While inviting Ram Charan to dance with him at the most recent Ambani celebration, Shah Rukh Khan cracked a joke. He is currently facing backlash from his South Indian fan base.
At the lavish Ambani pre-wedding festivities in Jamnagar, Shah Rukh Khan was spotted having a great time. The audience went berserk when Shah Rukh, Aamir Khan, and Salman Khan took the stage to dance to the popular RRR song Naatu Nahu. Not only was what followed offensive, but it also demonstrated how the Hindi film industry is innately biased against people from the South. Ram Charan, who starred in RRR, was invited by Shah Rukh to dance with them on stage. He then spoke in Tamil, not Telugu, for a few meandering lines before concluding with “idli Ram Charan.” This has angered South Indians, and the actor has been inundated with criticism on social media.
Bollywood enjoys making stereotypes
Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu are just a few of the southern states that are collectively referred to as “Madrasi” by the Hindi film industry and Hindi cinema itself. Mehmood, in his role as a Carnatic music instructor in the 1968 film Padosan, is credited with popularizing—or making infamous—this stereotype of south Indians by bringing humor to the picture. Even though this portrayal of South Indians was blatantly false, inaccurate, and racist, North Indians might have found it amusing. Nonetheless, because they thought it was “funny,” the Hindi film industry kept making money off of this stereotype.
Not SRK’s first time doing it
Unfortunately, Shah Rukh Khan, a globally recognized icon and highly influential figure in the nation, has been at the forefront of the recent trend of making fun of South Indians, and he regrettably still does. Take a look at this. SRK played a Tamilian in Ra One (2011) who was unable to speak English correctly and would say things like “Aiaio,” “mind it,” and “enna rascala” every other second. He also eats noodles and curd (yoghurt). His 2013 Chennai Express portrayed South Indians as having dark complexion, being illiterate in English, the men being unkempt and crude, and even performing a “Lungi Dance.” This mindset also permeated the Ambani pre-wedding festivities in Jamnagar.
Maybe Shah Rukh Khan has conveniently forgotten that throughout his career, he has collaborated with a number of gifted South Indian directors and technicians. In 1998, he worked with renowned Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam on Dil Se, which took home two National Awards. He collaborated on the 2000 film Hey Ram with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan recipient Kamal Haasan, a Tamil actor. The Malayalam film industry’s Billu, directed by Priyadarshan, and Asoka, directed by Santosh Sivan, a cinematographer, were also forgotten, possibly due to their box office failures. Top Tamil director Atlee directed his most recent release, the 2023 blockbuster Jawan, which made over ₹600 crore in India.
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In actuality, SRK enjoys a devoted fan base in South India, with his movies performing well in states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. In these states, Pathaan and Jawan both enjoyed commercial success. In 2021, even though he was dealing with personal problems, the Indian public still stood by him. However, this latest incident involving Ram Charan has soured the support. With the comment, “This is absolute disrespect from someone like #ShahRukhKhan,” one X user criticized SRK. Idli vada to top it off, and we’re still making fun of the languages of the South and calling Ram Charan with a bunch of nonsense. No, #srk, it’s no longer funny! Develop into an adult!”
One more person on social media wrote, “Why SRK. Why would you say such nonsense and then serve idli vada to an actor who is a colleague and fellow Telugu film industry member whose pan-Indian film won an Oscar last year? Any individual from South India is not equal to dribble vada or gibberish. As if Chennai Express wasn’t enough. (facepalm) “SRK calls South Superstar as ‘Ram Charan Idli’ insulting South Indians and nobody has a problem with that?” said another X user. Even so, SRK hasn’t offered an apology. Will supporters of SRK also begin referring to all South Indians as Idli Vada? Zeba Hassan, the makeup artist for Bollywood actor Ram Charan, reportedly left the Ambani event with Ram and his wife Uapasana after becoming enraged with SRK. “I’m a huge SRK fan, but I really disliked the way he called Ram Charan on stage,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Since the incident’s video has gone viral, SRK’s fans and the South Indian audience are now waiting to see what he does in the face of this outcry. His PR is unable to spin this in any way. As smart and funny as SRK really is, his penchant for “idli vada” jokes doesn’t seem to have changed at all, as one X user put it. created a whole protagonist in Ra One out of that.
The world is watching to see what SRK does in response to this outcry from the South Indian audience and his fans, as his PR is unable to downplay the incident given that the video has gone viral. Maybe best expressed by one of the X users: “As intelligent and humorous as SRK is, his preference for “idli vada” jokes doesn’t seem to have changed at all. created a whole protagonist out of it for Ra One.”