The rift between sandalwood and bollywood started when a Kanada star actor Sudeep Kiccha addressed a public gathering stating that Hindi is no more the national language of India. Bollywood star Ajay Devgn tweeted in Hindi, saying that if Hindi is not India's national language, why do your regional movies get dubbed into the Hindi language. Sudeep replied that he didn't mean how it had been conveyed and mentioned that he would explain it in detail when they met in person. 

Ajay Devgn also said that usage of Hindi language in this context and questioned, if Sudeep used Kanada, would he be able to understand.Both the actors later came into a mutual compromise as Ajay Devgn posted on Twitter, mentioning Kiccha Sudeep, saying, "Hi @KicchaSudeep, You are a friend. Thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding.

I've always thought of the film industry as one. We respect all languages, and we expect everyone to respect our language. Perhaps, something was lost in translation." Sudeep responded, "Translation & interpretations are perspectives, sir. That's the reason for not reacting without knowing the complete matter, matters.:) I don't blame you, @ajaydevgn, sir. Perhaps it would have been a happy moment if I had received a tweet from you for a creative reason". 

While the whole scene had got to another level when Chief Ministers of the two states entered into this context notably, the Chief Minister of Karnataka supported Sudeep, with CMs of Kerala and Tamil Nadu also opposing Hindi being considered the national language of India. But a Karnataka Minister, Murugesh Nirani, had backed Ajay Devgn by stating Hindi is our national language. This has even led a few of the Kannadigas to go on protest against Ajay Devgn.