Dance India Dance fame Salman Yusuff Khan harassed in Bengaluru for not knowing Kannada

Dancer and choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan on March 15 alleged that he was insulted by an immigration officer at the Bangluru airport for not knowing the Kannada language.

In a video shared by Khan on Instagram, he claimed that despite being born in Bengaluru, he was stopped by an immigration officer because he did not speak Kannada.

The incident occurred on March 15 morning as he was taking off for Dubai.

“@kempegowdainternationalairport .. on my way to Dubai and I meet this immigration officer who speaks to me in Kannada .. and I in my broken Kannada try to tell him that I understand the language but can’t speak so well to which he continues to speak in Kannada and shows me my passport and points out my name and my birthplace and my father’s name and his birthplace and has the audacity to tell me that .. you and your father are born in Bangalore and u can’t speak Kannada ..” he added.

“I told him that I know my nation’s official language Hindi why should I know Kannada...I asked him again suspect me for what ..?and he says. I can just suspect you for anything …I told him … TRY ME. And got a little louder and repeated TRY ME .. thrice …To which he kept quiet...I told him that if uneducated people like you continue to live in this country this country will never grow …To which he just kept his head down and murmured…” he continued.

He also claimed that he tried to report the matter to the airport authorities, but got no help. 

The dancer-choreographer concluded his post with the note, “Ps: I am a proud Bangalorean but what I’ve faced today is unacceptable … you should always encourage people to learn any local language not demean them for not knowing it .. and pulling your parent's name into it''.

The choreographer explained to the immigration official that he hasn't spent much time in the city. Later, he picked up some Kannada thanks to his Bengaluru-based friends. 

"If you can't speak Kannada, I can suspect you," Salman quoted the officer as saying. 

Salman Yusuff Khan gained fame by winning the 2009 season of the dancing reality series Dance India Dance. In 2013, he made his Bollywood debut in the dance drama ABCD: Any Body Can Dance directed by Remo D'Souza. The latest movie he appeared in was the 2020 release Street Dancer 3D, which also starred Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor.