The Paradise presents itself as a story about dignity, identity and the struggle of a marginalised community to be recognised. Yet the film’s treatment of its young female character, Subbalakshmi, played by Kayadu Lohar, creates a striking contradiction.

Nani’s Jadal is at the centre of a fight for his community’s basic recognition and right to exist as citizens. The film uses this conflict to explore how systems can erase people and deny them dignity.

Subbalakshmi, however, receives considerably less narrative attention. She is introduced as a young woman from a disadvantaged background who creates suggestive videos for money. Rather than exploring the circumstances that lead her to make this choice, the screenplay largely uses the character as part of the film’s visual and emotional framing of Jadal.

This becomes particularly noticeable because the film otherwise places questions of dignity and dehumanisation at its core. Subbalakshmi’s experiences could have provided another perspective on vulnerability within the same community, especially around the pressures faced by women.

Instead, her character often functions primarily in relation to the male protagonist. Her presence gives Jadal another reason to become protective, but her own motivations, ambitions and struggles receive limited development.

Kayadu Lohar brings presence to the role, but the writing does not give her enough material to turn Subbalakshmi into a fully realised character.

That gap creates one of The Paradise’s most significant contradictions. A film arguing that every member of a marginalised community deserves to be seen and treated with dignity could have extended that principle to its female characters as well.