Javed Akhtar Defends Rashmika Mandanna Amid Online Accent Criticism

Javed Akhtar has publicly defended Rashmika Mandanna against online trolls mocking her accent, criticizing the "fake and baseless linguistic superiority" while urging empathy for regional actors and their unique language pronunciations.

Javed Akhtar Defends Rashmika Mandanna

Javed Akhtar has come to Rashmika Mandanna’s defence amid online trolling over her accent, weighing in on the criticism directed at the actress. This comes after the ‘Animal’ actress opened up about the criticism she faces over her accent during the latest episode of Koffee With Karan Season 9. During her appearance on the show alongside her husband, actor Vijay Deverakonda, she explained why she finds the criticism difficult to understand.

Akhtar Calls Out Linguistic Superiority

Akhtar called out those mocking her speech and later accepted his mistake after a social media user corrected him for referring to her as a Tamil actress. In a post on X, Akhtar defended Rashmika and said people who questioned her pronunciation should try speaking Tamil themselves before making such comments. “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,” he wrote.

Accepting the Correction

However, when a user pointed out that Rashmika is not a Tamil actress, Akhtar accepted the correction. “I am sorry I was wrong I don’t know her personally and incidentally the only film have seen of hers was in Tamil but Tamil . Telgu , Malayalam Kannada is not the issue . If some one speaks our language even with a certain accent we should appreciate that . Btw how many of us speak English with a perfect accent . How would we like if any English man makes fun of us,” he wrote.

Rashmika Mandanna's Latest Work

On the work front, Rashmika and Vijay shared screen space in 'Ranabaali,' directed by Rahul Sankrityan. The film hit theatres on October 16. This marks their first film together since their marriage in February 2026. (ANI)

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