UPDATE: Salman Khan Convicted & Immediately Released on Bail in 1998 Poaching Case

April 29, 2020 2 min read

[Photo Credit: Facebook/Salman Khan]]

UPDATE: Two days after his high-profile conviction, Salman Khan has officially been released on bail once again in a case involving the infamous 1998 black buck poaching incident. This news is not quite a surprise, as many people — both supporters and otherwise — knew he would get released soon. After all, it has been Khan’s track record to beat multiple charges in his past. 

Many people, including some celebrities, are highly ecstatic of his release:

It is official: Justice has not been served, and Salman Khan continues to thrive in the world once again.

April 5th officially marked the day that many citizens have been either waiting for or dreading: Salman Khan has been convicted and booked for five years for the famous black buck poaching case that has been making headlines for the last 20 years.

Here’s the backstory, for anyone who hasn’t been following the saga: In 1998, Khan and his co-stars from Hum Saath Saath Hain took a break from filming and went hunting together in Rajasthan. During the hunt, they shot and killed two rare black bucks and a gazelle in a wildlife preserve. Khan has been charged with multiple other poaching and weapons cases, and has been convicted on a few, but every time the convictions have been overturned… Until now.

Along with Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre, Tabu and Neelam Kothari were also charged on this most recent case, but they were all acquitted on Thursday, according to sources, due to lack of evidence. Khan has time to appeal this conviction, like the others, but he must spend at least one night in jail before his bail hearing tomorrow.

The judge in this case called Khan a “habitual offender” not only due to these poaching and weapons charges, but also thanks to a 2002 fatal drunk driving accident where Khan allegedly ran over 5 people on a Mumbai street, killing one. Khan was acquitted in 2015 for that case, but he was also accused in 2002 of being abusive in a past relationship with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Since the conviction, many people have taken to social media, Twitter in particular. Some state that Khan has finally received the jail time that he deserves:

https://twitter.com/ArnabGosvvami/status/981851212688457728?s=19

But a majority of others are taking offense to this, and claiming that their beloved “bhaijaan” is innocent.

And many Bollywood actors (and some icons) have already come to Khan’s defense:

Now, the question remains: Has justice really been served? All we know for sure is this will continue to be one interesting dish for both fans and non fans of Salman Khan.

By Anjali Bhakta

Anjali is currently working towards a degree in Global Management at Arizona State University. Aside from writing for Brown Girl … Read more ›

‘The Romantics’: Revisiting the Legacy and Grandeur of Yash Chopra With Filmmaker Smriti Mundhra

March 21, 2023 4 min read

The Romantics

If you are a South Asian, born in the ’80s or the early ’90s, chances are your ideas of love and romance are heavily influenced by Hindi films — that first gaze, the secret love notes, that accidental meeting somewhere in Europe, over-the-top gestures and dancing around trees. While reality may have been far from what was promised on reel, you still can’t stop pining over a hopeless romantic, with chocolate boy looks, chasing you across the earth and many universes; in the life here and the ones after. Somewhere deep down, you still dream of that possibility despite your husband sitting and sipping his morning coffee right next to you. And much of the credit for weaving this dreamland, that we can’t resist happily sliding into, goes to the legendary Yash Chopra. Award-winning filmmaker Smriti Mundhra’s docu-series, “The Romantics,” that released on Netflix on February 14, chronicles Chopra’s prolific career; offering an illuminating look into the highs and lows of his journey, his unblemished vision for Hindi cinema and sheer love for filmmaking. 

I wanted to look at Indian cinema through the lens of it being a major contributor to the global cinema canon and Yash Chopra seemed like the perfect lens to explore that because of the longevity of his career and the fact that he had worked across so many different genres. His films, for so many of us, defined what Hindi cinema is.

— Smriti Mundhra

As “The Romantics” unveils, in a mere episode — a challenging feat in itself — Chopra did experiment with multiple genres as a budding filmmaker, initially under the shadows of his elder brother B.R. Chopra. From the religiously sensitive “Dharamputra” and the trendsetting “Waqt” to the action-packed and iconic “Deewaar.” It wasn’t until later on in his career that he set a precedent for a Hindi film having a wholly romantic narrative; though “Waqt” did offer the perfect glimpse into what would go on to become Chopra’s cinematic imprint. And then came “Chandni” which ushered in a new era for Hindi cinema; defying the formulaic approach to box office success and making love stories the golden goose.

In the words of more than 30 famous faces, a host of archival videos and interviews, and personal anecdotes, audiences get an extensive insight into the life and career of Yash Chopra and the evolution of his vision through the business acumen and genius of his polar opposite son and a famous recluse, Aditya Chopra. “The Romantics” is not a fancy portrait of a legendary filmmaker but an exploration of what goes into making a successful film family and a path-breaking production house. As viewers, we not only get a peek into the making of a fantasy creator but also learn of the many failures, hurdles and uncertainties that the business of filmmaking comes packaged in, the impact of socio-political shifts on the kind of content being produced and demanded, and just how much control we have as an audience over the fate of the film and the filmmaker.

For both the uninitiated and fanatics, there are some interesting revelations like Shah Rukh Khan’s lifelong desire to become an action hero as opposed to a romantic one and the creative conflict between Aditya Chopra and his father Yash Chopra on the sets of “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge” — a project that, surprisingly, did not seem too promising to the latter. Mundhra penetrates deep into the family’s history and industry relationships evoking some really candid conversations; almost as if these celebs were eagerly waiting for their moment to speak. With one appraising interview after the other, it’s a panegyric that does border on being a tad tedious but there is enough depth and fodder in there to keep one hooked. Kudos to Mundhra for managing to achieve cohesion despite there being more than enough material to chew on. In the process of bringing this project to life, Mundhra also ends up achieving a number of milestones: one that the series features the last of actor Rishi Kapoor’s interviews and two, it brings Aditya Chopra, who, it appears, can talk a blue streak contrary to popular belief, to the front of the camera after almost two decades. The moment when he puts the nepotism debate to rest by referring to his brother’s catastrophic attempt at acting is quite the show-stealer.

 

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A post shared by Smriti Mundhra (@smritimundhra)

At some point during the four-episode series, you might question if it’s fair to credit the Yash Raj family for being the only real changemakers of the Hindi film industry and for picking up the baton to get Hindi cinema the global recognition that it has. But then there is no denying the Chopra clan’s body of work, their ability to understand what pleases the crowd and their commitment towards growth and progress amidst changing times and technology — Yash Raj Studios is in fact the only privately held and one of the biggest, state-of-the-art film studios in India. Chopra’s career and legacy are in no way under-lit that Mundhra can claim to throw new light on with “The Romantics.” But what she really has on offer here are sheer nostalgia, some fascinating discoveries and an ode to a cinephile and his art with a bit of fan service.

In an interview with Brown Girl Magazine, Mundhra discusses why it was so important for Chopra to be the subject of her docu-series, her own learnings during the series’ research and creative process and her accomplishment of getting Aditya Chopra to talk, and that too, at length.

By Nida Hasan

Editor by profession, writer by passion, and a mother 24/7, Nida is a member of Brown Girl Lifestyle's editing team … Read more ›

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