Salman Khan drops brand new Lungi Dance Yentamma with no lungi in sight

April is Eid season and that means Salman Khan’s latest, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, will finally release in theatres. And if Sallu Bhai’s “jeans-adjusting” dance on Naiyo Lagda wasn’t enough, he has now resorted to pelvic moves and even the Naatu Naatu step for another track called Yentamma. 

Yentamma has already amassed a million views in 2 hours thanks to its leading star’s fandom as well as cameo appearances by Telugu stars Ram Charan and Venkatesh. The video is set in a festive South Indian setting; with Khan, Charan, and Venkatesh playing around with their clothes in such angles that you can see their boxers. 

With vocals by Vishal Dadlani, Yentamma’s chorus includes the line “naachenge uthaakarke lungi” (“we’ll dance by lifting our lungi”). But not even the Telugu actors can help much here - Yentamma is another case of Bollywood misrepresenting South India and its myriad culture. 

Is Salman wearing a lungi? Nah. 

Describing an unstitched cloth-wrap worn on the lower torso, the word lungi is very casually used as a replacement for what the North Indians refer to as dhoti. Lungi, is however, more like an informal dhoti; one that you would find men wearing at home; and it comes in check patterns or plain colours. 

What Salman and his Telugu friends are wearing is more of a veshti, a traditional attire with horizontal stripes that men wear in formal settings such as weddings and festivals. While veshti is the dominantly used term for such a cloth in Tamil Nadu, Keralites prefer using the word mundu. 

So, while Yentamma might come off as a noble approach to unite Bollywood and Tollywood, the lungi/veshti slip-up is an error that can’t be ignored. Even the heavily stereotypical Lungi Dance from Chennai Express found Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone donning casual lungis and not formal veshtis!

This song comes just days after Priyanka Chopra corrected an interviewer who was calling Telugu blockbuster RRR 'a Bollywood film' by saying that it’s... a Tamil film (it's a Telugu film, icymi). 

Just a few months ago, during a panel discussion, Bhediya actor Varun Dhawan referred to the Kannada language as “Kannad” right after director Hemant Rao told the panel that it’s “Kannada” not “Kannad”. Bollywood just continues coming up with ways to embarass itself in front of the South!