Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Peddi director Buchi Babu Sana has said certain portions of the film did not work as intended, adding that he was taken aback by the strong backlash over the portrayal of actor Janhvi Kapoor’s character. The response, he said, has prompted him to rethink how he approaches female characters in future.
In an interaction with SCREEN, Buchi said, “I had not anticipated that the scenes would be perceived so negatively by audiences.” He added, “The idea was to showcase a playful romance story between Ram Charan and Janhvi Kapoor. However, we’ll be more careful and make better representations.” The criticism was directed largely at the film’s romance track involving Kapoor’s character, Achiyyamma.
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Peddi is a sports drama set in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh and is built around nameless villages and their fight for identity and recognition. Ram Charan plays Peddi, a cricketer-for-hire from one of these unnamed settlements, and his journey forms the emotional core of the film. By most accounts, the second half delivers on that ambition, but the first half, especially the romance track, drew heavy criticism.
The objections centred on how Achiyyamma is introduced and how the relationship is developed on screen. Her character is introduced through a sequence in which the camera lingers on her body for several minutes without showing her face. The courtship that follows shows the hero telling his friends that he will touch Achiyyamma without her consent, entering her space and doing so, and later telling her, after she slaps him, that assault was his way of expressing love. The arc then ends with her kissing him, and no one faces any consequence.
Viewers argued that what the film presented as a playful romance was, in effect, a scene-by-scene normalisation of harassment, non-consent and the idea that a woman’s objection is an obstacle rather than a boundary. The criticism spread beyond the Telugu film audience and became a wider point of discussion.
India Today, in its review of the film, wrote, “The film’s biggest problem, however, is neither technical nor narrative. It is Janhvi Kapoor’s character. The issue is not simply that the romantic track feels disconnected from the central story. The issue is how the character is conceived and presented. Nearly every scene featuring her seems designed around objectification rather than character development.”
Peddi theatrically released on June 4, 2026.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
