Overview
- Javed Akhtar posted on X on Sunday, October 25, 2026, defending Rashmika Mandanna against online criticism of her Hindi pronunciation and urging critics to try speaking another South Indian language.
- Users quickly corrected Akhtar after he described Mandanna as a Tamil actor, noting she is Kodava from Coorg in Karnataka and has worked extensively in Telugu and Kannada cinema, and Akhtar replied, “I stand corrected.”
- His claim that Tamil is the oldest spoken language drew pushback from social media and reporters who disputed the historical assertion and questioned its use in the defence.
- Mandanna had told Koffee With Karan that she has long faced trolling about her accent but refuses to limit her cross‑industry work, and she has spoken about the challenges of dubbing and directors preferring her own voice.
- The episode highlights how multilingual careers, audience expectations about pronunciation, and rapid online fact‑checking now interact when public figures intervene in cultural debates, and it may make commentators more careful about factual claims and regional labels.