So what is the long-drawn Salman Khan trial all about? Baradwaj Rangan wonders.
The Salman Khan trial isn’t just about an actor who may or may not have done the things he’s been accused of, the things he’s now been acquitted of. (Whoever was driving that car has, by now, become as mysterious an entity as whoever fired the bullet that killed Kennedy.) It’s about other things, like our all-consuming fascination for celebrity trials, and how we, otherwise, barely bother to read and react to the news item about the beggar down the road who was mowed down by a car driven by someone who isn’t in the movies we go to see or in the test matches we watch on TV.
The Salman Khan trial is about our social media selves, how we decide someone is guilty, as though we have all the facts, as though those facts established guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It’s about who can come up with the wittiest cracks about a very relieved man returning home to his very worried family. The Salman Khan trial, then, is at least a little about schadenfreude. You have all this money, all these women, all this fame. Now let’s see you in a ratty little courtroom. Let’s see you sweat as you realise your fate lies in the hands of a man who’s one of us. It’s about the perverse satisfaction of seeing someone so larger-than-life being cut down to size, a seventy-mm personality shrunk to the dimensions of a television screen, sharing airtime with commoners he has nothing in common with.
The Salman Khan trial is about how these trials go on and on. A child born the year the driver of the Toyota Land Cruiser caused the accident – then again, maybe the Land Cruiser drove itself – is today a teenager. That’s a lot of time, a lot of newsprint, a lot of airwaves devoted to whether or not a very rich man is going to end up in jail. And in that kind of time, things change. Salman Khan is no longer the womaniser of Saajan, the prankster of Andaz Apna Apna, the lover of Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. He’s the innocent of Bajrangi Bhaijaan who, while trying to help a lost little girl return to her home in Pakistan, meets army patrollers at the border and asks them permission to enter the country – this man, we are constantly being told, would never do anything against the law. Heck, he’s so innocent, even sweet old Sooraj Barjatya, upholder of Indian values that Indians didn’t even know they were supposed to value, likes to work with him.
The Salman Khan trial is about perceptions, about how Salman Khan is a good person, how he’s no longer the abuser of girlfriends, the stalker of exes, the beefed-up gym rat with severe anger-management issues. It’s about how he’s helped and mentored practically everyone who’s a who in Bollywood today, how the industry wouldn’t exist without him. The Salman Khan trial, consequently, is about Bollywood’s clannishess, how it closes ranks around its own, how actors and filmmakers who climb onto social-media platforms and denounce other forms of wrongdoing, by other people, has only this to say about their Bhai (a double-faced bit of colloquialism that denotes both brother and gangster) – that he’s a good person, and that this verdict is a sign that good things happen to good people.
The Salman Khan trial is about movie audiences who know, in some corner of their minds, that the tickets they’re buying are for a film whose hero may have done something very villainous – and yet they buy those tickets, over Rs. 100-crore worth of tickets (in the case of Dabanng), over Rs. 200-crore worth of tickets (in the case of Kick), over Rs. 300-crore worth of tickets (in the case of Bajrangi Bhaijaan). So the Salman Khan trial is about how we cease to care about things a civilised society expects us to care about, how we only care about entertainment, whether we’re getting our money’s worth. The Salman Khan trial is about Bhai’s fans, those fever-crazed people who camped outside his house waiting for a glimpse as their hero returned from court. By fans, I refer also to an adoring national media, for whom this was the biggest story of the day, maybe even the year, given their instant and committed response, something that wasn’t evident during the polls in Tripura or the floods in some state down south.
What the Salman Khan trial isn’t about is what it was really supposed to be about: justice, truth, all those things that say there’s no difference between the man who’s forced to sleep on a pavement and the man who lives in a house fifty stories above that pavement. From the 2002 charge of “culpable homicide not amounting to murder” to the 2007 chemical analysis report suggesting that the actor was drunk at the time of the accident to the 2015 verdict that he could not be convicted on the basis of evidence produced in the 2002 case – what a roller-coaster it’s been, the story of how Salman Khan got out of it. But did Salman Khan really do it? That may be the one thing we haven’t been told by the Salman Khan trial.
An edited version of this piece can be found here.
