'It's Not Fair'

The road accident on Sunday night by a car allegedly owned by Arbaaz Khan and driven by Sohial Khan’s driver, which took an old woman’s life, has left the Khan family with a disturbing sense of déjà vu, and a deep sense of distress and indignation when no member of the Khan family was in the car when the accident occurred. 


So says a discernibly distressed and upset Sohail Khan who claims media reports with the Khan name have deeply disturbed the family. 

Says Sohail, “We are not an insensitive family. And it’s not a good feeling to be portrayed that way. The driver was alone in the car. It was the driver who caused the very unfortunate accident. He has taken the responsibility it. ” 

Far from feeling relieved at being exonerated from guilt Sohail says the Khan family is deeply disturbed by the accident.

“We are shaken by the whole episode. Who wouldn’t be? Are we not human? To be called insensitive when only I know the trauma that my family is going through ever since the accident happened, is very unfair. ” 


Sohail says the accident was seen by several eyewitnesses. “They’ve told the police exactly what happened. The driver was alone in the car. The poor lady lost her life. We are as troubled by this as any normal family would be. 


Why are we being perceived as callous and indifferent? It is sad that such a tragic event has become one more occasion to make us brothers look like reckless adventurers. . Our names are being used just because our driver is not a celebrity. ”

Apparently the family is extremely concerned about the plight of the driver. 

“It was an accident. A precious human life has been lost. At least give us time to come to terms with the enormity of the tragedy, ” says Sohail. 

Sohail is specially upset with the way the Khan family’s role in the entire tragedy is being distorted. 

Says Sohail, “Look at how our statements are minsterpreted. I said and I meant that it was sad to see homeless people sleeping on the roads covering themselves with plastic sheets to stop being drenched in the rain. Given this kind of dangerous situation, if God Forbid, a car loses control it can prove fatal. ”

Says Sohail, “We are sincerely concerned about the situation. What happened should not and must not happen to anyone. Let’s make the roads safer for the pedestrians and the drivers. ”

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We are not paying any compensation to victim's family: Salman Khan

The Khan family was not paying any compensation to the 70-year-old woman who was killed by a Land Cruiser owned by Arbaaz Khan as she had been disowned by her family, the filmmaker's brother and Bollywood star Salman Khan said Monday. 


"The accident happened by mistake. I spoke to my driver and he said when he was driving, he saw something like a black polythene bag on the road, but it was the lady who was completely in black. I would request everyone not to sleep on the road," Salman told reporters at their Galaxy apartment home in Bandra here.

"We are not paying any compensation to the family members of the victim as we got to know that her family had disowned her," he added. 

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. Sunday near St. Andrew's Church when the vehicle was headed towards the home of the Khans at Bandstand.

The woman has been identified as Chandra Bala, police said. She was rushed to the Bhabha Hospital by a police constable and some autorickshaw drivers in the vicinity but died from her injuries. 

Salman's sibling Sohail Khan said that he was "shocked" when he came to know about the accident. 

"I was at home. I did not know what was happening. Only driver was there in the car. The car was coming home and they did not know who the family was," he told reporters.


Sohail also said that "the news has been hyped a lot". 


"Instead of focusing on who was in the car, people should focus on the fact that a women died. I got to know about this incident after an hour. This accident happened by mistake," he added.

The car was being driven by Dhananjay Pimpale. A top police official supervising the investigation said Pimpale came and reported the accident case to the police station shortly afterwards. 

"We have recorded his statement and also the statements of two eyewitnesses who were present at the scene of the accident. We shall record the statements of the vehicle owner (Arbaaz Khan) and Sohail Khan (who has been using the vehicle)," the official told media-persons. 

He confirmed that nobody else was present in the vehicle and also the fact that Pimpale was not intoxicated at the time of the accident. 

"However, we shall send his blood samples for analysis to further confirm this," the official added. 

Pimpale was later presented before a magistrate here Monday afternoon. 

After a brief hearing, Pimpale was remanded in police custody till July 9, but soon afterwards, he applied for and secured a bail on an amlount of Rs.10,000, his lawyer Zameer Khan told media persons 

Meanwhile, Salim Khan - the father of Arbaaz, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and filmmaker Sohail Khan - has expressed regret over the death of the destitute woman.

