Dancer and choreographer Salman Yusuff Khan has revealed details about an unpleasant experience at the Bengaluru airport. In a video posted on Instagram, he said that he was pulled up by an immigration officer for not knowing Kannada, despite being born in Bengaluru. The altercation allegedly occurred on Wednesday morning, when Salman was flying to Dubai.Salman, who was last seen on the dance reality show Dance Plus 6, also wrote about his experience. He shared, “@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 ..”The choreographer told the immigration officer that he hasn’t spent a lot of time in the city, because he was raised in Saudi Arabia. He learnt some Kannada because of his friends in Bengaluru. After hearing this, Salman claimed that the officer told him, “If u can’t speak Kannada, I can suspect you…”
Salman continued, “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 murmuring. Salman tried to report the matter to the airport authorities, but he claimed that he 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 parents name into it. Salman Yusuff Khan rose to fame after winning the first season of the dance reality show, Dance India Dance in 2009. He made his Bollywood debut with Remo D’Souza’s dance drama ABCD: Any Body Can Dance in 2013. He then starred in a few films, the last one being the 2020 release Street Dancer 3D, co-starring Varun Dhawan and Shraddha Kapoor.