Podcasts

South Central 30 | RCB’s disheartening post win tragedy & Kamal Haasan’s Kannada origin row

With such a huge following in Karnataka, can RCB be absolved of not taking logistics and planning of success celebrations seriously? Tune in to this week’s episode on cricket, fandom, Kamal Haasan, and the use of language as a communal tool.

Dhanya Rajendran, Leena Gita Reghunath, Pooja Prasanna

Published:6th Jun, 2025 at 7:13 PM

In Episode 30 of South Central, hosts Dhanya Rajendran, Pooja Prasanna, and Leena Reghunath discuss the RCB’s long-awaited IPL victory and the tragic deaths that followed in the stampede at the franchise’s success meet in Bengaluru. Sports journalist Venkat Ananth weighs in on the discussion with important pointers about fandom, the team’s lack of responsibility in organising the event, what the police and state should have done, and what such incidents do (or not) for the sport.

“Maybe, the RCB must win more often, so that so many people won't be so eager to see them!” says Venkat, on a fun note.

Dhanya adds, “After all, the franchise is a commercial venture, and commercial establishments which make money cannot put people’s lives on stake or be irresponsible.”

Leena says that there is also an underlying issue of how we lack heroes to look up to, and why that makes several people put their own safety at risk to come out and celebrate something good that has come after so long.

In the second section, the panel delves into the Kannada language origin controversy, sparked by actor Kamal Haasan’s comment on how Kannada originated from Tamil in a promotional event for Mani Ratnam’s Thug Life. Professor Purushothama Bilemale joins the discussion, making poignant observations about why Kamal and Kannadigas must not fight, but rather, learn from one another. “The common enemy is imperialism and the invisibilisation of languages other than Hindi,” he says.

Leena adds, “We can also never know if such controversies around big releases are genuine or manufactured.”

Dhanya, Pooja, and Anisha Sheth agree that whatever the case, language cannot and should not be a tool for communalism. “Such controversies also have an impact on free speech. Courts must be cognisant of that,” Dhanya says.

All this and more—tune in.

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Audio timecodes

00:00:00- Introduction

00:03.43 - Headlines

00.5.47 - RCB’s post-win tragedy

00.40.53 - Kamal Hassan vs Kannada