Film personalities cannot be prevented from attending

Noted writer Leeladhar Jagudi today said that preventing film personalities from attending literature events, organised in various parts of the country, will not be in the interest of Hindi language.
The noted litterateur, who participated in the Indore Litfest held here, also expressed displeasure over actors choosing to speak in English though Hindi is the mainstay of their career.
A controversy erupted during the recently-held Indore Literature Festival when noted writer Chitra Mudgal demanded that film personalities should not be invited to such events anywhere just for the sake of attracting crowd.
Lyricist Manoj Muntasheer, writer-director Virag Mishra, and Shailendra Pandey had attended the Indore event, held between December 15 and 17.

"Film actors cannot be prohibited from attending such events in the country. They have played a major role in popularising Hindi language all over the world. They cannot be deprived of their credit in this regard," Jagudi told PTI.
However, the Padmashri awadee expressed reservations over Bollywood actors preferring English over Hindi while speaking in public.

"Bollywood actors are earning because of Hindi but many of them speak in English at public forums. I am of the view that such persons should be especially invited in these events to make them aware about the growing strength of Hindi," Jagudi said.

If film actors are kept away from these festivals, it will ultimately not be in the interest of Hindi language, he said.
Jagudi said those actors "who survive in the film world because of Hindi" should be asked about their knowledge of Hindi literature as well as Devnagiri script.
"Hindi litterateurs who are taking part in these festivals should be asked whether they have made any innovation in their writing skills or are they just remained stereotypes," he said.
He lamented that Hindi authors failed to get the same respect in Bollywood functions like the actors are getting in literature festivals.