New Bollywood romcom sparks debate over stereotyping south India

[ad_1] Meryl Sebastian BBC Information, Kochi and

Anahita Sachdev BBC Information, Delhi

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b0f7/live/5432c890-8a26-11f0-9cf6-cbf3e73ce2b9.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Maddock Films Movie poster for Bollywood film Param Sundari that shows lead actors Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Maddock Movies The movie is a love story between a lady from the southern state of Kerala and a person from Delhi in northern India

A brand new Bollywood movie has reignited an age-old dialog round how India's largest and most influential movie trade represents characters from non-Hindi talking states.

Param Sundari, a romcom starring Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor, is a love story between a lady from the southern state of Kerala and a person from Delhi in northern India.

Param and Sundari first butt heads after which fall in love, efficiently overcoming the cultural variations between them.

The concept is not new: Bollywood has lengthy explored north-south cultural clashes via romcoms, and in a multilingual nation, well-executed cross-cultural romances generally is a hit.

However on this case, critics and social media customers from Kerala and past have known as out the movie for its caricatured depiction of the state, significantly Sundari.

Performed by Kapoor, Sundari usually wears a string of jasmine flowers in her hair, can talk with elephants and climbs coconut bushes as a pastime - all stereotypical traits, usually related to Kerala. Although she's lived there most of her life, her Malayalam is atrocious.

The criticism started as quickly because the movie's trailer was shared, with many puzzling over Sundari seemingly mispronouncing her personal identify. This additionally invited comparability with one other much-derided character, Shalini Unnikrishnan (performed by Adah Sharma), from the controversial movie The Kerala Story.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6787/live/f7895bd0-8a26-11f0-84c8-99de564f0440.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Sunshine Pictures/YouTube Actor Adah Sharma in a still from the film The Kerala Story" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Sunshine Footage/YouTube The movie The Kerala Story (2023) stirred an enormous controversy in India

In each movies, the heroines, regardless of residing in Kerala, communicate Hindi and are unable to talk fluent Malayalam once they break into it.

A couple of minutes into Param Sundari, when Param's pal learns that they are going to be visiting a village in Kerala known as Nangiarkulangara, he exaggeratedly pronounces the identify and asks, "The place is that? Africa?", combining stereotypes and informal racism into one query.

As soon as in Kerala, the movie whizzes via a guidelines of issues a layperson would possibly affiliate with the tourist-favourite state - its well-known backwaters, the ever present coconut bushes, toddy, elephants, and Onam, its hottest pageant.

One reviewer known as the movie "a feature-length advert for Kerala tourism" that "gleefully bulldozes over all potentialities of any cultural nuance".

The movie brims with coconut gags: Param and Sundari first meet by a tree, she vents her anger by furiously harvesting coconuts, and he lastly confesses his love from atop one.

For a lot of viewers, cultural inauthenticity shouldn't be a dealbreaker.

Rajiv, from northern Bihar state, noticed Param Sundari as a enjoyable window into an unfamiliar tradition, saying its portrayals will not be true to life however chasing authenticity can uninteresting leisure.

"Perhaps this can change progressively. However this a lot creative freedom is okay to make the film attention-grabbing," he mentioned.

For others, nonetheless, the movie's try to coach audiences is half-hearted.

In a blistering overview, critic Sowmya Rajendran slammed the movie as "generic, exhausting and offensive," saying it hides drained cliches behind an "unique" Kerala setting and a rating that overplays the land's "foreignness."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d46/live/67d511e0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP via Getty Images A man walks past a poster for the Indian film Chennai Express, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> AFP by way of Getty Pictures Chennai Specific (2013), starring superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, was a field workplace hit

Movies usually face and survive casting criticisms: Chennai Specific (2013) was panned by critics however soared on the field workplace.

When the makers of Mary Kom (2014) forged Priyanka Chopra to play the position of the Olympic medal-winning boxer from Manipur state, it was met with loads of criticism. Chopra herself admitted later that "in hindsight, the half ought to have gone to somebody from the northeast". However the movie was a success and Chopra gained awards for her spirited efficiency.

And Mehmood's 1968 Padosan caricature of a Tamil singer stays a basic.

However the panorama of Indian leisure has shifted: post-pandemic cinema closures and the rise of streaming have left Bollywood struggling for hits, with big-budget flops shaking its dominance.

Non-Hindi movies now attain nationwide audiences by way of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, incomes followers via dubbed variations, whereas huge Bollywood releases not dominate cinema primetime.

Since its launch, Param Sundari has earned steadily however slowly, whereas the Malayalam female-superhero movie Lokah has turn out to be a superhit with reward for its progressive plot and execution.

In her article on Param Sundari, author Cris notes what number of Indian movie industries settle for actors taking part in roles outdoors their very own cultures.

"It's when the characters appear to be caricatures of a state or its folks that the viewers takes offence," she writes.

Param Sundari does attempt to stability its storytelling. Greater than as soon as, Sundari will get to high school Param and his pal about their assumptions about her state – in a single occasion, throwing bias again at them about "ignorant, illiterate, boastful, entitled" north Indians.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b54b/live/c94e60c0-8a27-11f0-b391-6936825093bd.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Courtesy Cannes Film Festival A still from the film All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Courtesy Cannes Movie Pageant All We Think about As Gentle (2024) made historical past by successful the Grand Prix on the Cannes movie pageant

Commentators level to robust examples in India's cellular society: Godha (2017) skilfully tells a cross-cultural romance of a Punjabi wrestler in Kerala; Axone (2019) tackles discrimination confronted by folks from north-eastern India with wit; Qarib Qarib Single (2017) follows a Malayali girl in Mumbai; and Cannes winner All We Think about As Gentle (2024) portrays immigrant struggles with nuance.

Bollywood is not alone: Author and poet Aleena notes Malayalam cinema has stereotyped tribespeople, Dalits (previously untouchables), and Tamil characters, whereas Hindi audio system are sometimes caricatured in southern movies.

"I feel it is a bigger query of energy dynamics and illustration," Aleena says, emphasising a neighborhood's position in shaping its personal tales.

She says that when a narrative portrays a neighborhood with out together with the actual voices of individuals from the neighborhood, its dangers changing into skewed and imbalanced.