9 Critics Explained Why They'll Continue Watching And Reviewing Salman Khan's Movies

"If we can separate the personal and professional, then why not extend the same courtesy to Khan?"

Earlier this week, film critic Raja Sen stated that he will not be reviewing Salman Khan's Sultan.

Raja Sen @RajaSen

Thank you for all the swearwords (and the support) for my decision not to watch/review #Sultan. Here's why.

06:43 AM - 22 Jun 2016

We asked some prominent reviewers in the country if they'd be reviewing Sultan and/or future Salman Khan films.

1. Mayank Shekhar - film critic at The W14

"Of course I will be (reviewing the film). Salman made a plainly demented, insensitive comment. He should merely feel and be publicly sorry for it. And ideally move on. As should we. Unfair to base a whole film at fault for it."

2. Deepanjana Pal - film critic at Newslaundry

Via facebook.com

"Considering the fact that we've all reviewed Khan's films (often favourably) even after his criminal and violent episodes in the past, I don't see how this comment is in any way worse than and more worthy of a boycott than, say, actually harassing a woman or running over someone and claiming the driver did it. Also, if as reviewers we've reviewed Woody Allen and Roman Polanski films, then what makes this particular comment "worse"? If we can separate the personal and professional for them, then why not extend the same courtesy to Khan?"

3. Aniruddha Guha - film critic and writer

Anirudh Guha

"Yes, I will be reviewing Sultan.

This is something I've had an internal debate about in the past too, and I've always come to the realisation that a film is bigger than one person. In India, especially, we tend to associate a film with the actors in it; the presence of stars dominates pretty much all other conversation around it. But a film is a result of hundreds of people working on it in unison, and toiling over it for months.

The moment you decide to not review/boycott a particular actor's film, you are reinforcing the belief that the star dominates the medium.

I believe Raja has clarified that he isn't trying to claim the moral high ground or see it snowballing into a movement, and that his is a personal reaction to the entire episode. He believes that how he feels about it might come in the way of him being objective about Sultan and, hence, he'd rather not review it - this is what I've gathered from his social media posts. That's a fairly good reason for any critic to not want to review a film, and I support it.

If I ever feel that bias may play a part in how I feel about a film, I will (and I have) refrain from reviewing it too."

4. Anupama Chopra - Film Companion

Dilip Bhatia

Chopra is currently travelling and refused to comment.

5. Suprateek Chatterjee - Huffington Post India

Suprateek Chatterjee

"I'll review it because it's a big film and it's also Ali Abbas Zafar's film, Anushka Sharma's film, and a number of other actors are in it. And if I think Salman Khan sucks in it, I will not hold back. Obviously."

6. Tushar Joshi - BollywoodLife

Via facebook.com

"Of course I will review it, that's my job."

7. Sarita Tarwar - dna

Via facebook.com

"Yeah, I will review Sultan. Why wouldn't I? Not reviewing the film doesn't hurt the actor, if the intention is to do so. If anything, it affects the producer. Would sports, business, and political journalists boycott matches, business events and political rallies if a sports star, a businessman or politician used an unfortunate analogy? Banning and boycotting are not tools of a progressive society. It's a knee-jerk reaction. Having said that, if Raja Sen feels that he cannot be true to the job, then he has taken the right decision. If a writer feels that he cannot be unbiased then he should stay away from the subject. I have done the same in the past."

8. Shuba Shetty - film critic and entertainment editor at Mid-Day

Shuba Shetty

"I will of course review the film because I understand that a film is much larger than just the lead hero or one of the actors in a film. A lot of money and hard work is involved in the making of a film. Me agreeing or not agreeing to one flippant comment made by a star has nothing to do with a film. Writing reviews for me is a professional commitment and as a professional, I won't obviously let my personal opinion about a star's off screen behaviour affect or hamper that commitment."

9. Rahul Desai - Catch News

Rahul Desai

"Yes, I'll be reviewing Sultan, and even future projects. It's important to separate the personal from professional here, especially with celebrities and public figures, or that way we'd be left with no films to review or no political figures/issues to write about. Besides, not all of us can afford to pick and choose films based on our moods; some of us are freelancers and sole reviewers for a publication. All for freedom of choice and all, but let's be pragmatic here."

And BuzzFeed reached out to Rajeev Masand, but received no reply.