I am getting back to blogging from today. But before that there are certain clarifications I wanted to put forward before my readers. There are certain things that everybody should know.
I am not going to stop writing on Salman Khan
If you are a Bollywood writer then it’s a bit odd to say that you won’t write on Salman Khan. It’s not possible at all. Salman Khan, with all the dichotomies that exist in his life, makes for a really good subject, if not the best.
I don’t think there’s any law under the Sun which prevents a blogger from picking up Salman Khan as a subject because there are court cases pending against him. There’s a lot more to Salman Khan than the criminal cases that have been filed against him.
For obvious reasons, I am not going to write on the 2002 Hit-and-Run case till the court delivers a verdict on it. Also, I am also not going to write on the other cases of Salman Khan (like the Black Buck poaching case) that are also pending before a court of law.
Any references to the above cases will strictly adhere to what has already been reported and verifiable with documents made available to the public. Some of the information about Salman Khan’s court cases are also available on Salman Khan’s own blog.
Yes, in that sense Salman Khan is a fellow blogger too. Ha!
Though there hasn’t been any such incident, I still want to reiterate that there will be no value judgment or comments made on Salman Khan when I refer to the court cases. I will just report what is already there in the public domain and as always, I will desist from airing my personal views on my blog when I talk about the court cases.
What really happened?
Over the last few days, I have received a lot of calls and messages from my friends and colleagues in the industry. I want to thank all of them for the concern.
Everybody wants to know about the exact nature of communication that I had received from Salman Khan and the reason behind posting a public apology. I was also asked if I felt intimidated.
So, I will clarify a few points here.
I think it is not prudent or necessary to disclose the communication that I have received from Salman Khan. But for clarity’s sake, the ‘communication’ was not a phone call from Salman.
It’s sort of funny that my interaction with the actor has not been much. I can count on my fingers the number of times I have spoken to him on the phone. The last time I spoke to him on the phone was three years back. I remember, that I was filing an important report and my deadline was nearing. I urgently needed a quote from Salman Khan and when all efforts to reach him failed, I dialed his mom’s (Salma Khan) mobile. After I explained to her why I really needed to speak to her son, she just called out to Salman and said , “Tumhara phone hai, lo baat karo.” He immediately came on the line.
The rest of the times that I have met him, it has always been for interviews with him sitting across the table and most of the time, those interactions never lasted beyond 30 minutes.
So, no it was not a phone call!
Did I get threatened? No.
But I did get intimidated a bit.
I pulled down the blog post and posted an apology because that is considered good conduct in the eyes of the law. Very few bloggers have agreed to remove their posts on demand.
Across the globe, bloggers are fighting for their rights and freedom of speech on the internet, India is a part of that movement too. In this case, pulling down the blog meant that I have respect for the spirit of the law and that I respect the sentiments of Salman Khan more than my ideals of freedom of speech. I guess that means a lot respect.
I am still not convinced about the apology bit – Why was I required to apologise to Salman when I did nothing wrong? I am still looking for an answer to that question.
I hope that from now on, I will be able to blog in peace and write many more articles on Salman Khan that tells nothing but the truth.
I wish him all the best for the upcoming verdict in the 2002 accident case.
May only the truth prevail.
Before we go, here is a facet of Salman Khan that you don’t generally see these days. This is a video footage of a press meet of Salman Khan that dates back to 1998 where he expressed his views about the media in Bollywood. I found this video interesting.
Short-link of the post -> http://wp.me/p3x1zT-km
Categories: Exclusive!
Bollywood Journalist 
Heading: “An offer I couldn’t refuse”
Didn’t see anything regarding any “offer” in the body of the post!
Reading between the lines, were you “bribed” by SK to remove the post? 😉 (just kidding)
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“For obvious reasons, I am not going to write on the 2002 Hit-and-Run case till the court delivers a verdict on it.”. I don’t think it is obvious at all. Though I empathise why you would want to do that, the obvious decision equally could have been for you to continue writing what you want to, irrespective from communication from your subject of your article.
I am disappointed you have taken this decision but I am equally thankful that you wrote the 2 original articles – It was an eye-opener and not many had the balls to write it out as clearly as that before.
Thank you and try to keep up the good fight
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Good to hear that you are back. We prefer reading your articles no matter who it is about. So leave the obsession behind and keep producing good articles.
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Intimidation is very common place in India. The rich and powerful indulge in it all the time. Unfortunately, the aam aadmi is powerless against it. The corrupt system has a vice like grip on the masses. You had to do what you had to do. No amount of “moral” support we provide is going to prevent “accidents” against you and your family. Such is the state of “free” India. Sad
If you have been intimidated, think what the poor judge in this case must be going through. I very much doubt the judge will convict Salman Khan. He must be one very brave man, if he does.
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