Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep schooled a a man on Sunday for pronouncing Kannada as 'Kannad' during the South Indian International Movie Awards (SIIMA) 2024 in Dubai. The man in question, who was anchoring the segment, was reportedly from Hyderabad, and the actor told him that it was "not okay" to mispronounce the term.
In a video that has now gone viral, Sudeep can be seen telling the anchor that it was understood when people from Mumbai mispronounce it, although it is not right. "I understand when Mumbai people say Kannad. But, you being a Hyderabadi saying Kannad is not okay," he said.
The anchor realised his mistake and quickly corrected himself saying, "Kannada, sorry", to which Sudeep replied, "Yes, Kannada. Thank you."
This is not the first time that Sudeep has courted controversy over his remarks on language. Back in 2022, he got into an infamous verbal spat with Bollywood star Ajay Devgn after stating, "Hindi is not a national language".
Ajay had responded to his comment on X and had said, "According to you, if Hindi is not our national language then why do you release the films made in your mother tongue by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and always will be our mother tongue and national language."
To that, Sudeep had replied, "I love and respect every language of our country sir. I would want this topic to rest, as I said the line in a totally different context."
On the work front, he was last seen in the film Max. He will feature next in Anup Bhandari's Billa Ranga Baashaa, Kabzaa 2, Kichcha 47 and Kichcha 48.
