Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has come out in support of Rashmika Mandanna amid online criticism of her Hindi pronunciation, arguing that mocking someone for speaking a language differently reflects an unnecessary sense of linguistic superiority. However, his attempt to defend the actress sparked a separate debate after he referred to her as a Tamil actor, prompting social media users to correct the description of her regional background.
In a post on X, Akhtar challenged those criticising Rashmika’s pronunciation to try speaking a South Indian language themselves before judging another person’s language skills. “Those who have any problem with the pronounciation 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,” he wrote.
His message came amid discussions about Rashmika’s Hindi accent and dialogue delivery, which have attracted criticism on social media. The actress, who has worked across Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi cinema, has occasionally faced online trolling over the way she speaks Hindi in her film roles.
Akhtar’s comments brought the conversation back to a broader question about how audiences respond to actors working in languages that may not be their mother tongue. His argument centred on the idea that speaking a language with a different accent should not become a reason for ridicule, particularly in an industry where performers frequently work across linguistic boundaries.
However, the reference to Rashmika as a Tamil actor quickly became another talking point. Rashmika was born in Kodagu, Karnataka, and belongs to the Kodava community. Her mother tongue is Kodava Takk, and she established her career through Kannada cinema before gaining wider recognition in Telugu and Hindi films. She has also appeared in Tamil-language cinema.
Several social media users pointed out the distinction between her regional background and the languages in which she has acted. As a result, the discussion shifted from Akhtar’s defence of the actress to the accuracy of his description. The veteran writer subsequently acknowledged the correction. In a follow-up response, he wrote, “I stand corrected. She is a Kannadiga and acts in Telugu and Hindi.”
The clarification addressed the immediate confusion surrounding Rashmika’s identity, although the larger discussion about linguistic prejudice continued to draw attention online.
Akhtar’s original post also referred to Tamil as the world’s oldest spoken language, a statement that prompted debate about language history. Tamil is among the world's oldest continuously used classical languages, with a substantial literary tradition stretching back centuries. However, identifying any one language definitively as the oldest spoken language is difficult because spoken languages evolved long before written records existed.
The episode highlights the complexities of language and identity in Indian cinema, where actors regularly move between film industries and communicate with audiences across linguistic regions. While multilingual careers have become increasingly common, performers can still face scrutiny over accents, pronunciation and cultural associations.
For Rashmika, whose work spans several major Indian film industries, the discussion has once again placed the challenges of speaking different languages in the spotlight. Akhtar’s intervention sought to challenge the criticism directed at her, even as the debate surrounding his wording underlined the importance of getting cultural and regional identities right.
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