Indian TV Channels: Police Detain Suspect in Stabbing of Bollywood Actor

FILE - Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan attends the trailer launch of his film Tanhaji in Mumbai, India, Nov. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE - Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan attends the trailer launch of his film Tanhaji in Mumbai, India, Nov. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
TT

Indian TV Channels: Police Detain Suspect in Stabbing of Bollywood Actor

FILE - Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan attends the trailer launch of his film Tanhaji in Mumbai, India, Nov. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE - Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan attends the trailer launch of his film Tanhaji in Mumbai, India, Nov. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

Indian television channels said on Friday police in the financial capital of Mumbai had detained, and were questioning, a suspect in a late night stabbing attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, but police did not confirm any detention.

Khan, 54, was stabbed six times during a burglary attempt at his home in an upscale neighborhood early on Thursday. Doctors who operated on him for wounds to his spine, neck and hands have said he was out of danger, Reuters reported.

The India Today channel, among others, showed police escorting a man wearing a white T-shirt into a police-station and identified him as the suspect.
However police officer Dikshit Gedam did not confirm the detention, saying instead there had been no major development.
"There's no update from yesterday regarding what we said," Gedam, the senior investigating officer, told Reuters.
The previous day police said they had identified the perpetrator of the apparent robbery attempt, and launched a search for him.
Khan, 54, one of Bollywood's most bankable stars, who has appeared in many films and television series, had walked into the hospital in blood-soaked clothes, accompanied by his six-year old son, Taimur.
"If the knife had penetrated any further, there would have been an injury to the spine," Niraj Uttamnani, one of the doctors who treated Khan, told reporters, adding that the actor had escaped by a distance of just 2 mm (0.08 inch).
"He is very fortunate."
Another doctor, Nitin Dange, added, "He is able to walk, and he is stable." The attack on Khan, who is the son of India's former cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, shocked the film industry and residents of the city, many of whom called for better policing and security.
In a statement on social media, Khan's wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, asked media to stop speculating about the case.
"It has been an incredibly challenging day ... and we are still trying to process the events," the 44-year-old actor said on her Instagram profile.
The couple have two boys, in addition to Khan's two children from a previous marriage.



Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
TT

Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)

Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood "bigger, better and stronger" and has cast Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as stars of what he is calling his "Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California."

On Wednesday, the President-elect announced on his social media site that the three actors would be his eyes and ears to the moviemaking town.

"It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!" he wrote on Truth Social.

He also called the trio special envoys. Special ambassadors and envoys are typically chosen to respond to troubled hot spots like the Middle East, not California.

Gibson said in a statement that he got the news "at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can."

Gibson, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, added, "Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?"

US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and, in the past week, the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the US was down 26% from 2021, according to data from ProdPro.

In the greater Los Angeles area, productions were down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, the lowest since 2020. This past October, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually (up from $330 million). Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have used tax incentives to lure film and TV productions to their cities. Actor Mark Wahlberg is even making plans for a Las Vegas production hub.

"I’m old enough to have touched some years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and I’ve seen its slow deterioration since. Today, we are in pretty bad shape," Voight said. "Very few films are made here now, but we are fortunate to have an incoming President, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his help, I feel we can get done."

It’s unclear what exactly Gibson, Voight and Stallone will be doing in this effort to bring productions back to the US Representatives for Stallone did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Trump’s decision to select the actors as his chosen "ambassadors" underscores his preoccupations with the 1980s and '90s, when he was a rising tabloid star in New York, and Gibson and Stallone were among the biggest movie stars in the world.

Stallone is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and introduced him at a gala in November shortly after the election.

"When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like," Stallone told the crowd. "Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!"

The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to overlook his supporters’ most controversial statements.

Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, when he went on an antisemitic rant while being arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. But he’s also continued to work in mainstream movies and directed the upcoming Wahlberg thriller "Flight Risk."

Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.