Bad Girl's Anjali Sivaraman clarifies she's Tamilian, shuts troll calling her ‘horrific names’ thinking she's Malayali

Bad Girl actor Anjali Sivaraman shared a video explaining her Tamil roots after a troll thought she's a Malayali and questioned her casting.

Actor Anjali Sivaraman, who recently led Vetrimaaran’s production Bad Girl, became the target of an online attack after a troll left a hate-filled comment questioning her identity and her casting in the film. However, instead of ignoring the comment or retaliating with anger, Anjali responded with a sassy reply, clarifying her Tamil roots.

Anjali Sivaraman schools troll for questioning her casting in Bad Girl.

Anjali Sivaraman clarifies about her Tamilian roots

On Saturday, Anjali took to Instagram and shared a note explaining that although she is not someone who would usually put a person on blast, she couldn’t hold back this time. She then went on to share a screenshot of a message from a troll mocking her casting in Bad Girl and using abusive language while questioning her identity.

The troll wrote, “You don’t even deserve this role. You’re a Malayali, what the f*** is Varsha thing, is she and that fair-skin s**p Vetrimaaran lost their brain cells? What’s up with the war on Tamil and dark-skinned women? Shame on these zombie-looking directors and producers for hiring your goofy a**. Simone Ashley is way more skilled than you. You guys suck. Curse everyone who avoided dark-skinned women in India. This country is garbage, just like this film. Worst wishes and good riddance. We don’t need you Malayalis in Tamil cinema, sick of you c***. Go beg in the Gulf.”

Anjali Sivaraman hits back at troll making nasty comments about her identity.

Responding to the hate, Anjali Sivaraman took to social media to clarify her roots and call out the troll’s ignorance. She said in a video, “You know, for anyone who’s confused, I am Tamilian. My name is Anjali Sivaraman. If you do a simple Google search, you’ll realise I am Tamilian. My mother is Chitra Iyer, who is Tamilian. My father is Vinod Sivaraman, who is also Tamilian. My entire family is Tamilian. Yeah, I don’t really speak Tamil, but I understand it perfectly.”

She added: “I grew up in an English-speaking household. My father was in the Air Force, so we moved around a lot, and English was just the common language that we grew up speaking. Before you go around making your baseless judgements on a person and calling them some pretty horrific names, you really should do your research because you look so stupid.”

About Bad Girl and Anjali Sivaraman

Helmed by Varsha Bharath and produced and presented by Vetrimaaran under his Grass Root Film Company banner, along with Anurag Kashyap, Bad Girl is a Tamil coming-of-age film starring Anjali Sivaraman alongside Shanthipriya and Hridhu Haroon in key roles. The film received positive reviews upon release.

Anjali made her acting debut with the web series PM Selfiewallie in 2018 and later starred in the Hindi film Cobalt Blue. In 2023, she gained recognition for her performance in the Netflix series Class, adapted by Ashim Ahluwalia and based on the Spanish hit Elite. In 2025, she made her big-screen debut with Bad Girl. She is yet to announce her next project.