Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra responded to the comparisons being made between their upcoming romantic-drama, Param Sundari and Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone’s 2013 comedy-drama, Chennai Express.

In Param Sundari, Janhvi plays the role of a girl from Kerala while Sidharth plays a North Indian guy. When the film’s trailer came out, social media users found visual parallels between the film and Chennai Express. However, in a recent interview, Janhvi said that their film exists in a different milieu altogether.

“It’s a hit movie, and it is an iconic movie. But Deepika played a Tamilian in the film, which if you think about it is a generalisation happening from the people who are comparing the two films. I am from Kerala in the film, and not all people from the South can be grouped together. It’s a different milieu altogether, and it’s not like that this is a repetitive thing at all. 2 States was similar, but it came before Chennai Express, and these kinds of films aren’t being released every year. Anyways people aren’t comparing us to something that needs to be forgotten, Chennai Express was an iconic film, with iconic characters and actors,” Janhvi told Mirchi Plus.

Sidharth added, “We don’t mind the comparison at all, I think it is a compliment. I love that film, and I am a fan of Rohit Shetty films. People remember certain things due to the nostalgia factor that is connected to them, even though I don’t think that the two films are the same. Shah Rukh sir didn’t exactly play a guy from Delhi, and they were definitely not in Kerala, and Janvhi is playing a half Malayalam half Tamilian in the film, but it is definitely a compliment being compared to it.”

Param Sundari also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Renji Panicker, Manjot Singh, Siddhartha Shankar and Inayat Verma. It has been directed by Tushar Jalota. The film is set to be released in theatres on August 29.