After making her Telugu debut with Devara: Part 1 in 2024 and trying her hand at Malayalam for the 2025 film Param Sundari, actress Janhvi Kapoor, who is predominantly a Bollywood star, has confessed that Malayalam was no easy feat. The actress is currently gearing up for the release of her second Telugu film Peddi co-starring Ram Charan.
Janhvi reveals why she will not attempt Malayalam
Speaking about how she can now call herself a multilingual actress, considering she knows many languages, and if there are any other languages she wants to learn, Janhvi told IANS, “All of it, really.”
The actress revealed that Malayalam was difficult for her, so she does not see herself attempting it again anytime soon.
“But I don`t think I should attempt Malayalam again because it`s too difficult for me. It`s such a beautiful, sweet language. But I think I`ve been phonetically quite familiar with Tamil and Telugu,” Janhvi said.
She’s enjoying her tryst with Telugu films and wants to explore Tamil movies too.
“So, I`m really enjoying working in Telugu films. I`d love to explore Tamil films as well,” Janhvi concluded.
Peddi is directed by Buchi Babu Sana. The film also stars Boman Irani, Shiva Rajkumar, Janhvi Kapoor, Jagapathi Babu, and Divyenndu. The film is finally releasing on June 4.
About Param Sundari trolling
The film which also starred Sidharth Malhotra in the lead was criticised for its portrayal of Malayalees. Janhvi`s diction and Malayalam dialogue delivery was also criticised and trolled. An influencer while critiquing the film wrote on social media, ““Poor diction can sometimes be forgiven, but here, the Malayalam words itself aren’t clear or correct. The film was shot in Kerala on a massive budget. Why couldn’t the makers spend a fraction of that money on hiring a local dialect coach? Also, in the scene where Janhvi introduces herself as Theykkapetta Sundari Damodaran Pillai, the result is unintentionally hilarious as in Malayalam, ‘Theykkapetta’ is slang for someone dumped. The surname is wrong — she pronounces it as ‘Pillai’, whereas in Malayalam, it’s pronounced ‘Pilla’. Bollywood had better options. Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Nithya Menen, Sai Pallavi, or Samantha [Ruth Prabhu] put in effort and respect the languages they work in. They would have done justice to the role.”