India’s oldest language Sanskrit fast entering Bollywood scripts

Looks like Sanskrit, popularly known as the language of Gods, is fast becoming a favourite with B-towners. With several Bollywood stars working hard to grasp the Vedic language for their films, Sanskrit is surely the flavour of the season in the Hindi film vocab.

One among them is actor Saif Ali Khan who is burning the midnight oil to master the dialect. Says Khan, “I’m learning Sanskrit for my film Aarakshan. I started learning the language and figured that it’s really difficult. It’s just like learning a new language. I have to admit that Mr Bachchan (Amitabh Bachchan) is extremely fluent in Sanskrit, while I had to struggle quite a bit to get it right.”

Apparently, Khan used to recite verses in Sanskrit after wrap-up every day to brush up his skills and sound convincing.

Actor Sunny Deol is also learning the language for his upcoming film Mohalla Assi. From threatening villains to humming Sanskrit shlokas, Deol seems to be loving the change. He says, “I am in love with my look and my role, I have never done this before.

Learning Sanskrit is tough, but I’m working hard on it. I play a Sanskrit teacher, so it was important for me to learn the language. My audience associates me with my Punjabi drawl. They relate this ‘Jat’ image with me. So it was a challenge to break that image. Hence I took it up and worked on the language to get the dialogues right.” The language that initially seemed tough has now caught on him so much so that Deol now spends all his time reading and understanding the country’s oldest language. Given the growing trend, the day may not be too far when composers incorporate Sanskrit lyrics in songs!