London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Bollywood actor’s tweet reignited debate over Hindi as India’s national language

Bollywood actor’s tweet reignited debate over Hindi as India’s national language

An online conversation between two Indian actors from competing film industries has reignited the debate on Hindi as India's national language.
"Hindi will always be India's mother tongue and national language," Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn tweeted at Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeepa.

The comment has invited backlash from people in southern India where the language is rarely spoken.

Hindi is just one of India's 22 official languages.

But the language has been a topic of heated discussion since earlier this month when Home Minister Amit Shah suggested people use it as an alternative to English.

While Hindi is commonly spoken in the northern heartland of India, states in the eastern and southern parts of the country speak a variety of different languages.

At a recent event, Sudeepa, who works in the southern film industry, referred to the recent pan-India success of films from the region and said Hindi was no longer "a national language".

Films in southern Indian languages, such as KGF: Chapter 2, RRR and Pushpa, have been huge successes since theaters reopened this year.

This is unusual since the Indian box office is usually dominated by Hindi-language films made by Bollywood. "Today we are making films that are going everywhere," Sudeepa said, adding that Bollywood films were struggling to find success.

In response, Devgn tweeted, saying, "My brother, if Hindi is not our national language according to you, then why do you dub movies in your mother tongue into Hindi?"

Sudeepa responded saying his comment was taken out of context and was not meant to provoke a debate.

But the actor also questioned Devgn's use of Hindi in a tweet directed at him.

He said he understood Devgn's tweet because "we all have respected, loved and learned Hindi". But he wondered what Devgn's response would have been if his reply had been typed in Kannada? "Don't we too belong to India sir," Sudeepa asked.

Devgn later replied saying things may have gotten "lost in translation".

"I've always thought of the film industry as one. We respect all languages and we expect everyone to respect our language as well," Devgn said.

Hindi is spoken by over 46% of the country's population but is rarely the preferred language outside northern India.

Attempts to impose Hindi as the national language have frequently met with protests from various states, particularly the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

In 1965, the state saw violent protests against the proposed imposition of Hindi as India's only official language.

Amit Shah's proposal earlier this month was sharply criticized by chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. Opposition politicians also condemned it as a move to impose "Hindi imperialism" in the country.

Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman, who hails from Tamil Nadu, tweeted a poster which was seen as a response to Amit Shah's pitch for Hindi.

It showed a woman holding a staff with the Tamil letter 'zha' and quoted a line from a famous Tamil poem which says that "language is closely linked to rights of its people".
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×