Salman Khan’s Tubelight, among other things, has been in the news for a reporter making a gaffe and asking his Arunachali co-star Matin Rey Tangu if he was coming to India for the first time. It was reported as a racist comment and fueled the debate on how the rest of India considers the northeast as foreign land.
And now, the senior journalist, Lipika, who asked the question, has cleared the air in an interview. She points out that it was a slip of tongue on her part when she said ‘India’ and she had immediately corrected it to ‘Mumbai’. But both Salman, who knows her well, and fellow media colleagues chose to ignore the correction.
Salman repeated the first question to Matin and said, “She is asking, if you have come to India for the first time?”
Matin countered, “India? Hum India per hi baithta hai, toh India par aayega hi kaise?” (I live in India. How will I 'come' to India?)
Check out Varma’s statement here:
And yes, Varma did correct herself. Watch the episode here:
One can perhaps understand and ignore Salman’s deliberate oversight, but it’s truly sad that Varma’s colleagues chose to do so as well.
Also read: ‘Tubelight’ On: When Matin Rey Tangu Kept Salman Khan in Splits
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)