Comedian Hasan Minhaj is facing a wave of jokes on social media after a video of him talking about dal and its toppings went viral. The comedian used the word "dharka" while explaining how people ask for extra fried onions with their dal, leaving several Indian food lovers questioning the term.In the video, Minhaj talks about ordering dal at South Asian restaurants, including those in India and the US.
He says some customers ask for extra "dharka", which he describes as fried onions sprinkled on top of the dish."If you go to a South Asian restaurant and even in India, there's this idea when you sometimes order dal, you'll say extra dharka," he says.Minhaj goes on to explain that customers want extra onions and joke about not wanting to compromise on them. He adds that people want so much of the topping that they should not be able to kiss their beloved after the meal.
However, his explanation did not go down well with several social media users, who pointed out that "dharka" is not a commonly recognised term for the topping. Many also corrected his understanding of tadka, the tempering of spices in hot oil or ghee that is added to dal and other Indian dishes.Internet reacts to Hasan Minhaj's ‘dharka’ commentThe internet was quick to react, with several users questioning the comedian's choice of word and the confidence with which he explained it.
One Instagram user called the remark “Disturbing, on several levels!” Another wrote, “@hasanminhaj is the whitest person I know.”One user offered a more detailed correction, writing that "dharka" was not a term commonly used in India or elsewhere for fried onions. The person added that fried onions are often called birista, while tadka refers to tempering spices.Others were amused by the idea of asking for extra tadka with dal.
One comment read, “Extra Dharka is what my heart does whenever I see Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Tadka is what you put in food and no one asks for extra tadka.”Another user joked, “All I need in life is this man’s confidence!
And some extra DHARKA, whatever it means!”Someone else compared his confidence to that of ChatGPT when it answers a question without the necessary expertise. The comment read, “@hasanminhaj being as confident as ChatGPT when it doesn't have the expertise.”The reactions turned Minhaj's food explanation into a debate about Indian culinary terms, with users sharing their own understanding of tadka and fried onions.Rohan Joshi gives the ‘dharka’ debate a Dhadhkan twistComedian Rohan Joshi also joined in on the fun, taking the viral moment a step further with an AI-generated edit of the poster of the 2000 Bollywood film Dhadkan.In the edited poster, Joshi replaced the faces of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Shilpa Shetty with Minhaj's face.
He also changed the film's title to Dharka, giving the joke a Bollywood twist.Joshi shared the edit on social media and apologised to Minhaj in the caption, while admitting that he could not resist posting it."Sorry @hasanminhaj ur awesome but I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I didn’t put this out into the world," he wrote.The edit added another layer to the online roast, turning the debate over a word for a dal topping into a Bollywood meme.For now, Minhaj's use of "dharka" has given social media plenty to talk about, with the comedian's explanation of a familiar Indian dish becoming the subject of jokes, corrections and a rather unexpected Dharka poster.- Ends