Nani was in Karnataka recently to promote his upcoming film The Paradise, but one conversation at the event ended up getting more attention than expected. While talking about his character’s hairstyle, the actor got into a playful exchange with a few reporters about braids, hairfall and how women maintain their hair.
Nani plays Jadal in The Paradise, directed by Srikanth Odela. Talking about the braids his character wears in the film, he said, “Nobody is wearing braids nowadays. Women look beautiful in braids. You should all go back to braids.”
He then pointed at a female reporter and said, “See, you’re not wearing braids. Our mothers would always braid their daughters’ hair. Somewhere, we are getting influenced by Western culture. Let’s go back
to braids. I hope Jadal starts that trend.”
The reporter laughed and pointed out that men these days are also growing their hair. Nani then remembered how girls in his school used to have thick hair. He went on to say, “Nowadays, hairfall is happening because you’re not putting braids. Put braids, put oil, then you’ll have strong hair like Jadal.”
Another reporter then joked that women might have listened to Nani if he had actually grown his own hair for the film instead of wearing a wig.
Nani laughed and asked, “Who am I?” When the reporter said he was a man, he asked her what he did for a living. She replied that he was an actor, to which Nani said, “And that’s what I did.”
The reporter then explained that women often don’t have the time to spend maintaining their hair and that looking good can be difficult when you’re busy. Nani agreed and said, “I understand your problem. I have been struggling with this for a year and a half now. Heavy respect for all women.”
The exchange was clearly meant to be light-hearted, but people online had very different reactions to it. Some found the conversation funny, while others felt Nani shouldn’t be telling women how they should wear their hair.
One X (formerly Twitter) user reacted, “Meanwhile them wearing shorts and baniyan s all the fking time at all the fking place…they don’t even what were the cultural outfits of ancient men..”
Another joked about Nani linking braids to hairfall, writing, “Who’s gonna talk about hard water in shower?”
Someone else wrote, “Juttu unte memu veskuntam,lenapudu mem em chesedi (If we had hair, we’d already be doing it. What are we supposed to do with no hair?)”
Another X user said, “ehe mee opinions mee deggara unchukondi saar. idhantha enduku meeku. asalu endhi mee problem asalu. (Keep your opinions to yourself. Why do you care and what’s your issue?) it takes effort and time and practice to do braids and we have more important stuff to focus on now than “braids”.”
Nani’s use of a wig in The Paradise also became part of the jokes online. One user wrote, “Put braids enti put braids. techi pettukomantunnadenti. Niku juttu ledhu kabatti you putted. (What do you mean put braids? Why’s he asking us to grow hair. Because you don’t have hair, you used a wig) They have hair and they will braid their hair if they fking wanted to. STF Nani. Promote your work just by talking about your work,”
Another user focused on his comment about Western culture and wrote, ““getting influenced by western culture” i can’t believe he actually said that.”
The Paradise also stars Kayadu Lohar, Mohan Babu and Raghav Juyal. The film is directed by Srikanth Odela and is set to release in theatres on September 24.
