This week, the Jodhpur court pronounced Salman Khan guilty in the blackbuck poaching case. The media had mixed opinions, whereas many people felt that finally justice was delivered. And there were an equal number of Bhai fans who felt that it was unjust that Salman Khan had been held guilty and that he should have been forgiven.
What was even more hilarious was the reaction of people on social media. Several messages popped up on my newsfeed saying that he is a social worker and makes kids happy and had even donated his bone marrow. I commented on the post to first get their spellings right. There was also a post which mentioned that the rapists in the country should be punished first, and then, Salman Khan should be punished.
He has always been in the news for the wrong reasons. According to many, he ran over his car on several people sleeping on the streets, killed a member of an endangered species, hit his girlfriends, and abused other stars. Yet the people are crazy about him because he is only “Being Human”!
One thing that I do not understand is why Salman should be given a special status just because he is a celebrity. Isn’t it an open secret that he started with the Being Human foundation only after the blackbuck poaching case and the car accident? He had a good PR and marketing team which did a very good job of cleaning his image and making him a sort of demi-god.
Post “Being Human”, he literally survived on the remakes of South Indian movies, wherein he barely acted. I guess due to excessive botox on the face, his expressions were lost in transit.
We are so obsessed with celebrities that we are ready to forgive them even for their biggest mistakes which have impacted the society and people’s lives. The Salman Khan verdict is a winning moment for the Indian judiciary because even though justice was delayed, it was not denied. It showed that even a celebrity is no different from a common man.
I know people will now comment below saying that we let politicians and businessmen escape the country, and blah blah… I think at this moment, we should just be satisfied that the judiciary has done its job and appreciate them rather than support an actor who only entertained us.