20 Friday

Friday, April 6, 2018 Lifestyle | Music & Movies

Indian Bollywood Indian Bollywood actor Salman Khan arrives at a court to hear the ver- actor Salman Khan dict in the long-running wildlife poaching case against him in Jodhpur. (center) arrives at the airport in Jodhpur ahead of a verdict in The off-screen antics of the long-running Bollywood bad boy Salman Khan blackbuck poaching case. ccused of killing a homeless man, hunting endangered — AFP photos wildlife and assaulting a former Miss World, Bollywood Asuperstar Salman Khan’s off-screen life is almost as dra- ollywood superstar after the sentencing amid tinct hairstyle and fashion, has since he burst onto the silver matic as the epics he stars in. As the Hindi cinema icon is jailed Salman Khan was sen- chaotic scenes outside court. accused Rajasthan’s forest de- screen in the 1980s. He was for five years for killing rare antelopes, here are some of the Btenced to five years prison But the actor, who denied partment of framing him over the cleared in 2015 of killing a other major controversies that have enshrined Khan as Bolly- yesterday by an Indian court for poaching the rare antelopes black buck case. His defence homeless man in a hit-and-run wood’s bad boy. killing endangered wildlife known as black bucks in 1998, lawyers had suggested the black accident. That decision is now nearly two decades ago. Khan, can still appeal his conviction for bucks died of natural causes being challenged in the Supreme Deadly hit-and-run regarded as the bad boy of In- a crime that has gripped such as overeating, and claimed Court. Indian courts can often Khan was in a vehicle in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood cin- dian cinema, was taken into po- celebrity-obsessed India for there was no evidence they had take years-and sometimes ema, in 2002 when it mounted the curb and killed a homeless lice custody and driven to jail years. “The court has given a been shot. decades-to pronounce verdicts. man sleeping on the pavement. He was found guilty of culpable five-year jail term and fined He was also accused of assault- homicide and sentenced to five years in prison, but the verdict Salman Khan 10,000 rupees Controversial bad boy ing a former Miss World and was overturned in a higher court in 2015. His acquittal is being ($150),” prosecution lawyer The 52-year-old has been provoked a firestorm in 2016 by challenged in the Supreme Court. Mahipal Bishnoi told reporters dogged by multiple charges saying his workout schedule for Miss World scandal outside the court in the Ra- since undertaking the infamous a film left him feeling “like a Khan, who has never married, was accused of assaulting former jasthan city of Jodhpur. hunting safari in protected forest raped woman”. Miss World Aishwarya Rai during a closely-watched relation- Hundreds of police were de- land while shooting a film in Ra- But the off-screen drama has ship which ended more than a decade ago. The superstar denied ployed outside the courtroom jasthan. The Bishnois, a Ra- done little to dampen his appeal. ever hitting the Bollywood actress and dismissed rumors about to keep back fans who massed jasthani tribe seen as custodians The actor known as “bhai”, their high-profile liaison, including that he threatened to jump to support the body-building of the region’s wildlife, filed a meaning “brother” in Hindi, en- off the roof of her apartment during a heated argument. actor best known for his macho complaint against the actors. joys a cult-like status with the roles. Khan, one of the Indian Khan spent a week in prison in majority of his devotees, young Bomber gaffe movie industry’s most bankable 1998 when first accused of using men who envy Khan for being In 2015, Khan sparked outrage when he urged India’s top court stars, wore black sunglasses unlicensed arms to shoot the unmarried at 52. Bollywood film to spare the life of a bomb plotter convicted over a series of and a figure-hugging black shirt black buck. Last year he was industry analyst Komal Nahta blasts that killed hundreds in Mumbai. Protesters rallied outside as he walked briskly from a cleared by a court over the al- said the conviction and any jail his home after Khan declared the man innocent, but the Bolly- white SUV to the courthouse leged use of unlicensed guns on term would only delay movies wood action hero later retracted his remarks under a hailstorm Indian Bollywood actress Tabas- flanked by security. the expedition. A higher court is but not seriously harm his ca- of criticism. sum Fatima Hashmi, known as Four other Bollywood stars- challenging his acquittal. Khan reer. “He is a superstar whose Tabu, arrives at the airport in Jodh- Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, was also found guilty of killing films guarantee huge box office “Reprehensible” comments pur ahead of a verdict in the long- Tabu and Neelam Kothari-were gazelles on the hunting trip and numbers,” Nahta told AFP. “A jail A year later Khan was back in hot water over another insensitive running blackbuck poaching case. also accused of joining the hunt- served a very brief stint in jail in term might affect a few films that quip, this time likening his intense training schedule for a film to ing trip but were acquitted for 2006, but was later acquitted on are in the pipeline.” feeling “like a raped woman”. India’s National Commission for lack of evidence. Khan, whose appeal. Controversy has fol- “These films can wait as they Women demanded Khan apologize for the “reprehensible” re- legion of fans emulate his dis- lowed the Bollywood bad boy have not yet begun production marks. Khan mused that he should talk less to stay out of trou- and at present it would only ble. His father, Bollywood screenwriter Salim Khan, made an mean a loss of time rather than apology of sorts on his son’s behalf. money investment.” Khan re- mains one of Bollywood’s biggest Bodyguard assault draws despite his off-screen Indian police in 2016 charged Salman Khan’s bodyguard for il- drama, starring in more than 100 legal possession of a firearm and assaulting a waiter at a pub in films and television shows. Ac- Mumbai. The bodyguard, Gurmeet Singh Jolly has worked with cording to Forbes, he made $37 Khan for decades and is known to be a close confidante of the million in yearly earnings to finish controversial superstar. second behind Shah Rukh Khan in the 2017 Bollywood rankings. Raising eyebrows Both the Khans are among the In 2013, Khan-who today remains unmarried at 52 — straight- top 10 most highly paid actors in faced declared on national television that he was a virgin and Indian Bollywood actress and de- the world. The Bollywood heart- saving himself for his future bride. The interviewer, stunned by signer Neelam Kothari arrives at throb’s latest blockbuster “Tiger the incredulity of this confession, asked about the coterie of the airport in Jodhpur ahead of a Zinda Hai” (Tiger is alive) col- beautiful women with whom Khan was often seen fraternizing. verdict in the long-running black- In this file photo Indian black bucks, also known as the Indian antelope, lected some $85 million world- The buff bachelor replied they were all just friends. — AFP buck poaching case. lock horns at an enclosure at the Zoological Park in New Delhi. wide. — AFP