While the entire nation is celebrating the victory at Academy Awards 2023, Jaya Bachchan sparked a debate about them in Rajya Sabha.

An everlasting debate of “South vs North” prevails in the Indian Film Industry. The topic was once again highlighted in the Parliament of India when MDMK ( Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) leader Vaiko said, “I want to remind all of you what AR Rahman (Music composer, director) who is from Tamil Nadu, did for India’. 

Adding to this, AIADMK’s M Thambidurai said, “The documentary ‘The Elephant Whispers‘ was shot in Ooty and I am proud of it.” 

The matter gained momentum when Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge said, “particularly first time such an award is given to this ‘Naatu Naatu’ and also, to ‘The Elephant Whisperers’. So, they come from South India. It is a great pride to us.”

 The Smashing Reply

All the above statements were meant to highlight the fact that South Indian Film Industry has actually brought pride to the nation. To which, Jaya Bachchan, veteran actor and MP of Samajwadi Party replied by saying, “I am so happy and I am so glad that we are discussing the most important ambassadors of this country. And they are the film folks. It doesn’t matter where they are from – north, east, south, or west – they are Indians… I stand here with pride and with dignity for our film fraternity, who have represented this country number of times, and have won several awards starting from Satyajit Ray onwards.”

Moreover, in her speech, she said, “This is just the beginning and I would like to congratulate the Indian population, because of whom people in the West are recognizing great work by Indian filmmakers. The market of cinema is here, it is not in America.”

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Reaction of Netizens to Jaya Bachchan

This entire debate resulted in an outbreak of anger towards Jaya Bachchan as the netizens started trolling her. According to them, Bollywood is trying to steal the credit of the South Indian Film Industry. They expressed their concern by saying that Bollywood has always looked down on the South Indian Industry even though, they have produced better and original content. 

A troll even said that the discussion was meaningless and the movie is Telugu. He proposed a question on parliament discussing the issue