Actor Mayilsamy has requested Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin to try and employ Tamil-speaking air hostesses in flights operating in the state. Mayilsamy, along with Udayanithi Stalin, attended the press conference of the film Nenjuku Needhi held on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, Mayilsamy shared his experience of flying from Coimbatore to Chennai.
He said that he spoke neither Hindi nor English and hence had to face difficulties communicating with the flight attendants while flying. “Therefore, I request you and your father (Chief Minister MK Stalin) to employ women who know Tamil in the planes circling in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Mayilsami said that he would learn Hindi if it had been the national language, but it is not so. He questioned why he would have to learn the language of another state for something like simply flying to another destination.
This comes at a time when there’s been an intense debate over the status of Hindi as the national language. Amit Shah had, earlier this year, stated that when citizens of states communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India, with Hindi being accepted as an alternative to English. His statement drew criticism from the opposition and Tamil artists like AR Rahman and Yuvan Shankar Raja, the son of music maestro Ilaiyaraja.
Coming to the press conference of the film, Nenjuku Needhi director thanked the audience for showering love on the film. He said he owes his success to actor Sivakarthikeyan as the previous film he made with the actor, Kanaa had given him recognition to be able to grab this project.
Nenjuku Needhi is the Tamil remake of the Bollywood film Article 15 and stars Udhayanidhi Stalin, Aari Arujunan, Tanya Ravichandran, and Shivani Rajasekhar.
