Janhvi Kapoor Gets Called Out By Actress Pavithra Menon For Propagating Malayali Stereotypes In Param Sundari, Says, "Why Try So Hard"

The trailer of Janhvi Kapoor and Siddharth Malhotra starrer recently dropped, and it was mostly liked by the netizens with the songs of the film also garnering positive attention.

However, some questions have been raised about Janhvi’s portrayal of a Malayali girl, Sundari, which, some people argue, is too cliched and stereotypical. Her accent, especially, especially has been brought into question by native speakers for lacking authenticity. 

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The latest name in the list of people who seem unimpressed by Janhvi’s Malayali act includes actress/singer Pavithra Menon. Pavithra, who works in Malayali film industry, recently took to Instagram to voice her strong opinions against the Param Sundari trailer.

In the video, while reacting to the trailer, she says, “"Wait, what? Before we go further into the trailer, I want to address this: 'What's the problem in hiring a proper Malayali actor?' Hum kam talented hote hain kya " The actor switches to Hindi and adds, “This is not how it happens in Kerala. Like how I am talking in Hindi, I can also speak Malayalam really well.” Pavithra then switches to Malayalam, saying "Is it so hard to find a Malayali to play the role in a Hindi movie." 

She further continues, "We have done such things in Malayalam films of the 90s when we had to show Punjabis (exaggerated balle balle). But now it's 2025. I think everybody knows how a Malayali talks, and how they are as normal as anybody else. We don't just wear jasmine flowers and do Mohiniyattam everywhere.”

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The drama does not end here. Pavithra shared on Instagram that her initial post that featured clips from the Param Sundari trailer was taken down by Maddock Film, the production house behind Param Sundari for copyright violation. Pavithra captioned the post, “Happy Independence Day to everyone who has a voice”. She then rereleased the post without the clips from the film and captioned it, “Rereleased Thank you for all the support on the previous video. I underestimated the power of our voices.”