Celebrities the world over are known for their ‘excesses’.
And sometimes those ‘excesses’ translate into crime and
land them in jail. By Gautaman Bhaskaran
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Nothing can be more fascinating than a film which weaves a plot around an actual incident. Subhash Kapoor’s Jolly LLB does precisely that, and what is more, the movie seems to be playing out on the streets day in and day out. Not just in India, but elsewhere too.
Jolly LLB focuses on a slanging match in a sessions court hearing the case of a drunken youth running his swanky car over several pavement dwellers and killing all but one. While one lawyer defending the rich, young man argues that footpaths are not meant for sleeping, the opposition advocate quips that “they are not made for a car to be driven on either.” Right of course.
However, celebrities the world over get so inebriated that they lose control of their vehicles and kill or maim men, women and children. The celebrities try their best to cover up their crime, but sometimes fail and land in prison.
I was shocked to learn that French actor Gerard Depardieu — a brilliant performer, mesmerising talker and nothing less than a legend — had been found guilty by a Russian court of driving in an intoxicated state.
An honorary citizen of that country now, Depardieu, who left his native France reportedly to avoid punishing taxation, escaped jail, but had his driving licence suspended for six months. He was also slapped with a hefty fine.
In France, the actor could have faced stiffer penalties. Maybe even a term behind bars. Even in Russia, his lawyers somehow managed to get him out of a prison sentence although when the police caught him he had tested with a blood alcohol level of 1.8, nearly three times over the acceptable limit.
It is quite possible that Depardieu won this reprieve because he is a friend of the Kremlin-supported strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, notorious for his human rights violations. The French actor is in Chechnya acting along with Elizabeth Hurley in the movie, Turquoise, based on the life of an art thief.
Depardieu, despite all his talent, now appears to be drunk not just with alcohol but also arrogance. In a recent interview to Le Journal du Dimanche in Paris, he claimed that his drunkenness was part of his charm.
“I am drunk sometimes, but my drunkenness is part of my excess,” he said. “I think it corresponds to an image that the French love. Someone who is a bit of a rebel, who shakes things up, and is sometimes drunk.”
Unfortunately, the actor’s “excess” is not confined to drinking and taking to the wheel. In 2011, passengers on a flight from Paris to Dublin were outraged when they saw a visibly drunk Depardieu urinate in the plane’s aisle.
Indian actors may not ease themselves in full public glare, but have been guilty of other forms of misdemeanours. Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was banned from entering the Wankhede Stadium for five years after he got into a physical bout with the security staff there. Actors tend to lose sight of the fact that real life is vastly different from the kind of muscled existence which scriptwriters offer for the screen.
Take the case of Salman Khan. I suppose he imagined that he could in his tipsy state run his car over sleeping men on a sidewalk — and hope to be pardoned! The 11-year-old hit-and-run case he was involved in has taken a new turn. A sessions court upheld an earlier order to enhance charges against him. Khan will now be tried under a more serious section in the Indian Penal Code — culpable homicide not amounting to murder — that attracts a maximum incarceration of 10 years.
Eleven years ago, an inebriated Khan rammed his Land Cruiser into a pavement killing one man and injuring four others. The judge said Khan was fully aware of the fact that driving a vehicle in such a condition could lead to grave consequences. So, there was no question of letting the star go.
Khan has one more crime to his credit. Some 14 years ago, he and a few fellow actors, including Saif Ali Khan, Sonali Bendre and Tabu, hunted down black buck, an endangered deer species, in Rajasthan. Also, the deer is revered by the local Bishnoi community, a fact which makes Khan’s offence even more serious. A conviction can mean six years in jail
Actors are having a rough time all right. Sanjay Dutt is in prison, serving a five-year term for having possessed a gun without licence during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. He is trying to make paper bags, and eating prison food.
My own suspicion is that many actors have a crowd of “mad” men around them, men who egg the celebrities to indulge in rash acts.
Then, there are any number of fans and admirers who imagine that their favourite heroes and heroines can do no wrong. During the recent Cannes Film Festival, I was lunching with a group of men and women (which included a Minister from Andhra Pradesh). There was one young Palestinian woman with us, who breathed fire into every sentence she uttered.
For most of the lunch, she argued with me about Salman Khan’s “innocent mistake”. She was sure that the man needed to be pardoned. “You cannot punish him by sending him to jail. He is a great actor,” she was really besotted by Khan. To err is human, she shot at me.
Yes, Yes. But not when that costs a life or limb and is committed by a drunken man who knows full well that driving in such a state can lead to nothing short of murder. But the lady from Palestine would have none of this.
For her, Khan was above the law, merely because he was a “great artist”. So, what if a few people are trampled to death by his wheels.
Returning to Jolly LLB, the judge mercifully did not share the Palestinian’s view or sympathy. He sent the young man to prison.
Gautaman Bhaskaran has been writing on Indian and world cinema for over 30 years, and may be e-mailed at gautamanb@hotmail.com