In 1948, SS Vasan, the founder of Ananda Vikatan magazine and the man who launched Gemini Studios, released Chandralekha, a Tamil historical adventure film. It took five years to complete the project, and Vasan, the producer and director of the film, reportedly had to mortgage his property in order to make it. Chandralekha was the most expensive Indian film made up till that point, and Vasan also made a Hindi version of it with the same actors that became a major hit. In his book Starlight Starbright, film historian Randor Guy writes, “Chandralekha, made in Tamil and Hindi, created a sensation and smashed box-office records all over the country. Its Hindi version opened the doors for South Indian producers to sell their Hindi-wares in the North.” The film was also dubbed and released in Japanese, Danish and English (an abridged version).
Discussing Chandralekha becomes relevant today when the prospect of south Indian films competing with Hindi cinema is leading to a backlash from a section of Bollywood that seems to be irritated by the criticism that the industry is receiving. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently termed the phenomenon to be a “phase”; in another interview, he said that looking at the films that have become a hit, it’s evident that the audience doesn’t care about skills and only wants superficial entertainment. In an interview with The Indian Express, actor Abhishek Bachchan said that he doesn’t understand the term ‘pan-Indian’ and that the criticism of Bollywood was unfair. The latest in line is actor Ajay Devgn who decided to go after actor Kiccha Sudeep for saying Hindi wasn’t the national language “any more” in the context of discussing pan-Indian films. Sudeep was making the point that the southern industries were making films that reached everywhere irrespective of language while it was the Hindi film industry that was dubbing into southern languages.
Ajay Devgn, who seems to have missed civics and history lessons in school, tagged Kiccha Sudeep on Twitter and asked why the latter dubbed his films and released them in Hindi if it wasn’t the national language. To underline his passive aggression, Ajay wrote the tweet in Hindi, knowing very well that he was speaking to a Kannadiga. According to Ajay, “Hindi is and always will be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man.” (Funnily, our national anthem was originally composed in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, but never mind).
Kannada Actor @KicchaSudeep said ,"correct it,Hindi is no more the National Language, its no more a National language"!
— ರವಿ-Ravi ಆಲದಮರ (@AaladaMara) April 23, 2022
In a film launch & a huge applause from the crowd & the media.
Hope the efforts of Kannada activists are reaching the intended places.#stophindilmposition pic.twitter.com/qpj06HJseG
.@KicchaSudeep मेरे भाई,
— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 27, 2022
आपके अनुसार अगर हिंदी हमारी राष्ट्रीय भाषा नहीं है तो आप अपनी मातृभाषा की फ़िल्मों को हिंदी में डब करके क्यूँ रिलीज़ करते हैं?
हिंदी हमारी मातृभाषा और राष्ट्रीय भाषा थी, है और हमेशा रहेगी।
जन गण मन ।
The fact that India does not have a national language has been established repeatedly but the myth is relentlessly propagated by several Hindi speakers and politicians who see the country’s diversity as a challenge rather than as cause for celebration. Earlier this month, Home Minister Amit Shah declared that Indians from different states should speak to each other in Hindi instead of English, reviving the battle once again.
When it comes to cinema, Bollywood has usually been equated with ‘Indian cinema’ abroad, but this is fast changing as south Indian films extend their reach through film festivals and Over-the-Top platforms. The mammoth success of south Indian films such as the Baahubali and KGF franchises, Pushpa: The Rise and RRR in the Hindi belt, has given rise to talk that Hindi cinema is threatened by competition from the south. Whether this is true or not, making the argument that Hindi is the national language, and worse, the "mother tongue", based on dubbing decisions is ridiculous. Did SS Vasan’s decision to dub Chandralekha into Japanese (Rajinikanth’s Muthu was also dubbed into Japanese because of the actor’s fanbase in Japan) mean that the language was on par with Tamil in Tamil Nadu? Films are dubbed to explore and cater to other markets, and several Hindi films too have been dubbed into south Indian languages. In fact, Hindi films like War have had simultaneous releases in Tamil and Telugu. Does that mean the mother tongue of Hindi speakers has changed, or that Tamil/Telugu have become the national language?
Ironically, Ajay Devgn starred in SS Rajamouli’s RRR, a Telugu film that had a simultaneous release in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. In recent years, Bollywood stars like Alia Bhatt (RRR), Akshay Kumar (2.0), Vidya Balan (NTR), Raveena Tandon (KGF 2), Sanjay Dutt (KGF 2) and Deepika Padukone (Nag Ashwin’s untitled film with Prabhas) have signed big budget, multilingual films made by south Indian industries. This is because these stars recognise the reach of these films across audiences, and know that it isn’t limited by language. Others like Taapsee and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who work in Bollywood as well as the south Indian industries, have continued to sign projects across industries.
Several south Indian films have been remade in Hindi in the past and Hindi films too have been remade in south India. Ajay Devgn’s big hits in recent years include Drishyam (original in Malayalam) and the Singham films (original in Tamil). What seems to be irking Bollywood stars is that unlike earlier times when they could take content from the south and remake it, the dubbed version of the original is becoming popular in theatres in the Hindi market, thereby eating into their share of the pie. What this shows is contrary to what Ajay Devgn claims: the audience embraces diversity and is able to appreciate a film with unfamiliar stars, unfamiliar culture, and unfamiliar setting. They don’t demand sameness, they enjoy differences.
Ajay Devgn is not alone in his belief that Hindi, spoken by less than half the country’s population (43.63%), should be considered the common language of Indians. That he tweeted this in Hindi to Sudeep, who hails from Karnataka, a state that has consistently seen protests against Hindi imposition, shows either his ignorance or arrogance. Most likely, both. Not surprisingly, Karnataka politicians across party lines have come out in support of Sudeep.
Hopefully, Ajay Devgn will educate himself and arrive at the enlightenment that Hindi = national language is a drishyam (in the context of the film, a false visual superimposed on real events) propagated by those who fear India’s incredible linguistic wealth. It is not the truth.