Param Sundari movie review: Sidharth Malhotra’s Param is no Rocky Randhawa and this is no 2 States

He is from the north, she is from the south, and amid cultural differences and language barriers, they fall in love. The tale of 2 states has been one of Indian cinema’s favourite themes. In recent years, there have been 2 States which were incidentally based on writer Chetan Bhagat’s life, and two years back, Rockky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani-where a Punjabi hero wooed a Bengali girl with all his loud Punjabiyat. Maddock Film’s latest Param Sundari, helmed by director Tushar Joshi, falls in a similar bracket but gets stuck in an attempt to be woke. The film, starring Sidharth Malhotra as Param and Janhvi Kapoor as Sundari, attempts too many things in one go and thereby makes an utter chaos of the film. It is neither too funny, nor too unique – with dollops of predictability thrown in. So, whatever you had expected the film to be (read a middling affair) after watching the trailer, it matches all of them and then some more.

Plot of Param Sundari movie

Param is an aimless rich boy who only knows how to sink his father’s money in one dubious start up after the other. Param is sold the idea of a new dating app which claims to find soulmates based on frequencies and data. Param is sceptical of the product but is told to try it for himself for a month before investing in it. The app tells him, his soul mate is in Kerala running a homestay with not much carbon footprint on her. Param and his friend Jaggi (Manjot Singh) end up travelling to a remote village in Kerala to meet Sundari, the owner and caretaker of the homestay.

Param, a man who is heavily driven by AI and data, is convinced Sundari is his soulmate. She on the other hand is initially put off by the two North Indian men, who have zero knowledge of her culture and generalize everyone as ‘South Indians’.

While Sundari slowly warms up to Param, there are hurdles that the two need to cross. One of Param’s father, who has set a timeline on him or else return to the family business in Delhi, then of a childhood friend who is unexpectedly announced as Sundari’s groom-to-be by her uncle. And while they know that they have feelings for each other, the odds are against them.

What does not work

Written by Tushar Jalota and Aarsh Vora, the film attempts to show the beautiful culture of Kerala but is so tone deaf that it becomes unintentionally funny. For years, Bollywood has failed in the correct representation of regions beyond Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab and Maharashtra. Param Sundari is no different. Kapoor’s forced South Indian accented Hindi is a put-off; her monologue, distinguishing the fou,r eventually falls flat because the film’s cultural appropriation overpowers its wokeness. While it casually slips in how Kerala has a high literacy rate, its beautiful, lush landscape - it stereotypes every character who belongs to that state. The story is set in Kerala, and the film ticks all the stereotypes that Bollywood can think of. Bearded scruffy men in Mundu chasing the white skin north Indian hero with sickles in hand, overtly sexual energies of the women, the constant breaking into native language and then speaking heavy accented Hindi- it's all there. At one point, just to spite Param, Sundari takes him to a practice session of Kalaripayattu and makes him fight the best there. So unnecessary and so inappropriate to the narrative.

A boat race thrown here, a Mohiniattam recital there- some landscape shots of falls and backwaters- and Bollywood’s tone deaf makers feel that Kerala is wonderfully represented. It, of course, ultimately relies on the North Indian hero to lead and win the annual boat race. So what if he is flawed and behaves like a complete stalker and almost lured their girl into falling for him based on a bogus app? He is ultimately the hero and thus suddenly their own.

In fact, Sundari’s uncle- a patriarch of the village and her family- arbitrarily decides when Param is an outsider and minutes later an insider, without him doing any exceptional or unusual to win his heart. Guess the North Indian good looks come in handy.

The writing is all over the place. At one point Jaggi asks Param ‘Plan Kya hai (What's the plan) echoing the thoughts of the audience who have to figure out what the plot is and what the plot twist is.

The actors

Sidharth Malhotra plays a cocky Punjabi brat who is confused in love and life. But the man has limited talent in the acting department, uses his hands too much and is not a patch on Ranveer Singh, who had famously played Rocky Randhawa in KJo’s film. The template is simila,r and Malhotra is not half as charming, not even goofy. His Param is an average Joe who flexes muscles, shows off his well-toned biceps and legs (lots of shots of him running in shorts for no reason,) and somewhere amid all the running falls for the gorgeous Sundari.

While Param has reasons to fall for the self-made Sundari, not sure how Sundari gets attracted to Param. Janhvi Kapoor plays the role well; her accent may be off, but a film that has not put much thought into its actors or the plot, an accent is the least of the concerns. Kapoor attempts to deliver an earnest performance and looks stunning, but a bad script fails her.

The film also suffers from predictability and goes completely haywire with its story in the second half. You really don’t know why Sundari is keen to be with Param and not her cute Doctor fiancé. He is far more intelligent, has a job, and is considerate of her feelings, unlike our hero, who doesn’t even dare to openly confess his feelings.

What works

The songs and the cinematography are the only two factors that can draw the crowd to theatres. Composed by Sachin-Jigar, the songs, especially Pardesiya, are all soulful and hummable. Santhana Krishnan Ravichandran captures the beautiful Kerala in all its glory- at one point it almost feels like a Kerala tourism ad.

Final Verdict

It’s a middling, predictable romantic film. Param Sundari doesn’t offer anything that one has not seen already. A half-hearted attempt at being culturally woke costs this one a lot, making the film terribly tone deaf and predictable.

Param Sundari is now running in theatres all across India.

Param Sundari cast and crew details

Director: Tushar Jalota

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Janhvi Kapoor, Renji Panicker, Siddhartha Shankar, Manjot Singh, Sanjay Kapoor, Inayat Verma

Music director: Sachin–Jigar, Jigar Saraiya, Sachin Sanghvi, Sachin-Jigar

Producer: Dinesh Vijan