Actor Kalidas Jayaram has candidly shared his thoughts on the Hindi film Param Sundari, which was set in Kerala. The film, starring Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra, was released in theatres last year and faced trolling from several South Indian influencers over its portrayal of Kerala and Malayali culture.
Kalidas Jayaram on Param Sundari
In the film, Janhvi plays a woman living in Kerala, while Sidharth essays a Delhi-based man who travels to the state to meet a woman he matched with on a dating app.
Kalidas was recently promoting his film Ashakal Aayiram, in which he shares screen space with his father, senior actor Jayaram. The father-son duo appeared on the YouTube channel Irfan’s View for promotions. During the interaction, Kalidas was asked to name the worst movie he had watched.
Without hesitation, the actor named Param Sundari. “Param Sundari was that one bad film which I watched recently. I will say it openly — they made a mockery in their portrayal of our culture and traditions. That’s how I felt. It was terrible,” he said.
Controversy Around Param Sundari
Around it release in August last year, the film backed by Maddock had sparked controversy among Malayali viewers, with several content creators alleging that their critical Instagram posts were deleted. Singer and RJ Pavithra Menon was among the first to criticise the portrayal of Malayali women. In a now-deleted video, she questioned why a Malayali actress wasn’t cast in the lead role and remarked that women in Kerala do not walk around wearing jasmine flowers and performing Mohiniyattam in daily life as was shown in the film with Janhvi`s character.
Her video was reportedly taken down following a copyright claim by Maddock Films. She later re-uploaded it, reiterating her concerns about stereotyping and misrepresentation.
The debate soon went viral, with many Malayali users accusing Bollywood of reducing their culture to clichés. The film had previously faced backlash for filming a romantic scene inside a church, which upset members of the Christian community who demanded its removal.
The film did not fare well at the box office and largely made headlines for poor representation of Malayalee characters on screen.