Copyright ©2015 The Hindu. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Anu Warrier
December 14, 2015
It doesn’t matter if he did – or didn’t. He’s already been tried in the court of public opinion and found guilty. 🙂
Every case today is tried in the court of public opinion. Or should I say, in the media?
p.s. I left a comment on your earlier post on Angry India Goddesses. It seems to have disappeared into a black hole somewhere.
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brangan
December 14, 2015
Anu Warrier: I see your comment in that post. It’s the very first. You don’t see it?
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tonks
December 14, 2015
Some of the comments sent here do have a habit of disappearing, becoming invisible : like the driver of that Land cruiser 😉
(Though this particular comment is visible. Unless of course, Anu sent two)
Typo second para “retuning home”
Well written write-up. Life is sadly not a Grisham novel where the underdogs get justice against the odds.
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Rahini David
December 14, 2015
Was anyone else reminded of this terrific song?
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praneshp
December 14, 2015
I was really surprised by the way people behaved on social media, despite being fairly hardened to such things. When a court found him guilty a few months ago, people were all over themselves praising the system. A couple of weeks later, the high court stayed the decision, and the same people were ripping the system apart. Schadenfreude is a perfect descriptor.
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Venkatesh
December 14, 2015
“Thank God Salman Khan has been cleared of all the charges, else I would’ve lost faith in the power of money.” – Anonymous
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Superfan
December 14, 2015
the exoneration of Salman reinforces our faith in the police investigations ;). anything less , we would have lost faith in super efficient police force
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sanjana
December 14, 2015
And who is Salman Khan? Who is the invisible driver? When did driverless cars come to India?
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Sanjay
December 14, 2015
Life is sadly not a Grisham novel where the underdogs get justice against the odds.
Huh i thought they did. Salman is the underdog here
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Ram Murali
December 14, 2015
Panam Paththum Seyyum… Pathinanju Varusham Kezhuchum Seyyum!
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Kannan Baskar
December 14, 2015
“Heck, he’s so innocent, even sweet old Sooraj Barjatya, upholder of Indian values that Indians didn’t even know they were supposed to value, likes to work with him.”
Really liked that, hilarious, way to go BR.
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Di
December 14, 2015
sanjay dutt too much have spend as much money and used as much influence to avoid jail but I gues their (salman and sanjay’s) crimes were different. One is accused of a murder and other of mass, I suppose.
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Di
December 14, 2015
He launched “being human” in 2007, started doing everything to turn around his abusive boyfriend and overall bad boy image, thru’ movies like BB etc. And I suppose that worked along with greasing the right palms. But then Ambani kid too killed someone and it was rapidly hushed up with driver taking the blame because ambani kid is not a BW celeb. So rich always get away with murder unless you are rich and famous. The fame in this case gets the authorities to milk you more and more.
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Anu Warrier
December 14, 2015
BR, thanks – I do see my comment there now. It wasn’t there earlier, however. 🙂
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ansenra kamar
December 14, 2015
Reblogged this on the walk of a pedestrian and commented:
It’s elementary, my dear Bhai
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warlock
December 14, 2015
chapter 1: the accused (celeb, politician, business magnate) should get ample media coverage. The graveness of the crime is secondary.
chapter 2: matter comes up for hearing in a ‘trial’ court. the police present their evidence (they are swift). The judge looks at the clock (it’s already five!). The court is adjourned for a month or two.
chapter 3. the accused,the police and the judge go on with their lives. the date for hearing the case has come! the accused snickers, the police least bothered, the judge sighs.
chapter 4: the accused is acquitted by the judge citing a lack of evidence. There is happiness all around, sweets are distributed, the accused readies a speech in his mind to say before the media. Out of the blue, the affected party knocks the gates of the high court! Game on.
chapter 5: The supporters of the accused ask him” What are u gonna do?” He merely says”ithu trailer thaan, main picture inime thaan”.
chapter 6: again the first five chapters take place. replace “trial” with “high” and “high” with “supreme”. Now for the end result, see chapter 7.
chapter 7: the accused is acquitted. the affected deflated. The proceedings in the court repeated(by the media of course). The biggest beneficiary of course is the accused person who looks back and reflects on money well spent. He got a black mark removed and his fame multiplied 100x.
