Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Big B spoke in Marathi for the first time on a public platform while endorsing Network 18 and the Lokmat's group's newly launched Marathi channel.
Amitabh Bachchan speaking in Marathi is not without significance since it comes at a time when he has been targeted by both the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for being an "outsider" living in the state.
Raj Thackeray had claimed that while Bachchan had been a brand ambassador for Uttar Pradesh, he had never shown the same inclination for doing anything for Maharashtra.
Bachchan's response: "My father and I have had a 40-year-old long association with Maharashtra. My father had many friends here in the field of literature and many of my father's poems have been translated into Marathi."
The superstar also said that he had no problems with those who were pushing for greater importance for regional languages.
"Being global is a must, but we need to respect our mother tongue. It's our land, we were born here and we will die here," he said.
And that happily coincided with the Saamna (Shiv Sena's mouthpiece) article which appeared in its Monday edition.
The tenor of the write up was entirely different from the critical piece which appeared a few days ago. In the piece, Amitabh Bachchan was even described as a Mahanayak.
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