The Hindi film industry is in shock. With hundreds of crores riding on one of their favourite actors, industry-wallahs are, expectedly, ruing the five-year prison sentence to Salman Khan in the chinkara poaching case.
Producer of the super hit Salman-starrer Tere Naam Sunil Manchanda hopes "he won't he held guilty by a higher court. In any case, I think the punishment far exceeds his crime."
Trade expert Taran Adarsh expects most Khan's films, in various stages of production, to suffer. "Be it Salaam-E-Ishq, God Tussi Great Ho or Jaaneman, each one is likely to suffer." Manchanda adds, "Though I don't know if it's 200 or 400 crores that are at stake, a lot is definitely riding on him."
A family friend says the actor wasn't aware what was coming. "He had gone to Jodhpur for the court hearing, little expecting a verdict would be given. But even the police knew about it and had an arrest warrant ready. Salman didn't even get even a hint of it."
With Tuesday being a bank holiday for Mahavir Jayanti, the courts will remain closed. His lawyers can neither file an appeal in the higher court nor apply for bail, the friend said.
{{/usCountry}}With Tuesday being a bank holiday for Mahavir Jayanti, the courts will remain closed. His lawyers can neither file an appeal in the higher court nor apply for bail, the friend said.
{{/usCountry}}Another friend complained: "People have gone scot-free in so many serious crimes like the Jessica Lall murder case. Hunting animals is a crime, but Salman is being judged too harshly because the law-enforcers want to make an example of him."
Ravi Chopra, Salman’s friend and director of Baabul thinks "It's not such a great crime that he can't file an appeal in the higher court and apply for bail, a procedure that's permitted by law. He is too nice a guy to be treated like a criminal. He's just paying for being a celebrity, which is very unfair."