How many times have we seen this before. the jj case, the aircel case, the 2g case, bofors the list is endless. i sometimes wonder if the entire thing is scripted sort of like wwe. We i believe are the audience, we know the system has been bought, we know the outcome but who watch the story unfold on screen because we got no other work to do and we need some entertainment. directed and acted and produced by criminals, cinematography by the media, distributed by the media and watched by us. And to offer more spice, we have the “naduvula konjam disturb pannuvom” bit by arnab goswami and other intellectuals.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
sps: Dear Baratwaj, Nice article you have written.World over it is the same mental malaise afflicting us humans. You see it in the trial of Pistorious in S.Africa,O J Simpson of the U.S.General public and affiliated humans(to the Accused) become forgetful and forget that They are ruining the future of the maxim”fiat justicia”. People like us turn in sleep getting angry. That’s all.
I am glad that you have brought out the rot in a couched language.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Vijay: Cars run on Hydrocarbons which may get oxidised to alcohol. May this particular car got drunk on this beverage. Punish car or fuel which was responsible for killings.
Also expenditure incurred on trial be recovered from oil company which supplied that fuel.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Himanshu: Hi, Just want to say that it’s uplifting to read unbiased journalism & that it’s still able to raise voice. Wonderful article, keep it up.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
priya: Hello Mr. Baradwaj, My name is Priyanka and I hail from a small village in the Himalayas.
This morning I read your article about Salman’s trial. It gives me goosebumps to see how the media moulds the mind. It’s the same country where all the t.v. channels come together to raise voice against a woman raped, a child fallen in a dry well etc.
Then after some time a film actor was trialed for rolling wheels over people sleeping on a pavement. And then the wind changed its route.
Some time back the media became a clear and strong voice making a common girl like me feel safe while walking alone on a street.
Today it’s about how a poor man out there feels. Has he got a room in this power pulsated , limelit world of those who can afford. Isn’t he made to see the world through unaffordably expensive glasses made as look alikes to the affordable ones.
And also Because there is a huge number of real heroes out there in the common world whose stories remain unvoiced, unheard. And that very few of them are filmed. And none of the real life heroes get a chance to act as a hero in a movie based upon their own life.
Thank you for reading Mr. Baradwaj. I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you.
Regards,
Priyanka
( I have never written to any newspaper person in my life this is my first ever comment)
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
gangadharan: Respected Sir,
As a journalist you have tried to convey to the readers about what had actually happened in the drunk and drive case in which the popular Actor Salman Khan was involved.
He has a back ground of shooting an endangered species in state of Rajasthan and many incidents where he had allegedly beaten a few film actresses, of which you would definitely have known.
We also know his acquaintance with the underworld, maybe for not fault of his.
He campaigned for the congress party and recently for BJP , perhaps,to pull him out of this trouble.
We do not know what factor came to his rescue, in this Bandra case.
What I want to convey on the strength of this case is that, Indians are more religiously tolerant. In fact we are more tolerant if the person concerned is a celebrity. On the contrary we are less tolerant of poor minority Religious people.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
simran:Dear sir, Today in the morning i enjoyed two things the most. My hot cup of tea and your article on the salman khan trial, namely, “The Trial is also about us”.
Sir, i also use social media like instagram. And i have seen how these fans of different stars fight with each other through comments. The use abusive words and derogatory language is easily carried out because there is this veil of anonymity which can be exploited for our own purpose on such internet platforms today.As far as salman khan is concerned, I’m shocked and disgusted to find so many die hard female fans defending a person who as you have well written is an “abuser of girlfriends, stalker of exes, the beefed-up gym rat with severe anger management issues”.
These are the same girls maybe who are on roads shouting and protesting against the failure of the system to protect a child getting raped, a woman getting gang raped and harassment at workplaces. These are the same people who get hurt when their daughter is molested and thrown on the road to die. These are also the same people who maybe somewhere else speak against drinking and driving. But when it concerns a star, then people become so dumb that they forget the difference between real and reel. The perception shrouds their power to reason and question. The person in power gets away and not just gets away but also earns crores.
