With Delhi govt planning to set up Hindi book clubs, a number of films celebrating the beauty and power of the national language, is the English-speaking millennial now discovering a cool quotient in Hindi?

It was reported that Deputy chief minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia recently directed government officials to set up Hindi Literature Clubs or sabhas for the promotion of Hindi literature. Films like Hindi Medium and Kapil Sharma’s upcoming flick Firangi raise the issue of taking pride in one’s mother tongue. Biopics of famous Hindi-Urdu poets like Saadat Hasan Manto and Sahir Ludhianvi are also on the anvil. With Hindi getting a big push in recent times, is the English-speaking millennial now discovering a cool quotient in Hindi?

Varun Grover, songwriter, and comedian feels it has. The Tu Kisi Rail Si Guzarti Hai songwriter says, “The acceptance of Hindi has increased manifold in the last five years. A lot of big brands never used to have their advertisements in Hindi but now they have. Though it’s basically Hinglish, the proliferation of FM channels has played a big role. In the Hindi belt, the language is now more widely accepted. I feel except for the corporate world, all other sectors are now using Hindi more than they did few years back. Hindi is now the cool language. A lot of rock bands perform English songs but their names are in Hindi like Parikrama and Bhayanak Maut. One should speak their own mother tongue without any inferiority complex. There should be no imposition of it but certainly more avenues should be created for its promotion.”    

 Stills from Manto

Several poetry groups in the city also give reflect how Hindi has become a preferred language of expression for Gen Next. Saumya Kulshrestha, founder of Poets’ Collective, says that though her group doesn’t believe in hierarchy of languages, she has noticed an upward trend in favour of Hindi. She says, “In a cosmopolitan city, there is no way you can escape the demand of knowing different languages. However, I’ve observed that the affinity for English poetry was way more than regional languages. But that trend turned turtle. Literary Hindi and conversational Hindi are pretty different and until you read it academically, one won’t understand its beauty. But despite that, today we have young poets who are not only creating interest for Hindi language and its expression among youngsters but also mentoring others. There are so many emotions that can’t be expressed in English that beautifully and when you hear someone’s poems in Hindi, you fall for the language without any pressure or persuasion.”

Author Vineet Kumar however believes that we have a long way to go before we can take pride in Hindi’s resurgence. He says, “Hindi versus English is not just a language tussle, it’s a class tussle. People with good Hindi are struggling to speak English. Kumar Vishwas or Ravish Kumar are mere metaphors. Not everyone who is writing great Hindi is successful. The class barrier has to go. The official Hindi is so difficult that you immediately switch to English. So, Hindi has to become the language of the market.” He adds, “In India, English has reached a saturation level and big market players are now focussing on Indian languages. And so, today you see, Hindi is being celebrated. Thanks to Bollywood Hindi has remained the entertainment language but can Hindi be accepted as a language to impart knowledge? Market-oriented Hindi is on the rise, not the official one.”