Akhtar criticized for misidentifying Mandanna as a Tamil actor
Entertainment
Javed Akhtar is getting called out online after he mistakenly referred to Rashmika Mandanna as a "Tamil actor" while defending her from accent trolling.
He meant to highlight how tough it is to learn Tamil, but mixed up Mandanna's background: she's actually from Karnataka.
Mandanna corrects Akhtar, sparks identity debate
Rashmika gently corrected him, saying, Sir, I am a Kodava from Karnataka. I am not Tamil.
Akhtar defended Rashmika Mandanna on X and wrote, "This fake and baseless linguistic superiority is not acceptable."
Still, the mix-up kicked off conversations online about why it matters to get people's cultural identities right and show respect for diversity, especially in the public eye.