Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin who had a brief stint in Tamil cinema before entering politics full-time, said South India thrives with vibrant film industries, while far less emphasis is given to Marathi, Haryanvi, Gujarati industries in the North, which only promotes Hindi films.
“Today, the Tamil film industry is doing business in billions. Similarly, we have a thriving industry in Kerala. In fact, I like most of the Malayalam films being made in recent times. Telugu and Kannada film industries are also performing very well. But think for a moment, has any other language in north India spawned a vibrant industry like in south India? The answer is a big no. Almost all languages spoken in North Indian states have given away to Hindi. As a result, they have Hindi films," said Udhayanidhi, who spoke at Manorama Hortus, Malayala Manorama’s three-day art and literary festival in Kozhikode.
He added that Mumbai is extensively only producing Hindi films. “Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bihari, Haryanvi or Gujarati industries receive far less attention than Hindi films. Sadly, many other states in North India don’t have their own film industries. If we fail to protect our language, Hindi will take over our culture and erode our identities,” he said.