Priyamani Feels Bollywood Used To Stereotype South Indians, Says Things Are Finally Changing!
Priyamani shared how there has been a ¡®dearth¡¯ of proper representation of South Indian characters in Hindi films after actors such as Sridevi, Rekha, and Hema Malini.
Actress Priyamani, who made heads turn with her performance in The Family man, opened up on Bollywood stereotypes. In the latest interview, Priyamani spoke about how people from Kerala or Chennai were shown with weird Hindi accents.
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Priyamani shared how there has been a ¡®dearth¡¯ of proper representation of South Indian characters in Hindi films after actors such as Sridevi, Rekha, and Hema Malini.
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Drawing a comparison on how things used to be and how they're finally changing, Priyamani spoke to Bollywood Hungama and said,
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¡°Finally, the talent in the South is also getting recognised. Earlier, we had people like Sridevi, Rekha, Hema, Malini, Vyjayanthimala, who ruled Bollywood. And then there was a dearth¡ you know. We have only Hindi-speaking actors in Bollywood and they used to sort of portray South Indians ¨C could be somebody from Chennai, could be somebody from Kerala ¨C 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.¡±
She added that she is relieved that the representation is finally evolving, and we see an overload of South Indian characters. Priyamani added,
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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."
Priyamani has starred in several language films, including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada films.
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Priyamani also starred in Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone's 2013 movie Chennai Express. She gained popularity in mainstream Bollywood after playing Manoj Bajpayee's wife in both seasons of 'The Family Man.'
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