JODHPUR, Apr 7: Actor Salman Khan was Satruday granted bail by a district and sessions court here in the 1998 black buck poaching case in which he has been sentenced to five years in jail.

District and Sessions Judge Ravindra Kumar Joshi allowed Khan’s plea for bail and suspension of sentence so that he can file an appeal against his conviction and sentencing.

Khan, who had spent two nights in the Jodhpur Central Jail after his sentencing on Thursday, granted bail on a bond of Rs 50,000 and two sureties of like amount, Defense counsel Mahesh Bora said, adding he is likely to be released this evening once the papers are ready and sent to jail authorities.

Earlier in the day, the judge heard the arguments of prosecution and defense which lasted for about an hour and pronounced the order at around 3 pm, a defense counsel said.

Khan’s sisters – Alvira and Arpita – were present during the hearing.

The actor was convicted by a trial court and sentenced to five years in prison for killing two black bucks during the shooting of “Hum Saath Saath Hain” here.

In a late night development, an order was issued to transfer Joshi to Sirohi, as part of a reshuffle. He was among 134 judges transferred by the Registrar General of the High Court. AGENCIES

MUMBAI, Apr 6: Salman Khan, Bollywood’s ‘enfant terrible’ and arguably its most successful star with an estimated Rs 600 crore riding on him, has long walked the good and bad binary with his larger than life ‘bhai’ image clashing with his controversial personal life.

Bollywood’s ‘bad boy’ through the decades, who was sent to Jodhpur jail today, has landed in prison for a fifth time on charges ranging from killing deer to a man sleeping on a Mumbai pavement.

The star, mellower perhaps at 52 than he was in 1998, when he killed two endangered blackbucks in a forest near Jodhpur, is rarely out of trouble, often making the headlines with his undiplomatic comments.

Salman first got into a soup while shooting Sooraj Barjatya’s syrupy family drama “Hum Saath Saath Hain” in 1998 in the desert town of Jodhpur.

On the night of October 1, 1998, Salman and his co-stars in the film, Tabu, Saif Ali Khan, Neelam and Sonali Bendre, allegedly went out in a Gypsy. Salman was at the wheel when he spotted a herd of blackbucks, the Indian antelope, and shot and killed two of them, the prosecution said.

While the other four were acquitted by a Jodhpur court, Salman was taken to the Jodhpur Central Jail from the court. He had earlier spent a total of 18 days in the jail in 1998, 2006 and 2007, all for cases of poaching.

Besides the current blackbuck poaching case, there were two other cases of killing chinkaras and blackbucks, both from the deer family, in two separate places and a fourth case under the Arms Act. He was acquitted in all three cases, except this one, and appeals are pending.

Salman also infamously spent some time in a Mumbai jail for a hit and run in Bandra on September 28, 2002, when his white Toyota Land Cruiser allegedly crashed into the American Express Bakery at Hill Road at Bandra, killing one person and injuring four others.

The case continued from 2002 till 2015, when on May 6, the trial court found him guilty and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment. It was followed by a hearing in the Bombay High Court in July. On December 10, the court acquitted him, a verdict that is being appealed by the Maharashtra government.

While the cases piled up in court, Salman courted notoriety on the side too.

In 2002, his former girlfriend, actor Aishwarya Rai (now Bachchan), accused him of harassment after they broke up in March that year.

Aishwarya alleged that Salman was unable to come to terms with the split and would constantly call her and pound on her door in an inebriated state. She accused him of “physical, verbal and emotional” abuse.

The always in trouble actor also received flak for claiming in an interview to a Pakistani channel that the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks were hyped because “elite people” were targeted.

He later took to Twitter and said, “Every human life has equal value and any act of terror, anywhere in the world is unpardonable. Be it 9/11 or 26/11.”

More recently, he compared his exhaustion from a physically strenuous shooting sequence for “Sultan”, in which he played a professional wrestler, to that of a “raped woman”.

Over the last few years, the actor has consciously tried for a course correction to change his image from an industry brat to a generous man involved with various charitable ventures through his foundation, Being Human, which was founded in 2007.

Interestingly, Salman’s star has not dimmed despite his many brushes with the law.

He has been one of the industry’s highest earning stars for almost three decades since his debut film “Biwi ho to Aisi” in 1988.

In the last eight years, only two of his films have not done well. Most of his other films, including “Dabangg” and the “Tiger” franchises, have grossed over Rs 200 crore.

The actor, an early follower of the sculpted body regime, has stayed a bachelor despite many relationships.

“I don’t know how to react. I am numb. I hope he stays strong. His fans will always love him,” said a young fan, standing outside the actor’s home in Mumbai.

Fans and fame have not deserted Salman through the decades, notwithstanding the many ups and downs in his personal life. AGENCIES

KATHMANDU, March 2: Bollywood Superstar Salman Khan’s the Da-Bangg Tour, which was scheduled to take place in Kathmandu on March 10, has been called off citing ‘special reasons’, according to sources.

Other Bollywood stars Sonakshi Sinha, Kriti Sanon, Prabhudheva, Daisy Shah, Meet Bros and Maniesh Paul were scheduled to join Salman at Tundikhel, Kathmandu.

The organizers Sohail Khan Entertainments and JA Events, and the partner organizer from Nepal, ODC Entertainment on January 19 had jointly organized a press conference in Kathmandu to confirm Khan’s arrival.

However, Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplav’- lead CPN-Maoist, a splinter of CPN (Maoist Center) last week had demanded cancellation of the show and called all the nationalist forces to unite and oppose against the even saying it amounts to ‘expansion of cultural intervention on Nepali soil’.

