Singer Sona Mohapatra has criticized actor Salman Khan for his response to discussions about the significant 31-year age gap between him and his Sikandar co-star Rashmika Mandanna. She called him the “bhai of toxic masculinity.”
On Monday, Sona took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out Salman’s statement justifying the age difference. Salman had earlier remarked that if Rashmika and her father had no issue, others should not be concerned.
Reacting to this, Sona wrote, “Heroine aur heroine ke ‘BAAP’ ko koi problem nahin hai’… The ‘BHAI’ of toxic masculinity, patriarchy doesn’t realise that #India has changed?”
The controversy erupted during the Sikandar trailer launch, where Salman addressed criticism about the age gap, saying, “Jab heroine ko problem nahi hai, heroine ke papa ko dikkat nahi hai, tumko kyun dikkat hai bhai?” He even joked that he could work with Rashmika’s future daughter if he got her mother’s permission. Rashmika was seen laughing at his remark.
Directed by AR Murugadoss, Sikandar is an action-packed film where Salman plays a larger-than-life character fighting crime in Mumbai. Rashmika stars as his love interest. Also featuring Kajal Aggarwal, the film is produced by Sajid Nadiadwala’s Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and is set for an Eid 2025 release.
Meanwhile, filmmaker AR Murugadoss recently expressed a desire to collaborate with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in future. Murugadoss, who has already worked with Aamir Khan in ‘Ghajini’ and Salman Khan in the forthcoming film ‘Sikandar’, spoke about his wish to tick off working with the third Khan from his bucket list.
“After this film (Sikandar), I have to finish one Tamil film. Then I will think about it (collaborating with SRK). Definitely, it is (on my bucket list); I want to work with him,” Murugadoss told ANI.
Besides Aamir and Salman, Murugadoss has worked with huge stars such as Rajinikanth (‘Darbar’), Vijay (‘Kaththi’), Mahesh Babu (‘Spyder’), Chiranjeevi (‘Stalin’), Suriya (Ghajini) and Ajith (‘Dheena’) as well.
