Bollywood superstar Salman Khan took to his Instagram stories on 20 May to wish his longtime bodyguard and close friend Shera — real name Gurmeet Singh Jolly — a happy birthday, even as the actor's recent cryptic posts on the platform continued to baffle fans and followers.

The Birthday Post

In the story, Salman shared a candid indoor photograph with Shera, his arm around the bodyguard's shoulder as both posed closely for the camera. The caption was warm and direct: 'Happy bday Shera …@beingshera.' The post stood in sharp contrast to the star's recent run of bewildering, stream-of-consciousness captions that have sent social media into a spin.

The Cryptic Posts That Sparked the Chaos

In the early hours of Wednesday, Salman posted a series of messages that left followers scrambling for context. In one, he appeared to call out media coverage at a hospital, writing: 'If I see any press at a hospital enjoying my pain. The press that I have stood for interacted with, took care to make sure that they also earn their bread and butter.'

He continued: 'But if they wanna make money from my losses…. keep quiet don't enjoy. bhai bhai bhai matrabhumi picture ki maaa ki aankh, pic imp hai ya life.' A subsequent post mixed Hindi and English in equally fragmented fashion, and in what appeared to be his final message of the sequence, Salman issued a pointed warning: 'Saath saal ka ho gaya hoon lekin ladna nahiiin bhoola yeh yaad rakh lena, jail mein dalo ge haaa haaa.'

How the Internet Reacted

The posts triggered a wave of bemused commentary online. One user compared the captions to a grammar exercise, writing: 'Bhai ka caption looks like those questions that ask you to rearrange words in a sentence.' Another quipped: 'communication skills bhi Salman Mere bhai jaise hai' — loosely translated as 'My communication skills are also like Salman bhai's.' A third user declared: 'Aliens Will Decode These Captions One Day,' while a fourth noted that 'Caption likhne ka tareeeka bilkul cazual nahi hai bhai' — meaning Salman's captioning style is anything but casual.

Context and What It Signals

Salman Khan, one of Bollywood's most-followed celebrities, commands a massive social media audience, which means even a cryptic post generates outsized attention. The hospital reference in his posts drew particular scrutiny, though no official clarification has been issued. Notably, the birthday wish for Shera — a figure who has been by Salman's side for decades — offered a rare moment of warmth amid the confusion. Whether the cryptic posts were a deliberate provocation, an emotional outburst, or simply informal venting remains unclear; the actor has not elaborated publicly.