Salman Khan faced a lot of flak for being appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of Indian contingent at the Rio Olympics 2016. The controversial decision by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to rope in Sallu, who was recently acquitted of all charges in the 2002 hit-and-run case, was criticised by the sportspersons like Yogeshwar Dutt and Milkha Singh. However, a lot of Bollywood celebrities have come out in the support of Salman Khan, including his alleged ex-lover Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Here’s who said what regarding Salman’s presence at the upcoming Rio Olympics 2016.
Anybody who is doing good to represent the country and anyone who is working or standing up for the betterment of whatever vocation we have in our country, I think that is wonderful. That is what needs to be recognised.
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Karan Johar
Consistency, sincerity, hard work and dedication are a mark of a great athlete, artiste or anyone in the performing role or anyone who has achieved anything at all in the universe. Salman Khan is a humongous achiever and his brand can actually be leveraged because his reach is tremendous. He is one of the biggest movie stars of our country and when he does endorse anything, the impact is for everyone to see and hear. If he has been made the Goodwill Ambassador then I think more power to the authorities who chose him, more power to Salman Khan to accept it and no power to people who actually rejected this choice.
Malaika Arora Khan
Salman Khan is what he is for a reason and chosen for a reason. You have to give him credit for that. You have to give credit to people for the kind of leverage that he brings to the state. More power to him and the authorities. Sports is something that will always be close to my heart and I wanted to have all that recognition possible. I am sure Salman Khan will bring all that and more.
Kirron Kher
The sportsmen of this country should have a bigger heart. I have played badminton for this country, my sister has captained the Indian team and she is an Arjuna Award winner. When we choose someone like Salman Khan, it also brings a lot of corporates in. A lot of our games are not cricket and are in need of money. If he brings in all that then it is wonderful for all the sportsmen involved.
I felt very bad when someone commented, ‘These film people live in an imaginary world, we sportsmen live in reality.’ I would like to tell them that we very much live in the reality. The amount of hard work that we do, I doubt if many people in this country can. We shoot 15-16 hours, at times the post production team goes without sleeping. To entertain, it looks very flippant but it is the hardest thing in the world.
So with deep amount of respect I would like to urge to my peers, juniors and seniors in the sports world to respect someone like Salman Khan. He has been there for a long time and has lasted for a long time. There must be something about the gentleman Salman Khan which inspires all of us.
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