Choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan harassed at Bengaluru airport for not speaking in Kannada

The winner of Dance India Dance season 1, Salman Yusuff Khan shared a video on his Instagram handle about an unpleasant experience at the Bengaluru airport. Salman revealed that he was asked to speak in Kannada only by an immigration officer at the Bengaluru International airport. The officer pulled him as he couldn't speak the language despite being born in Bengaluru.

Tagging the Kempegowda International Airport, Salman 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 .."

He further added, "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 …"

In the end, he also wrote that he was proud to be a Bangalorean but what he faced at the airport was unacceptable. Salman ended up receiving immense support from his fans. A lot of people even revealed that even they faced similar issues in the city.

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