He has gotten away with drunk driving leading to killing of people with nothing more than a few visits to court and a spend of about Rs. 25 crores, which is hardly about one-eighth of what each of his films earn and far less than what he himself charges for each film. He did not even spend one night in lock-up. And yet on the day the court was to pass their judgement on the case, social media was roaring in support of the killer and not the victim.
When Salman Khan was accused by his ex-girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai, of harassing her, thus adding on to previous claims of physical violence against his other ex-girlfriends Somi Ali and even Sangeeta Bijlani; the same millions of people who talk against domestic violence and crimes against women, stood by him and degraded Aishwarya Rai to be a scheming, conniving and vile woman who used Vivek Oberoi and Abhishek Bachchhan to get rid of Salman Khan. (And I wouldn't blame her even if she did use them after all it is not easy to get rid of Salman Khan).
Even as he was convicted of killing an animal of an endangered species, his bhakts chose to describe him as a very sensitive and empathetic person who is a gift to humanity because he floated a NGO by the name of Being Human. How they all fail to see that it is just a front to improve his public image along with adding on to his earnings via sales of fan merchandise is totally beyond me.
Everybody knew about his underworld links and yet Preity Zinta was chastised for speaking up against her fellow industry people. And it wasn't just Preity Zinta, anyone who speaks up against Salman Bhai ends up with a doomed career no matter what a powerhouse of talent he/she is - à la Vivek Oberoi. This talent-less, spoilt brat who has gotten to where he is only because of who he's related and connected to and what some may describe as good looks, somehow has the power to ruin careers of people much more talented and deserving than himself.
If we look at the recent events, he has the gall to imply that he is qualified to be India's ambassador to the Olympics, when he had no sports accomplishments to his name; he has the guts to say that women are vices, when he is a famed womaniser and casanova himself; he had the ill sense of claiming that Yakub Memon is innocent and that he should not be hanged for the acts of his brother Tiger Memon, when the Apex court had ruled otherwise; and he actually had the audacity to compare the fatigue of shooting for a film, that he shouldn't even have been part of, to feeling like a raped woman, when he himself is a brother of two women on whom he declares he dotes. But he got away with everything. The egotistical bum he is, he didn't even apologise for his insensitive remarks, and his father apologised on his behalf. Now, he is not some 5-year old kid that his parents had to apologise for his thoughtless deeds. He is a 50-year old man who is revered by millions and billions of people and who should be focusing on rather becoming an example to be emulated. Yet he steered clear even when he was directly asked if he thought what he said was wrong.
But, the question is why can he get away with all this and more? Why when even stupid references to intolerance by Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan land them in trouble and lead their films to failure, Salman Khan lands up with a bigger hit than before? Why do the same people - media, radio jockeys, normal people - who criticise him for his unpardonable remark suddenly start hailing him when his movie releases and even claims that he has "shut his critics' mouths" with his performance. (And for the record, I haven't seen Sultan and I have no intention to, but even then I can give it on a stamp paper that it cannot be some Oscar worthy performance coming out from Salman). Why does a talented person like Arijit Singh have to apologise to him on a public forum fearing that his career will be finished merely by offending Salman? Why is a woman like Sona Mohapatra, who actually takes a stand and calls Salman out for his deeds, has to face harassment from haters and trolls calling her R****, W****, S***, and what not? Why do industry big-wigs - like Farhan Akhtar, Mahesh Bhatt, Anurag Kashyap, Alyque Padamsee - who take a stand on almost everything keep quiet when it comes to Salman Bhai and on the contrary support him and share the stage with him on International Forums like IIFA?
Who has given that kind of power to one person?
The answer is simple: Us! We the people! Salman Khan is surrounded by scores of sycophants who will never go against him. He has an army of bhakts, who probably don't worship him despite his transgressions, but because of them, since he, with all his undeserved privilege, is the living embodiment of all that they want to be. And the billions of fans, who turn their blind eye to all his vices and hail him like anything. We the people have ignored Bollywood's reprehensible nepotism for decades, and now we're at a point where this man's clout makes the industry's most talented people - singers, music directors, actors and especially actresses - grovel before him fearing that they will lose his fans if they take a stand against him. We the people have catapulted him to a position where nothing he can do can possibly affect him, since he has the might and power to get away with anything.
But the fact is that it says more about us as a society than about this one man who is merely using the power we have given him. Yeah, he is laughing and the joke is really on us here!
No comments:
Post a Comment