Dulquer Salmaan to remove dialogue from Lokah after it offends Kannadigas, offers apology: Controversy explained

Dominic Arun's Kalyani Priyadarshan-starrer Lokah: Chapter 1 – Chandra received praise for everything but one dialogue. Here's what happened.

Dominic Arun’s Kalyani Priyadarshan and Naslen-starrer Lokah: Chapter 1—Chandra is receiving praise for everything except one dialogue line in the superhero film. After numerous Kannadigas took to social media to call out Dulquer Salmaan, the film's producer, and the rest of the team, his production house, Wayfarer Films, issued an apology. The controversy explained. (Also Read: Lokah's 2 post-credits scenes, star cameos in Kalyani Priyadarshan's film explained: Here's how the sequel is set up)

The dialogue from Lokah that offended Kannadigas

Sandy's character Inspector Nachiyappa Gowda utters the dialogue in Lokah Chapter 1 that offended Kannadigas.

In Lokah, Sandy plays the antagonist, Inspector Nachiyappa Gowda, who is openly misogynistic toward everyone, from his mother to his female higher-up. In a scene when his mother asks him to marry a girl from Bengaluru, he refuses, calling Bengaluru girls a slang word for characterless. He says, “I am not saying I won’t get married. But I won’t marry a girl from this city because they’re all s***s.” After the film was released, Kannadigas took to X to criticise Lokah not just for the dialogue but also for the partying and drug usage scenes featuring Naslen’s character Sunny.

Dulquer Salmaan’s production house to remove dialogue

On Tuesday evening, Wayfarer Films issued a statement on social media, apologising for hurting the sentiments of Kannadigas. It read, “It has come to our attention that a dialogue delivered by one of the characters in our film Lokah: Chapter One has unintentionally hurt the sentiments of people from Karnataka. At Wayfarer Films, we place people above everything else.” They added, “We deeply regret this oversight and assure you that no offence was intended. The dialogue in question will be removed/edited at the earliest. We sincerely apologise for the hurt caused and humbly request you to accept our apology.”