Tamil film Dorothy, directed by Karthik Subbaraj and starring Keerthy Suresh, Sanath and Rishikanth in lead roles, released in theatres in September after receiving a standing ovation at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film will now be released in Telugu, with Rana Daggubati announcing it to the press. He also revealed the meaning behind the film’s title, with Chinmayi Sripaada defending the reporter who asked it.
Rana Daggubati explains the title Dorothy
Rana announced in Hyderabad with the team of Dorothy that the film’s Telugu version will be released in theatres on October 2. He will be presenting the film in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana under Spirit Media. A reporter at the film’s announcement wondered why the film was also named Dorothy in Telugu and what it even meant, given that it had no connection to the Telugu language.
Rana responded, “Dorothy means a gift from God. That’s a character’s name in the film. Once you watch the film, you will understand why the film needs to be named that. I don’t even know what else we could name it.” As for not renaming Tamil films while releasing them in Telugu, the actor-producer opined, “I just feel…when we cry, it has no language. Our laugh has no language. Nor does our pain. I believe emotions have no language.”
Chinmayi Sripaada defends reporter from mockery
As soon as a clip of this interaction began circulating, the reporter was trolled for not researching the meaning behind the name themselves. Tamilians also trolled Teluguites for getting hung up over film titles, while the latter defended it, claiming not everyone understood Tamil.
Chinmayi defended the reporter and wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “It is very easy to ask (insult) if the Journalist didn’t know Dorothy was the name of a character from a kid’s story book from 1900 called the Wizard of Oz. One of the most magical books one could read as a child that fires the imagination.”
She also added, “Access and the luxury to read story books or even read anything at all including comics; something that some got to enjoy in their childhood wasn’t something every child had. Some empathy would be great.”
When an X user defended their stance, stating that no one who’s Telugu would understand what Mandaadi or Vettaiyan meant, she responded, “Dorothy is not a tamil word. Someone was saying that OTTs want it that way so may be you should ask what the problem is.”
The singer also laughed at an X user claiming that the film was an “agenda movie funded by the LGBTQ promoters, so the name,” sharing a screenshot of how ‘friend of Dorothy’ was a phrase gay people have historically used to identify each other when homosexuality was illegal.
Dorothy is produced by Guneet Monga Kapoor, Achin Jain and Jyoti Deshpande. The film is set in the 1980s and tells the story of two childhood friends who find themselves at an unexpected juncture when a woman enters their lives. The film’s team faced homophobia and transphobia since its release due to its queer themes.