“Don’t underestimate the power of a common man” is a dialogue from the movie Chennai Express that is often unironically quoted by many of my friends and myself. While this particular Bollywood movie did very well at the box office, it received some amount of criticism and backlash from South Indians, though not without reason. The movie is cliche in more ways than one, with its slapstick comedy and its characterisation of Tamilians. That kind of comedy is what has perpetuated a lot of the stereotypes surrounding south india.Â
Here’s the thing though. I don’t mind a bit of stereotypical, slapstick comedy, because for some reason with Chennai Express, it works. The movie is really hilarious with all its flaws, down to Deepika Padukone’s laughably exaggerated South Indian accent. Nonetheless, as a South Indian myself, I find it a little embarrassing on my part to admit that I don’t mind rewatching Chennai Express occasionally. I guess you could say it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine.Â
I would like to point out that this movie came out in 2013 and one would think Bollywood might have moved past this kind of comedy thirteen years later, but apparently not. A movie called Param Sundari starring Siddharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor released last year, and it may have been one of the worst representations of South India that Bollywood has ever seen. However, after watching Param Sundari, I found myself thinking about why it didn’t gain the same traction that Chennai Express did. Let’s take a look at the most basic parallels in the two films. The same trope of a Punjabi boy falling for a South Indian girl was followed. The boy, in all his love and affection for the girl, follows her to her hometown and fights with her family who disapprove of their love. Both films were meant to be romantic comedies and despite the terrible representation, had renowned South Indian actors on the cast as well. So why is it that one film worked and the other didn’t? I suspect a number of reasons. To start with, the cast in Chennai Express obviously has a lot more star power as opposed to Param Sundari. The comedy somehow felt more relatable and was able to pull in a larger audience.Â
Although, I would say that the way the female leads were shown in both movies were heavily disappointing. Deepika Padukone’s character in her entirety felt like a really poorly put together costume, what with her physical appearance as well as her manner of speaking. Janhvi Kapoor’s character was even more painful to watch. I recall the scene where she randomly climbs a coconut tree in anger, because why wouldn’t she? She’s malayali, they love coconuts in Kerala, and thus climb coconut trees in their free time, don’t they? I emphasise the female leads as they were the main points of contact with South Indian culture in the story. The male leads honestly felt as if they were just there to deliver really cringey, supposedly humorous dialogues. Â
In my opinion, neither movie was made well, belittling South Indians in their own respective manner. It may seem like an obvious comparison that both movies are inevitably different. Despite the same trope, both had completely different premises. The most obvious difference was that Chennai Express was set in Tamil Nadu while Param Sundari was set in Kerala. I also feel like there was an element of timing when it came to the kind of press that each movie received. The year in which Chennai Express was released, social media was still not as prominent as it is now. However, the majority of the backlash for Param Sundari came from online platforms like Instagram. Content creators, especially Malayali influencers did not hold back on conveying their disappointment and criticism for the film. Even though I mentioned that watching Chennai Express as a guilty pleasure of mine, my answer to the question “Chennai Express or Param Sundari?” is neither. Bollywood should really try to move on from its very outdated style of romantic comedies and perhaps not generalise entire communities for humour.Â