The singer told Screen that Salman's Bigg Boss 20 remarks on trolling and negative PR came from someone who, in his telling, benefited from the very system for years.
Palash Sen isn't buying it.
Days after Salman Khan used a Bigg Boss 20 Weekend Ka Vaar episode to call out paid negative PR campaigns in the Hindi film industry, the singer-actor told Screen that Salman himself had a hand in creating the very system he was criticising. "He's a part of starting this. Let's not forget that," Palash said, adding that such problems "never arise from the bottom of the hierarchy" and always start at the top.
Salman's original comments, made during a discussion on how actors get trolled when their films flop, also touched on allegations that industry insiders run paid negative campaigns against each other. In the same segment, he defended Katrina Kaif against online commentary about her weight after she had her baby, questioning why actors get picked apart over how they look.
Palash didn't dismiss the substance of what Salman said. He called it "very, very brave" of the actor to raise the subject at all. But he wasn't willing to let Salman off as a neutral critic either.
"If you live by the sword, you are also going to get killed by the sword. Everybody in the film industry who has maintained their position for many, many years, obviously has played with the PR guys, we all know it," he said, careful to add he wasn't naming anyone specifically.
There's a sharper line buried in there too. "One day, you can start saying things and sound like a saint," Palash said, before repeating that he believes Salman "was part of the problem."
He also raised a separate question about where the comments came from in the first place. Since Salman made them on Bigg Boss, a show he hosts and which runs on a tight editorial calendar, Palash wondered aloud whether the whole exchange was spontaneous or built into the episode. "100 per cent, we don't know whether this was scripted or it was really organic," he said. "It has become so difficult for all of us to figure out."
None of this is backed by names, dates or evidence beyond Palash's own read of how the industry works, and Salman hasn't responded to the remarks. Bollywood has had this argument before, in different seasons and over different grievances, usually without anyone producing receipts. What's different this time is that it's playing out around a show Salman himself hosts, which is exactly the optics Palash is pointing at.
Whether Salman addresses this on a future Weekend Ka Vaar, or lets it pass the way these things usually do, is the only open question left.
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