Stereotyping in Indian Films- How long will it continue?
By now its common knowledge that RGV and Vivek Oberoi are re-uniting for Rakta Charitra, a biopic on Paritala Ravi, the dreaded factionalist leader of A.P who was shot down a few years ago. But what is making me look forward to the project is to see if RGV is able to carry off the transition of factional A.P politics and associated violence conveniently into a mainstream Hindi movie. After all it’s not easy to make a transition of this sort without avoiding the typical stereotypes seen in Indian cinema. And no the stereotyping is not a prerogative of Bollywood or any particular regional language cinema; it can be seen usually across Indian cinema. India is growing, developing, changing for the better as a country so why should we still allow the kind of stereotyping that has existed in Indian cinema for ages?
To drive across my point I would definitely look at some of the more common stereotypes seen in Indian cinema with some relevant examples wherever possible.
1.Most South Indian characters are just ‘Madrasis’ who keep saying ‘ayyayyo ayyayyo’- Well right from Mehmood in Padosan to Satish Kaushik in Saajan Chale Sasural or Shreyas Talpade in Golmaal Returns, South Indian characters are mainly shown as caricatures who speak pathetic Hindi and there is very poor detailing done by the director/writer. When Rohit Shetty, a South Indian himself cannot differentiate between a Tamilian & a Telugu personality, what more should I say? In case you do not understand what I say- just watch Golmaal Returns. Shreyas Talpade and Celina Jaitley play Tamilian characters in the movie, but whenever Shreyas is excited- he starts singing- ‘Aa Ante Amalapuram’ a popular song from the Telugu hit movie-Arya, now why would you show it this way, unless you don’t have an eye for detailing?
2.Most North Indian characters have to be a ‘sethji’ in a typical South Indian movie and the character is supposed to directly/indirectly elicit laughter from the audience. You can check out countless Tamil movies in particular for the same. Why can’t a North Indian be shown in a regular capacity instead of being shown as a caricature.
3.It’s ok to show the female lead as a North Indian but not the male lead in South Indian movies. Sure it’s fine to show a typical hero falling sometimes in love with the heroine who happens to be from the North, but the reverse hardly happens. I was very happy to see a recent Tamil movie- Abhiyum Naanum (Akasamantha-Telugu) where Trisha the heroine falls in love with a sardar (Ganesh Venkatraman), at least someone is trying to change things being depicted on screen.
4.Regionalism taking precedence over authenticity- In a recent Tamil movie- Arasangam, the protagonist, Vijaykanth speaks in Tamil to all & sundry in places like Assam & even Canada. Since when did everyone start speaking Tamil all over? Or take a recent Telugu movie- Shouryam- a major part of the movie is shot in Kolkata but no body is seen speaking in Bengali or even Hindi for that matter. It looks like everybody speaks in Telugu in Kolkata. Now can’t this be avoided?
5.Shooting abroad- is it necessary every time for every movie? What started off as an attempt to offer something new to the Indian audiences by shooting mainly songs abroad in exotic locations, later gave way to even the whole movie being shot abroad. But now I think the phenomenon has become a joke & in a lot of cases you actually wonder as to why was the movie shot abroad. Some recent examples of the same include- Yuvvraj and Tasveer 8*10.Did the story in these movies actually have anything compelling for the makers to shoot it overseas instead of basing it in India & shooting it here?
The above given stereotypes are just some of the more commonly seen ones. But the list is definitely not exhaustive. I feel that the issue of stereotyping is avoided as far as possible by people who believe in detailing to the best extent possible. Here I’m referring to people like a Manirathnam,Vishal Bharadwaj,Cheran,Anurag Kashyap etc.These are the people who can by way of getting into detailing take care and avoid stereotypes to the best extent possible.
On a parting note let me remind you all about one of one of my favorite scenes from Indian cinema which shows how detailing can really heighten a scene and virtually avoid any type of stereotyping.
The scene is from Roja (Tamil) after Arvind Swamy has been captured by the militants and he finds himself face to face with their leader, Pankaj Kapur. When Pankaj Kapur questions Arvind in Tamil, he is very much intrigued and wants to know how Pankaj knows Tamil. To this Pankaj Kapur calmly replies that he studied (B.SC) Agriculture from Tamilnadu Agricultural University,Coimbatore and learnt Tamil during those days in college. A great scene conceived and developed by a master story teller/director.
