Salman Khan being crowned by Mithun Chakraborty

His was a baptism by fire. But Salman Khan realises it is now that he has to prove the worth of his dancing shoes.

The winner of the inaugural edition of Dance India Dance, who is remembered most for his Chhau recital during which he set himself on fire and landed in the hospital with second degree burns, got screen space next to his more famous namesake in the recently released film Wanted in — what else but — a dance number. To survive in the industry, he feels now has to package himself as an actor.

Khan was in Calcutta to guide and motivate the participants at the auditions of the second season of Dance India Dance. The show will take off once the ongoing Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Mega Challenge ends in mid-December. Perhaps by then, he will have signed his first film. “Remo sir (D’Souza, who was his mentor on the show), is supposed to direct a dance-oriented movie. I will be in it,” he says, shyly. But after Remo’s accident in Calcutta on Monday, Salman’s acting career might take a while to take off.

Till then, he is attending acting workshops, getting his acting skills honed from theatre personalities. “I am also getting a lot of TV serial offers. But I am busy doing stage shows.”

The lad who holds a BE in mechanical engineering was planning to enroll in an MS course when the Dance India Dance auditions came his way. It wasn’t as if he had walked in unprepared. “I had been learning dance technique over six years from trainers from abroad whenever they held classes in Bangalore. That is why I am good with technical aspects like weight transfer. In the show, the mentors had commented that I lifted girls very well. An untrained dancer can end up causing injury to his back and injury muscles with that single step. I know what my body can do.”

But it was on the show that he got introduced to the nuances of various genres. “We used to have just three days to choose a song and learn the steps from a new genre,” says the lad who displayed it all on stage — popping and locking, Bollywood salsa, pasa doble (a Spanish couple dance), tap dogs, swing et al. But the 22-year-old lad says it was the home-grown rope malkhamb that gave him the most grief. The ancient Indian form of gymnastics appealed to Salman as he had a gymnastics background. “Yet whenever the rope slipped during rehearsals, the skin got peeled. So when I performed on camera, I was bleeding but I could not afford to let it show.”

Eyes set on the big screen, the Bangalore boy says his acting idol is Dilip Kumar. But for inspiration, he looks to Shahid Kapur. “He started out as a back dancer. See Taal and you will spot him dancing behind Aishwarya Rai. He came up the hard way but look where he is now,” says Salman. And no, he will not change his name, however confusing it gets with his namesake ruling Bollywood. “Why should I? I have lived with this name and have made a name as Salman Khan,” he counters.