Poaching case: RGV, Renuka Shahane take dig at Salman acquittal

'Achche din aa gaye' for Salman Khan after he was acquitted in two separate poaching cases lodged way back in 1998 while he was filming for Hum Saath-Saath Hain in the wilderness of Rajasthan.

While Khan and his fans celebrate, the verdict has evoked a mixed response on social media. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who has a habit of making cheeky digs at colleagues from the industry, posted an intriguing tweet.

Choosing his words carefully, the maverick fillmmaker underlined how cases involving celebrities take a long time to reach conclusion. The other major case against Khan, a 2002 accident case in Mumbai, went on for 14 years before the Bombay high court found the actor not guilty of the charges of drunken driving and culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Varma has never been known to be friendly with Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan. So the tweet did not come as a surprise. Back in May, he had mocked Shah Rukh Khan for taking up roles like Fan (2016) and playing a dwarf in his upcoming film with Aanand L Rai. Varma had reminded Khan of the fate of Kamal Haasan, whose superstar status began to slide once he started playing off-beat roles like a dwarf in Appu Raja (1989).

While Varma posted a cheeky tweet, filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who directed Salman Khan in Yuvvraaj (2008), welcomed the verdict.

Actress Renuka Shahane, who worked with Khan in the superhit Hum Aapke Hai Koun..! (1994),  wrote a hilarious piece on her Facebook page. 

Using  some clever puns, Shahane narrated he entire saga in a funny manner.

GenNext actor Varun Dhawan, who was in Delhi for the promotion of his upcoming film Dishoom, was a bit cautious in his comment. 

"It's the court's judgment and we have to respect it. So I respect the court's judgment," he said. 

Dhawan co-star in Dishoom Jacqueline Fernandez, who starred with Salman Khan in Kick (2014), chose to keep her lips sealed on the issue.

Khan's sister Arpita Khan Sharma thanked all well-wishers for their support.

While the Rajasthan high court has acquitted Khan, it remains to be seen whether the state government goes in appeal against the verdict to the Supreme Court. In any case, Khan’s legal troubles are far from over. The Supreme Court has already admitted the Maharashtra government’s appeal challenging his acquittal by the Bombay high court in December 2015 in the road accident case.

With inputs from IANS