So when do we get to see more and more of the stereotypes being given a farewell in Indian cinema?
Note- My attempt here has been to generally look at stereotyping in Indian films & comment on why we cannot bid goodbye to them. It’s not an attempt to talk about any particular movie or personality over here. Feel free to write on some of the other stereotypes that you feel exist in Indian cinema, after all the list is rather long.
Tags: Abhiyum Naanum, Anurag Kashyap, Arvind Swamy, Mani Rathnam, mehmood, pankaj kapur, rgv, Rohit Shetty, Roja, Satish Kaushik, shreyas talpade, Tasveer 8*10, Trisha, Vijaykanth, vivek Oberoi, Yuvvraj
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Nice article Sethu.The people who championed the right to keep mind outside theater halls are stereotyping the characters, plot and everything. They can spend crores in shooting foreign location but cann’t keep bunch of good writers to sort out minor details and put crative ideas in the movie. But farewell to stereotypes from mainstream is quite hard as long as cinema is considered as medium of non sense entertainment, not mind applying thing.
@yayaver- I know its a tough ask,I’m just trying to do my bit by sounding it off.and yes its a promise that if @ all I make a movie,I would try to steer away from these stereotypes.Also would try to convince as many others as possible.Hope we see more and more people getting out of the rut soon.
Sethumadhavan!
dude, why do you have to get into these laborious exercises of explaining your stance to everyone in every article of yours? It is almost as if some is going to tear you down and in whose fear you get into these extra cautious, play safe, touch-me-not zone. Just take a chill pill. Aren’t you insulting your readers by explaining your tone and stance every single time? It almost always dilutes the pains you take to detail everything. As such your articles reek of plain reporting, nevertheless very very detailed and I must add sometimes adding points others might be missing. You have developed a followership dude, and don’t lose it with these sigh inducing end notes and irritating disclaimers of yours.
Now please don’t come up with smart-alecky statements like “discuss the content, I am ready to take it, not the font or format”, “if you don’t like it, don’t read it”… Despite what I said your articles touch a raw chord somewhere, and more often than not they are a good read. Don’t spoil it dude. Sincere suggestion.
Take a stance stick to it, good or bad. Remain neutral. Your choice. Please don’t explain. It is as disgusting as background scores in movies which tell the viewer how to view a particular scene. I have repeated myself but you get the drift.
Nice one! I would agree with mostly. Though you probably dont have to actually do a agricultural course in a particular state to reflect a person from there. You just need an eye to observe and learn.
For example Naseerudin shah has played more parsi roles (I can think of atleast 4)than any parsi might have played. And he is bloody convincing.
But yah you are right mostly the effort to observe and learn in not there. But you will have to concede that all the example you gave except golmaal were unsucessful so the junta has already echoed your thoughts:)
I am not good on my knowledge of the south industry so take my last line with a pinch of salt
Some more films unnecessarily set in Foreign locations: Salaam Namaste, Ta Ra Rum Pum (Actually most Yash Raj films), Race, Bhagam Bhag, Gangster-A Love Story, Murder, Most Vikram Bhatt films, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Golmaal Returns etc
Sethu..you do hit bullseye on ‘Madrasi’ and ‘Sethji’…Another aspect is the inherent lack of understanding and respect for each other that brings in such thing..Speaking the language of the film is also strange…I never knew everyone in Al Jazeera speaks urdu/hindi..or Vijaykanth and Wasim Khan exchange fiery Tamil dialogues…
@ Ram- yes it does get irritating to find these things happening repeatedly.
@ Sanjeev- There are so many films shot unnecessarily abroad & yes some of the examples pointed by you definitely are part of it.
@ Nick- maybe you are refering to the the failure of Yuvvraj & Tasveer 8 *10.All the other movies mentioned by me ( including the South Indian movies ) in my article are all successful.
even the parsi & gujju community have been victims since eternity. good one sethu.
Magik- oh! yes, its surprising why even now the Parsi & Gujju community have to be portrayed in this way- I seriously dont find it funny any more.
Today in any office,college or any other place where you have hordes of people you find junta from all over the country & of different habits & types.But why is it that a lot of our filmmakers just tend to ignore it all?
Well, sethu, you cant really analyze a vijayakanth movie that way. Authenticity is not one of their stated goals. I mean, the Khans speaking in tamil part. Vijaykanth;’s core audience or interior TN lower middle class people, you cant detail a scene in Hindi/Urdu for them just for authenticity’s sake.
