Bollywood macho star Salman Khan bucks his horse during the shooting of Veer. The collapse of the Amer fort wall during the shooting of the film, Veer, brings to light Bollywood star Salman Khan’s uncomfortable links with Rajasthan and certain ministers.
About a decade ago, the police at Jodhpur had booked movie star Salman Khan for hunting and killing a Chinkara (Blackbuck). The Bollywood brat sought help from the then minister of state for tourism Bina Kak. She promised all possible help to bail him out.
At that time Salman Khan along with members of his crew had come to Jodhpur for the shooting of Hum Saath Saath Hain. One night, with the help of some locals, Salman and some others decided to venture out to hunt chinkaras or Indian antelope available in plenty in this western part of Rajasthan.
This smart looking animal with ringed horns is a protected animal under the Wildlife Act. The area is also populated by Bishnois, a community which considers the protection of animals as part of their religion. Some members of community came to know about the killing the next day and brought the matter to the police, which registered cases against Salman and others.
But when leaders of this politically influential Bishnoi community came to know that someone was trying to help Salman, they launched an agitation forcing the authorities to be tough with the killers of the chinkara. A number of cases, including the possession of illegal arms, were slapped on Salman making it difficult for him to come out clean.
Though Bina Kak was not able to help Salman, they became good friends. When he came to know she was a stage actor during her college days, Salman offered Bina the role of a mother in his movie Meine Payar Kiyon Kiya. At the same time he recommended to producer and directors to offer her similar roles. This made it possible for her to act in films like God Tussi Great Ho and Salam-e- Ishaq.
During the last Ashok Gehlot tenure, Bina hogged the headlines, when as minister she played host to the then American President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton, as part of their Rajasthan visit. Since Gehot was not very comfortable in English, 10 Janpath had advised him to put a smart, English speaking refined Kak to attend the foreign dignitaries. Bina’s photograph with the power couple appeared in the international media making her famous overnight.
When Anil Sharma, director of the film Veer, a period love story, was looking for a suitable location, Salman, who is the hero as well as the story writer of the film along with his father Salim Khan, suggested the 16th century Amer fort.
Since by the, the Congress had once again come back to power and his friend, Bina Kak, whom he affectionately calls appa (sister), had become the minister for tourism, art, culture and archaeology, Salman was confident of getting permission to shoot at the historic fort. Amer is a picturesque fort situated on a hillock overlooking the pink city of Jaipur.
Though permission for the shooting in the Jaleb Chowk area of the fort was given for five days from February 10, the film unit had taken over the area from February 1 itself for setting up props for the shooting of a battle scene. Officials of the department were given verbal orders to allow the putting up of sets without charging any extra fee.
But from day one, the shooting of the film got embroiled in controversy. As part of the battle scene, a white elephant was erected which led to one of the real elephants, being readied for the shoot, going berserk. This happened on February 3.
This lead to a petition in a district court requesting the stay of the shooting as the director and other members of the shooting team were tampering with the historic fort. The petition also pointed out that though the Jaleb Chowk was given out for five days for the shoot, the area had been in the possession of the shooting team for the past several days to erect the sets. The district court directed the petitioner to approach the civil court.
The civil court allowed the shooting with the condition that no harm should come to the fort. On the first day of the shoot, February 11, the shooting went off well. However, the next day it was to start at 3 pm. By afternoon a huge crowd of youngsters had reached the fort for a glimpse of their heartthrob. A group of them climbed the wall to have a better view of the sequence which was about to be shot. Suddenly, the wall collapsed, injuring 15 people.
The director of the film assured that the injured would be compensated, but the High Court on February 13 stayed the shooting till further orders. Later on a petitioned filed by Vinod Gilani, producer of the film, the court allowed the shooting on the condition that the fees would be paid from February 1. It also fined the producer Rs 20 Lakh.
Meanwhile, Salman has been visiting Jodhpur over the last 10 years in connection with chinkara killing case. In April 2007, the district and session judge of Jodhpur, had found Salman guilty of the crime and awarded him five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25000. Salman was taken to jail where he spent several nights, before the punishment was stayed by another court allowing him to go to the higher court for appeal. Hearing on the case is going on.
In 2000, Rajasthan chief of Shiv Sena Nanak Ram Thanwani had warned Salman never to come back to the state for shooting. This warning was given soon after the rash driving case in Mumbai, in which Salman was involved. On his web site Thanwani had said, “If the actor, accused of killing people due to rash driving in Mumbai, the poaching of protected animals in Rajasthan, tried to enter the state again, he would be responsible for the consequences.”