I pray for justice and i pray that people’s faith in our judiciary is not compromised.
Thank you sir.
Keep doing the good work.
Take care.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
diwakar: My dear friend, You hit the nail really hard. It’s about us and the make believe world we have created.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Indur: Do Judges of the Bombay High Court lack human intelligence? Judge A R Joshi definitely lacks intelligence. read my blog of 2014
Can an Individual file Criminal Writ Petition in 2005, whose prayers are solely based on order passed in his favor in 2006? Is this humanly possible ?
https://ikchhugani.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/do-judges-in-india-lack-human-intelligence/
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
balasubramanian: Good evening. I am addressing you from Cochin. I read most of your articles.
I started reading your article on Khan trial absentmindedly, sat up midway and right now, I am relaxed. The idea you tried to drive home is almost home. Almost, because, after 33 years as a lawyer and much disillusionment, the indefiniteness highlighted by you is yet to become unacceptable due to the dreamy experience that some good does happen once in a while.
Khan may be guilty or innocent, I am unable to opine. Our judicial system is plagued by unbalanced pans of justice, a feature guaranteed by We, the people, overdosed by thoughts of equality, unreasonable freedom and liberty. We exploit that freedom and lo! The media becomes the judge; bigotry becomes public opinion.
I am sure your words will be given due attention from all quarters and that better sense will prevail at least in some minds.
Trust you would please assess these lines with an open mind. Thank you
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Satyanarayana: Dear sirs, Mr. Baradwaj Rangan – ‘The trial is also about us’, couldn’t have been more nearer to the truth. Salman Khan case should make us introspect. It looks like an eye opener for me. While we have the judiciary on one side, we have on the other, the media acting as both the judge and jury and pronouncing the judgment on its own terms and influencing public opinion.
But then, the role of the people in such episodes needs careful study. Forget the fraternity. People outside who have a role to play, choose to remain silent, turn a blind eye or worse, supportive. We have still given Salman and his ilk the hundreds of crores. Maybe Mr.Baradwaj and myself need to relook at our own thinking. Maybe we are needlessly mixing up the two: Salman as the entertainer and Salman the criminal are two different perspectives.
Except the recent Aamir Khan episode, when people showed their feelings for the first time, more often people in high places never get sentenced by the public. These people get away with blue murder.
The whole of Mumbai knows that Salman was drunk, did kill one and injured the other due to his drunken and rash driving. Courts could not convict him, for lack of conclusive evidences. Film fraternity gave him its support. More importantly, people choose to shut their eyes to the episode. It did not concern them, directly. So they remained silent. I am reminded of the National Geographic video where a herd of buffaloes are grazing nearby, seemingly unconcerned, as another buffalo is fighting for its life with a lion. Is our indifference any way dissimilar to that of the animals? Or maybe we have a herd mentality and need someone create a platform to show our feelings. Maybe if another high profile individual were to take up the issue against Salman and start a campaign we might see public reaction then.
Why have not the people shown more emotion? Rape incidents have attracted rallies and protests. Maybe, because the rapist is a common man and not a celebrity. A celebrity is allowed his crimes. Is it so? Are we willing to pardon the person if he is a celebrity? There are many elected representatives who have committed crimes, some inhuman and still the political parties support him/her and people elect him/her despite the crimes committed.
And what about the individual involved? Is there such a thing like conscience? All the high profile cases show a definite lack of conscience. The individuals involved go about their daily routine without an iota of guilt. As if the victim deserved the crime done to him/her.
I am confused. Maybe Mr.Baradwaj also. Maybe we(?)/I need to develop the right perspective.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Mamatha: Dear Baradwaj,
I am an ardent fan of ur movie columns.
I came across ur piece regarding Salman’s Trial….yes, The trial is also abt us 🙂 … after being bombarded non stop with FB, Twitter nd Whatsapp msgs abt Salman saga ur column s a kind of relief for me. I liked ur take on the subject and finally my Cerebrum was in a balanced state.
Keep up the good work.
Gud night.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Mari: Hi Baradwaj
Have enjoyed reading you, particularly this and the one on the Salman fiasco. Thanks very much. I’ve written for the Hindu since 1989, though less frequently these days.