Similarly the Golmaal. The audience for that cannot differentiate Telugu/Tamil, so who knows Rohit Shetty was probably pissing on them by passing off telugu as tamil deliberately. Its like “this is enough for you pea-brains. If you came to watch my film, then I assume, you dont have much brains anyway” :-)
Movies with serious aspirations need to be authentic – but the most authentic of them all, Hey Ram, failed in all areas precisely because the characters spoke in an alien language for a significant part of teh film, no matter which version(Hindi, tamil, telugu) of it you saw. So, if you think about it, including Roja, everyone’s made a compromise on language – only guys like Manirathnam throw a sop or two like BSc Agriculutre to keep their fans happy that they ‘detail’.
Kamal’s detailing is unsurpassed – in Virumandi, the Napoleon character is a nayaakar of telugu origin but settled in Madurai for centuries. He says ‘okati ledhu’ instead of ‘em(nv)i ledhu’ as a typical telugh heartland guy of today would. ‘Okati ledhu’ being a literal translation of ‘onnum illai’ into telugu, which fits in with a character who has grown up all his life in a tamil environment but speaks in his ancestral telugu corrupted by the tamil exposure for centuries. Now, thats detailing for you – I bet you havent found that level fo detailing in ANY other Indian movie.
ayyayyo@ 3- yes I did indeed get the drift & no I’m not going to defend myself by resorting to any excuse as a defence.There is certainly some merit in what you’ve written & yes will constantly try to keep improving as I write more and more.
@ plum- indeed the detailing that Kamal went into in Virumandi is indeed commendable.Dunno how I missed it while writing this.Well I dont expect authenticity to the core in Vijaykanth movies usually even if its a Vanjinathan or a Narasimha.But in Arasangam it seriously hit the roof with ‘captain’talking to all & sundry in Assam & Canada in tamil.As for Golmaal Returns- yes probably the Hindi audience cannot distinguish between Tamil & Telugu or for that matter distinguish between any of the 4 South Indian languages- so is that a reason for continuing to make the people ignorant?
Bulls eye on each count. But sometimes such things are needed for authenticity. For example, Yuva is set in Kolkata (Dont know where the tamil one was set). Mani had set out to make a hindi film and it was necessary to place the story in Kolkata, which is the most politically aware state. Similarly, again in Mani’s Guru, the story was first set in Gujarat and then to Mumbai. Again, if a stockbroker’s story has to be told, it would be Gujarat or Mumbai. Similarly, in old hindi movies, a moneylender was invariably a marwari or a pathan, a garage guy would be a muslim and a spare parts shop owner would be a sikh. Thankfully, our hindi/regional actors going abroad never had a gora/gori talk in hindi or in a regional language. Wonder how we avoided that. It would have been too much, I guess
The discussion is old hat and I find no use discussing such things anymore ,a country’s cinema is as informed as the general public ,and hence all the prejudice ,even hollywood where the script is “supposedly well researched” displays remarkable ignorance of other cultures perhaps a testament to an average American’s ignorance about things outside America.
Plus the problem does not lie in poor/lazy research but ignorance ,when a bollywood movie shows that all south indians are “Madrasis” it’s not because people don’t do research but coz they have no idea that four major languages exist down south and they are too close minded to go out and study it.
I will pose a simple question to prove my point….forget South…anybody present here just mention the names of all the states in the North-East ,their capitals and the major languages spoken in there…no googling ,no looking at books ,just straight out of memory ,I bet the accuracy ratio won’t be more than 30%.
I wonder Why Slumdog Millionaire was set in India. It is a british film and could have been set in UK. Or are there just no slums in UK?
hahah vinay.
I really enjoyed this piece, though I personally would have titled it “Stereotyping in South Indian cinema”… Anyway, as you aptly point out in your last paragraph, the list is extensive and it’s impossible to touch on it all. From my POV, I notice that all non-Indians in Hindi cinema speak with an Australian accent – I assume dubbing is done by the same three or four ex-pats who are Aussies – all non-Desi women are pretty much loose and no good and places around the world are substituted easily for others, as in the “Rome” of SLB “Hum Dil De…” which was actually Prague…
He he Nina, in Dasvidaniya, our guy had to go all way to phoren to get laid.
But its not like that in all movies. Remember Chak De had phoren girls, who could all play good hockey.
