Adah Sharma: No one language can define Indian cinema

Actor Adah Sharma doesn’t agree with the ongoing language and cinema debate, saying no particular language can be used to define cinema, as only emotions can define cinema.

Recently, the conversation around language being used to define Indian cinema found a new direction when actor Ajay Devgn called out Kiccha Sudeep for making a comment, “Hindi is no more a national language and that Bollywood is struggling, hence they are making pan-india films” through a tweet typed in Hindi.

Now, Sharma has come forward to express her opinion, sharing, “Cinema is a universal language. I don’t even think it’s (about national language, or any other language). I am not taking down anyone here, but just sharing my view and how I look at cinema”.

“In fact, we have made some silent films which were beautiful, and have become classics. No language is being spoken through the film. And whether you are from India or abroad, you can enjoy the film,” shares the actor, who has worked in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films.

The Commando 3 actor continues, “Cinema is the language of the heart. I have done films in several languages, there are some films of mine which have been dubbed in Malayalam. I am from Mumbai, and speak Marathi and Hindi. We speak Tamil at home. I learned Telugu when I started working in the Telugu film industry. And I speak fluent sign language because I had taught in a school for hearing impaired children for two years. So, I actually believe it is a universal thing”.

In fact, this diversity defines the world of Indian cinema, which captures several stories with strokes of myriad emotions on camera. And the pandemic wave has pushed the regional film industry into the spotlight, which no one can ignore.

“Through the last two years, we have watched Korean, Japanese, and French films because of OTT. We got so lucky. I feel I am a pan-India actor,” she says proudly.

Revisiting her time spent down south, Sharma confesses, “Telugu is not my mother tongue, but I got so much love from the industry when I started working there. In fact, there was a time in the middle when I stopped doing Hindi projects”.

“I was only doing Telugu because I was getting too much love from down there. That reaffirmed my belief that it is not about language but about stories, emotion and skills,” she wraps up.