BENGALURU : An exchange between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Sandalwood actor Sudeep on the status of the ‘national language’ has resulted in a spat over the sensitive matter. The storm set-off after Devgn tweeted at Sudeep, “If Hindi is not our national language, then why do you release your mother tongue movies by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language. (sic)” Even as Twitterati jumped to the support of the Kannada actor, we speak to prominent Bengalureans to find out what they think of this Hindi row.
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Happy with the diversity’
“When I said that ‘I tweet in English, I work in Hindi, I was born in Karnataka, I live in Maharashtra, my native tongue is Kodava Takk, I can speak five languages and I am from India’, I didn’t intend it to point at either of the actors. I am happy with the diversity the country offers and I’m happy to be a part of it. It’s because of this diversity that I have the freedom to work in a language that’s not my mother tongue and pick up other languages over the years. Both Ajay Devgn and Sudeep tried to bring up a point and they were both wrong because Hindi is not India’s national language and it hasn’t been one either.”– Gulshan Devaiah, actor
‘There should be more such debates’
“I’m glad that there’s a debate regarding the national language. To hear a leading actor bring up the topic after many false notions regarding it is a good thing. Even before I became a director, I always supported the idea of dubbing in other languages. I was threatened by many in the industry for it but those same people are looking at it from a business perspective and approving scripts. So language is not a barrier, it’s just connecting more people. And I feel there should be more such debates.”– Mansore, director
‘We have more pressing issues’
“Honestly, we south Indians are more comfortable in our respective state languages and we communicate it just fine between ourselves too. Hindi is an alien language to us though we are familiar with it because of the movies and songs out there. So, it’s a bit much to ask us to speak in it. Films are commercial products, so they have the freedom to choose how they want to present it and viewers have the freedom to watch them in the language they want. Having said that, this topic comes up every few years — I don’t really understand why. We have more pressing issues and it shouldn’t be hyped like this.”– MD Pallavi, singer
‘Each language has its own place’
“I’m completely against the idea of imposing a language, especially Hindi, on other states. While it is an important language which is spoken by a large majority, constitutionally, there is no national language. Hindi and English have always been linking languages and it’s an unnecessary elevation to think one is better than the other. As for both the actors statements, I think both of them were out of sync. Just like movies, many of my books have been translated into other languages as it’s a way to reach out to different readerships. Each language has its own place.”– Vikram Sampath, author and historian
‘People just want to be respected’
“It’s great that we’re having this conversation. While it’s important to know multiple languages that will come in handy when you’re not in your home state, Hindi cannot be considered the only language. That just disrespects all the other languages and cultures we have. If you look at movies, regional cinema is doing well and sometimes even better than Hindi ones. There’s definitely an audience for it. People are reacting to this because they just want to be respected.”– Satshya Tharien, content creator