@Nina…Sethu has included Bollywood also..especially when he speaks about typecasting of a South Indian as a ‘Madrasi’ even when the person would be a telugu guy…or vice versa…as in Golmaal…over all the non-detailed characterization followed in Indian Mainstream cinema…
I never realized it was an Aussie accent, could you please give some desi movie examples, which have non-Indian characters sporting this accent, so that I can register it…and you are spot on with characterization of non-Desi women..
Its true that anachronisms and misrepresentation of places are a norm of Bollywood and Mainstream regional cinema…
“@ plum- indeed the detailing that Kamal went into in Virumandi is indeed commendable”
I do believe that the reason for that is that is homeground for him – the madurai suthu vattaram. It’s like Vishal Bharadwaj making Omkara set in UP(Western?). It is literally home ground for him – and no wonder, he gets the detailing there.
The challenge is when Kamal makes a movie set in a north indian town – I’d like to see what level of detailing goes into that. I suppose it would depend on the scriptwriter and the assistant directors who are exposed to that milieu. More you think of it, good cinema needs extraordinary team work between extraordinary individuals, each of whom has eye for detail, isnt it?
By far, I wouldnt pick on the likes of Golmaal. I’d pick on the Om Shanti Oms. “Enna Rascalla”, a phrase that exists in none of the 4+2) southern languages(including tulu& konkani), or any of the 100’s of dialects of these languages, has become the assumed catchphrase of ‘South Indians’, even in the eyes of rather highly-educated IT professionals from the other parts of the country. Amazing how lazy research can pass of for authenticity.
Vinay, point taken. I wouldnt get 30% right on NE languages but then if I made a movie set there, I’d take pains to get it right. That is what Sethu is talking about – “either do it right, or dont do it at all”, as Baradwaj Rangan once phrased a similar situation.
@ Vinay- Slumdog Millionaire is based on a book of the same name ( earlier titled Q&A ) and that was indeed set in India and so for being authentic they based it in India.
Your examples of Guru or a Yuva are fine, I dont have any problem with it, they looked quite genuine.In fact if you shoot a film like Pardes, then obviously you have to shoot part of the movie abroad which is fine with me.What is not acceptable is shooting it abroad without any logic like in Tasveer 8*10,Yuvvraj or Karzzz!!!
Vineet- point taken, yes a lot of people are ignorant.So do we continue to use ignorance as a reason for not wanting to change?
On a lighter note- I do know the answer to your question on NESA
Nina- yes Ram is right, I’m not pointing out something related to South Indian cinema alone, mentioned things happening in good old Hindi cinema too.Caricaturing South Indians for example or shooting abroad for the heck of it!!!
plum…excellent point…the primary issue is that we dont have a position for a ’script research team’ or a ‘casting director and their team’ in most of the mainstream cinema…that is the reason for all these anomalies
@plum- yes certainly its all about “either do it right or dont do it @ all”.and yes not all can be an expert on knowing the terrain & milieu of all areas across the country, but if someone decides to learn the hard way or take help of experts it still shows you want to do it right.
Sethu, also The Malayali guy in GURU whos house guru threatens to put all his stuff!! it was the most authentic mallu on screen,,, nice post MAN
SID- oh!yes you are refering to the collector-Menon played by Pratap Pothen, a reputed actor/director of Tamil & Malayalam films.glad you liked the post.
@Sethu
good that you know about NE ,atleast someone does.See the two issues are interlinked ,you have been to places and know people which is why you know that your knowledge of the world is limited and to show more you must know more ,but most of the people have what is known as “frog in a well” condition which means that they think what they know is correct ,and no truth exists beyond it ,till the time these set of people keep making movies you will have prejudices.
Going off on a tangent….
Personally I like the Israeli model where young people after finishing their service in the Army are encouraged to go on a one year sabbatical ,to go out and see the world ,I think something similar should be done here(not the service and sabbatical coz the govt can neither implement it nor afford it) where young men and women who can afford a month or two of leave should go out to see the world around them or at least see the rest of India.
one more that comes to mind is the stereotyping of the hero’s friend, a sidekick, with almost always no brains, mainly existing for comic relief and sometimes eventually sacrificing his life or playing a major role in uniting the hero-heroine at the end of the movie.
Thankfully this trend is on the wane in recent years.
@ Vineet- yes I know its off tangent, but yes if people need to have a broader vision about culture,society,people etc then travelling will certainly help & this can help in case of detailing while a film is being made.
