The same Weekend Ka Vaar episode that gave Bigg Boss 20 its chest-pain prank and Rohed Khan's reported eviction also delivered its most talked-about moment yet: Salman Khan pulling off his shirt on camera to confront trolls mocking his age, hair, and weight, before pivoting into a genuinely pointed rant about paparazzi taking inappropriate "hip shots" of actresses. Within hours, former Bigg Boss 7 contestant Sofia Hayat publicly called him a hypocrite for it.
Why did Salman Khan take his shirt off on air?
The moment came after mounting online trolling directed at Salman himself — comments about his age, weight, and especially his bald look had been circulating enough that he addressed it directly on the show. He removed his hat and shirt on stage and challenged the trolls outright, saying "you guys want to troll me, I will show you. No abs, see my look, you want to troll me now?" He also explained the bald look specifically: it's for an upcoming project, not a hair transplant gone wrong as some comments had speculated, and he revealed that a friend of his had passed away two months earlier — context he offered for why he's looked different lately. He drew a clear line between the two kinds of reaction: genuine concern for someone who looks unwell is fine, but mocking someone's appearance outright is not — a distinction he applied directly to trolling aimed at his brother Sohail Khan and fellow actor Varun Sharma, both of whom he said had faced similar mockery over their looks.
He didn't stop at defending himself and his circle. Salman called people who constantly comment on others' appearances "parasites," arguing that kind of behavior needs to be wiped out entirely, and reminded viewers that buying a movie ticket buys the film, not the people in it.
What did he actually say about paparazzi photography?
This is the part that's driven most of the real discussion. Salman described what he called a deliberate pattern among paparazzi: framing shots specifically around actresses' thighs as they exit cars, and their hips as they get back in — describing it plainly as inappropriate and something none of the women it happens to actually want. He extended the criticism to a personal example, saying his own niece has had similar shots taken of her in public, often captioned in ways designed to provoke curiosity about her identity. His advice to women in that position was direct: turn around and confront it, using the phrase "ghoom ke ek chamat maaro" — roughly, turn around and slap them — as a call for actresses to push back rather than stay silent.
How does this connect to the Katrina Kaif trolling controversy?
Salman's comments didn't stop at paparazzi practices. He also addressed the wave of online trolling directed at Katrina Kaif over her post-pregnancy appearance at a recent public event, asking pointedly why anyone feels entitled to troll a woman for gaining weight after childbirth — noting plainly that weight gain during pregnancy is normal, and that new mothers deserve time with their families rather than public scrutiny over their bodies. This connects directly to the same distinction he drew about his brother Sohail Khan and actor Varun Sharma: concern is fine, mockery isn't — a throughline that ran across nearly every target he addressed in the segment.
Why is Sofia Hayat calling him a hypocrite?
Sofia Hayat, who appeared on Bigg Boss 7 back in 2013, wasn't moved by the moment. Resharing the shirtless clip on X, she called Salman a hypocritical idiot, alleging that he'd criticized her own body and face directly during her season, at one point comparing her unfavorably to fellow contestant Gauhar Khan's figure. Her post reframes the entire moment: a host now positioning himself as an advocate against body-shaming, she argues, has his own documented history of doing exactly that to a contestant on his own show.
That's a genuinely difficult contradiction to wave away, and it's worth sitting with rather than resolving one way or the other. Both things can be true at once — that calling out paparazzi harassment and troll pile-ons on Katrina Kaif is a legitimate, worthwhile thing to say publicly, and that a past pattern of similar behavior from the same person complicates how sincerely that message lands for people who were on the receiving end of it before.
What's confirmed versus what's still developing?
Confirmed directly from the broadcast and Salman's own on-air comments: the shirtless moment, the paparazzi criticism, and the references to Katrina Kaif and his family members. Confirmed from Sofia Hayat's own public post: her response and the specific past comment she's attributing to him. Not independently verified in this piece: the exact original context of Salman's alleged remarks about Sofia's appearance during Bigg Boss 7, since that's Sofia's own recollection of a moment from over a decade ago rather than something re-confirmed by Salman himself in response.
This turned out to be an unusually dense single episode — see our fuller breakdown of everything else that happened in this Weekend Ka Vaar, including the lifeline twist and Rohed Khan's reported eviction, and our separate coverage of the staged chest-pain moment aimed at Qazi Touqeer.
