Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar ignited a massive digital debate after robustly defending actor Rashmika Mandanna against online trolling targeted at her Hindi accent. Mandanna had addressed the recurring criticism regarding her pronunciation amidst an appearance on Koffee With Karan Season 9, stating it is natural to carry a South Indian accent because she is fundamentally from the region.
Responding to the online backlash, Akhtar took to X to call out the criticism as “fake and baseless linguistic superiority”.
He threw down a challenge to the critics, suggesting they attempt to pronounce a few lines of Tamil—which he highlighted as the oldest spoken language in the world—before passing judgment on someone else’s language skills.
While Akhtar’s defence against accent-based trolling won praise for targeting linguistic elitism, it quickly triggered a fresh wave of controversy and geographic corrections across social media platforms
Countless users corrected Akhtar for misidentifying Mandanna as a “Tamil actor,” pointing out that she is actually a Kodava from Coorg, Karnataka, who initially rose to prominence in Kannada and Telugu cinema.
His assertion that Tamil is the oldest spoken language reignited classic, deeply polarized historical arguments regarding the timelines of Sanskrit vs. Tamil.
In forums like Reddit’s BollyBlindsNGossip, the conversation evolved into a broader critique of Bollywood’s casting strategies.
Users argued that if Hindi cinema wants authentic pronunciation in major regional historical dramas (such as Chhaava), filmmakers should utilize proper dialect coaches or cast native speakers, rather than relying on pan-Indian stars and leaving them vulnerable to accent trolling.
News Edit KV Raman
