- Tuesday, June 06, 2023
By: Mohnish Singh
Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and multilingual film actor Kichcha Sudeep engaged in a ‘brotherly argument’ on Twitter on the topic of whether Hindi is a national language or not.
However, Sudeep clarified that the context in which he made the statement was different from the way it was perceived and that it was not intended to provoke, hurt or start a debate.
The trigger for the argument was Sudeep’s statement three days ago during a function in Bengaluru where the who’s who of the Kannada film industry celebrated the nationwide success of KGF: Chapter 2 (2022) starring Yash.
When the compere of the event said KGF: Chapter 2had a pan-India effect, Sudeep said Hindi is no more a national language.
“You (compere) said the Kannada film (KGF: Chapter 2) had a pan-India effect. Let there be a correction — Hindi is no more a national language. Hindi (film industry) should say that they are doing pan-India films today. They are struggling and dubbing their movies in Tamil and Telugu, yet it is not happening (business),” Sudeep had said.
Sudeep added that a pan-India movie was not the concept because people are just making films that reached everywhere due to dubbing.
He explained that way back in the 1970s, China started dubbing Chinese films into English and it was accepted whereas in India the process started quite late.
“Language is just a barrier. Today, it is broken. It’s no more pan India. (The term) ‘Pan India’ is coming to Mumbai,” Sudeep said.
This statement did not go down well with Ajay Devgn.
He tweeted in Hindi, which translated to, “@KicchaSudeep, my brother, according to you if Hindi is not our national language, then why do you release your movies, made in your mother tongue, by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is, and always will be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man.”
.@KicchaSudeep मेरे भाई,
आपके अनुसार अगर हिंदी हमारी राष्ट्रीय भाषा नहीं है तो आप अपनी मातृभाषा की फ़िल्मों को हिंदी में डब करके क्यूँ रिलीज़ करते हैं?
हिंदी हमारी मातृभाषा और राष्ट्रीय भाषा थी, है और हमेशा रहेगी।
जन गण मन ।— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 27, 2022
Sudeep replied, “Hello @ajaydevgn sir.. the context to why I said that line is entirely different to the way I guess it has reached you. Probably will emphasize why the statement was made when I see you in person. It wasn’t to hurt, provoke, or start any debate. Why would I sir?”
The Kannada actor reminded Devgn that he did understand the text that was sent on Twitter in Hindi. “That’s only coz we all have respected, loved, and learned Hindi. No offense sir but was wondering what’d the situation be if my response was typed in Kannada.!! Don’t we too belong to India sir?” Sudeep said.
Sudeep further said: “I love and respect every language of our country sir. I would want this topic to rest, as I said the line in a totally different context. Much love and wishes to you always. Hoping to see you soon (sic).”
To this, Devgn replied, “Hi @KicchaSudeep, you are a friend. thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding. I’ve always thought of the film industry as one. We respect all languages and we expect everyone to respect our language as well. Perhaps, something was lost in translation.”
