A wave of irreverent humor has swept across Indian social media, with a meme featuring a cartoonish depiction of Shah Rukh Khan, dubbed “Hakla SRK,” going viral and sparking a frenzy of parodies targeting other Bollywood stars.
The meme, which features an exaggerated image of the star, originates from a decade-old parody video that mocked his stammering dialogue delivery in the movie Darr. The term “Hakla” is a Hindi word for “stammerer,” and the meme is often used to mock his iconic “K-K-K-Kiran” dialogue.
Despite efforts by Shah Rukh Khan’s team to remove the content from various platforms, including Instagram, the meme has persisted. Reports indicate that Meta, the parent company of Instagram, cited policy violations tied to bullying and harassment as the reason for purging the original image in mid-2024. However, users have found creative ways to circumvent moderation by using ASCII art, misspelled hashtags, and abstract versions of the image, with “Hakla Never Dies” becoming a rallying cry among meme creators.
The “Hakla SRK” trend has also spawned a number of spin-off memes targeting other celebrities. Examples include “Banana Akshay Kumar” and “Suja Salman Khan,” with some even extending the trend to political figures. The rise of these memes has sparked a cultural conversation about the line between humor and insensitivity, with critics expressing concern that mocking a stammering character, even a fictional one, normalizes insensitive humor.
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