Sonu Sood speaks on Hindi debate after Ajay Devgn-Kiccha Sudeep spat: ‘Hindi can't be called just national language’

Actor Sonu Sood has weighed on the ongoing debate on Hindi's status as the national language. His comments come shortly after Ajay Devgn and Kiccha Sudeep had a spat on Twitter over the same issue.

After Ajay Devgn and Kiccha Sudeep indulged in a war of words on Twitter over Hindi’s status as the national language, Sonu Sood has commented on the debate as well. In a recent interaction, the actor said Hindi can’t be called just the national language. The debate began when Sudeep recently stated that “Hindi is no longer the national language,” a statement which Ajay seemingly took offence to. Ajay then took to Twitter to ask Sudeep why he dubs his films in Hindi.

This year, Sonu Sood will be seen in films in three languages--Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.

Sudeep later clarified that his comment had been lost in translation and he did not intend to provoke anyone with his statement. He and Ajay later seemed to bury the hatchet in a follow-up exchange on Twitter where Ajay referred to the Kannada actor as a ‘friend’. Sudeep made the comment recently while speaking about the success south films like KGF: Chapter 2, RRR, and Pushpa: The Rise.

Sonu has himself worked in a number of films down south over the years. Speaking to IndianExpress.com about the issue, he said, “I don’t think Hindi can be called just the national language. India has one language, which is entertainment. It doesn’t really matter which industry you belong to. If you entertain people, they will love you, honour you and accept you.”

Adding that the success of South films will “change the way Hindi films will be made,” the actor said filmmakers now need to respect the audience’s sensibilities. “Gone are days when people used to say ‘leave your mind behind’. They won’t leave their mind behind and shell out thousands of rupees on an average film. Only good cinema will be accepted,” he added.

Sonu will be next seen on screen in Telugu film Acharya, which stars the father-son duo of Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan. He also has Tamil film Thamilarasan lined up for release this year. Post-this, he will be seen in the Akshay Kumar-starrer historical epic Prithviraj. The film marks the debut of former Miss World Manushi Chhillar and also stars Sanjay Dutt.