Recently, actor Janhvi Kapoor was being trolled on social media for saying “Bharat Mata ki jai” (Long live India) during a dahi handi event on the occasion of Janmashtami. She attended the event to promote her upcoming film Param Sundari along with her co-star Sidharth Malhotra. In a video, going viral on social media, Janhvi can be seen bursting a dahi handi with a coconut and saying “Bharat Mata ki jai”. To this, many commented that the actor need not have said it since it was a religious and not a patriotic celebration.
Now, Janhvi took to her social media to reply to the trolls. She shared the full video from the event which shows the host saying “Bharat Mata ki jai” and Janhvi merely repeating it. “Just for context, full video lol. Unke bolne ke baad nahi bolti toh problem, aur bolo toh bhi video ko kaat ke meme material (laughing face emoji). (If I hadn’t said the slogan after him, it would have been a problem, and now that I said it, then they cut the video and make it meme material),” she wrote below the video.
“Waise sirf Janmashtami ke din nahi roz bolungi Bharat Mata ki Jaiiiiii! (folded hands, Indian flag emojis). (By the way, not just on Janmashtami, I will say it every day, Bharat Mata ki Jai.)” she added. The actor even gave a speech in Marathi at the event, where she asked people to watch her film on August 29.
Janhvi and Sidharth’s Param Sundari, directed by Tushar Jalota, is a love story between a Punjabi boy and a Malayali girl. The Maddock Films production has also been receiving flak for the “inauthentic” portrayal of Malayalis and their culture in the film. Recently, Malayalam singer Pavithra Menon took to social media to express her disappointment with the casting of Janhvi in the film.
In a short video shared on Instagram, which was re-uploaded after being deleted by the social media giant, Pavithra had said, “I'm a Malayali and I watched the trailer of Param Sundari, and want to really address this — what's the problem in hiring a proper Malayali actor? Are we less talented? She is doing Mohiniattyam only. This doesn’t happen in Kerala. I can talk in Hindi fluently as well just like I can speak Malayalam. Is it so hard to find a Malayali to play the role in a Hindi film?”
"You know, we have also done some things like that in 90s Malayalam films when we had to show Punjabis doing ‘Balle, balle, balle’. Now it’s 2025. I think everybody knows how a Malayali talks and how they are as normal as anybody else. We don't wear just jasmine flowers and do Mohiniyattam everywhere, and walk around the office and house. Please, it is a request. If you cannot say Thiruvananthapuram then please just say Trivandrum, we will be happy,” added Pavithra, who is a playback singer and RJ based in Dubai.
Speaking about her character in the film earlier, Janhvi had said, “She is deeply personal to me. Her grace, quiet strength, and love for her roots resonate with my own South Indian heritage. Shooting in Kerala, surrounded by such beauty, I felt an emotional connection to her world that I hope the audience will feel too.”
Param Sundari is set to be released in theatres on August 29.
