Hindi is our national language’ — most Indians have their first brush with this myth as children.
So what, if India doesn’t have a national language at all.
So what, if there is a world of difference between ‘national’, ‘official’, ‘scheduled’ and ‘recognised’ languages.
So what, if our Constitution lists 22 languages as Scheduled.
So what, if Hindi isn’t even one among the classical languages.
So what, if Hindi shares space with English as official language for administrative correspondence.
So what, if Census 2011 figures state that India has 122 major languguages and 1,599 other languages. The myth continues — be it for reasons of ignorance, arrogance, chavunism or political opportunism.
Also read: More than just an Indian actor — why Deepika Padukone deserves to be Cannes jury
That being the case, one can laugh at Ajay Devgn’s ignorance or laud his sense of business timing. After all, he launched a misinformed statement about Hindi being India’s national language on the eve of his new movie Runway34’s release.
How else does one read Devgn’s delayed reaction to South superstar Sudeep aka Kiccha Sudeep taking objection to successful South Indian movies being deemed as “made for pan India”. Sudeep insisted that Hindi movies were being made for ‘pan India’ but were finding little success in non-Hindi States. “Hindi is no longer the National Language,” Sudeep said. Not that Hindi ever was. But correcting a mistaken belief is better than propelling a myth, one could say.
Sudeep was speaking at a movie’s launch on 23 April when he took exception to the successful South Indian movies being branded as ‘made at pan India level’. Devgn’s reaction to Sudeep, asserting Hindi’s supremacy over all other Indian languages, came on 27 April — on the eve of his new movie’s premiere. Action hero’s publicity stunt, is it not?
At a time when Kannada, Telugu and Tamil movies like KGF series, 2.0, Baaubali series, RRR and Pushpa have made waves in Hindi heartland with their dubbed versions, propping up a sense of language pride may be good for the business of original Hindi cinema.
After all, identity pride sells like hot cakes in a country as diverse as India, especially when it comes to language assertions. Gokak Chaluvali in Karnataka and Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu are classic examples of non-Hindi states rejecting the imposition of Hindi.
If Devgn’s Twitter timeline and engagements on Wednesday were all about his misinformation on Hindi’s national language status, on Thursday, it is filled with promotions of his film.
While the whole claim of Hindi being national language is a dud, what stood out for its ridiculousness in Devgn’s tweet were his questions to Sudeep — “If Hindi isn’t our National Language then why do you dub films from your mother tongue to Hindi and release it?”.
The irony of this coming from a star who has seen great success in remakes of Malayalam film Drishyam and Tamil film Singham wasn’t lost on tweeples.
Original Hindi cinema is facing commercial competition from South Indian films and these numbers prove it.
In 2015, Bahubali the Beginning’s Hindi version raked in $6.3 million in its first week. Its global collections had crossed $35 million in the first week across languages. The same year, Devgn’s Hindi remake of Malayalam movie Drishyam raked in $6.1 million in its first week. Cut to 2021, Pushpa: The Rise’s Hindi version netted Rs 26.50 crore in its first week. The same year, Ajay Devgn’s war drama Bhuj: The Pride of India, which was released on OTT, drew negative reviews and suffered commercial setback.
Business aside, language pride assertion is gaining momentum in non-Hindi speaking states once again. Especially as a strong exception to favorable bias for Hindi — a language that is as foreign or as familiar to non-Hindi speaking states as English.
In Karnataka, forums like Kannada Grahakara Okkuta, an association of Kannadiga consumers, has been fighting for services in Kannada in banks, public utilities, transportation services etc. The mantle is now being strengthened by politicians of JDS and Congress in Karnataka. Ironically, it was the Congress that pushed for the three-language policy in non-Hindi states.
Cinema joining the language assertion bandwagon is an indication of the wind blowing in favour of regional pride.
Questions have been raised about favourable bias towards Hindi in banking entrance exams, national education policy, central government funding giving Hindi speakers an edge over non-Hindi speakers.
The anger is real. Take banks in Karnataka for example. There have been multiple instances of Hindi-speaking officials posted in villages of Karnataka refusing to interact with customers in their local language and expecting them to learn Hindi to avail services.
Also read: KGF, Pushpa, Baahubali — For South India, this is the era of multi-part movies
The question that non-Hindi speakers ask Hindi supremacists is simple, exactly the one that Sudeep asked Devgn — “but was wondering what’d the situation be if my response was typed in kannada.!! Don’t we too belong to India sir.”
And sir @ajaydevgn ,,
I did understand the txt you sent in hindi. Tats only coz we all have respected,loved and learnt 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.
?
— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) April 27, 2022
If you are a Hindi speaker in Bengaluru, from an auto driver to vegetable seller, Kannadigas will try to converse with you in Hindi to make your life a wee bit easy. Will I get the same consideration as a Kannada speaker in Delhi or Haryana or UP? It is time to bust the Hindi = Hindustan myth, time to stop making all conversations across platforms Hindi only and Hindi heartland-centric.
Rejection of Hindi imposition — whether in cinema or socio-politics — is not a ‘Hate Hindi campaign’. It is simply a reminder that India’s diverse culture is her unique identity and attempts to homogenise it with ‘One Nation, One language’ formula is not just futile but grossly wrong.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)