Salman Khan’s new song lands in a soup. Here’s why

Social media is not quite happy with the travesty of the ‘Telugu’ culture in the song starring Salman Khan, Pooja Hegde and Ram Charan.

Hyderabad: Salman Khan and Pooja Hegde starrer ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ is all set to release on April 21, on the occasion of Eid. On Tuesday, the makers of the film unveiled a latest song ‘Yentamma’ from the film which featured Salman, Pooja along with Venkatesh. Also, Ram Charan made a special appearance in the song.

While it is an eye feast for the fans to watch their favourite superstars groove together in one frame, social media is not quite happy with the travesty of the ‘Telugu’ culture in the song. The song’s setup and backdrop more closely resembled a Tamil film than a Telugu one.

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In fact, a line in the song that mentions the ‘lungi’ ironically doesn’t feature anyone donning a ‘lungi’, but rather a ‘pancha’ (‘veshti’ in Tamil and ‘mundu’ in Malayalam), a white cloth with coloured or gold borders.

Many online users pointed out the tone-deaf attitude. Some users even found the dance steps hideous. “Extremely disappointed with the portrayal of Telugu Culture. Sad to see the perpetuation of stereotypes: 1) Lungi 2) Tamil culture = South Indian culture! Like how much effort does it take to understand Telugu Culture and it’s nuances? #Yentamma (sic),” wrote a user.

“First of all the song doesn’t look Telugu at all. It’s like a Tamil song because of the attire and the setup. For how many years do you Bollywood be unaware of south cultures? And having Telugu actors is a waste as they didn’t even correct (sic),” another comment read.

Thus sounds more like tamil https://t.co/YyK7ep4Wd4

— Ramya1494💞💞 (@ramyasri1494) April 4, 2023

Now I get it how tamils might have felt when bollywood made lungi dance https://t.co/ZnHBpN2zqr

— వి ☭ (@vinashi_) April 4, 2023

At a time when Telugu films are gaining international acclaim and the North-South divide is gradually narrowing, it is critical that filmmakers research for their projects to avoid these mocking stereotypes.

‘Yentamma’ song is composed by Payal Dev. Vishal Dadlani and Payal Dev provided the vocals for the song. Shabbir Ahmed penned the lyrics and Choreographer Jaani handled the dance steps. ‘Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan’ is written and directed by Farhad Samji. Salman Khan produced the film himself under the banner of Salman Khan Films.