E-Paper
Prithviraj Sukumaran on language row: We forget that the ethos of this nation is unity in diversity, not uniformity
Amid the release of his film Sarzameen, Prithviraj Sukumaran talks about language-based violence in India and why South actors fail to succeed in Hindi films
Prithviraj Sukumaran might have started his career down South in Malayalam films, but over the course of his career, the actor has worked across languages, be it in the South or in Hindi. Amid the release of his recent Hindi film Sarzameen, he acknowledges how language can be used as a tool for unity through cinema.
However, in recent times, language-based violence has been rising, especially in the state of Maharashtra. Ask him about how the language is being used as a divisive tool and Prithviraj Sukumaran says, “Maybe I'm just old-fashioned because I come from a time and generation where you grew up with none of this even being a topic for discussion.”
The actor adds, “I am a Sainik school product, I spent most of my schooling years in Sainik school and even at the schooling stage, I had friends from the North and from different states. We all had different languages being spoken amongst us. So, it was just part of who we are as a country. I just think that in the heat of all these discussions and conversations, we forget that the ethos of this great nation is unity in diversity, not uniformity, in spite of diversity.”
Check out the full video interview here:
Prithviraj is amongst the actors from down South who have managed to strike a balance between Hindi and the South languages. However, the success rate of even South superstars in Hindi has been a bit skewed. Mention that to him and he says, “I can't speak for others, but I am not looking for a transition. I am just looking for the next good script that comes my way. I've always said that if the next good script that comes my way is from the Assamese industry, I’ll do it. If tomorrow, a Bhojpuri maker comes and narrates something really interesting, I'd love to do it. I have come here today from the sets of a Telugu film, I'm promoting a Hindi film now and tomorrow, I'm on my way to shoot a Malayalam film.”
But why do even big South names fail to connect as well with the Hindi audience? “I don't think anybody has an equation that is a fool proof methodology to understand what will work and what will not work. All of us make every single film hoping that it resonates with the audience and it works, because ultimately we make films for that. We will go wrong, hopefully we will learn and we will try again. We might fail again but that's the only way to go about it. Having done this job for this long, I, for one, know that nothing is permanent. If tomorrow, Sarzameen is a blockbuster, that does not mean that okay, now I have arrived in Hindi. It will all depend on the next script I choose to do,” he responds.