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brangan
December 15, 2015
Via email…
Vishnu: Read the article… Relevant one .. In my opinion the fever-crazed people in any area , in politics, in cine field or in the field of worshippers is a threat to the peaceful working of society.. As you said about the equality in justice and truth, there is a saying about our law, “all are equal before the law, but some are more equal” . Expecting more articles from your side…
An IAS aspirant from Kerala
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Iswarya
December 15, 2015
BR: How does it feel when readers assume as a matter of course that you have all sorts of insider sources on Bollywood gossip to confidently say, “he had allegedly beaten a few film actresses, of which you would definitely have known“? 🙂
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Madan
December 15, 2015
So the Salman Khan trial is about how we cease to care about things a civilised society expects us to care about, how we only care about entertainment,
On another note, once when I was waiting at the airport with our driver to pick up dad, Sanjay Dutt walked out of the terminal and he was literally mobbed. My driver was wide eyed in delight and surprise, exclaiming “Sonjoy Dott, Sonjoy Dott” in his strong Bengali accent. I just watched from a distance. Your above quoted line brought that incident back to mind, which you have perfectly captured. The unconditional love and affection showered by the movie fan on the stars. Even our cricketers aren’t as blessed as the stars; they are showered with brickbats if they fail on the field. The stars are never taken to account, either for their role choices or for their off-screen activities.
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PN
December 18, 2015
I am disappointed with Salman Khan. The last time I saw him in something on the big screen was Hum Saath Saath Hain. Nothing since then has seemed worth my time.
I guess I will continue loving that guy whose first movie was the first movie I watched in the theatre at age 3.
This guy, this saint without paint- I don’t even recognize him anymore. He’s a stranger, a freak. When I occasionally catch clips of him on Big Boss I have to remind myself that its the same guy who used to have a grip on my heart that was as strong as SRK (whose grip on my heart has never loosened 🙂 )
PS: I don’t think he did it. Anyone who knows Bombay knows that the first thing you do when you get a car and money is you never sit in the front seat- you always make someone else drive. But that’s not the point. I think he’s protecting somebody with his fame- cousin Kamaal Khan? Maybe.
Same goes for the blackbuck case. I used to train with guns, and its so difficult to shoot a stationary target forget a moving, fast running animal. You think a drunk Salman could have hit that? Or was he protecting a rich, royal, who has been trained to shoot everything from pigeons to deers since he was 10?
don’t want to name names, but you know who I am talking about if you look at the rest of the cast of Hum Saath Saath Hain 😉
Thus ends conspiracy theory/rumination of a dead childhood
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Venkatesh
December 18, 2015
News: Sunny Leone pips Salman Khan to occupy the top spot in Google’s most searched Indian for the third consecutive year!
If not law, at least Leone!
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brangan
December 19, 2015
Via email…
Tanay:Hi Mr. Rangan,
After reading your article I felt like writing to you.
A citizen of this country commits a serious crime, his friends/promoters/investors do every possible bit in their capability to dilute the case and judiciary also let’s the case get delayed till eternity. On the top of this no newspaper, news channel or activists raise their voice, let alone the common people who have been showering their blessings to him through box-office in the name of entertainment. Nobody is even concerned.
13 years is a long-long time and Mr. khan has undergone serious personality(brand/image) makeover in this period to the extent where junta has forgiven him for his hideous crime.
I would like to thank you for writing this article which NOT only questions the culprit but also all the residents of this country. Only a newspaper like ‘the Hindu’ can promote such thought process.
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Knair
December 19, 2015
preachy article. Amir Khan should take note!
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Anand
December 21, 2015
What happened Saar. Why no new reviews. Dilwale, bajirao…
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Sozhan
December 23, 2015
I wonder if our judiciary (and the public) would be equally forgiving if the crime was committed by a female star?
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nikkie1602
April 6, 2018
Revisiting this after the blackbuck verdict. Also saw a relative express their renewed faith in the superstar, that he can do no wrong and deserves nothing but love because…well…Being Bhai.
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Voldemort
August 17, 2021
Venkatesh : “Thank God Salman Khan has been cleared of all the charges, else I would’ve lost faith in the power of money.” – Anonymous”
Damn.
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