Amid ‘Naatu Naatu’ success at Golden Globes, Indian politician’s ‘Telugu flag’ tweet sparks row: ‘We are Indians first’

• Shubham
• 11 January, 2023

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By: Shubham Ghosh

While Indians in India and abroad rejoiced over Telugu film ‘RRR’ bagging a Golden Globe Award in the Best Original Song category for ‘Naatu Naatu’, it did not take long for a controversy to erupt.

Congratulating team ‘RRR’, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, one of the country’s two Telugu-dominant states, said in a tweet that “the Telugu flag is flying high”.

“The #Telugu flag is flying high! On behalf of all of #AndhraPradesh, I congratulate @mmkeeravaani, @ssrajamouli, @tarak9999, @AlwaysRamCharan and the entire team of @RRRMovie. We are incredibly proud of you! #GoldenGlobes2023.”

The #Telugu flag is flying high! On behalf of all of #AndhraPradesh, I congratulate @mmkeeravaani, @ssrajamouli, @tarak9999, @AlwaysRamCharan and the entire team of @RRRMovie. We are incredibly proud of you! #GoldenGlobes2023 https://t.co/C5f9TogmSY

— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) January 11, 2023

However, Reddy’s congratulatory post did not go down well with award-winning singer-musician Adnan Sami who objected to the “Telugu flag” expression and told the politician that “we are Indians” first and such “separatist attitude” is not healthy.

Replying to the chief minister’s tweet, Sami wrote, “Telugu flag? You mean INDIAN flag right? We are Indians first & so kindly stop separating yourself from the rest of the country…Especially internationally, we are one country! This ‘separatist’ attitude is highly unhealthy as we saw in 1947!!! Thank you…Jai HIND.”

Telugu flag? You mean INDIAN flag right? We are Indians first & so kindly stop separating yourself from the rest of the country…Especially internationally, we are one country!
This ‘separatist’ attitude is highly unhealthy as we saw in 1947!!!
Thank you…Jai HIND!?? https://t.co/rE7Ilmcdzb

— Adnan Sami (@AdnanSamiLive) January 11, 2023

The tweet by Sami, who was born in London to a Pakistani father, left the Twitter split.

While some supported his take, others from Andhra Pradesh raked up the ongoing Bollywood (India’s Hindi film industry) versus southern films debate saying the feat of ‘RRR’ has brought great pride to the southern state and complained that Bollywood has always looked down on Telugu-language films but now want to be a part of them since the industry has become very successful.

“After decades of downgrading southern languages and films, now everyone wants to be included in the success of it … How convenient!!!” tweeted one user.

“Well said but that’s the sad reality of India.. Language takes precedence over country at many places,” said another.

Sami has been an Indian citizen since January 1, 2016.

‘RRR’, however, missed out on the Best Non-English Language Film award which was won by ‘Argentina, 1985’.