With only a day left for Malayalam movie Oh My Darling's release [February 24, 2023], the discourse surrounding the film's lead actress shading the Kpop group BTS, is heating up on Twitter. Anikha Surendran, whom the Tamil audience will remember as the child artiste from Yennai Arindhaal (2015) and Viswasam (2019), seems to have rubbed ARMY (BTS' ardent fan-base) the wrong way after making some not so straight statements about the world's most popular group during her film promotions. 

Oh My Darling is a Malayalam film and the Indian state of Kerala is known to house some of the most loyal BTS ARMYs in Southern India. Currently two videos of Anikha Surendran are doing the rounds. In the first video where the actress is spotted in an open space promotion, the 18 year old was presumably asked the K-pop question considering her age and the rising popularity of all things Korean in her home state. The actress could be seen saying,

"I'm not that much of a kpop stan (crowd screaming) oh do we have more BTS haters here? (Crowd screams) don't let ARMY know this. Their fanbase is huge. I don't listen to them, Their songs are not of my music taste (makes face)." 

These people just want attention 🙄

— BTS ARMY⁷🫶🏻(ꜰᴀᴄᴇ ɪꜱ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ) (@prajaktabts7) February 23, 2023

In another video, an interviewer questions Anikha about her misunderstood claim that BTS have broken up as a group. To the unversed one of the 7-members of the pop-boy group is currently serving in the Korean military, as is required of every abled South Korean man. Due to this mandate, the group had announced a hiatus prior, and are currently focussing on their individual careers. As such, the BTS-hiatus topic is quite sensitive among its fans and otherwise, due to a lot (like the South Korean pensioner's stock investments) riding on the brand that is BTS. Needless to add, Ms. Surendran ruffled a few feathers with her statements with regards to the same.

Ok.. byy pic.twitter.com/8Ci22qOO07

— horegallu⁷ (@horegallu) February 23, 2023

Ironically, Anikha Surendran has previously promoted unofficial BTS hoodies for a brand, and images of the same were up on the actress' Instagram page when this article was published.