WHY IS THERE A SHOWDOWN & NORTH-SOUTH DECADE ON ACCOUNT OF HINDI?

The biggest war between Hindi and the South Indian languages started exactly way back in 1971 when the Shiv Sena Supremo Balasaheb Thackeray urged that the South Indian films ought not be released in Bombay in retaliation to Hindi films being boycotted down South especially in Chennai which was then known as Madras - Jyothi Venkatesh

Before that, Indian cinema was banned in Pakistan in 1965. This coincided with the Ayub Khan regime’s sustained campaign against India, portraying the country as one that ‘victimised Indian Muslims’.

This continued through the decades. Though he displayed bonhomie with the Hindi cinema’s actors like Dilip Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha, General Zia-ul Haq institutionalised a process of Islamisation in the 1980s.

There was an inherent contradiction in the world-views of the Wahhabi puritanical elements, who were the core of this process and the Indian cinema.

Sensing this, the Pakistan film industry later wisely backtracked and demanded Hindi movies be shown in Pakistan. Now even in small cities, three Hindi and one Pakistani film in a month is the norm.

In the absence of other cultural and social spheres in a rapidly Islamised society and the introduction of a larger number of foreign refugees changing the demographic and cultural profile of the country, the cinema in general and Hindi cinema in particular are more than a matter of aesthetic taste.

In fact, Hindi films were part of the nation-building agenda and actors were in the forefront of mobilizing resources during the war against China in 1962 and Pakistan in 1965, in an intensely communal atmosphere.

But as they were not able to disrupt the national mood and that of the film industry, there was no such demand for banning Muslim actors or Pakistani movies. Muhammad Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Balraj Sahni, Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, etc. provided the industry a moral leadership.

Thus, when in 1971, in the wake of the Bangladesh war, Pakistani actor Mohammad Ali demanded a boycott of Indian films at the Moscow film festival, no such negative expression was articulated in India.

In Madras, the government supported the boycott of Hindi films by refusing to showcase them in theatres and let only Tamil and films from Hollywood be screened, which led to a battle of words between Bal Thackery and the South Indian political leaders including C.N Annadurai who was the chief Minister of Tamil Nadu then.

In Mumbai, which was then known as Bombay, promptly theatres like Rivoli, Aurora, Shree etc which were the bastions of South Indian films started showcasing only Hindi films, making the South Indians in Mumbai restless because they were being deprived of their share of Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films because of the political divide.

Peace was restored when Vyhayanthimala, who was the rakhi sister of Bal Thackeray appealed to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and requested him to let the screening of Hindi films begin in Tamil Nadu as a lot of people’s earnings depended on them. And the divide was no longer there since then.

Now yet another divide has stated thanks to Kannada star Kichcha Sudeep going on record that Hindi is no longer a national language and Ajay Devgn retaliating that if that was the case, why was the Kannada film KGF 2 being dubbed in Hindi and released as a Pan India film all over India.

As per media reports, during an event, Sudeep stated that “Hindi is no more a national language.” Following this, Devgn took to his Twitter handle and expressed his views on Sudeepa’s comment.

In Hindi, he wrote, “Kiccha Sudeep, my brother, according to you, if Hindi is not our national language then why do you release your native language (Kannada) films by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man.” Soon after this tweet from the ‘Shivaay’ actor, Sudeepa responded by writing, “Hello @ajaydevgn sir. The context to why I said that line is entirely different to the way I guess it has reached you. Probably will emphasize on why the statement was made when I see you in person. It wasn’t to hurt, Provoke or to start any debate. Why would I sir?”. I love and respect every language of our country sir. I would want this topic to rest, as I said the line in a totally different context. Much love and wishes to you always. Hoping to see you soon,” he added.

Explaining further, Sudeepa continued, “And sir Ajay Devgn sir, I did understand the text you sent in Hindi. That's only because we all have respected, loved and learnt Hindi. No offense sir, but I was wondering what the situation would be if my response was typed in Kannada! Don’t we too belong to India sir?”It is now pertinent to note that Kichcha Sandeep had failed miserably when he made his debut in Hindi films with Ramgopal Verma’s film Phoonk way back 15 years ago though it was Rajamouli’s Telugu film Eega which was dubbed in Hindi as Makhi that established him in the hearts of the Hindi audiences.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Ajay had recently thankfully announced his next venture ‘Bholaa’ a Hindi remake of the hit Tamil film ‘Kaithi’ will release on March 30, 2023. It also stars Tabu in a pivotal role of a super-cop.

The situation has been diffused with films like Baahubali which raked in over 800 cr in two chapters and RRR raking in around 1000 cr when released as a Pan Indian film.

Now the latest news is that KGF Chapter 2 has all alone collected over 1000 rupees. The Allu Arjun Telugu film Pushpa Part 1 also collected over 100 cr in the North itself

Ironically at a time when the war is being waged and the North South divide is happening, it is ironical that purely Hindi films like Jersey, Heropanti 2 and Runway 34 have not done well at the box office and South stars like NTR Jr, Ram Charan, Yash , Allu Arjun etc are emerging in a big way and even Ajay Devgn and Alia are seen in a Telugu film like RRR, proving that the North-South divide will never happen, if the Indian film industry has to survive happily.