Twitter war after Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjebe says Hindi is not the national language; Ajay Devgn questions why South Indian films are dubbed into Hindi
Our Bureau
Mumbai
Days after Ajay Devgn raised a storm by reacting to Kiccha Sudeep’s statement about Hindi no longer being “a national language”, Ayushmann Khurrana unveiled a trailer of his socio-political film ‘Anek’ that has somehow jumped into the ongoing debate.
A small portion of the trailer shows Ayushmann conversing with a man who belongs to Telangana. In the clip, Ayushmann asks the man why he thinks of him as North Indian. When the man says that it is probably because his Hindi is clean, Ayushmann replies, “So Hindi decides who is from the North and the South?” When the man says no, Ayushmann says, “So, it’s not about Hindi, either!”
The particular scene has impressed a lot of netizens. “7 seconds of The #Anek trailer should be a daily reminder to most Twitter users,” a social media user tweeted. “#Anek This part of the trailer (ok hand emoji),” another user wrote.
‘Anek’, which is helmed by Anubhav Sinha, mainly revolves around the violence and the injustice that the people of North East India have to suffer. And Ayushmann has stepped into the shoes of an undercover cop who goes on a mission to help two opposite sides in the region to agree to a peaceful compromise.
Speaking more about ‘Anek’, Ayushmann said, “Anek celebrates the spirit of truly being an Indian. Anubhav sir is pushing the envelope and setting a benchmark with his passionate storytelling with this film. My character Joshua compelled me to do things I had never done before, both physically and mentally. With the right guidance and training, I gave this role my best shot to bring life to everything Anubhav envisioned for the film.”
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi felt heartbroken at an award ceremony as he recalled a miserable and humiliating incident when the South film fraternity was side-lined and only Hindi cinema was projected as Indian cinema.
In a viral video trending on social media, the star was seen emotional, delivering a speech at an award function, recounting his trip to Delhi to receive a national award for ‘Rudraveena’ (1988), feeling proud breaking language barriers and overcoming discrimination by crediting films such as ‘Baahubali’, ‘Baahubali 2’ and ‘RRR’. “In 1988, I made a movie called Rudraveena with Naga Babu. It received the Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration. We went to Delhi to receive the award,” he said in Telugu.
He added that the awards ceremony was in the evening and it was preceded by high tea in the hall.
“The walls around us were decorated with posters showcasing the grandeur of Indian cinema. There were some brief notes. There were photos of Prithiviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and so on. They showed their pictures, they described them beautifully. They praised various directors and heroines.”
The actor continued his speech by praising movies like ‘Baahubali’, ‘Baahubali 2’, and ‘RRR’, directed by SS Rajamouli, which received massive pan-India success and brought pride to Telugu cinema. “After so many years, today I feel so proud, I can thump my chest. Our industry proved that we are no longer a regional cinema. Telugu cinema has removed these barriers and becomes part of Indian cinema. Everyone is amazed at our success. We have overcome the discrimination. Thanks to ‘Baahubali’, ‘Baahubali 2’ and ‘RRR’,” he expressed.
Chiranjeevi’s inspiring speech came a few days after the heated argument between Hindi actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Sudeep Sanjebe.
Sudeep pointed out that Hindi is not our national language, but Devgn questioned why South Indian language films are dubbed into Hindi. The controversy ignited discussions on social media.
Earlier, amid Devgn and Sudeep’s Twitter war over Hindi being the national language, director Ram Gopal Varma has weighed in on the controversy saying “north stars are insecure and jealous of the south stars.”
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma supported Sudeep saying, “The base undeniable ground truth @KicchaSudeep sir, is that the north stars are insecure and jealous of the south stars because a Kannada dubbing film #KGF2 had a 50-crore opening day and we all are going to see the coming opening days of Hindi films.”
