Salman Khan: ‘Bhaijaan’ or ‘Badjaan’!


By Deepti D.

Rewind yourself to the 1988 movie ‘Biwi ho to Aisi’ and find that lanky fellow who played a blink and miss role… I bet u didn’t… so let’s move forward to 1989 and here you see him again… this time as the young and good looking romantic hero and voila! A superstar was born called SALMAN KHAN!!

It’s been 28 years since he entered the industry and we have all seen his ups and downs… how he rose like a phoenix from his bad days and made himself a competition to every decade’s hero and is still among the top ones. But as they say all that glitters is not gold and ‘Being Human’ can also sometimes become ‘Being Inhuman’… didn’t get it… we’ll help you to figure that out…

Salman is a controversy child…err… man… he loves controversy and controversy runs behind him. And this is not a new trend. In the 90’s he was banned by film magazines due to some fight with journalists. His tiff with media is a constant affair. Talking about affairs, our Mr. Khan is really famous among his ladies… be it Sangeeta Bijlani, Somy Ali, Katrina Kaif or Aishwarya Rai… well these are his well known ones… the list of his not so famous affairs are endless .. The current being with Ms Lulia Vantur! But wait… is he a good boyfriend? Now that’s debatable…well he has often been charged of physically and mentally abusing his lady love and offers zero fidelity to the relationship…however charming he is… beating a woman is a big NO NO and I guess that’s why he is a flop in all his relationships. Also he has been termed as a womanizer by many undisclosed sources… they say he promises roles to girls half his age in lieu of… well we wont say what… your guess is as much true as ours !!!

All humans commit sins and our Sallu Miyan is no different and in his case he is just a poor drunk driver who couldn’t handle his drink and steering together and hence ran over people sleeping on the pavement after a hard day’s work. He also has expensive and dangerous pleasures… like killing the endangered Black Bucks for which he was legally charged too. A normal human being would admit to his mistakes, but since he is ‘Robinhood Pandey’, he clearly does not believe in the word ‘Sorry’ and continues to be the idol hero on screen.

They say every actor has a shell life… well not Mr Khan, infact he has spoilt careers of some very promising newcomers and managed to stay at top. Well you might have guessed it, we are talking about Vivek Oberoi who had the talent and looks but one tiff with our ‘Prem’ and he is now out of sight, out of mind! The latest victim being singer Arijit Singh who apparently has been seeking his apologies for the past 3 years for something he did unintentially at an awards function. Hope he is lucky to get Sir Selman’s forgiveness or else… we know the outcome!!

And the latest nail in the coffin is his controversial ‘Rape Remark’ while telling about how he felt filming ‘Sultan’ with those heavy duty wrestlers. While talking about the wrestling shots, Salman narrated how he had to pick up a man weighing 120 kg almost 10 times for five different camera angles. According to the actor, this routine went on for six to seven hours. “It is like the most difficult thing,” These are his exact words: “When I used to walk out of that ring, it used to be actually like a raped woman walking out.”His statement comparing himself to a “raped woman” has drawn flak on social media platforms, along with an ultimatum from National Commission for Women to apologize within seven days and even an FIR.

This was immediately covered by his father who apologized but the damage had been done. He got a lot of criticism from various personalities and even his fans so much so that a famous critic even declined to review his upcoming movie ‘Sultan’. Khan’s own celebrity contemporaries have largely abstained from the matter, but some have called him out like Kangana Ranaut who found his comment ‘Insensitive and Horrible’. Activist and gang rape survivor Sunitha Krishnan penned a furious essay calling Khan out for ignoring the responsibility he has as a celebrity and trivializing rape culture. Even the mother of the 2012 rape victim ‘Nirbhaya’ has said that it is one of the most disgusting comment made by someone who people treat as God!

Although despite being frequently embroiled in controversies, Khan has continued to be a powerful Bollywood insider. His fellow peers say that Khan was one of the kindest men in the industry, always ready to help fellow actors. His foundation’ Being Human’ is also one of the very famous charitable NGO and had has done a lot on the social front. But right now, the latest controversy has put him in a bad light, the latest being his appointment as a Brand Ambassador for the Rio Olympics being under scanner.

Let’s see how our ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ again becomes the ‘Bigg Boss’ of people’s heart or he will carve a niche for himself as the ‘Badjaan’… What’s your take?