 "Firstpost at Waves 2025: Vijay Deverakonda slams English hegemony, advocates for Indian languages: 'I feel we need to expand our...'")
Vijay Deverakonda, one of the biggest and most talented actors in Indian cinema, has risen from the Telugu industry to win hearts nationwide with hits like Arjun Reddy, Geetha Govindam, and more. Apart from his films, Vijay is someone who is known to be vocal about issues and shares his opinions. At the recent Waves Summit 2025, he sparked discussion by slamming the global dominance of the English language. Criticizing Western imperialism for establishing English hegemony, Vijay questioned why Indians continue to uphold it, calling it a silent win for the West. He strongly batted for Hindi and Telugu, emphasizing the importance of embracing native languages.
Vijay hit back at English hegemony and acknowledged that it might be too late to fully reverse it, saying, “I hope this does not get me into trouble,” began the Arjun Reddy star, “but I feel we need to expand our kingdom. That all of us are conversing in English is a big soft power win for the West because they came in hundreds of years ago and made sure all of us were speaking and writing in their language. Now it’s too late to backtrack.”
Vijay also highlighted how Hollywood commands some of the biggest budgets and features the highest-paid stars compared to Indian stars, adding, “Because some buggers did this 200-300 years ago for whatever purpose, now Hollywood has the biggest budgets because all of us know and watch films in English. If I do a film and Brad Pitt does a film, he will get paid 100x more than me just because more people watch in his language. Which is not my fault but the fault of some guys who went and spread that language.”
On the work front, Vijay is ready to set the screen ablaze in Kingdom (Samrajya), a high-octane action-thriller directed by Gowtham T. Releasing on May 30, 2025, the film has already sparked fan frenzy with its gripping teaser and intense posters. Showcasing Vijay’s fierce transformation, magnetic presence, and raw intensity, Kingdom is one of the year’s most anticipated releases, promising a cinematic storm of action and emotion.