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Entertainment Star Criticizes Indian Media

Top Bollywood entertainment and movies star Salman Khan was interviewed recently by the BBC Asian Network. In the interview he said that he is "exploited" by the Indian media, and blamed them for his "negative" off-screen description. Khan said that even though a small section of the media wanted to write positive things about him, they were powerless.

The 41-year-old entertainment star, who has a reputation for irresponsible behavior, was found guilty of stealing earlier this year. Of his "bad-boy" image Khan said: "There`s a business section that wants to portray everything negatively so that they can sell magazines or get good top ratings on TV". The actor was charged in June with killing two protected antelope species, during a hunting trip in the state of Rajasthan in 1998. In April he was sentenced to a five-year jail term for a separate hunting incident also in Rajasthan. The entertainment star has always denied wrongdoing and is currently on bail while his appeal is being heard.

Khan said that his conviction was wrong, and that the judge only sentenced him because he wanted to make an example out of him. "They wanted to set an example out of me... I mean today because of me, people know there`s an endangered species of deer called black buck, well it`s actually an antelope." The stealing cases are not the first time Salman Khan is meeting the law. He is also facing trial in Mumbai (Bombay) in a 2002 hit-and-run case.