The trailer of the latest Bollywood movie Param Sundari, featuring Jhanvi Kapoor and Siddharth Malhotra, has created a stir and debate due to the portrayal of the Malayali character in the movie. The criticisms root from the portrayal of Adah Sharma’s Shalini Unnikrishnan character in the Kerala story. In the movie, Shalini’s character is shown with Jasmine flowers and a saree in pubs, and her fluent Hindi is woven with some scattered Malayali words, leading to backlash.
The moment the trailer of the new film was launched, the internet was divided, with a few people praising Sundari’s character while many questioned the choice of the actress and her dialect. The character, as seen in the trailer, seems to have adopted a lot from the Kerala Story’s Shalini, where the use of Jasmine flowers is a must, there is the presence of Mohiniyattam, and Mohanlal as well. To make things more stereotypical, the girl has been given a name that she finds difficult to pronounce, and the presence of goons has made a series of similarities with earlier productions evident in the Maddock film.
The portrayal of characters from the Southern state has nevertheless not always been a miss, as there are movies that elegantly show the culture without polarisation.
One such example is Priety Zeenta’s character Preeti Nair in Dil Se. The character of a young girl is portrayed diligently by Preity, who, though speaking in broken Malayalam, does not resort to “ayyoyo” after every fallout, or wear jasmine flowers everywhere she goes. The integration of the culture has been done seamlessly in the songs of the movie, including the popular “Jeeya Jale” track with the Malayali verses “ Punchiri Thanji Konchiko” by MG Sreekumar, adding to the charm.
Aligarh, a directorial by Hansal Mehta, is another tale of two people from the North and the South states, with Rajkuamr Rao playing Deepu Sebastian and Manoj Bajpayee in the role of Professor Ramchandra Siras. The movie explores the dynamic between the characters without stereotypical elements.
Param Sundari is the latest addition to a movie displaying the culmination of the cultures of the two regions of the country, and though the trailer has led to a major debate, the movie will only tell how well the makers have portrayed the characters.
