A.R.Rahman recently had his musical concert Netru Indru Naalai at Wembley, London, and a section of North Indian audience, who had been to the event, expressed their disappointment over Rahman singing Tamil songs majorly. This had been a debate on the social media.
Singer Chinmayi has made a statement through Twitter which reads as, "When Rahman sir wins 2 Oscars and creates history, he is "An Indian", but 7-8 Tamil gaane kya gaa liye aap naraaz hote ho. What yaar? The show was called 'Netru Indru Naalai', had 65% Hindi songs (Set List is out there). Music knows no boundaries/language. And many fail to understand why South Indians can't learn Hindi. We can. We always have when needed. Hindi Prachar Sabha has been active for decades. But I see no point in changing the language in a milestone to Hindi where the locals understand neither Hindi nor English. So what does anyone achieve by alienating millions?
There aren't too many north of the Vindhyas who have attempted to learn a language that is not native to them. Be it Government offices or the Pani Puri wala. Many migrate to the South for work. But the standard responses will be in Hindi when we speak Tamil/Kannada/Telugu. India has managed to develop despite red tape and corruption. We coexist. Let us all speak the languages we wish to and learn what we wish to. We have the choice. And we always must have the choice. It cannot be thrust on us."
*Chinmayee's social media post is not spell-checked