Salman Yusuff Khan claims he was harassed, asked to speak in Kannada at Bengaluru airport. Watch

Going on Instagram video, Salman can be seen in a pink T-shirt and jacket, and wearing a hat. Initially, he begins speaking with his mask on, but removes it a few seconds into the video. Tagging the Kempegowda International Airport, he wrote, “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 birth place and my fathers name and his birthplace and has the audacity to tell me that .. you and your father are born in Bangalore and you can’t speak Kannada .. to which I replied .. that being born in Bangalore doesn’t mean I’m born with the language … I could be born in Bangalore and travelled the world like I have been always a Saudi child bought up in Saudi .. (ps: I have never had Kannada as a language as I never lived in the country during my schooling .. whatever little that I know is through my friends) to which he goes to the extent of saying that .. if u can’t speak Kannada I can suspect you …”

The dancer-choreographer also added when he tried to defend himself saying he can speak Hindi instead, the officer still insisted that he could “suspect” Salman “for anything”. He continued, “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 murmuring …”

Salman added that while he wanted to report this incident, he didn’t get any help on how to do so. He also shared that while he was proud to be a “Bangalorean”, he didn’t appreciate being demeaned for not knowing the local language properly.

The dancer started as the first winner of reality show Dance India Dance in 2009. Since then, he has appeared on numerous TV dance shows as choreographer and dancer and acted in Bollywood films like Wanted (2009), ABCD: Anybody Can Dance (2013) and Street Dancer 3D (2020).