Shah Rukh Khan Fans Defend Actor From Trolls Saying He 'Spit' at Lata Mangeshkar's Funeral

A recent gesture by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan offering prayer (Dua) as per Islamic custom during late legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar's last rites has sparked a social media uproar after some politicians and trolls accused the actor of allegedly spitting at her.

In the viral video, Shah Rukh and his manager Pooja Dadlani can be seen standing alongside joining hands to offer prayer in traditional Islamic and Hindu styles respectively.

Shah Rukh then removes his mask and is seen blowing out air from his mouth as a part of prayer (Dua) as per Islamic rituals, performed to ensure that the prayer reaches the person it is intended for and to ward off evil.

But some people mistakenly took Shah Rukh's gesture as "spitting" and started trolling him on social media.

The head of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Haryana State Information Technology (IT) Arun Yadav shared the clip of Shah Rukh and asked, "Did he spit?"

This triggered a massive controversy as several others started trolling Shah Rukh and accusing him of spitting.

However, several Bollywood celebrities and fans came out to shut down the trolls and slammed them for creating misinformation due to a lack of knowledge.

Actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar took to social media and said in Hindi, ''It's not called spitting, it is called blowing prayers. This civilisation, culture is called #Bharat (India)".

Talking about the incident, Urmila told India Today, "As a society, we have deteriorated so much that we think praying is spitting. You are talking about an actor who has represented the country on various international platforms. Politics has reached such low levels and it's really sad".

Actresses Bhumi Pednekar, Shruti Haasan, singer Shilpa Rao, film producer Ashoke Pandit, and several others reacted to the viral photo signifying the peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims as Shah Rukh and his manager stand alongside joining their hands to offer prayer.

Some also extended their support and praised Shah Rukh for the way he paid his last respects to the legendary singer.

An SRK fan shared a clip from his popular Bollywood movie "My Name Is Khan", where he plays a Muslim. In the clip shared, SRK reads the morning namaz (prayer) and blows air over the young boy's body as it is a manner of praying in Islam.

Late legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar's funeral ceremony was attended by several bigwigs from the political world and entertainment industry, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, lyricist Javed Akhtar, and filmmakers Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Mashur Bhandarker, and others.

The government of India had declared a two-day state mourning following the demise of the legendary singer, leading to the national flags flying at half mast throughout the country from 6-7 February.