That’s an absolute no brainer. There are no Brownie Points for guessing that one. Salman killed Salman. Or rather Salman killed his own conscience in an inebriated state. Most drunk men don’t remember what they possibly did the night before. So maybe he slept soundlessly that night, only to keep awake night after night for a great many years since his delirious debacle. Thirteen years after he was accused of running over five people sleeping on a pavement in Mumbai and killing one, the Bombay High Court upturned the trial court’s guilty verdict and acquitted Bollywood star Salman Khan of all the charges. As Justice AR Joshi announced his verdict on December 10, 2015 in a packed courtroom bechara Salman was in tears, obviously of relief, and guess who blocked his view from the press and shutterbugs—his loyal bodyguard. Years ago it was also a loyal chauffeur who took the blame for the accident, incident, and murder; whatever you’d like to call ‘the run-over by a vehicle over sleeping pavement dwellers episode’ that happened on that dark night. The cop who filed the case against a highly intoxicated Salman Khan died of jaundice down the road. A couple of friends who would’ve been witnesses for the prosecution conveniently disappeared. Obviously palms were greased, alibis re-modified and chances are even a judge could have fallen bait to the lure of big, big money. In good old India that’s the only thing that can help you get away with murder.

If Salman’s friends and family or even his PR agency were serious about the welfare of this superstar things would have been a lot different. Had there been anyone on the scene with a little bit of common sense they would have advised him to take responsibility for the ‘crime.’ The dead person’s family and those injured could have got an out of court settlement (incidentally to date they haven’t received a single rupee because everything that was promised to them via the court is still mired in red-tape and bureaucracy). Had this been done the right way, Salman bhai would have still had a living, breathing conscience. But since he gave away all his freedom to a family who practically live off his wealth, he is ensnared in a world of his own making. His family may have their own ostentatious weddings, or produce films but who acts in those films that bring in the megabucks? It’s Salman’s talent, Salman’s wealth and Salman’s resources all the way. He is the proverbial golden gander. A lot of celebrities come to mind whose families have manipulated their talent, fame and earnings—the late Michael Jackson being a case in point.

Celebrity trials generate a great deal of hysteria, and everyone wants to have a debate or argument on the subject. Be it Salman Khan Fans, or Salman Khan Haters, there’s always going to be biased view contradicting the validity of the case. The truth be told, very few people (the aam janta or even his inner circle for that matter) believe that Salman Khan is innocent. But he has the absolute right to walk free, since he had the financial resources to hire the best legal talent. Anyone else in his privileged position would’ve done the same to stay out of prison, or in other words the murky depths of hell. However whether your latest films join the INR 300 crore club. Or your fans tattoo your name on their arms, or write you letters in their blood. Or whether women pretend to be your girlfriends because you buy them an apartment overlooking the sea-face. Or your rivals disguise their dislike of you in the hope you’ll gift them with a Harley Davidson. Or ‘friends’ and ‘family’ carry your ego to unfathomable heights with the empty echo of their words, at the end of the day you have to live with yourself.

In your bedroom isolated from any human contact, away from the toxic nonsense of your unreal world of make believe, maybe you have a euphoric moment (without the influence of spirit or drugs) and realize that you have to confront your dead self and awaken the integrity, justice and love for humankind that you express wholeheartedly on the big screen. Maybe you need to arise, walk and in reality be the man you’d always envisaged yourself to be. Because at the end of the day, you have to live with yourself, and the truth. Just like the heroes you portray in your films be man enough to face yourself in the mirror. Arise sleeping giant; you still have 50 more years of staying alive. And being human.

Jude Paul Fernandes is the author of ‘Frost Bites’ and can be followed on twitter @judepaulferns