“According to my sources, Salman was innocent…” 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, May 24, 2005 - 03:49 IST
…this is Salman's screen mother talking. Guess who? A brownie jar for the one who gets it right! Nah, it isn't his Rajshri mother of many films Reema Lagoo nor is it Rakhee or Himani Shivpuri either. Bang your head against the wall and you still won't be able to hit the name. Give up? Okay, it's Beena Kak. Beena who? Beena Kak was the opposition Congress MLA during Salman's blackbuck incident in 1998. And she has something interesting to tell us all.
“It was 1998, he was held up with charges of illegal poaching. But my sources found Salman innocent. He was being framed to suit the impending elections at that point. I found that pretty unfair and so questioned the police action in Vidhan Sabha while urging them to find out whether poaching mafia was involved. This must have kind of upset the apple cart and I lost elections in 2003” the silver haired politician recounts.
“Salman came down to Jaipur specially to thank me for my objective stand. But what till date stays with me is just before leaving, he asked me if he could address me as Beena aapa, which stands for elder sister in Urdu. I told him I was okay with it, that's when he told me after whatever I had done for him, he found addressing me as 'Beena ma'am' a tad too impersonal” she smiles.
“It was all the more special because I was a huge Salman fan and my family kept teasing me around about my motherly feelings I had for Salman. Later one day he comes up to me asking me to play his screen mother! It was for a film his brother Sohail was making, Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya. Though the idea did give me kicks, I was scared of goofing up. Even director David Dhawan was unsure of my emoting abilities. But Salman believed I could pull it off and kept goading me. Finally, I decided to give it a shot and after the first take, David was tongue tied. That was some experience!” beams Beena.
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