The Bollywood megastar Salman Khan was this month sentenced to five years in prison for killing a homeless man in 2002 while driving under the influence of alcohol. After more than a decade of denials, the verdict should have sounded the death knell to his career. Instead he is carrying on with his life as if nothing happened – and being welcomed wherever he goes. Yet again, nowhere is the magic of movies more apparent than in the willingness to forgive the stars for almost any crime.
Out and about
Two days after being convicted, Khan appealed against the sentence, which was allowed, and he was granted bail. Since then he has endorsed products and promoted forthcoming films, with the added bonus of his celebrity pals rallying around in support.
Khan is one of hundreds of Bollywood celebrities due in Dubai for the inaugural Arab Indo Bollywood Awards at The Meydan Hotel tomorrow, after the Bombay High Court granted him permission to travel.
It will be his first international engagement since his conviction for culpable homicide. In tweets to 12 million followers since the case, Khan has posted pictures from his press conference and of the countryside of Kashmir, promoting tourism to the region. His visit to his sister’s wedding in Himachal Pradesh – where he was received as a state guest, no less – received blanket media coverage. And he continues to be the face of the UAE clothing brand Splash, in addition to other endorsements.
Shah Rukh Khan’s support
This week, Shah Rukh Khan, who it is said had refused to speak to Khan for years, came out in support of his fellow star by releasing the first look at Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Khan's film that is being released on Eid, to his 13.2 million followers. No doubt the film will be heavily plugged while Khan is in Dubai.
Celebrity status
Even before the sentence was announced, seasoned Bollywood observers were predicting a conviction would not affect the actor’s career. The only danger to his stardom would be a lengthy absence from the public eye.
"If he gets a brief jail term, given his fan following, it will be easy for him to rebound," film critic B B Nagpal told The Guardian newspaper. Nagpal felt that only a 10-year sentence would put a full stop to his career.
Celebrities have had a long history of media and audiences making light of their crimes. This applies to Hollywood and Bollywood.
Robert Downey Jr is now the highest-paid star in the world, reportedly earning US$75 million (Dh275.5m) for his turn as Iron Man in 2013. Rewind the clock to 1997 and that seemed unlikely. He was jailed for failing to report for a mandatory drug test after he had been arrested several times for misdemeanours that included cocaine abuse, gun possession and trespassing on a neighbour’s property. He walked out of a recent interview when his past was brought up. Many of his fans defended him, asking, why should a star have to talk about his past?
Roman Polanski won a Best Director Oscar in 2003 for The Pianist, which also won in other categories, but he could not attend the ceremony in Los Angeles because he has not been able to return to the United States since 1977, after skipping bail just before he was to be sentenced for statutory rape of a 13-year-old. Polanski fled to France, where he continued to have a successful career. He has since won Oscars, Baftas and César Awards and has been feted at many festivals.
Career prospects
In Khan’s case, the charges against him – the most serious of which is culpable homicide – carry a more lenient sentence. There is a difference between Khan running over someone after losing control of a car and the accusation that hip-hop mogul Suge Knight faces – of intentionally running over someone several times.
But it raises the question of whether celebrities, who are in the position of being role models, should be allowed to carry on with their careers. Rare are the cases where they cannot. Ched Evans, a footballer sentenced for rape, has been unable to continue his football career in England because of fans’ disgust and sponsors threatening to withdraw financing from teams who offer him a contract.
Chris Brown has carried on recording and performing to much success, despite his 2009 conviction for felony assault of his then-girlfriend, fellow singer Rihanna.
Divisive loyalties
What seems apparent is that much depends on whether audiences turn against someone. Mel Gibson has struggled to resurrect his career after his drunken and anti-Semitic tirade at a policeman. His film released following that incident – The Beaver – was a flop. But would his career have ended if the very same incident had happened after the success of Lethal Weapon?
It’s a good thing Khan’s crime didn’t happen in Australia, where Johnny Depp was given 50 hours to get his two dogs out of the country and is facing up to 10 years in jail because he broke the country’s quarantine laws. Barnaby Joyce, the Australian minister for agriculture, argued: “If you start letting movie stars – even though they’ve been the Sexiest Man Alive twice – come into our nation with pets, then why don’t we break laws for everybody?”
It would have been interesting to see what fan furore the courts would create if Depp was jailed for loving his dogs so much he couldn’t part with them. Would others have been given 50 hours, might be the more appropriate question.
So it’s no surprise that Khan, with a movie to promote and a fan base that does not seem disgusted by his crime, continues to bask in his celebrity status.
artslife@thenational.ae
