Last night after Salman Khan had met his lawyers and returned home to spend an anxious night before the verdict on his hit-and-run case, Mahesh Bhatt's name flashed on his father Salim Khan's mobile.
And Salim knew why Mahesh was calling.
Confirming that he had a chat with the distressed father on Tuesday, Bhatt told SpotboyE.com, 'Look, our country has a judicial process. The due process of law will have to be exhausted. Until then, certain people do have a right to feel that Salman should be given a lesser sentence (than five years)."
Salim and Mahesh go back a long way. Salim wrote Naam, Zakhm and Kabza for Mahesh.
But what does he feel about the verdict, we asked? Mahesh replied, "The industry has suffered a body blow. There is a sense of despair and helplessness. And then, there are theories."
Theories? "There are two theories which are floating at the moment. One, Salman is being punished harshly because he is a celebrity. Two, Salman managed to delay the verdict by 13 years because he is a celebrity."
Our question had still not been answered. Mahesh was drifting from the question. And this was so unlike him. So, we asked him again.
This time, he was forthcoming. He said, I "Look, justice should not be the revenge but the objective. We should send a message to the society that rash driving under the influence of alcohol can lead to a disaster in your backyard. Now this need not necessarily be done by locking Salman away for 5 years. It can be done by making him do community service. 5 years in jail is a little too harsh. I know of cases where more number of people have been run over, and the accused has got away with a lighter sentence.""
Back to his phone call to Salim. Mahesh said, "Salim and I spoke about the trying times he is going through as a father. He is a tough guy but yesterday I could sense an amount of vulnerability in him. He is very concerned and worried."
"But what can we do? I have neither any solution nor any advise for him. I can only silently tune in to his grief," he concluded.
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