In recent times, we are getting to see many South Indian actors in Hindi movies and series. From Samantha Ruth Prabhu to Dhanush, there is a pool of talent in the South Indian film industry that is yet to be explored by Bollywood – which, for years, have stereotyped South Indians in their films.
Actor Priyamani, who won hearts with her performance in ‘The Family Man’, spoke about how South Indian characters were made to speak Hindi in Bollywood films. Firstly, Hindi-speaking actors in Bollywood used to portray South Indians (Deepika in Chennai Express for example) and they spoke Hindi funnily on-screen, Priyamani thinks.
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Hindustan Times quoted her saying:
“Finally, the talent in the South is also getting recognised. There was a time when earlier we had people like Sridevi, Rekha, Hema Malini, Vyjayanthimala, who ruled Bollywood. And then there was a dearth. We have only Hindi-speaking actors in Bollywood and they used to sort of portray South Indians – could be somebody from Chennai, could be somebody from Kerala – they used to portray them as people who used to not speak Hindi in the normal way – ‘Aiyo, kaisa ji, kya bolta ji’- like that.”
However, Priyamani added that with time, this has changed. Now, Bollywood is using professionals from South India in their films who are making a successful name for themselves and getting their due.
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“I’ve also seen a lot of films like that and I used to think to myself that South Indians don’t speak Hindi like that. But you know, maybe it’s their version. Maybe they have come across some people who did speak Hindi like that. And after a point, they stopped that and started getting South technicians to Bollywood. And, we saw a surge of a lot of South Indian technicians coming to Bollywood and making their mark successfully. And right now, I’m very happy that finally South talent is also getting recognised here in Bollywood and South stars are also getting their due.”
Do you agree with what Priyamani has to say? Tell us!