Tollywood actor Prosenjit Chatterjee’s behaviour towards a journalist for asking questions in Bengali has landed him in the crosshairs of netizens, with many slamming the 62-year-old Bengali cinema star for his approach towards the scribe and the language.

At the trailer launch event for the upcoming Hindi film Maalik, also attended by Rajkummar Rao, a reporter asked a couple of questions in Bengali to Prosenjit.

The first question was about how Prosenjit’s cop avatar in Maalik is different from his previous roles in Bengali cinema. The scribe also asked how he feels about Rajkummar stepping into the shoes of Sourav Ganguly in the upcoming biopic based on the former cricketer’s life.

While the reporter asked the questions, Prosenjit pointed at her and asked, “Why do you need to talk in Bengali?”

After videos of the moment went viral, social media users began trolling the actor for refusing to speak in Bengali. “Why ask questions in Bengali, huh? Even though I’m Bengali — oh! How shameful, how embarrassing,” reads the translation of a post by a Facebook user.

Comparing A.R. Rahman and Prosenjit for their respective reactions to similar situations, a Facebook user wrote, “When someone asks A.R. Rahman a question in Hindi, he steps off the stage. Even jokingly, he tells the journalist that if questions are asked in Hindi, he won't go up on stage. Meanwhile, when Bengal's superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee is asked a question in Bengali, he responds with, ‘Why do we need to talk in Bengali?’ That’s the difference. They can, we can’t.”

“Thankfully, Rajkummar Rao encouraged the event to continue. And despite not being a Bengali himself, after hearing the question in Bengali, he conveyed its correct meaning. And Bengal’s superstar still didn’t utter a single word in Bengali — he continued speaking in Hindi and English,” they added.

Calling the controversy “wild”, a netizen shared, “I’m probably the last person to comment on this because I don’t feel a deep emotional connection to any particular language myself but having lived across different parts of India from North to South and even abroad, i’ve seen a concerning trend unfold over the last 10-15 years: the rise of a centralized, Hindi-dominated cultural structure.”

“This isn't just about language, it's about how cultural authenticity is being sacrificed at the altar of standardization and superficial polish even by those who once lived and breathed these languages/dialects,” the Facebook user further said.

At the press conference, Rajkummar Rao translated the reporter’s questions into Hindi for the attendees who aren’t familiar with Bengali.

“Despite being a Bengali superstar, having received everything from the soil of Bengal, and having portrayed characters like Lalon Fakir, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Bhavani Pathak — what Prosenjit Chatterjee should have done was instead done by a non-Bengali: Rajkummar Rao,” wrote a social media user on Facebook.

The incident was “disappointing”, the netizen wrote. He added, “The way Prosenjit has groomed himself for the national stage is exceptional, outstanding — but by disregarding his own language on that same national platform, that's where he failed. He didn’t seem any different from Shashi Singh, the character he played in the movie Mahalaya.”

A Facebook user mocked the actor by sharing a screenshot of an old interview where he spoke in Bengali. “Prosenjit Chatterjee Why do you need to talk in Bengali?” reads the caption of the post.

The upcoming gangster drama film Maalik will hit theatres on July 11. Directed by Bhakshak helmer Pulkit, the film was previously slated to hit theatres on June 20.

Maalik is produced by Kumar Taurani and Jay Shewakramani under the banners of Tips Films and Northern Lights Films. Sachin Sanghvi and Jigar Saraiya serve as the music composers for the upcoming film, while Amitabh Bhattacharya serves as the lyricist.