Actress Pavithra Menon slams Janhvi Kapoor’s Param Sundari for stereotypical portrayal of Malayalis
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Thiruvananthapuram: The trailer of Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor’s upcoming romantic drama Param Sundari has drawn criticism over cultural representation. Malayalam actress and singer Pavithra Menon accused the makers of misrepresenting Malayalis in Hindi cinema and questioned the decision to cast non-Malayali actors in such roles.
In an Instagram video posted on Thursday, August 14, Pavithra reacted to a scene where Janhvi’s character, Sundari, introduces herself in heavily accented Hindi as “Main Thekkapatil Damodaran Sundaram Pillai Kerala se.” She questioned, “What’s the problem in hiring a proper Malayali actor? Are we less talented?”
Switching between Hindi and Malayalam, Pavithra said such portrayals do not reflect reality in Kerala. She compared it to exaggerated depictions of Punjabis in Malayalam films of the 1990s and added, “It’s 2025. Everybody knows how a Malayali talks. We don’t just wear jasmine flowers and do Mohiniyattam everywhere.”
Clarifying that she had no personal criticism of Janhvi Kapoor, Pavithra said her concern was with authentic representation. The post received support from many followers, though some accused her of being ‘jealous’. She later deleted the video.
Param Sundari, directed by Tushar Jalota, is a cross-cultural love story featuring Sidharth as a North Indian man and Janhvi as a Malayali woman. The film is scheduled for release on August 29.
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Man arrested for for raping mute woman in Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur (PTI): One person was arrested on the charge of raping a 30-year-old woman with speech impairment in Jamshedpur, a police officer said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred in the Azadnagar police station area of the city, and a case in this regard was registered based on the statement of the victim's brother on Monday.
The victim had gone to fetch water from the premises of a company on Monday evening. When she did not return even after a considerable time, family members went out in search of her and caught the accused red-handed, police said.
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The accused was a caretaker of the company.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Patamda) Bachandeo Kujjur said due to scarcity of water in the area, the victim used to fetch water from the premises of the company.
