The teaser trailer of Meenakshi Sundareshwar was released recently. The movie stars Abhimanyu Dassani and Sanya Malhotra as a young couple navigating their relationship. For a lot of people, this is a typical Indian romcom set in one particular part of the country; in this case, that appears to be Tamil Nadu. The trailer has drawn attention and flak for the wrong reasons.
The Sanya Malhotra & Abhimanyu Dassani (of Mard ko Dard nahi hota fame) releases on Netflix on 5 November 2021. The movie is directed by Vivek Soni and produced by Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Somen Mishra.
The female lead tweeted this quirky film promo about a couple of older gents seeking a matrimonial alliance for what appears to be their daughter/niece.
This promo of the film was tweeted by the male lead of the film.
Trade analyst and film critic Sumit Kadel had this to say about the teaser.
The movie is set in Madurai and many from the region liked the trailer and said they were looking forward to it… including fans of Rajini, it would seem.
It appears from the teaser that this will be a film about a young couple navigating a new relationship, perhaps a long-distance one?
However the trailer received a lot of criticism because of the way that it portrayed the people of the region, the wedding rites and the culture.
How is it that the characters are speaking Hindi if they are Tamil? This Hindi hegemony and the attempt to impose it on states that have no affinity for the language, has rankled for decades now.
Some found this funny, others not so much.
They all eat and dress and live a certain way and temples are central to their existence? North Indians tend to have a very limited understanding of South India and Indians – much like Hollywood has of India.
It is thought that it is mostly upper-caste Tamilians who have had the privilege of being able to migrate to other states and abroad. This is why the idea of the Tambrahm – with their food habits and other customs – being seen as representative of the region. Because of this, other sections of the society are ignored, misunderstood and unrepresented.
The teaser trailer of Meenakshi Sundareshwar suggests that we are going to see some social and cultural stereotypes in the film. It plays on the slavish devotion people are supposed to have for Rajinikanth and that is getting frankly tedious now. Then there are the customs and rituals and outfits – everything ‘South Indian’ --- but through the North Indian lens.
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