Peddi row: Janhvi's sexualised scenes removed, Buchi Babu says people misread them

Buchi Babu Sana revealed in an interview that he has finally removed problematic scenes from Peddi after criticism over Janhvi Kapoor's portrayal. The move followed objections to shots and a romance scenes seen as disrespectful towards women.

In Short

• Buchi Babu Sana removed scenes from Peddi after backlash
• Janhvi Kapoor's scenes criticised for hypersexualising her
• Buchi Babu said many misread Janhvi’s role

Director Buchi Babu Sana has said he has removed scenes from Peddi after social media outrage over portions that were seen as hypersexualising Janhvi Kapoor. In an interview with Indian Express, the filmmaker said a few scenes featuring Janhvi had "turned misleading", and added that many people had "misread" her character, Achiyyamma, in the Ram Charan-starrer.

Viewers had questioned how Achiyyamma was written, with a section of the audience and women’s rights groups criticising the romance track. The makers then announced that scenes considered disrespectful towards women would be trimmed. As the backlash grew, Buchi Babu Sana apologised for the scenes and said they would be deleted from the film. Neither Ram Charan nor Janhvi Kapoor has spoken about the row yet.

Buchi Babu said, "In my opinion, a lot of people misread Janhvi Kapoor’s track as unnecessary in an otherwise good story." He added that, unlike his previous film, the approach in Peddi was deliberately different. According to him, the idea was to establish a contrast between Ram Charan’s character, Peddi, and his transformation, with part of that arc dependent on Janhvi’s character.

Explaining that choice, he said, "In this film, I went a little radical, because Peddi comes from a remote place, somewhere far away from the hills. I wanted to show the rawness and later correct it in the end, saying that this guy is this way because of his upbringing and atmosphere. For such a character, he thinks he has to marry the woman he loves."

He also said the execution had gone wrong in places. "In this process, a few shots turned misleading. We have taken corrective measures to remove them, and we have removed them," he said. Among the scenes criticised as objectifying Janhvi was her introduction shot, in which the camera hardly remains focussed on her face and keeps moving from her navel to her waist and cleavage. Another scene shows Charan’s Peddi kissing her without consent, while saying he does not know any other way to express love except through physicality.

Peddi, which also stars Shiva Rajkumar, Jagapathi Babu, Boman Irani and Upendra Limaye, hit screens on June 4. It has been working fabulously at the box office worldwide despite the row.

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