Tamilians object to ‘stereotyping’ in Meenakshi Sundareshwar trailer: ‘Please leave us alone’

The teaser for Meenakshi Sundareshwar was released on Wednesday. It stars Sanya Malhotra and Abhimanyu Dassani as a young couple in Tamil Nadu, trying to make their relationship work through long distance. 

However, after the trailer’s release, many Tamilians have objected to the way their culture has been stereotyped once again by a Hindi movie. Some have mentioned how Tamilian don’t ‘speak like this’ or have a shrine for actor Rajinikanth at their home.

“Meenakshi Sundareshwar really! may be its high time #karanjohar or any director could hv taken #tamilian for such script! You ought to get into the nuance our very traditions. it can’t be phoney every time! Be it #twostates, you have let us down! #hindicinema #Bollywood grow up,” wrote a person on Twitter. “Bollywood, I have one question for you – why can’t you leave us alone,” asked another person.

“I dont know when will bollywood understand that all Tamil’s are not brahmins. All Tamil’s are not veg eaters. Even brahmins wont dress and talk like this now a days. And not all tamil songs are folk songs. And stop ur obsession with our superstar,” read a tweet. “Less than 10 seconds into the video and I already know they did not do any research,” wrote a person, commenting on the wedding scene from the teaser.

“Insert Tamil songs, Tamil icons and Tamil culture (grossly stereotyped) to get some eyeballs, but the characters only speak in Hindi!! Chennai is just 2 hours away by flight from Bombay, one visit would have made the makers realise what an atrocity this is,” read another tweet.

While many Twitter users were unhappy, others did praise Sanya and Abhimanyu and are looking forward to the movie. “Excellent teaser which gives me real experience of good content,” wrote one. “This is going to be best film. I just can’t wait till November 5th to watch this,” wrote another.

Helmed by Vivek Soni, Meenakshi Sundareshwar is all set to release on Netflix on November 5. It is produced under Karan Johar’s banner Dharmatic Entertainment.