Self-proclaimed film critic Kamal R Khan is no stranger to controversy. And while he is known for his controversial commentary on a variety of things (and getting trolled for it), these things seem to have little effect on the man himself.
Recently, KRK made news for calling Malayalam actor Mohanlal ‘Chota Bheem’ in one of his tweets. He was talking about the upcoming magnum opus Mahabharata, where Mohanlal has been roped in to play the role of Bheem. UAE based billionaire BR Shetty has also pitched in a whopping Rs 1000 crore for the project.
“Sir Mohanlal, you look like Chota Bheem so then how will u play role of Bheem in Mahabharata? Why do you want to waste money of B R shetty?” KRK had tweeted on Tuesday, drawing the ire of Mohanlal fans and Malayalis.
Sir @Mohanlal you look like Chota Bheem so then how will u play role of Bheem in Mahabharata? Why do you want to waste money of B R shetty?
— KRK (@kamaalrkhan) April 18, 2017
The result was a whole lot of abuse and hate directed towards KRK. Have a look at some of these tweets.
@kamaalrkhan ഞങ്ങൾ മലയാളികൾ ഇക്കയെയും ഏട്ടനേയും കളിയാക്കിയെന്നിരിക്കും. എന്ന് വെച്ചുനി ഒക്കെ ചൊറിയാൻ വന്നാൽ അക്കൗണ്ട്‌ പൂട്ടിക്കും എരപ്പേ..
— Dinu (ദിനു) (@Dinoop_nair) April 19, 2017
"We Malayalis can troll Mohanlal and Mammootty, but if you do the same, mind you, we will force you to shut down your account," says this one.
Several users called on other fellow Malayalis to launch an abuse marathon on KRK's twitter account. By Thursday morning, the post was deleted.
KRK had posted the same comment on his Facebook account and by Wednesday night, there were 14,000 comments on it, many of them abuses.
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal
— MAMMOOTTY-THALA FAN (@MammukaThalaFan) April 19, 2017
ഡാ പൊലയാടിമോനെ..,
നിൻറ്റെ ആന്ധ്യകൂതാശ ഞങ്ങൾ മലയാളികൾ നടത്തി തരാട്ടാ..,#ഇക്കാ ഫാൻസ്കമോൺട്രാ.,
കൊടുക്കെടാ പണി..,
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal ഹിന്ദിഫിലിം ഇൻഡസ്ടറിയിൽനാറുന്നു നാണക്കേടായ താൻ,ലാലേട്ടനെ ചോട്ടാബീം വിളിച്ചാൽ നിന്റെ നാവിൽ ഞാൻ പച്ചിരുമ്പിൽ പണിത മോതിരംഇടും അറിയാമോടാ പട്ടി
— പോമോനെമോദി (@PoMoneModii) April 19, 2017
“Look who's talking! You, a nobody in the Hindi film industry, are calling our Lalettan Chotta Bheem?” reads the above tweet.
Invoking the famous dialogue from Mohanlal movie Thenmaavin Kombathu a user wrote,
"If you don't know who Lalettan is, ask a Malayali who he is. Then the Malayali will tell you who Lalettan is."
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal ലാലേട്ടനാരാ എന്നറിയില്ലേൽനീ വന്ന് മലയാളികളോട് ചോദിക്ക് ലാലേട്ടൻ ആരാണെന്ന്, അപ്പൊ ഞങ്ങൾ നിനക്ക് പറഞ്ഞ് തരും ലാലേട്ടൻആരാണെന്ന്..!!
— Aloshy (@ComradeAloshy) April 19, 2017
Another Twitter user told KRK, “You're finished!"
@kamaalrkhan നിർത്തി പോടെ ഊളെ... pic.twitter.com/pSPfwmGcfi
— റോക്ക് (@The_Paara) April 19, 2017
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal I'm proud of Mohanlal, Mammootty and all the actors of malayalam industry. The reason why he's casted in this film? Watch this video. pic.twitter.com/oX4XIEhrwF
— Kiran Ragh (@krwarrier) April 19, 2017
This user chose to share Mohanlal's evergreen dialogue from t he movie Aaramthampuram.
"Words and weapon are the two things one cannot take back. Be careful of what you say."
@kamaalrkhan പൂനാരാ മോനെ...... കൈ വിട്ട ആയുധം വാവിട്ട വാക്ക് രണ്ടും തിരിച്ചെടുകാൻ ആവില്ല. ഓർക്കണം ഓർത്താൽ നന്ന്
— ashraf asaru (@AsaruAshraf) April 19, 2017
ജഗന്നാഥൻ
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal 5 National awards 9 state awards.Do you or your father can ever achieved this.He is Lt.colonel Padmashri Dr.Bharath Mohanlal. our #lalettan
— Reghu viswanathan (@Reghu000) April 18, 2017
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal Don't you dare mess with malayalis !
— vaishnavi Nair (@NairVaishnavi) April 19, 2017
Mohanlal sir doesn't have to prove his worth to you !
You get that? @kamaalrkhan "fool of India"
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal Who the hell is KRK.Dont have even a name in indian film industry.Self made "retard".Mohanlal is in the list of top 10 actors of the world!
— Sreehari (@Sreeharisuku) April 19, 2017
If this wasn’t enough, KRK tweeted on Wednesday that he did not know why Malayalis were abusing him. He even went on to call Mohanlal fans “idiots” and said that he was clearly the bigger star because he had more followers than Mohanlal on Twitter.
This did nothing to deter to those hating on him, who continued their trolling and abuse after these tweets.
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal Just because there are a lot of monkeys it doesn't make them king.. Lion is always the king!
— Winter Soldier (@athul_offl) April 19, 2017
@kamaalrkhan vijay mallya had more than 5.8 million followers but now he?..and how many national award have youu got krk?
— Arya Nair (@Aryanair14) April 19, 2017
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal Not only Mohanlal FANS,
— MAMMOOTTY-THALA FAN (@MammukaThalaFan) April 19, 2017
We Mammootty fans and whole Keralites are here to show our protest against ur illiterate comment.,
@kamaalrkhan @Mohanlal Lol..that was the funniest self evaluation which i ever heard. Actually till yesterday we 'Keralites' didnt even knowing who is KRK
— AJAN A (@ajan_sree) April 19, 2017
The upcoming film Mahabharata is based on Malayalam author MT Vasudevan Nair's much-acclaimed novel Randaamoozham. It will be a multi-lingual film, made in languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. It will also be dubbed into major Indian and leading foreign languages. The film is set to go on the floor in September 2018, for a release in 2020.
In an earlier video, Mohanlal had shared his happiness of being part of a project.
"Randaamoozham is the story of Mahabharata through the eyes of Bheema. Like all of you, I have also grown up hearing these stories. Like Mahabharata, Randaamoozham has deeply influenced me and I have already lost count of the number of times I have read the book.
And then I nurtured the idea of Randaamoozham being made into a film. As an Indian, the story of Randaamoozham has to be brought before the international audience. I thank MT sir for showing faith in me for the role of Bheema," Mohanlal said in a video.