Simran’s “Dabba Roles” Remark: South movie queen of the early 2000s, Simran, made headlines for controversy at the JFW Movie Award 2025 with her candid speech. At the time of receiving her Best Negative Role award for Andhagan, she commented on a humiliating experience involving a female co-actress who had allegedly made fun of her role selection.
Simran revealed that she had texted the co-actor, sharing her view about a recent work. But the response she received mocked her effort, stating that at least she was not playing an “aunty role.” Feeling offended by the comment, Simran revealed that she had not expected such conduct from someone who is in the profession.
Rather than being insulted by the usage of the word, Simran defended her choices, stating that she would instead perform significant mother roles rather than perform meaningless “dabba roles.” She cited her winning performance in Kannathil Muthamittal as an instance, stating that such roles were richer and more significant.
Her comment, “It’s better to do aunty roles, and main aunty roles—like mother to a 25-year-old—rather than playing dabba roles and doing nothing,” resonated with all of us, and so there was a gossip on social media regarding the role of women in cinema.
Following her oration, internet users began assuming that the co-star Simran was referring to. The majority of them believed Jyotika, seeing that she appeared in Netflix’s Dabba Cartel. Others believed that Simran was making a backhanded statement about Jyotika’s recent choices, while others believed that she was actually talking about Trisha or Laila instead.
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And all the hue and cry notwithstanding, Simran hasn’t outright named anyone, to be read between the lines. Irrespective of rumour, her comment points to some industry debate taking place—do heroines select significant roles, though they also arrive age-wise, stereotype-wise?
As people are keen to interpret Simran’s words, the larger lesson to retain is how portrayals matter to actresses in film. Regardless of whether or not her words were meant for someone in particular, they indeed bring back on the table the debate around stereotypes, career choices, and work relationship dynamics.