What is Salman Khan?

1. A passable actor
2. An alcoholic, foul-mouthed braggart
3. Quintessential ‘Bad boy’
4. Spoilt brat
5. Whipping boy of the media
6. Mafia point man in Bollywood
7. Compulsive female abuser
8. Grossly misunderstood playboy
9. All of the above

I think he’s all that! … and more!! But then everyone knows about this!

So I wonder why the newly launched Mumbai-edition of Hindustan Times chose to start their Mumbai innings with a story that had a lot of sleaze value and hardly any news-worthiness! All the HT talk of “Let there be light” and showing Mumbai in a “new light” came to naught, in my opinion, when Mumbaikars were greeted with foul language in an in-your-face lead story on the first page!

If all that HT wanted to do was grab attention, it certainly managed to do it!! But if it wanted to position itself as a serious alternative to the dishrags that pass off as newspapers, then it did nothing to help its cause. A scoop like this could’ve been news if it was recent. But folks… 2001 is passé!! Also, HT followed up the Salman scoop today by a second series of transcripts that have even worse language than the original ones and have nothing to do with the Salman-underworld links and everything to do with Salman’s erstwhile rocky relationship with Aishwarya Rai. Not something that any self-respecting serious newspaper should be publishing on the front page!!

In any case, the scandal has mysteriously surfaced just a day before Salman’s biggest release of the year. Coincidence?! … I think not!!