@ Sudip- yes thankfully that sterotyping/trend is on the wane.
Sethu: great article, and u know my reason of responsing so late…! some of the other stereotypes i have come across in our movies:
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a new character (generally hero or heroine) reaches a new city, and has to reach point A to B (generally from rly stn to a friend’s home), but he passes thru the whoe city, even though it may not fall within the route at all, just to showcase the beauty / apathy of the chosen city.
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another irritating stereotyping is the parody of bihari (mostly villains saying HUM JAATA HOON) & bengali (mostly comedians talking with a “mouth-full-accent”) characters, speaking in that typical tone in all the movies. even better directors are guilty of this genralisation.
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defence / police officers are generally shown in a random light,without bothering abt the stars or collars that they are supposed to wear commensurating with the rank that they are holding in the movie.
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in Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya (Salman – Kajol movie) the character playing the dad of Arbaaz’s love interest is such a stupid carricature of a retired army colonel, I felt like puking then n there. No officer of Indian Armed Forces can be SO STUPID and BUFFOON..
Jha- looks like you are not in office now seeing your response
but yes jokes apart your examples of stereotyping are valid.Its irritating to see Bihari’s & bongs get caricatured.
and good to know you’ve pointed out Anjala Jhaveri’s dad’s character in Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya.I still remember his face & the horrible hair style.Even I wondered whats wrong with the director!!!
yeah. that was Anjala Jhaveri. i tried to remember it, but didnt want to delay the response.
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hehehehe, im at my client’s office right now….
Glad to note Vinay has mentioned Chak De India in one of his comments above, but I’d like to add that Chak De is notable for having broken some major stereotypes – the scene where the Telugu girl (Nithya?) uses the Punjabi-Bihari analogy to point out the difference between Tamil and Telugu was a virtual watershed in hindi cinema. I’d never have thought any hindi movie would bother to say that! Ditto for the scene involving the peeved girls from the northeast (”apne hi desh mein mehmaan!”).
Although I dont recollect the specific character from “Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya”, I have to say that Armed Forces personal are depicted in the most idiotic manner in our movies. They spend crores in making a movie but cant seem to spend some time in showing the characters as authentic. All the armymen seem to wear the same dress no matter what their rank is. Seems “Batlibhai Dresswaala” has only one design.
@ Geeta- yes CDI did break a lot of stereotypes and it was quite remarkable to see it.
@ Agnostic Indian- hehe I guess you are referring to Maganbhai dresswala
HEY man u r real filmi keeda man i never knew nothin bout that actor(collector-Menon played by Pratap Pothen, a reputed actor/director of Tamil & Malayalam films) thanks for the info friend!!
I have observed that many non mallus think that Mallu movies means Shakeela or soft porn..Many do not know that Malayalam film industry has a thriving commercial,art as well as a porn film industry..Film makers are just taking advantage of lack of GK of public..
finally shakeela makes her debut on pfc! LOL.
Magik…LOL..
Sharath..could not agree more with you…
SID- haan keeda to hai, aur yeh keeda din ba din bada hota ja raha hai
Sharath- yes you are right about the Shakeela,soft porn thing.Actually what has happened over years is that people got to either watch some of the award winning Mallu movies on D.D or got to watch a lot of the soft porn stuff in theatres for ages & felt Mallu movies are either of the ‘art’ film variety or the soft porn variety.So they never realised that there is so much more to Malayalam cinema.
Magik- LOL I wish I could write an entire post on the great “Shakeela”
@Sethu…definitely that would contain perfect…passion for cinema would become fetish for cinema.
Ignorance is the key to all ill. Once we start learning more about others, and go more into details, all the misconceptions including stereotyping will reduce..
Other stereotypes include the evil rich and good poor, the bad politician, horny and cunning Swamijis, Villians with roaring laughter…
Yup, Ram but I wouldnt really be hard on the mainstream movies caricaturing. If, for instance, the aiyaiyo caricature is removed, the reason for a mainstream comedy movie maker like Rohit Shetty to make his character a madrasi is removed. Whole point there is to tickle the average bollywood watcher who thinks anyone south of Vindhyas is madrasi and goes Aiyaiyo. I mean, here’s a filmmaker who is limited. He wants to make a quick buck and his brain can only think of prevailing stereotypes. More power to him. If masses lap up his nonsense,so be it.
