Salman apologises for his remarks on 26/11 attacks; may go off Twitter
By Chandni Dev, September 13, 2010 - 13:24 IST
Salman Khan has always been known to speak right from his heart. Not the one to mince his words, he has got into trouble with the media a lot of times because of being either misunderstood or misquoted. No wonder then that he shied away from media attention for so long. He never trusted reporters and believed that media was always out to get him. Sometimes being called a bad boy and at other times painted as a hot headed, careless celebrity, he was always reported for his unlawful activities rather than his philanthropic acts which are many.
How is it then that he has still maintained his connect with the common man? The truth is that the janta loves Salman for the simple fact that you get what you see. Not the kind to create drama or indulge in blarney, he is the most believable star of this century who is far from being two faced.
It took a while before Salman decided to become media friendly. It took a while before he started interacting with people on shows and public forums and everyone loved Sallu for what he spoke. Be it his style, his jokes or his devil-may-care attitude. But have we drawn him back into the shell he used to be in? Have we again driven him away? The recent controversy surrounding Salman Khan does hint at just that.
In an interview to a Pakistani TV channel, the reporter asked Salman to comment on the anti-Pakistan sentiment in the country to which Salman was quoted as saying, "Everybody knew the (Pakistani) government was not behind it and that it was a terror attack." He further went on to comment on the coverage received during 26/11 calling it an elitist hype raising a hue and cry in the entire country including state government and political parties.
But he clarified saying that, "Since it was the elite who were targeted this time on and it involved the 5 Star hotels that it was so widely spoken about. Attacks have happened in trains and small towns too, but no one talked about it so much. The attacks happened because our security failed." The point that Salman was trying to make was that every human life is equal and should receive equal treatment. When the media painted Salman as insensitive and political parties were up in arms, he created a clarification video and put it up on twitter to get the real point across. He went ahead and said, "A terrorist has no nationality, no religion and no guts." He apologised to one and all if anything he said or did hurt people's sentiments while he assured his faith in the countries armed forces and intelligence.
It is sad that we time and again call ourselves as a democratic Nation with freedom of speech being part of our preamble while we render a celebrity to cut a sorry figure when he/she expresses their views. No wonder then that Salman went on twitter and posted "Next time mein apnne sub interview sub khud bhi record karoonga , kya bolte ho ? Takeh yeh sub controversies nahi ho."
Where at one end Salman had to feel apologetic for simply stressing on equality and value of human life, his dad had to come out to the media and apologise on his behalf saying his son isn't articulate enough. But isn't that the exact thing that Salman's fan love about him? But it possibly won't last for long. The trouble his family and he had to go through on the eve of Eid thanks to the hooplah around his interview has made Salman retract from any public forum. He might just quit twitter where he enjoys a following of 400,063 fans. As he tweeted today saying "Looks like I mite have to get off twitter. Don't want to but what to do? I think I messed up, so sorry guys, sorry bolne mein koi sharam nahi." Hope the over reactive politicians and trouble making media is happy now.
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