Javed Akhtar supports Rashmika

Popular lyricist Javed Akhtar has come out in support of actress Rashmika Mandanna. However, a small mistake he made in this process has now led to a big debate on social media. Javed Akhtar's comments condemning the trolling coming over Rashmika's Hindi accent and slang have gone viral. However, netizens corrected his mistake when he addressed Rashmika as a 'Tamil actress'.
Actress Rashmika Mandanna has been receiving criticism online for some time for her accent and pronunciation while speaking in Hindi. Reacting to this issue, Javed Akhtar posted a post on his 'Ex' account. "Those who have a problem with Tamil actress Rashmika's accent should speak a few sentences in Tamil, the oldest language in the world. This fake, baseless linguistic dominance is completely unacceptable," he said.

Many supported Javed Akhtar's comments against language discrimination. However, netizens criticized him for calling Rashmika a 'Tamil actress'. They reminded that Rashmika is a Kannada actress from the Kodagu region of Karnataka and she has achieved stardom mainly in the Telugu and Kannada film industries. They also mentioned that she is married to Telugu actor Vijay Deverakonda. After this criticism, Javed Akhtar admitted in another post, "I am correcting my mistake." With this incident, the discussion has started again on the tendency to see all South Indians as 'Tamils'.

Rashmika, who recently participated in the 'Koffee with Karan' season 9 show with her husband Vijay Deverakonda, spoke about this trolling. She said that she has been facing criticism for things like acting, language, and accent since the beginning of her career. "I am from the South, so it is natural for me to have that accent. It is not right to see it as a problem. I will not limit myself to one language or industry out of fear of such criticism," she clarified.