'Fake linguistic superiority': Javed Akhtar defends Rashmika Mandanna over accent trolling, gets corrected by fans online

Mumbai: Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar supported actress Rashmika Mandanna as she faced criticism for her Hindi accent. Calling it a “fake and baseless linguistic superiority”, Javed Akhtar challenged those questioning her pronunciation to try speaking a few lines in Tamil themselves.

Taking to his official X (Earlier known as Twitter) timeline, 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. (sic)”

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

However, the users pointed out to Javed Akhtar in the comments section that Rashmika is a Kannada actor, who predominantly works in Telugu.

Correcting him, one of the netizens wrote in the comment section, "Very true sir, but she is from karnataka working predominately in telugu"

Another one shared, "But she is Kannada girl who married into a telugu family. Where does tamil come from."

"Javed Saheb, Rashmika is a Kannadiga and acts in Telugu and Hindi. Less of a Tamil or being a Tamilian," read the third comment.

One of the cybercitizens said, "She is actress from Karnataka , married Telugu hero vijay Devarakonda, Dear @Javedakhtarjadu jee say south, don't say tamil..."

"Writers like you in Bollywood created Stereotypes about South Indians, Sikhs, Marathis , Bengali & every ethnicity in this country. So plz don’t try to educate us about Tamil . An average Indian can speak about 3-4 regional languages," one of the comments went.

Rashmika recently faced online trolling over her accent during her appearance on the show 'Koffee With Karan Season 9' where she came with her husband, Vijay Deverakonda.

Reacting to this, Rashmika said that she fails to understand why her South Indian accent was an issue when she comes from the region.