Jai Bhim: Twitter Reacts to Prakash Raj Slapping a Man For 'Speaking in Hindi'

A clip showing Prakash Raj's character slapping a man for 'speaking in Hindi' has gone viral.

A scene from Prakash Raj-starrer Jai Bhim has Twitter divided. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

TJ Gnanavel's Jai Bhim has been trending on Twitter after a scene from the movie started doing the rounds on the social media platform. The clip shows Prakash Raj's character, a cop, slapping a man for 'speaking in Hindi'. Raj asks the person to talk in Tamil.

Some social media users opined that the scene wasn't really needed and it was spewing 'hate' on Hindi. A film critic tweeted, "I am really heartbroken after watching #JaiBhim, nothing against actor or anyone but felt really bad, there is a scene in the film where a person speaks Hindi and Prakash Raj slaps him and tells him to speak in Tamil Honestly this kind of scene was not needed….Hope they cut it".

To which someone replied, "Hi, the scene is not against Hindi-speaking Indians. The particular character tries to get away by speaking in Hindi (so that Prakash Raj wouldn't understand) and knowing this strategy, he slaps and asks him to speak in Tamil.Tamil filmmakers are not against the language Hindi".

Someone else wrote, "Dear Prakash Rai alias Prakash Raj, which article of the constitution provides rights to hit any individual just because he's not speaking Hindi or any Indian language? If that's so, how many Kannadigas should hit u for speaking in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu in other movies?"

Prakash Raj was also called out.

However, a number of people countered these claims by saying 'Hindi imposition' isn't needed, and Raj's character would have slapped the person if he spoke in any other language.

Based on a true incident from 1993, Jai Bhim follows Senggeni and Rajakannu, a couple from the Irular tribe. The latter was convicted by the police, and was later missing from the police station. Senggeni takes help of an advocate Chandru to seek justice for her husband.