Fake news alert: Desperate news hungry media channels misquote Salman Khan on Indo-Pak relation

If anyone ever wants proof about how Salman Khan gets grossly misquoted for things he never did or say, here’s a prime example. Since late evening today, media outlets have gone batshit crazy playing up Salman’s so called statements on India and Pakistan and how he wants peace to prevail and war wouldn’t be a sensible move. I rubbed my eyes and reread it again to make sure a reputed media outlet like India Today had reported this. And Salman’s statement was attributed to have been made at a media press meet the actor did with a few select journalists yesterday evening in which yours truly was also part of. This kind of toilet journalism makes me very angry. Let me tell you what exactly happens and at the very outset let me also clarify that I am no die hard Salman Khan fan. I am just plainly pointing out the truth.

I was seated right in front of Salman and kickstarted the interview. About seven minutes into the interview, a journalist sitting on the farthest end asked Salman a very innocuous question. ” Normally we have alot of chapters on Indo-Pak war in our films. But Tubelight has Indo- China war. What does it show? Has that aspect also (been touched upon)?

Salman looked at him in his inimitable style and then proceeded to answer. I am writing down his exact quote verbatim. ” No we have not touched that. We have just used it as a backdrop. We have not gone into that. We have just said that ki jung jaldi khatam ho jaaye taaki hamare saare jawaan hamare paas aa jaaye aur unke jawaan unke families ke paas jaldi se pahunch jaaye. So it is basically that ki jab bhi jung hoti hai dono taraf ke log marte hai aur phir their families are without their sons, without their fathers and they have to live their whole lives without them. So…(Sohail Khan intervenes now) Matlab aap kisi se bhi puch lo…anybody…agar aap…jung achi hai yaa buri..I don’t think anyone will say jung achi hai..sab yehi bolenge ki jung buri cheez hai..aur job hi discussions hai..jo bhi conflicts hai…ultimately who across the table hi solve kiye jaate hai..so it is a negative emotion..whenever we have seen anything..it’s always been..nobody has ever supported but still happens… and nobody knows why (Salman intervenes) It happens a lot..(Sohail speaks) Aap kisi ko bhi puch lo..(Salman speaks) I think jo order karte hai jung ko unko saamne khada kar dena chahiye..Yeh lo bhai bandhuke pakdo aur pehle aap lado..ek din ke andhar bandh ho jaayega…pair kaapne shuru ho jaayenge..haath kaapne shuru ho jaayenge.. aur seedhe table ke upar aake job hi discussions hai woh ho jaayenge.”

Now pray tell me was this about Indo-Pak war in particular? Was he touching upon the soured relations with our neighbour? He didn’t even mention Pakistan for heavens sake. He was talking about war in general. War anywhere in the world. How war destroys families. How it should be avoided. How those who order war should be asked to fight it themselves. How, how and how is this about India- Pakistan? But then desperate media channels who are starved of news decided to give it their own breaking news spin at the expense of Salman. No wonder, it is because of such toilet journalism Salman avoids giving television interviews. He stopped doing that long time back.

And this gross misquoting is what happened last year during Sultan’s interviews. One statement of his was taken out-of-context and blown out-of-proportion to make Salman the eternal bad boy. I wonder when will someone see the good side of Salman and start reporting news as facts and for what it stands.