Stereotypism that went wrong

The other day I happened to stop browsing the channels on one that was playing “Ra One”. Am not a fan of SRK but there are some things I like about him. What was just not acceptable in the movie was this scene where the original SRK is eating noodles mixed with curd as “curd rice”. Gross dis-respect to a whole community ! Granted that most Tamilians love their “thair saadam” but this is taking stereotyping to the extreme. Bollywood has always made caricatures of Tamilian characters – ofcourse majority in the vast united country of ours don’t know that all the folks who live south of the Vindhyas are not “Madrasis” just as Madrasis won’t know that all North Indians are not Punjabis.

I am a Tamilian and I speak Hindi better than most native speakers of the language can and I call Delhi home but I am equally proud of my Tamilian lineage. Why reduce Tamilians to a caricature ? Bollywood is no judge of culture ! And no Tamilian will mix curd with noodles to eat as “thair saadam”.

Also SRK – get your Tamil dialogues dubbed going forward, a superstar playing the role of a Tamilian nerd pronouncing “dhosa” for a “thosai” looks silly !! And for heaven sake don’t belittle eating habits incorrectly…. It’s ok to laugh at a fellow Indian’s style of eating but not when it’s not the right style 🙁

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