Why Salman Khan is the reel hero but Dinesh Patkar’s the real one

By Shobhaa De

As I write this, actor Salman Khan has been given a breather by the Bombay high court, and this means the rest of us can breathe easy as well. The high drama of last week spluttered to an anti-climax after a judge suspended the sentence and granted bail in what had become a lunatic circus surrounding a 13-year-old hit-and-run case. Interestingly, one of the glam newspaper supplements the same morning carried a prominent ad featuring the accused star.

It was for an eyewear company, ironically called ‘Image’. And I thought to myself — what audacity! What timing! How in your face can you get! It takes guts and confidence to promote a star facing a jail term! What if the high court had summarily rejected Amit Desai’s plea? Did the ‘Image’ team factor that in before releasing the ad? And this is where it gets interesting. In the eyes of his fans, Salman Khan can do no wrong. He is one Bollywood star who is supremely well-insulated against negative developments in his personal life. His fans simply don’t care.

It isn’t even about the box office success of his movies. Yes, he has had a pretty good run with five blockbusters cracking records. But even five flops in a row cannot dent the level of hero worship he generates. This is impossible to deconstruct in logical terms. Thousands of fans are known to gather almost out of nowhere when word gets out that Salman Khan is shooting in the neighbourhood. A phalanx of bodyguards surrounds him at all times, and event organizers are advised to hire ten extra bouncers for any function he attends.

The presswallas are divided in their opinion, since Salman doesn’t bother to court anybody from the fourth estate, and has consistently refused to grant soul-bearing interviews. His contempt for fanzines is well known. And yet, audiences can’t get enough of the star. Mercifully, Salman seems to have a healthy sense of humour about his limited histrionic abilities, often joking that the funniest rumour he has heard about himself is that he can act.

This 13-year-long soap opera may stretch to another thirteen but who’s counting? Hardly anybody has spared a thought for the victims of the accident. Their lives are as good as over. No monetary help — other than court-ordered compensation — was offered. And here’s the irony — while reams of effusive praise was trotted out by Salman supporters about his charity work and humanitarian ways, the simple question of why the abjectly poor victims of the accident were not looked after by the actor was never raised.

The power of a celebrity is like a double-edged sword. Most times it works for the personality. But there are times when it doesn’t. A mature individual understands the pitfalls along with the many advantages and handles both with equanimity. A celebrity trial generates a disproportionate amount of mass interest. That’s a given. But the law is the law. And nobody is above it. This is how it works in Hollywood, with internationally feted stars like Robert Downey Jr doing time for illegal possession of drugs like any other convict faced with the same charge. No special concessions or favours were shown. No ‘maa ke haath ka khana’ in jail. Here, in India, we are a long way off from getting there.