Some top Nepalese artists and 110 other singers and dancers from Bollywood were also expected to be part of the show. An audience of 30,000 was expected to attend the show while the tickets were priced from Rs 3,000 to 30,000.

The organizers said that the the Da-Bangg Tour has been postponed until mid-April. About Rs 100 million out of estimated 150 million budget has already been spent for the organizing the show, according to the organizers. They also said that those who have already bought the tickets can can use the same tickets for the program to be held in the new date. However, new date has not been fixed yet.

It has been understood that the organizers are preparing to hold a formal press meet to announce the postponing of the Tour.

The tour, which kicked off last year, has already entertained several cities around the world, including Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, London and Birmingham.

Dec 26: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger Zinda Hai is having a dream run at the box office. In just three days of its release, the film has become a strong contender in the industry record books, smashing one record after the other.

Not only is its opening collection the highest ever in Bollywood (except for Baahubali 2: The Conclusion) but its first-weekend collection is also the highest ever in the industry. It has already surpassed the Rs 100 crore mark in just three days, so it will be fair for fans to expect that the film will collect more Rs 200 crore by the wrap of the first week. Also, Tiger Zinda Hai has become Salman’s twelfth film to collect more than Rs 100 crore and that’s another record that the film has set with its collections.

Its earnings, reported by Taran Adarsh are as follows: Friday – Rs 34.10 crore, Saturday – Rs 35.30 crore, Sunday – Rs 45.53 crore, which makes it weekend total Rs 114.93 crore. Tiger Zinda Hai also recorded the biggest ever single day collection by a Bollywood film with its Sunday collection.

Helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar, Tiger Zinda Hai marks the reuniting of Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. The film opened to a massive 5700 screens worldwide, with India screens count at 4600. With a beginning so stupendous, Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai is up for a successful run in the coming days too. It has already left a number of Bollywood blockbusters behind like Salman’s very own Sultan and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. AGENCIES

Mumbai, Oct 24: Superstar Salman Khan has booked Eid 2019 as the release date of his next film, “Bharat”.

The 51-year-old star will play the title role in the movie, which will be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.

With “Bharat”, the actor is continuing with the trend of releasing his films on Eid.

The movie is an official adaptation of 2014 South Korean film, “Ode to My Father”, which narrates modern Korean history from the 1950s to the modern day through the life of an ordinary man and events such as the Hungnam Evacuation during the 1950 Korean War.

The film will also depict the government’s decision to dispatch nurses and miners to West Germany in the ’60s and the Vietnam War.

“Bharat” will be backed by Atul Agnihotri, who attended the South Korean film’s screening at Berlin Film Festival, where it was identified as potential content for the Indian masses.

Agnihotri says their adaptation will be inspired by the original movie but the story will be based closer to home.

“It’s the journey of a country and also a person, both of whom go by the name of Bharat.

“That film is just the starting point for ours but since it was an inspiration, we wanted in all fairness to officially own it and acquired the remake rights before going ahead with Bharat,” he said in a release.

The producer also said Salman was the right choice to play the role of the protagonist, given his long association with his brother-in-law as an actor, producer and director.

The actor-producer duo’s film will hit the celluloid on the festive period once again post the blockbuster 2011 “Bodyguard”.

“It’s a character that I thought would resonate with him.

It’s a huge responsibility making a film with Salman as there are big expectations that come with the job.

“I’m very conscious about Salman’s fan base and what they want. And once again, I’m convinced that being a family film it’s worthy of coming during the festive time. And anyway, an Eid release is always every producer’s preferred choice.”

Agnihotri added director Zafar is excited and “passionate” to a part of the project.

“Ali is a friend, I love his work and eventually it’s all about connecting with the source. If you speak to him, you will realise that Ali is far more passionate about the material,” he said.

Salman has worked with Zafar in 2016’s blockbuster “Sultan” and their much-awaited film “Tiger Zinda Hai” up for release on December 22.

“Bharat” will be shot on elaborate sets in Abu Dhabi and Spain, besides Punjab and Delhi in India.

“Casting will be our main agenda over the next three months and since it’s a character-driven story, we will take actors who fit the part,” he added. PTI

MUMBAI, Jun 3: Superstar Salman Khan says it is difficult to compete with the younger lot of actors today but his fans keep him going.

“My fans keep me going. The older you get the harder it is to keep going as you need to compete with your juniors and it is difficult. Today competing with juniors is very difficult,” Salman told reporters here last night.

The interaction was held to announce the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards-2017.

A regular at the award show, Salman will be performing at the movie extravaganza, to be held from July 13-15 at MetLife stadium in New York.

“I will be part of everything that happens with IIFA this year. I will be performing on stage on ‘radio’ (a song from his movie ‘Tubelight’)…and maybe giving away an award but not receiving one,” the 51-year-old actor said.

Salman has been nominated for the Best Actor award for his performance as a wrestler in “Sultan” at IIFA this year.

He will be competing with Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Sushant Singh Rajput in the category.

To a poser as to who will win the trophy, Salman said, “Definitely not me. I believe in the rewards I get from IIFA and fans, but awards are not my thing.”

Salman acknowledged the Indian diaspora in keeping Indian cinema alive abroad for decades.

“You have kept India and Indian cinema alive abroad because you all have kept us alive till today as you all have not left your roots. Respect to you all.”

His co-star from forthcoming film “Tiger Zinda Hai” Katrina Kaif was also present at the interaction. -PTI