Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Accent At Citadel Premiere Trolled: Can We Stop Being Judgmental?

Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who will next be seen in the Indian spinoff of Citadel alongside Varun Dhawan, attended the London global premiere of the Russo Brothers series. In an interaction with the press, she spoke about her role in the spy thriller. However, her accent caught the public's eye and is being trolled by some netizens on Twitter.

One netizen wrote, "I adore her, but the way she is faking her accent, she could have spoken in an Indian accent only." Another tweeted, "Someone remind her that she’s from Kerala." A third user commented, "Warra fake accent," with clown emojis. And yet again netizens found a reason to troll Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

Samantha Ruth Prabhu's Accent Trolled

Samantha Ruth Prabhu is not the first celebrity who has been trolled for speaking with a foreign accent. Ever since Priyanka Chopra moved to Hollywood and acquired an accent, she’s been criticised for it. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was also trolled for using a "fake accent" at Cannes 2022.

To begin with, I find the term "fake accent" absurd. An accent is something that’s acquired. It’s normal for people to change their accents for short-term or long-term reasons to aid in better communication with people of a different cultural backgrounds or in professional contexts.

For instance, Kiruthiga Elumalai, an IT professional who has been residing in Washington, said that she acquired an accent so that it’s easier for her to communicate with her colleagues. As someone who interacts with corporate professionals on a daily basis, her profession requires her to acquire an accent. "Besides, when you live in a foreign country and keep hearing their accent, yours tends to change too," she added.

Shahana Narendran, a finance professional in Boston, said that when she initially moved to the US, a few people around her gave her odd stares because of her Indian accent. "Not wanting to feel like a misfit, I gradually began trying their accent and eventually acquired it over time," she added.

It’s not just something celebrities do; most people who move abroad start acquiring a foreign accent. They don’t necessarily do it to put on a show, but just to communicate better and to fit in. What’s so wrong with that?

Ze Wang, a professor at the University of Central Florida, explained in an interview with BBC Future, "Accents can trigger social categorisation in a prompt, automatic, and occasionally unconscious manner." Since get assigned to certain social groups and link them to the stereotypes associated with their accent. People change their accents to avoid such social bias.

A lot of us in India do that. When we move from a tier two or tier three city to a tier one city, most of us obviously want to fit in, so we adapt to their lifestyle. Does that mean we are faking it to show off? Of course not! All we want is to not feel left out.

Moreover, people can't "fake an accent" just like that. It requires real confidence and guts to even try out a new accent, let alone speak in public. Not everyone can do that. So why are we criticising celebrities for trying a different accent? What if their accent is not perfect the first time? Or never perfect? You definitely can’t match up to native speakers, so it’s always going to sound a little off. What matters is the spirit to learn and speak a language with a foreign accent.

Besides, when a foreign actor visits India and tries to converse in an Indian language, we all go crazy and praise them for being humble and respecting our culture. So why do we troll when Indian actors go to foreign countries and try out their accents? Can people stop being so hypocritical and judgmental all the time?

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