"It was most unfortunate. The woman suddenly came in front of the vehicle and fell. The driver immediately applied the brakes and reported the matter to the police," Salim Khan told. 


He claimed that the woman, apparently frail, was not "crushed" as claimed in some quarters, but fell near the vehicle. 


Salim Khan castigated the media and said that instead of finding out the whereabouts of the poor woman and her family or survivors, the focus was more on his celebrity family -- whether they were inside the vehicle and who owned the vehicle. 

He added that the vehicle belonged to Arbaaz but was being used temporarily by Sohail. No family member was present in the vehicle at the time of the accident, he said.

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Salim Khan returns to script writing for Salman and Sohail

The brilliant Salim-Javed duo gave to Hindi cinema some of its most important films in the 1970s and 80s before threy parted ways. Since then Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar have been individually active in various creative capacities. Saliam Saab, as he is widely known in the film industry, has always been there as a script consultant for various young filmmakers and writers. 

Now for the first time since Patthar Ke Phool 21 years ago Salim Saab is being brought on officially to supervise the scripting of his son Salman Khan’s film. And the film is none other than Salim Saab’s younger son Sohail Khan dream directorial venture Sher Khan. 

The film already has on board two other writers Rumi Jaffery and Dilip Shukla. But Salim Saab would be the pilot of the plot. He will be billed in the credit titles for his special creative contribution. 

Says Sohail, “My father is the script doctor on the project. He’s guiding all of us. My other writers Dililp Shukla and Rumi look up to him as much as Salman and I. So there’s no clash of interest. We all are counting on him to make Sher Khan one of the most special films in Bhai’s career. 

We’ve been working on the script for the last one year. And we’ve just locked it in ten days ago. I start shooting in October. However if Arbaaz Bhai’s Dabangg 2 needs extra time I’d willingly and gladly postpone Sher Khan. Arbaaz Bhai is directing for the first time.

And at the moment the entire family’s focus is on seeing Dabangg 2 to the finish. I can afford to wait. Thanks to my father’s contribution the screenplay of Sher Khan has turned out to be out of the world. ”

When one spoke to the softspoken, warm and articulate Salim Khan he said, “I am there in the scriptwriting process of Sher Khan expressly to point out their mistakes, not to breathe down their necks. I don’t want to take away the credit from whatever those kids are doing. ”

Continues Salim Saab, “I am a farmer by nature. I like to nurture talent as much as trees. You must have seen when saplings are planted, protection is placed around the saplings to keep them away from predators.

I am like that protection for these children who are doing Sher Khan, athough I’ve to admit they’re capable of looking after themselves. I don’t want to make them selfconscious by constantly questioning them. 

They are capable of looking after the script. But since they’ve asked me to help them I presume they think I’m better informed and cleverer than them. ”

Salim Saab feels it’s time to pass on the legacy. “The only thing that I certainly have which my sons don’t have is experience. It’s that experience which I am lending them.

We’re friends working in the same team, plus there’s that regard they have for me. They don’t cross that line of decorum and I don’t demand anything from them. ”

Apparently in the past on some occasions when Salim Saab’s suggestion was not accepted by Salman and Sohail the films bombed. 

Says the self-deprecating writer-father, “Jo maine seekha hai jo haasil kiya hai woh deke jaana hai. (Whatever I’ve learnt I have to pass on). It’s up to my children if they want to learn from my experiences or not. My advantage as a writer is that I’ve matured with the years. Stars get old, writers mature. So I guess I have a certain wisdom of experience that Sohail is using. ”

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'No one can be blamed for accident on Dabangg 2 set'

Film-maker-actor Sohail Khan terms the accident on the sets of "Dabangg 2" as an unfortunate incident and says no one should be blamed for it.

The film is being directed by Sohail's sibling Arbaaz and it features his star brother Salman

"It's a very unfortunate incident. It was an accident and I don't think it was anybody's fault, these things are not intended. I was in Dubai when this happened and I spoke to Salman and Arbaaz Bhai. I hope for speedy recovery of those injured," he said.

A short-circuit happened on the sets of "Dabangg 2" at the Mehboob Studios Saturday evening resulting in a fire. Three technicians got injured and, reportedly, are fine now.

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