Five years of jail, so what? It's not the death of Brand Salman

When Salman Khan is sentenced to jail, there is a lot more than prison time at stake. Given that he is one of the stalwarts of India’s entertainment industry, a lot of money - be it from movies in the pipeline, endorsements or other engagements - is on the line. Currently, bhai is everywhere. From movie posters to advertising billboards to pop up ads on the websites we browse. And he brings the cash rolling in. [caption id=“attachment_2232044” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Solaris images[/caption] According to Forbes_,_ Khan was the richest Indian celebrity in 2014, raking in a whopping Rs. 244.5 crore during the year. Another site listed him as the tenth richest actor in the world, on a list topped by Jerry Seinfeld and featuring the likes of Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Brad Pitt. The success of movies like Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger have helped to strengthen his brand value, and according to industry estimates, there is around Rs 200 crore riding on the actor in terms of future projects. And these are just confirmed films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan" and “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” which are nearing completion. If rumoured projects like Anees Bazmee’s “No Entry” sequel and “Kick” sequel are taken into account, the figures will shoot up. According to a report in Mint, an estimated Rs.45 crore is riding on his brand endorsements, according to celebrity management professionals. The report further notes:“Salman Khan is the brand ambassador for a clutch of brands, including soft drink Thums Up, detergent brand Wheel, P.N. Gadgil Jewellers and Astral Pipes. He has also hosted the reality show Bigg Boss on Colors for the last few seasons.” In addition to that. his Being Human brand, which is being retailed across the country in partnership with Mandhana Industries Ltd is also a money spinner.  Here’s an infographic on just how much he’s estimated to be worth:    According to this report in the Indian Express, Being Human apparel currently accounts for 10 percent of Mandhana’s global sales and brought in roughly Rs 170 crore, up 29.7 percent from Rs 131 crore a year earlier. That - to put it bluntly - is a lot of money, all of it riding on the lasting endearments of brand Salman. The importance of the actor in relation to these projects was evident in the fact that the shares of Mandhana Industries Ltd plummeted after the verdict. Of course, it is hard to pinpoint how much of this was influenced by the verdict and how much of it was caused by the Sensex crash,  but experts quoted in the report say that some part of the fall was definitely due to the conviction. Is this a sign of things to come for brand Salman? Will everything he is associated with, lose value? Experts at this point are still divided. The Bollywood industry so far it seems, is not overly worried. Industry expert Amod Mehra told the _IANS_ news agency that “There is no panic in the film industry or in anybody’s mind, thanks to the laws in India. It is because we all are very clear that there are other ways to come out as well like bail. So there is no question of panicking over his arrest as of now”. The report also quoted  another trade expert, Vinod Mirani as saying, ““If the decision is not in his favour, he will appeal to a higher court. Nobody goes to jail so fast. He will appeal and then that court will undertake proceedings of the case which will take time”. A good point, it would seem, considering that the verdict in the case has come after 13 years in the first place. In terms of endorsements, experts seem to be of the opinion that although his local endorsements may not be affected, multinational deals may suffer. “Salman’s popularity, in absolute terms, would not have gone down much. The problem is with his conviction. Certainly multinational brands (and large Indian brands) cannot be seen to be associated with  a convict – even if they would love to leverage his obvious popularity,” Storyboard editor Anant Rangaswami said. As far as the fate of Being Human is concerned, Mandhana Industries appear to be quite positive. The Express report quoted Manish Mandhana, managing director of the company as saying,  “As of now, I don’t see any immediate impact on our sales. Our business has grown by leaps and bounds in the last three years and will continue to grow.” Experts however feel that the brand is likely to suffer a crippling blow, with some saying that it is difficult for associated brands to recover from hits to an endorsers credibility. At this point however, it is hard to say for sure, what the impact on ‘Brand Salman’ will be, given that we don’t even know how much of his jail sentence he will actually have to serve. The actor got bail within an hour of his sentencing, and could well be allowed to stay out of jail while he appeals the verdict. As pointed out by a Bollywood industry expert in this Firstpost story, “It takes a lot of time to send somebody to jail. It can even take ten years and in  10-15 years, he will be over 60 years old”. That’s plenty of time for ‘Brand Salman’ to keep motoring on.