World Hindi Day: Celebs share how the industry can promote Hindi more

World Hindi Day is observed every year on January 10th. On this occasion, actors talk about their favourite Bollywood film and character which was inspired from a novel. They also share their thoughts on what can be done to promote Hindi in the entertainment industry. Read on:

 Ranaksh Rana

Rajesh Khanna, Asha Parekh’s hit film Kati Patang which was based on the book by Gulshan Nanda was amazing. Asha Parekh, who pretended to be a widow, Madhu, gave an amazing performance. To promote Hindi in the industry, we should have credit titles in Hindi too besides English. Also there should be more films based on Hindi literature books. Hindi is our mother tongue and we should be proud of the language. TV shows should also be made more based on novels. We haven’t forgotten Malgudi days till today.

Pranitaa Pandit

I have loved Dilip Kumar's character in the film Devdas which was inspired by the Bengali novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The character has stayed with me even till today. Bollywood can put titles in Hindi on posters to promote Hindi. Hindi is our national language and we should be proud of it.

Sharad Malhotra

I loved Satyajit Ray’s 1977 film Shatranj Ke Khiladi. It was based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. The movies featured Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey and Shabana Azmi. It's a political satire and the art direction and cinematography was just perfect. As far as Bollywood is concerned I feel we can focus on making more movies from old Hindi novels and that will definitely promote Hindi as an international language. As for the music industry, they should make more Hindi songs rather than recreating or remixing old ones.

Angad Hasija

My favorite Bollywood movie that is based on a Hindi novel is Sadgati. It was directed by Satyajit Ray and it was based on Munshi Premchand's story Sadgati. The movie focussed on the tragic lives of the untouchables in the country. It's a heart-wrenching film. To promote Hindi as an international language, I feel we should use more Hindi in films and songs. It shouldn't be mixed with English.

Meera Deosthale

Ek Chadar Maili Si is a 1986 film, directed by Sukhwant Dhadda, and is an adaptation of Rajinder Singh Bedi's classic Urdu novel of the same name. The novel won the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award. The film starred Hema Malini, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rishi Kapoor and Poonam Dhillon in lead roles. Rishi Kapoor’s role was very touching who adjusted to the circumstances situationally. To promote more of Hindi we should have subtitles in Hindi too. Hindi shouldn’t be turned into hinglish dialogues in films.

Eijaz Khan

I liked the Hindi film Angoor in which Sanjeev Kumar played a double role. It is a remake of the Indian film Do Dooni Chaar which was a remake of 1963 Bengali language comedy film Bhranti Bilas, that is based on Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's Bengali novel of the same name. Hindi is our matr basha and must be promoted. The titles of films can be in Hindi too and even subtitles can be there so people from all over the world can know how good Hindi cinema is.