Actor Shiva Rajkumar apologises, clarifies 'Hindi is national language' remark

Actor Shiva Rajkumar clarified and apologised for calling Hindi the national language at Original Monster event. He genuninely extended his apology and said that he was confused.

In Short

• Shiva Rajkumar apologised for calling Hindi the national language
• He clarified Hindi is one of the national languages, not the only one
• The actor stressed the importance of Kannada as well

Actor Shiva Rajkumar has apologised for his earlier remark calling Hindi a "national language," after the comment sparked criticism on social media. Speaking to the media at a film event for Original Monster on Monday, the actor clarified that he had meant to say Hindi was "one of the national languages", but mistakenly used the wrong term.

“I called Hindi the national language. It is one of the languages. Our language [Kannada] is important for us, always. I don’t know, I got confused with one of the Indian languages. I apologise, I did not know. Their language is Hindi, our language is Kannada, their language is important to them. Similarly our language is important to us,” Shiva Rajkumar said.

The clarification comes shortly after his earlier comments at the title launch of his upcoming film, Original Monster. When asked about speaking Hindi dialogues for the pan-India project, the actor had said, “Why? Hindi is my second language. I can speak Hindi. What did you think? It is an easy language, the national language. How would we not know it? We know it.”

The initial remark led to mixed reactions online, with some social media users criticising his reference to Hindi as a national language, while several fans defended the actor, saying he was referring to Hindi’s widespread use across India.

With his latest statement, Shiva Rajkumar has now acknowledged the confusion and clarified that Kannada remains important to him while recognising the importance of Hindi and other languages to their respective communities.

The clarification was made during the promotional event for Original Monster, directed by R Chandru. Set between the 1990s and 2000, the film explores themes of strength, violence, money and different sides of human nature. The project is being made in Kannada and Hindi and marks Shiva Rajkumar’s Hindi debut.

The actor has several projects lined up, including Bail, which is scheduled to release on October 2, followed by Dad and 666 Operation Dream Theatre. His line-up also includes the Tamil films Jailer 2 and Picasso. Shiva Rajkumar has also expressed interest in reuniting with R Chandru for Mylari 2.

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