Surya, sitting across the hall, stood up. “I refuse, Ajji. She speaks Kannada like a robot with a dead battery. I cannot marry a foreigner who mocks our mother tongue.”

This article is part of a series on decoding cultural tropes in South Indian cinema. For more analyses of Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu romantic storylines, subscribe to our newsletter.

: A common resolution in these storylines involves the couple overcoming initial resentment. For example, in