Rs 75-80 cr riding on Salman Khan

Mumbai, Aug 24 (UNI) Bollywood seems to have virtually plunged into a crisis with a Jodhpur court upholding the five-year sentence of Salman Khan in the Chinkara poaching case.

The judgement comes close on the heels of Sanjay Dutt being sentenced on July 31 to six years RI under Arms Act by the TADA court in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

Sanjay is currently out on an interim bail after spending 22 days in Pune's Yerwada jail.

Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, ''These are bad times for the film industry with two of its most popular actors facing jail sentence.'' Salman's recent release ''Partner'' has been a runaway success. Some of his projects under-production are Rumi Jaffery's ''God Tussi Great Ho'', Boney Kapoor's untitled venture, Atul Agnihotri's ''Hello'', ''Mera Bharat Mahan'' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Sawariya''.

Among the films that have already been announced are Subhash Ghai's ''Yuvraaj'' and two films from his brother Sohail Khan's production house.

The money riding on Salman is around Rs 75 to 80 crore.

Trade sources suggest the film fraternity is keeping its fingers crossed and is closely monitoring the legal course as Salman's lawyers are expected to move High Court.

Whether Salman will face arrest or surrender has not been answered by either the actor himself or any of his family members.

Crowds of mediapersons and fans have gathered outside his Bandra house since the news of the Jodhpur court's verdict came out.

Congress MP Govinda, his co-star in ''Partner'' and Aditya Pancholi were seen going to the Salman's residence.

Salman Khan was convicted on April 10, 2006 for hunting two black bucks on September 28, 1998 during the shooting of Sooraj Barjatya's film ''Hum Saath Saath Hain'' in Rajasthan.

UNI