Mumbai, Jul 24: "The journalists are writing anything these days, there is no social responsibility,” said Salman Khan in a recent press interaction organised to promote his upcoming film, Kick. While we appreciate Khan's insights, it’s odd to hear him talk about “social responsibility”. After all with two criminal cases pending against him, he doesn't really come across as a contender for the Most Responsible Citizen of the Year award.
Despite these scandals, Salman Khan is one of India’s most adored superstars and in the eyes of his fans, the actor can do no wrong. It takes a simple Google search to find controversies surrounding Khan – from being accused of beating up his ex-girlfriends, misbehaving with the press and having links with the underworld, it’s all there – Khan is the bhai of the downtrodden and underprivileged (much like the characters he often plays on screen).
For example, when I was in a cab returning from the press conference at which Khan gave all of us in attendance a crash course in journalism, the cabbie overheard me criticizing the actor (I was talking to a friend on my phone). He turned around and told me, "Meri gadi mein Bhai ke bare mein bura mat boliye madam." (“Don’t say bad things about Bhai in my car.”) He told me he loves Khan because the actor is one of the few who acknowledges “men like me”. "Bhai ko bulao toh woh aise haath dekhate hai balcony se,” he explained. (“If you call out his name, he waves at you from his balcony.”) That, apparently, is all it takes.
My cabbie isn’t alone. Khan’s fan following extends to Bollywood's youth brigade, from Arjun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan to Sonakshi Sinha and Katrina Kaif, all of whom have acknowledged Khan's contribution to their careers. It's not his acting or even the hits that have made Khan a star; it's his public persona.
And that’s why it becomes doubly ironic that Khan is complaining about the state of entertainment journalism in the country because his persona is almost entirely because the media helped him project himself as the star with a golden heart. Sure, his relationships have been the fodder of many gossip columns and he has been panned by critics, but Khan’s public appearances have also received glowing coverage.
Several stories of Khan's generosity are shared on a daily basis, whether it is the actor playing Santa to the cleaning staff at Film City or taking a rickshaw home like the rest of us. He has set himself up as a philanthropist with his NGO, Being Human, and that’s entirely the result of a publicity and media campaign. Being Human is more of a lifestyle brand than a non-profit organisation and there are many NGOs that do far greater service to society.
You could sneer at the press for carrying such stories, but in a country that’s hungry for Bollywood news, what else can the media do, especially since there’s a fortress of PR firms standing between much of the press and actors? That said, there’s no denying the fact that professionalism does often go flying out of the window when it comes to entertainment journalism. This was on view at the Kick press conference, where journalists showed up with kids and family members, and jostled like groupies to get photographs with Khan after the official interaction was over.
Given this ringside view that Khan has been given by journalists themselves, it is perhaps not surprising that Khan began his Journalism 101 lecture with this statement: "It (journalism) has become a joke. This is not journalism anymore, this has become entertainment". He went on to lament that “there is no national responsibility, there are just TRPs TRPs TRPs". This is true, but again, it’s ironic that Khan, whose filmography includes cerebral hemorrhages like No Entry, Dabangg, Wanted, was criticizing anyone about content that is only concerned with making money.
Especially since he’s promoting himself as an actor and a philanthropist, one could argue that he should be the one making socially responsible entertainment. It would immediately help the state of Indian journalists – if we didn’t have to watch or write those terrible films, we’d definitely seem like less of a joke.
It quickly became evident that Khan’s understanding of what a journalist does is based on films like Page 3. "As a reporter, if you do not report but give your opinion, if you hear something, and instead of reporting what you have heard, you go ahead and confirm the news depending upon your bias on whether you like the person or not, if you like the person, you give positive view and if you don't, you give negative view, then the case is over," he said in a sentence that could drive any self-respecting copy editor to the bottle.
Contrary to Khan’s belief, hearsay doesn’t qualify as reportage. If a journalist is reporting on a subject, they don’t simply report “what you have heard”, but they get information – and usually cross check it – from those who can be credibly considered sources or experts. Also, journalists are entitled to write their opinions. That’s what op-eds and reviews are all about and to take a stance on a particular issue is not laziness or favouritism when it's an informed perspective.
Khan also complained that the fourth estate is becoming corrupt. "Jahan par aap paise deke article likha sakte ho tab to khatam hi hoga case,” he said. (“When you can pay to get a piece of news printed, the case is closed.”) It’s a valid point and a shameful fact that there are some publications that are, effectively, entirely for sale. It makes the rest of us look bad and we have to work much harder to establish our credibility.
It would help, though, if Khan and other Bollywood bigwigs didn’t encourage the practice by paying for fluffy publicity pieces, favouring certain sycophantic journalists and freezing out those who have anything critical to say about an actor or a film. When was the last time Khan gave an interview to a publication that wasn’t part of a publicity or film promotion campaign?
Of course the reason Khan wanted to educate us was the recent boycott declared by the press photographers association. This happened after an incident at Royalty Bar, in Mumbai, where an ugly brawl broke out between the photographers and the bar’s bouncers and Khan's bodyguards. The photographers who were there claim the bouncers and bodyguards pushed them around for no reason, which led to the fight. Khan chose not to intervene.
All he did was take a microphone and announced, "Jinko yahan rehena hai woh rahe and jinhe nahi rehna woh ja sakte hai." (“Those who wish to stay here, should stay. Those who don’t, they can leave.”) It wasn’t the response expected of the hero who supposedly always champions the little guy’s cause.
Later, Khan said Royalty's bouncers were compelled to hit the photographers because the latter were trying to mob him. Leaving aside the question of whether bouncers versus photographers – who, aside from not being buff, have to protect their cameras and so would be less inclined to get physical – is a fair fight, there’s a distinction that needs to be made between paparazzi and press photographers. Paparazzi is what Hollywood and Europe have – people with cameras who will cheerfully invade privacy and disregard good taste in order to get an embarrassing photograph. India has nothing of the sort.
Here, we have a cluster of press photographers who rarely click the kind of candid photographs that are staple fare in foreign tabloids. Indian press photographers cluster around stars at public events, where they’ve usually been invited by organizers, and take photos of those in attendance. Paparazzi in our country is, at best, a photographer showing up to take photos when celebrities go out for dinner to a restaurant or come out of another celebrity’s home. The last thing a press photographer wants is to upset the people they photograph because that could mean not getting access to the next event, which in turn threatens their livelihood.
While the press photographers association is sticking to its boycott for now, they’re not happy about having to take this stand. A photographer spoke to Firstpost on the condition of anonymity and said that the association was hoping that there would be a resolution soon. At a recent charity football match, the photographers in attendance took photos of everything but the prize-giving ceremony because Salman Khan was handing out the prizes. Aamir Khan was also there and he asked why they weren’t taking photographs. When he heard the whole story, he said he’d talk to Salman and try sort the matter out.
However, as much as they’d like things to return to normal, the photographers are not happy about Khan attacking them on social media and in interviews. Sure, they have some power – no press photographs means less coverage for Khan. (Have you noticed how Khan’s face isn’t showing up all over the place even though Kick is set to release on Friday?) But ultimately, Khan is the star, and both he and the photographers know this.
That’s why Khan could make light of the boycott at the Kick press conference: “Now I can come in front of you and do the towel dance and you can't click those pictures,” he said gleefully. He then added, “There are photographers who will take my pictures, they will travel with me and release (only) those pictures for my fans.”
How ironic that this same person was, just minutes ago, saying the media shouldn’t carry ‘paid news’.
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