Ram Charan’s Artist on SRK’s Remark ‘Idly’ Slam

Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rihanna, and several other celebrities across the world attended Anant and Radhika’s pre-wedding celebrations. Ram Charan was one of the guests from South India at the celebrations.

On the second day of the celebration, people saw the three Khans- Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Aamir Khan—on the stage, nailing the hook step of Ram Charan and Jr. N.T.R.’s RRR song Naatu Naatu. Ram Charan also joined the dance and performed the iconic step together.

Shah Rukh Khan invited Ram to dance with them. Shah Rukh Khan jokingly addressed Ram, saying some Telugu or Tamil words. Ram’s makeup artist, Zeba Hassan, commented on the video that read, “I’m a huge SRK fan, but I disliked the way he called Ram Charan on stage.”

According to the Free Press Journal, Zeba expressed disappointment towards the actor. Taking to her Instagram Stories,

Bhend idly vada Ram charan kahan hai tu (Saying names of snacks, Ram Charan, where are you)???’ I walked out after this. So disrespectful towards a star like @alwaysramcharan.

Zeba

Zeba further shared a statement on Instagram but removed it later. She wrote,  “It’s funny how everyone wants to pay us ‘lesser’ because we’re from south India, whereas they’re okay to pay triple the amount for the same thing to an artist if that artist is Delhi or Mumbai based.”

The biased payment she got for her work, compared to artists from Delhi and Mumbai, deeply disappointed her.

People on the internet accused Shah Rukh Khan of being insensitive for referring to Ram Charan as ‘idli’, calling it a racial stereotype against South Indians. Another comment read,  “Shah Rukh Khan being casually racist to Ram Charan, who is South Indian, by calling him idli.” A tweet read, “Shahrukh Khan is being racist to South Indians by calling ‘Ram Charan idli’ after a South Indian director gave him the biggest hit of his career.”  Netizens labeled Shah Rukh Khan as racist and insensitive.