Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has come out in support of Rashmika Mandanna after the actress was trolled several times for her pronunciation and accent. While penning a note for her, he addressed Rashmika as a Tamil actress. When a netizen corrected him, saying that she is not a Tamil actress, Akhtar accepted his mistake.
Taking to Instagram, Javed Akhtar wrote, “Those who have any problem with the pronunciation 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.”
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.
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) October 25, 2026
When a netizen corrected Akhtar, saying, “She is Kodagu and Telangana Telugu kodalu, sir. But appreciate your support for us linguistic minorities in this country,” Javed Akhtar quickly replied, saying, “I stand corrected.”
While backing Rashmika, a user wrote, “She is from Karnataka. She is Kannadian. Her sincere attempt to speak in Telugu, Hindi shall be appreciated. (She married Telangana state hero Vijay Deverakonda and thereby she learning Telugu that too in Telangana accent).”
“Plus, every region has its own pronunciation. The way Biharis speak, Punjabis speak, Bengalis speak or every other region speaks. I don’t think we Indians need to fight in the name of accent because each of us have different,” another commented.
A third user commented, “💯 agree with you principally about those finding faults in pronunciations of regional South Indian actors (although Rashmika is from Karnataka, not Tamil Nadu).”
“Thanks Javed-sir! I respectfully call you sir for identifying fake and baseless linguistic superiority! Regional chauvinism has been on the rise since a decade 🫡🫡🫡🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽,” a user commented.
Rashmika Mandanna recently addressed the criticism during an appearance with her husband, actor Vijay Deverakonda, on the latest episode of Koffee With Karan Season 9, where she spoke about her difficulty in understanding why people have a problem with her accent.
“I particularly didn’t have an issue with that because they said I had a South Indian accent, but I am from the South of India. So I am going to have an accent. It’s unreasonable to think otherwise,” she said.
