Alia Bhatt, the Bollywood star, made her first public appearance as a presenter at the 2026 BAFTA Awards, which took place in London. Bhatt opened her award presentation at the Royal Festival Hall for Best Film Not in the English Language by greeting the audience with a warm Namaskar and speaking a sentence in Hindi.
The gesture, which aimed to show multiple languages, became a controversial issue because people used it to argue on X about its meaning.
The audience reacted to her speech by saying that the actress spoke with a “fake” accent, which led to a major argument about how Indian celebrities face special challenges when performing in front of foreign audiences.
Digital Discourse and Global Representation
The conversation on X remained heavily divided, with the hashtag #AliaBhatt trending globally as users dissected every syllable of her presentation. Critics of her English delivery pointed out what they considered to be an exaggerated accent because they believed she was trying to match Western pronunciation standards.
A large number of supporters came to her defense because they viewed Bhatt’s choice to deliver her speech in Hindi at a British ceremony as a powerful demonstration of global cultural representation.
Users claimed that the “fake accent” narrative emerges from an excessively judgmental attitude that people reserve for South Asian actors who use English accents, while Bhatt used her regional identity to create a connection between local culture and the worldwide film industry.
Cultural Authenticity and Social Media Critique
The accent row examined more than linguistic elements because it explored cultural authenticity, which exists in modern society through viral media content.
Karma is so real at this point. She used to snatch newcomers’ opportunities, and now she’s getting humiliated at the international level after scamming Bollywood for more than a decade. 😭 pic.twitter.com/2l3GQ0NUGW
— nysa (@chalkalaana) February 25, 2026
Alia’s speech was designed to honor her roots through a calculated display of her language skills, which met the requirements of a non-English film category. The observers found that her actual Indian accent sounded better than the common exaggerated accents that Hollywood movies typically present.
The X platform showed typical social media behavior, but most people believed that Bhatt had successfully handled her first major performance while she used her platform to show that cinematographic language goes beyond current online phonetic arguments.
A recent media graduate, Bhumi Vashisht is currently making a significant contribution as a committed content writer. She brings new ideas to the media sector and is an expert at creating strategic content and captivating tales, having working in the field from past four months.
