North Meets South, Clichés Meet Screen: Kerala Endures Yet Again! A tired cross-cultural romance that recycles clichés, Param Sundari offers postcard Kerala aesthetics and glossy stars but little originality, leaving audiences with déjà vu rather than a fresh cinematic experience. Arnab Banerjee reviews the film and gives it 1.5/5 stars.

Param Sundari, directed by Tushar Jalota and starring Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor, attempts a North-meets-South romance but falls flat. Laden with clichés, forced chemistry, and predictable tropes, the film struggles despite Kerala’s beauty, sidekick humour, and forgettable music. At 136 minutes, this Bollywood rom-com offers visual delight but little substance, proving yet again that cross-cultural love stories need more than recycled stereotypes and surface spectacle.  

Bollywood’s Obsession with Diversity

India’s diversity has long been the go-to spice rack for Bollywood romances, and our filmmakers haven’t missed a single masala. From Raanjhanaa to Two States and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, we've seen lovers playing Romeo and Juliet across caste lines, language barriers, and angry elders wielding moral outrage like a family heirloom. So, it’s no surprise that Param Sundari joins the tradition—this time with a Punjabi munda and a Malayali miss, thrown together in a cross-cultural curry that aims to be spicy but ends up more sambhar-lite.

Directed by Tushar Jalota and produced by the ever-busy Dinesh Vijan under Maddock Films, the film stars Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor looking as genetically blessed as you’d expect, even when pretending to bicker over dosa sambhar versus butter chicken.

The premise? Classic rom-com bingo. Sidharth’s Param is a Delhi-based tech bro who hasn’t quite cracked the startup game—or his father’s patience. Played by Sanjay Kapoor (still in peak “stern dad” form), the patriarch challenges Param to make a dating app work within a month or quit the entrepreneur life and join the family business (presumably one that sells disappointment and passive aggression).

Enter “Find My Soulmate,” an app that sounds like a knockoff of Tinder with a Sanskrit degree. Param and his bros beta-test it by matching him with Sundari (Janhvi Kapoor), a Mohiniyattam-loving homestay owner from Cochin who has zero time for tech bros, but plenty of time for twirling in monsoon rain.

Cue the usual suspects: Kerala’s lush backwaters, sudden church visits, a token Onam celebration, and awkwardly inserted games of tug-of-love. Param woos, Sundari pouts, and fate pretends to be invested. Just when the story threatens to drown in coconut oil, in walk the side characters—Manjot Singh as the loyal BFF and Renji Panicker as the grumpy uncle—who briefly infuse the film with some much-needed chutzpah.

By the third act, we land in a diet-Dilwale Dulhania climax, where the lovers stare longingly across cultural divides (and a conveniently placed elephant), just long enough for the violins to kick in. 

Culture on Cue, Chemistry Missing

And here’s the problem: the romance feels less like a spark and more like a forced software update. One minute Param is pitching startups, the next he's reciting half-baked philosophy: “Kisi mahapurush ne kaha hai kahin na kahin, koi na koi har kisi ke liye bana hai.” (Great, Param. Got any more mahapurush quotes, or just that one?) Tribute to the Badshah? Well, there are a few references one can’t miss. 

While the first half coasts along on Kerala’s postcard aesthetics—coconut trees, mundus, backwaters, obligatory drunk Malayali uncle—it quickly becomes a visual checklist. Kalaripayattu shows up to flex by the 35-minute mark, with Ayurveda waiting politely in the wings. By the time Mohiniyattam and Kathakali crash the party, even the subtitles seem tired.

Naturally, no filmi romance is complete without a musical montage, and here Sachin-Jigar take the reins. Sonu Nigam and Krishnakali Saha deliver a pleasant, if unmemorable, ballad with Pardesiya, and Shreya Ghoshal and Adnan Sami try their best to seduce the audience with Bheegi Saree. Unfortunately, the tunes feel more like elevator music for a wedding planner’s office—pleasant, but instantly forgettable once the credits roll.  

Performances and Final Word

At 136 minutes, Param Sundari isn’t the worst way to kill an evening. There’s eye candy (human and scenic), a few chuckles courtesy of the sidekicks, and a well-meaning attempt to bridge cultural divides. But if you’ve seen one inter-community love story where parents fume and lovers swoon, you’ve seen this too. Only this time, it comes with an app—and not even one that works.

Sidharth Malhotra gives it a shot, but remains trapped in his default ‘too-cool-to-emote’ mode—like a screensaver with abs. Meanwhile, Janhvi Kapoor turns up in full glam mode, all smoky eyes and slow-mo hair flips. It’s a bit much, but to be fair, she does manage to smoulder her way into a few memorable moments. Siddhartha Shankar, as Venu—Sundari’s childhood bestie-turned-fiancé—gets far too little screen time to make a real impact, but he makes the most of it with a sharp, charming presence that hints at untapped potential (and possibly a better subplot). 

So, what happens when Punjab meets Kerala (again)? It’s the same old love story, just wrapped in new scenery—coconuts, culture clashes, and courtship galore—as Kerala valiantly fends off yet another Bollywood rom-com invasion.