There is a broader point about the madrasi caricature – it doesnt even represent tamils as a whole – you find mudaliars, chettiars etc all talking aiyayyo language. So, forget Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, bollywood hasnt even graduated to the whole of tamil nadu in terms of representation in mainstream cinema.
In an ideal world we’ll have script consultants and research teams to get nuances right. But if a film-maker goes to such lengths, it is likely that the product he has to offer isnt “Golmaal Returns”.
@ Ram- agreed ignorance is a bane & thats one of the main reasons for most of the stereotypes still being in circulation.
@ Plum- when someone finds it difficult to distinuguish between the 4 main South Indian languages or distinguish between the people of the 4 Southern states, how do you expect them to distinguish between say Tamilians like Mudaliars,Chettiars,Gounders etc?
Sethu, fair enough. I dont expect them to differentiate. Just as I dont expect Tamil main-strema makers to differentiate Gujaratis, Sindhis and Marathis. The point being it doesnt matter in a commercial movie aimed at the masses. Masses dont come to movies to be educated. But if a movie wants to be taken seriously, then, yes, you expect that they do research. Virumandi is an example of how a pukka commercial movie can be intelligent, authentic, detailed, and in-character.
A mainsteram movie like MMKR gets the accent and nuances right for every character – if a Raju doesnt miss a chennai tamil beat, Kameswaran never ventures beyond pukka palakkad tamil. Ironically, in much-feted bollywood, I am yet to encounter a mainstream that can get even major differenes ebtween languages right, let alone the nuances I am talking about w.r.t MMKR.
(ofcourse, movies like Omkara do that)
For an interesting recent discussion on MMKR, see here:
http://forumhub.mayyam.com/hub/viewtopic.php?t=13018&start=135
Plum- yes Virumandi,MMKR, Omkara or even the recent Gulaal are good examples of detailing enhancing the movie.
Thanks for the link, looks like there’s lot of stuff been discussed about Kamal even prior to this.
Navdeep singh in a old interview did say that when he shot few of Manorama 6 feet..in Rajasthani slang..the producers objected to that and wanted more legible Hindi..something like this..
Naveep correct me if I am wrong..
Detailing is being avoided just for the sake of issues like audience reach..which is maybe logical in marketing terms..from the point of view of the producer and the business men..from the point of view of an artist it is straight denial of right for authenticity
muslims, christians, and sikhs have been stereotyped throughout the history of bollywood. and so have kashmiris, jatts, chinese, africans, europeans/americans. we really need to mature as tolerant society first to get rid of these caricatures.
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chak de india and dor have been two of the most progressive mainstream movies in recent times, if we are to look the way they make statements about regionalism, racism, and religious prejudice. also, dev d gave a major role to a half-white character…and did a fine job detailing her desires and feelings. there are signs of progress.
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nice article btw.
oooh stereotypes i love ‘em…( probably coz i am one)
I got one altough it might be slightly controversial to some if pointed out.
How come in every cross religious love story the girl is a muslim and the guy is a hindu
eg Veer Zaara, Bombay, Heena,Gadar ek Prem Kahani etc
if the guy is muslim then the girl probably is too
eg Sanam Bewafa, Khuda Gawah,…
I think the only example I can find may be Coolie but Amitabh used to play a lot of muslim characteres back in the day.
I even think he’s played more muslims then SRK.
and an example of horrible aussi accents
Traffic Signal ( cringeworthy)
Munnabhai the doctor one
Amir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai
@ Yunus…totally agree. i think it’s the same with a hindu boy and christian girl. the masculine identity feels threatened if the minority ’steals’ their women away. of course, this sense of fear is prevalent in the minority communties too. after all, all men think alike. but to appeal to the majority’s fantasy of masculine dominance, finding a muslim boy and hindu girl in mainstream cinema is almost impossible.
papaji,Yunus- yes your examples are all valid.
And yes we need more & more movies like CDI to demonstrate that detailing works, stereotyping can be avoided and yet the audience reach is not an issue.
But if u do not take some films seriously,stereo typing can also be funny..I loved a scene from Dhamaal where a Tamilian tells his lengthy name to Arshad and Javed in his funny accent and how they become irritated with it..I feel serious filmmakers should be more careful to detailing..
sharath, thats the whole point. That long name fetish is with Telugus, not tamils. Telugus have long names. So, you are validating Sethu’s point. Absolutely no research or authenticity in mainstream bollywood movies.