Salman wrestles with foot in mouth

Salman Khan is in the news again, and again for the wrong reasons. In an interaction with journalists about how tough the shooting schedule was for his upcoming movie Sultan, Khan told reporters that "while shooting, during those six hours, there'd be so much lifting and thrusting on the ground involved - that was tough for me because if I was lifting, I'd have to lift the same 120-kilo guy 10 times form 10 different angles. And get thrown on the ground those many times. This is not repeated as many times in real fights in the ring. When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldn't walk straight." Now obviously there's no justification for what he said. But the problem is not only with what the actor said, it's also with the people heard laughing! We heard the audio. And you can clearly tell the shocked ones in the audience, who go 'ooo', sensing the doom in his statement. But there are the ones who laugh. There is a clear chorus. Evidently there is a need to go along with Salman Khan's brand of humour. It's a scary phenomenon. And then, the moment passes. The media interaction continues.
Salman should stick to ribbing his contemporaries - the jibes at Aamir Khan's relatively easier training; all that is passable. Stick to talking about martial arts and the gruelling schedule of punching and kicking. People get it. You had a grueling six-and-a-half hour training schedule. You're an actor. It's a part of your job. Why say something that reflects your unhinged mentality, and as activist Kavita Krishnan puts it, trivialises rape. How is grueillng training - effectively, gaining physical strength - at all like rape? It's very thin ice you tread, Mr Khan. And retracting that statement is the smartest thing you've done in the last 48 hours. Now, let's hear the apology.