Pooja : Aiyo Rama… Welcome to Let Me Yexplain… Come, come.
Megha: Cut Cut. What ‘thenga’ is this Pooja? (Pooja, what atrocity is this?)
Pooja: I’m just auditioning for every south Indian role in Bollywood.
Pooja : Because this is Bollywood’s checklist for south Indians: Loud voice, funny accent, lungi, jasmine, and curd…
Congratulations, you are a stereotype.
Bollywood has a long tradition of doing the south dirty - turning entire distinct cultures into caricatures, punchlines, and accents.
And the latest addition to this parallel south Indian universe? Janhvi Kapoor in Param Sundari. A half-Malayali girl, introducing herself as ‘Thekkapetta’ Sundari Damodaran Pillai.
In Malayalam, “thekkapetta” literally translates to “ironed out.” And colloquially means, “tragically dumped.”
So basically, Sundari’s name translates to “Dumped Beauty.”
A multimillion-rupee production house. And nobody bothered to Google it.
Unless, the makers named her “Thekkeppaattil”, a popular family name, and she tragically mispronounced it.
Now this isn’t representation. It’s an ignorant parody.
And this isn’t new at all, especially for Bollywood.
Let me explain.
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