Telugu filmmaker and actor Venkatesh Maha, who is most widely recognised for his 2018 film C/o Kancharapalem, has found himself in the middle of a controversy after expressing an unpopular opinion about the blockbuster Kannada film series KGF. Maha was speaking at a ‘Women’s Day Special Interview’ with five Telugu filmmakers moderated by film journalist Prema, when the conversation veered towards the topic of formulaic movies. The five directors — Venkatesh Maha, Shiva Nirvana, Mohan Krishna Indraganti, Nandini Reddy and Vivek Athreya — are among some of the Telugu filmmakers known for occasionally making relatively experimental and less formulaic films than most other mainstream, commercial filmmakers in the industry.
A video clip from the interview which was released on March 5 on YouTube soon became viral, in which Maha made certain comments about the KGF films without actually naming them. Speaking about the plot of the KGF films which are centred on the relationship between the protagonist Rocky (Yash) and his mother, Maha said, “I won't name the movie, but in it, the mother asks for some quantity of something (gold). The hero goes and liberates people who work there (the KGF mines). In the other part (KGF: Chapter 2), all that gold [is drowned by Rocky]. Is he not a neech kameen kuthe (a term that translates to ‘lowly dog’). There were thousands of people (KGF workers), he could have built houses for them, but he throws the rest of the gold. A mother asks someone to become such a lowly dog-like person [who drowns the gold instead of distributing it among workers], and we (audiences) are clapping for that kind of a story.”
Maha also suggested that filmmakers like himself and the others on the panel could also make commercially successful films such as KGF, but weren’t doing so because they wanted their films to reflect their values and integrity. These contentious portions have since been deleted from the original interview video on YouTube.
Maha’s words sparked wide outrage among Telugu film viewers, as well as fans of the KGF films, its director Prashanth Neel and actor Yash. Several fans of Telugu star heroes, including Prabhas and Jr NTR who are working with Prashanth Neel in their upcoming films, have been trolling Maha, with some of them calling his views elitist and condescending towards popular, commercial films.
Speaking to TNM, Maha said that he continues to stand by his opinion expressed in the interview. However, he said he apologises for the ‘inappropriate language’ used by him while talking about the characters in KGF. “Being in the position of a responsible filmmaker, I should not have used such language. But I stand by my opinion, and I have the right to express it. I am not taking it back,” said Maha.
He further added, “If my language has hurt anyone, especially fans of that character (Rocky from KGF) as well as fans of my work, I apologise. It was a momentary emotion, but I have not crossed my limits or used any abusive words. There are also people who like my opinion. Although it's an unpopular opinion and the supporters are small in number, it is still significant.” He said that the trolls were being brutal and using hurtful words which were worse than the ones Maha used in the interview. “It is not acceptable and it is affecting me," said the filmmaker.
In a video statement shared on social media on Monday night, Maha mentioned that the inappropriate terms he used were from a film (Chiranjeevi’s Rowdy Alludu) in which they were used to refer to a ‘problematic’ character. “I didn’t say it to insult a particular industry, it was a discussion about films in general. I apologise for the language, but the discussion that the opinion started has to be taken into consideration,” he said.
He further said that there were a small number of people who agreed with his opinion and expressed their support, and he had voiced the opinion on behalf of that section of people. “My intention was to say all kinds of films must be loved equally. My remarks were not intended towards a particular real-life person, I abused a fictional person. But now I, a real person, am being abused terribly and my [inappropriate] images are being created. I hope you repect my opinion, and respect all kinds of films,” the filmmaker said.
Some of the other directors present during the interview were also criticised for laughing along and seemingly agreeing with Maha's views. Nandini Reddy, known for films such as Ala Modalaindi and Oh! Baby, also clarified her stand on social media and issued an apology. "Every commercial film which has become a success is bec the audience hs loved something in tht effort . The conversation was nvr meant 2deride anyones work but rathr hv a positive debate on what cn diversify the narrative of “commercial cinema”. Apologies fr any offence caused," Nandini Reddy wrote.
Every commercial film which has become a success is bec the audience hs loved something in tht effort . The conversation was nvr meant 2deride anyones work but rathr hv a positive debate on what cn diversify the narrative of “commercial cinema”. Apologies fr any offence caused
— Nandini Reddy (@nandureddy4u) March 6, 2023