JODPHUR, India: Indian movie star Salman Khan managed to avoid the spotlight when he returned to court on Monday over his five-year jail sentence for killing endangered wildlife.
Khan, one of the world’s highest-paid actors, was convicted last month of shooting dead two rare antelopes known as black bucks on a 1998 hunting trip. He spent two days behind bars before being granted bail.
The Bollywood icon was ordered to appear in court on Monday and an early-morning hearing was held in Jodhpur, in the western state of Rajasthan.
Khan arrived in a white SUV and slipped into court around 8:00am (0230 GMT) surrounded by minders, catching Indian media and his army of fans off guard. Court sessions generally start much later in India.
The judge, Chandra Kumar Songara, quickly adjourned proceedings after Khan’s defense team requested more time to prepare their appeal.
Khan, who is not allowed to leave the country without permission but has been filming a new movie in India, returned directly to Jodhpur airport after the hearing.
“We will begin arguments on the appeal against the five-year sentence from July 17,” said defense counsel Mahesh Bora.
Prosecutors said they would oppose the appeal bid and were ready to present their case.
Four other actors were acquitted in last month’s verdict and Khan has repeatedly denied killing the creatures — accusing Rajasthan’s forest department of trying to frame him.
His lawyers claim the black bucks died of natural causes such as overeating, insisting there was no evidence they were shot.
Throughout the multiple cases, eyewitnesses have stated they saw Khan firing a gun.
The 52-year-old enjoys a cult-like status in star-obsessed India and is one of Bollywood’s biggest draws, despite a host of controversies.
Khan was in a vehicle in Mumbai in 2002 when it mounted the curb and killed a homeless man sleeping on the pavement.
He was found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to five years in prison, but the verdict was overturned by a higher court in 2015. His acquittal is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
Bollywood’s Salman Khan dodges limelight in jail appeal hearing
Bollywood’s Salman Khan dodges limelight in jail appeal hearing
Sheikha Al-Mayassa talks cultural patronage at Art Basel Qatar Conversations panel
DOHA: Cultural leaders at the inaugural edition of Art Basel Qatar in Doha have discussed how patronage is reshaping art ecosystems, with Qatar’s own long-term cultural vision at the center.
The opening panel, “Leaders of Change: How is patronage shaping new art ecosystems?” brought together Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, chair of Qatar Museums, and Maja Hoffmann, founder and president of the Luma Foundation, in a discussion moderated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. The talk formed part of the Art Basel Conversations x Qatar Creates Talks program, coinciding with the debut of Art Basel Qatar which runs in Doha until Feb. 8.
Sheikha Al-Thani framed Qatar’s cultural project as a strategic, long-term endeavor anchored in national development. “Qatar has a national vision called 2030 where culture was one of the main pillars for socioeconomic development and human development,” she said. “We have always invested in culture as a means of human development.”
That vision, she explained, underpins the decision to welcome a major international fair like Art Basel to Doha after turning away many previous proposals.
“For the longest time, I can’t tell you how many art fairs came to us wanting to be here, and we never felt it was the right time,” she said. “However, this is an important year for us and we felt, with the surplus of talent and the growing gallery scene we had here, that it was time to bring industry to talent, because that’s how we will spur the economic diversification from hydrocarbon to a knowledge-based society.”
She was also keen to stress that Art Basel Qatar was not conceived as a conventional marketplace.
“This is not your typical art fair … It’s a humane art fair where engagement is more important than transaction, discourse more important than division, and curiosity more important than conviction,” she added.
That ethos extends to the fair’s artistic leadership. Al-Thani described how the decision to have an artist — Wael Shawky — serve as artistic director emerged collaboratively with Art Basel’s team.
“He’s a global artist who’s now become a very local artist, very invested in our local art scene. And really, I think that’s the beauty of partnerships … There is a safe space for us to critique each other, support each other, and really brainstorm all the possibilities … and then come to a consensus of what would make sense for us,” she said.
Collecting art, she added, has long been embedded in Qatari society: “My grandmother is almost 100 years old. She was collecting in the 60s when Qatar was a very poor country. It’s in our DNA … always with this notion of investing in knowledge and human development.”
Today, that impulse translates into comprehensive, multi-disciplinary collections: “We are both collecting historical objects, contemporary objects, modern objects, architecture, archival material, anything that we feel is relevant to us and the evolution of this nation towards a knowledge-based economy.”
Looking ahead, Al-Thani outlined a new cultural triangle in Doha — the National Museum of Qatar, the Museum of Islamic Art and the forthcoming Art Mill Museum — as engines for both economic diversification and intellectual life.
“That ecosystem will enhance the economic growth and diversification, but also the knowledge that’s available, because the diversity in the collections between these three institutions will no doubt inspire young people, amateurs, entrepreneurs to think outside the box and inform their next business,” she said.
The panel closed with a focus on the future of large-scale exhibitions with Rubaiya, Qatar’s new quadrennial, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 2022 World Cup.
“Every four years in memory of the opening of the World Cup, we will open the quadrennial. This year, the theme is ‘Unruly Waters.’ At the center of the theme is Qatar’s trading route to the Silk Road,” explained Al-Thani.
“It’s important for us to trace our past and claim it and share it to the rest of the world, but also show the connectivity that Qatar had historically and the important role it has been playing in diplomacy.”
