Click to play videoNew Delhi: Bollywood film Ek Duje Ke Liye starring Kamal Hassan and Rati Agnihotri, is a love story that still brings a lump to your throat.
The 1981 super hit film exemplifies the traditional divide that's marked the north and south of India. The boy is south Indian vegetarian and can't speak Hindi, and the girl is Punjabi, meat eating and loves the south Indian boy next door. And since there was too much of a culture difference, the parents of the two were dead against the match.
But 25 years on, if someone wanted to remake Ek Duje Ke Liye, the script would have to change completely.
In some myth breaking findings by a CNN-IBN and Deccan Herald survey, it is revealed that 69 per cent south Indian parents wouldn’t mind if their children married north of the Vindhyas.
However, north Indian parents are a bit less supportive at 52 per cent incase their kids decide to marry their southern neighbours.
“I think the north Indian has stereotypes which companies like Infosys are changing. Once upon a time, a north Indian thought – if my daughter marries a south India, he’ll be a vegetarian, he’ll be fat. But now he’ll have a job in Infosys,” says historian Ramachandra Guha.
There is some more bad news for the remake because 95 per cent south Indians say that they want Hindi. Infact, 36 per cent of those who live in their home states and 63 per cent of those who live outside feel that the national language should be made compulsory. But does that mean it is the end of the anti-Hindi movement in the south?
“The youngsters want to learn Hindi because it enlarges the job opportunities otherwise if they only know Tamil, they’ll just be restricted to Tamil Nadu,” says editor of Tughlaq, Cho Ramaswamy.
The survey was conducted across seven states and 15 cities and more than 2,500 people were interviewed to gauge how far the north, south divide has been bridged.
Some other interesting findings are that 47 per cent of south Indians feel they are more intelligent than the north Indians and the rest of India seems to agree with them.
But it's food where the frontiers seem to be collapsing. Thirty-nine per cent of south Indians love butter chicken and naan while almost 60 per cent of north India is addicted to idly and sambhar.
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