Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Salman, just apologise and close the chapter' that was published in Newsband

Salman, just apologise and close the chapter

Salman Khan uttered something related to ‘rape’. and regretted his remarks. His father, Salim Khan, issued an apology on behalf of his errant superstar son.

While talking about his latest film, Sultan, Salman said “When I used to walk out of that ring, it used to be like a raped woman walking out.” The comment has been interpreted in different ways.

This is not the first time a rape reference has caused outrage. Seven years ago, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, then the president of the Congress’s Uttar Pradesh unit, found herself arrested for one such remark.

Why there is a storm over a remark Salman retracted almost as soon as he made it when there is no serious discussion about the widespread culture of rape jokes and rape analogies in general? In other words, everyone seems happy discussing and bashing an individual celebrity – while studiously refraining from debating the larger issue. There was never this kind of widespread outrage, for instance, when a "balatkar" joke was made by the Thinking Khan in 3 Idiots.

That is not to absolve Salman – but it is to say that instead of doing the easy thing of crucifying Salman on twitter, we should be resolving to stand up to such jokes or analogies when our boss/colleague/friends indulge in them. What about our esteemed students in IIT and other engineering institutions who regularly cite the above word regarding their semester exams?

It is true that as a role model, Salman Khan should have shown greater gender sensibility and sensitivity. He showed no discernment in distinguishing between his exertions to attain perfection in his role in the movie and the violation of a woman, a terrible and traumatic experience. He is to be blamed if he is accused of trivialising sexual crimes against women. He should have been more conscious that he would come in for flak, given his status. No doubt Salman Khan erred, but he can be spared for sparing no effort to make millions of film buffs happy. He cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be called anti-women.

Post Delhi, the word 'Rape', the subject 'Rape' has entered almost all households through electronic & print media. The word 'Rape' has become too common which one gets to read, hear of it.

Salman is a powerful Bollywood celebrity with millions of fan following. Hence, whatever he does or utters acquires a disproportionate attention and attracts critical attention. All he has to do is express regret for the choice of the word to convey the extreme physical ordeal and discomfort he had gone through following a lengthy shoot. Wonder why he chose to put himself in the position of a woman subjected to the most shameless and brutal act. Surely he could have thought of a more civilised and less controversial analogy. May be, he has his own limitations. His father was quick to react and apologised on Salman's behalf. Obviously some people are not satisfied with it and are demanding an apology from Salman. All that Salman should do now is apologise for an inadvertent utterance and close the chapter.