Javed Akhtar says ‘I stand corrected’ after netizens question him for calling Rashmika Mandanna a Tamil actor: ‘She is a Kannadiga and acts in Telugu and Hindi’ |
Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has come out in support of actress Rashmika Mandanna, who has been facing online criticism over her Hindi accent. His post on X, however, has now sparked a fresh debate, as users pointed out a mistake in how he described her.
Javed Akhtar backs Rashmika Mandanna
Javed Akhtar dismissed the trolling and challenged those finding fault with her pronunciation to try speaking Tamil themselves. In his post, he wrote, “Those who have any problem with the pronunciation of Tamil actor Rashmika should be given a few lines of Tamil which is the oldest spoken language in the world and let’s see how well they pronounce Tamil. This fake and baseless linguistic superiority is not acceptable. (sic)”
Netizens correct the lyricist
Many users pointed out in the comments that Rashmika is not a Tamil actor. She is from Karnataka and mostly works in Telugu cinema. One user wrote, “Very true sir, but she is from karnataka working predominately in telugu”. Another commented, “But she is Kannada girl who married into a telugu family. Where does tamil come from.”A third user said, “Javed Saheb, Rashmika is a Kannadiga and acts in Telugu and Hindi. Less of a Tamil or being a Tamilian.” One more comment read, “She is actress from Karnataka , married Telugu hero vijay Devarakonda, Dear @Javedakhtarjadu jee say south, don’t say tamil…”Another user criticised Bollywood writers, saying, “Writers like you in Bollywood created Stereotypes about South Indians, Sikhs, Marathis , Bengali & every ethnicity in this country. So plz don’t try to educate us about Tamil . An average Indian can speak about 3-4 regional languages.”
Javed Akhtar agrees his mistake
After several social media users pointed out that Rashmika Mandanna is from Karnataka and mainly works in Telugu cinema, not Tamil, Javed Akhtar acknowledged the error. The veteran lyricist and screenwriter responded to the comments on his post with a brief note that read, “I stand corrected.”
Why Rashmika was trolled
Rashmika recently drew online trolling over her accent after appearing on ‘Koffee With Karan Season 9’ with her husband, Vijay Deverakonda. Reacting to this, she said she could not understand why her South Indian accent was being treated as a problem when she belongs to the region.
