The DMK on Sunday condemned the recommendation by a parliamentary panel that the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) either dubs regional films or carry Hindi subtitles. The proposal has received presidential nod.
In a statement, the DMK working president slammed the move and said the BJP government’s efforts to “impose Hindi and Sanskritise even films was condemnable”.
Seeking a clarification from the Centre on the move, Mr. Stalin said the DMK would oppose any move by the BJP-led Central government to impose Hindi.
“At a time when all Indian languages need to be given equal importance, any move to bring regional languages including Tamil under the dominance of Hindi will affect the unity and integrity of India,” Mr. Stalin cautioned.
G. Dhananjayan, producer and founder, Blue Ocean Film and Television Academy, said it was “reasonably okay” to ask for translated scripts in Hindi and subtitles in Hindi “if it’s a NFDC-produced film. You are getting funding from the government and the panel members mostly understand Hindi”.
However, he added that any such move to impose these conditions on feature films by independent producers will not be acceptable and will be opposed. “It will be a big problem if such conditions are imposed, for say, the Indian Panaroma or the National Awards. Most of the movies are subtitled in English because we compete in international film festivals as well,” Mr. Dhananjayan said. Such conditions, if imposed, will be against creative freedom, he said.
