the court’s permission to leave the country.