Jailer 2 song Ala Bolelo promo makes Keralites fume over mispronunciation: ‘Dear Tamilians, this is not Malayalam’

A promo for the song Ala Bolelo from Jailer 2 was released on Tuesday, featuring Rajinikanth and Shamna Kasim. Here's how Keralites reacted.

A promo for the first song from Jailer 2, titled Ala Bolelo, was released on Tuesday evening. The song features Rajinikanth and Shamna Kasim. Much like Manasilaayo from Rajinikanth’s 2024 film Vettaiyan, this song too features Malayalam words. Except that the mispronunciation did not make Keralites happy, who took to social media to fume.

Rajinikanth and Shamna Kasim feature in the Jailer 2 song Ala Bolelo.

Ala Bolelo song promo from Jailer 2 released

A 32-second promo of the first song from Jailer 2, Ala Bolelo, was released on Tuesday evening. With music and vocals by Anirudh Ravichander, it features lyrics by Arunraja Kamaraj. Niranjana Raman, Aparna Harikumar, and Deepthi Suresh provide additional vocals.

The promo video begins with Anirudh’s vocals set to Malayalam lyrics before cutting to Shamna dancing in a traditional kasavu saree. Much like Manasilaayo was a nod to Manju Warrier’s Malayalam roots, released on time for Onam, Anirudh seemed to hope the same with Ala Bolelo and Shamna. The full song will be released on August 21.

Keralites fume over the Malayalam mispronunciation

While some fans from Kerala seemed thrilled to get another Rajinikanth right on time for Onam, others fumed over the Malayalam pronunciation. “Dear Tamils,please don’t include Malayalam in your songs or dialogues unless it’s pronounced correctly. Mispronouncing words,especially the “la” sounds, can be really irritating to Malayalis and may feel disrespectful to our language. This is NOT Malayalam,” wrote one X (formerly Twitter) user reposting the promo. Many seemed confused if Anirudh was singing in gibberish or Malayalam.

“Here, Tamil songs only don't have correct pronunciation of la,La, Zha, na,Na etc. brother. It has gone to another level that nothing feels like Tamil. So, we are in the same boat,” pointed out another. “Hire a lyric writer and singer who knows malayalam,” commented one Malayali, while a Tamilian wrote, “As a Tamil, I completely agree. They should've atleast hired a Malayali singer. I hate it when someone handle other languages poorly without any effort for authenticity.” One X user even claimed, “dude.... it sounds like gibberish not malayalam!”

About Jailer 2

Jailer 2 is written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar. It is produced by Kalanithi Maran under Sun Pictures. A sequel to Jailer (2023), the film stars Rajinikanth, Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Mirnaa, and Rithvik, reprising their roles from the predecessor.

SJ Suryah, Mithun Chakraborty, Vidya Balan, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Anna Rajan, and Jatin Sarna are joining the cast. Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar and Jackie Shroff will reprise their cameo roles. Nandamuri Balakrishna and Shah Rukh Khan were reportedly approached for cameos, but they reportedly turned them down. The film will be released on October 15.