Bollywood is still discovering India, if its latest offering, Param Sundari, by Maddock Films, is any indication. While Shalini Unnikrishnan ("The Kerala Story") had been the ‘most Malayali’ character Bollywood could churn until now, Param Sundari takes it many steps ahead. But while the former was offensive in several ways than one, the latter is just mindless to even be that.
While Janhvi Kapoor’s character itself – with her name Thekkepattu Sundari Damodaram Pillai, the jasmine flowers, Mohiniattam, and Malayali accent – has been trashed and trolled already, that’s not even the complete Kerala picture that the makers go on to present. You get to see the backwaters, elephants, coconut, kalaripayattu, kathakali, Ayurveda, boat race, and even a Malayali nurse very early on, as if director Tushar Jalota is trying to prove that’s in fact Kerala.
The story is simple: Delhi boy Param (Siddharth Malhotra), a wannabe entrepreneur, invests in a dating app, which takes him to his “soulmate” Sundari in a town near Alappuzha in Kerala. Love blossoms between the two, and they eventually end up together, after a small hiccup – Sundari’s too-trusting fiancé, Venu (Siddhartha Shankar).
While the story is your typical Bollywood rom-com – meaning, it’s bereft of any layers for the audience to really understand where the love of the lead characters actually stems from – the writing is rather lazy, as it turns every character into a caricature.
And it cannot be truer than Kapoor’s character, who’s too weighed down by her linguistic and cultural identity, which might not have been that evident if the actor’s accent had any continuity.
Yes, the Hindi-language film is meant for the Hindi audience, but while Bollywood might be discovering Kerala for the first time, the audience might not be, which makes the stereotypes evident if not forced. For example, when Sundari first realises her feelings for Param, she says: “Dimaag ka coconut khaali ho gaya aur dil toddy pee ke naach raha hai. (The brain’s coconut is empty, and the heart’s out there dancing drunk on toddy).”
In fact, when Param and his BFF Juggy (Manjot Singh) get to know they’re going to Kerala, it’s as if it’s in a different country.
However, the makers also want you to know that they are culturally sensitive and the South Indian states are starkly distinct: “Tamil Nadu means Rajinikanth, Kerala means Mohanlal, Andhra means Allu Arjun, and Karnataka means Yash,” Sundari tells the “north Indians.”
Also, to balance out the Malayali stereotypes, they introduce a few Punjabis, too. “Iss butter chicken ko samajh nahi aayega (This butter chicken won’t understand),” Sundari’s uncle says about Param. There’s also “Chak De Phatte” at the end, as the film sweetly ends with a “Tak-jhum, Tak-jhum.”
And if set in any other state, the film would turn out the same.
Parallels have been drawn between Rohit Shetty’s Chennai Express and Param Sundari, but while the latter had Lungi Dance, at least that was more interesting to watch.
Film: Param Sundari
Director: Tushar Jalota
Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Janhvi Kapoor
Stars: 1.5/5