Jyotika talks about the stereotypical portrayal of South Indians in Bollywood.
Jyotika made her comeback to Bollywood films with Ajay Devgn, R Madhavan-starrer Shaitaan, and was recently seen in Srikant. In a recent interview, she talked about the stereotypical potrayal of South Indians in Bollywood.
In a conversation with Hindustan Times, Jyotika admitted that even today, Bollywood often sticks to stereotypical portrayals of South Indians and said, “I agree some things are done over-the-top there, we love the Idli-Sambar, and we love action films, but sometimes how it is depicted here is definitely overdone. We’ve had actors in Hindi also, like Rajkumar, who have had their own style of overdoing things. But Rajini sir has been taken to another level. It might be done in good spirits but frankly, they do get it wrong most of the time.”
Jyotika also added that the north-south divide has now ended and recalled the time when North made fun of South cinema with Rajinikanth memes and said, “When I went to the South, I saw that people there weren’t watching Hindi films much. And when I came North, I saw a lot of fun being made in the South industry with the Rajinikanth memes and all sorts of things. It was sad to see that there was this huge bar between both worlds.”
However, she added how now the scenario has changed and said, “On the sets of Shaitaan, me and (actor) R Madhavan were given so much respect. Ajay (Devgn, actor) made us feel equal to him and the team recognized us as big actors from the South, instead of thinking of us as regional actors. We could see love for the South that had penetrated through Bollywood, and it was mutual.”
Meanwhile, Jyotika will be next seen in the series Dabba Cartel which also stars Shabana Azmi, Gajraj Rao, Lilette Dubey, Anjali Anand, Sai Tamhankar, Shalini Pandey, Jisshu Sengupta and Nimisha Sajayan. Helmed by Hitesh Batia, the series has been produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidwani’s Excel Entertainment. The crime drama has been created by Shibani Akhtar, Gaurav Kapur, Akanksha Seda and Vishnu Menon and will be released on Netflix this year.
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