Vijay Deverakonda reacts to Parvathy backlash
The South Indian star is he ‘irritated’ by the online vitriol directed at him
Actress Parvathy is winning hearts for slamming ‘Arjun Reddy’ in front of its lead actor Vijay Deverakonda, who is clearly not enjoying that people are “celebrating” at his cost.
“I am very irritated right now. I can’t keep it in and I want to take it out. If I will keep it in, it will become a tumour inside me,” he said during a session at the International Film Festival of India.
The irritation had a lot to do with people’s reactions to a recent round table discussion featuring, among others, Parvathy and Deverakonda.
During the interview, Parvathy had said: “‘Arjun Reddy’ and ‘Kabir Singh’ had the visual grammar of glorification, ‘Joker’ did not. At no point did I look at the character Joaquin [Phoenix] played and think ‘I totally agree with you. You must kill everyone’.”
“We can watch a tragedy and leave it there, without feeling inspired to follow it. Whereas if you’re telling there is no passion in a relationship without slapping each other and I see the comments on YouTube where people are resonating and engaging with that, you can see, engaging with that in a massive, mob-like manner. Where you’re inciting violence,” she added.
Among various things, Deverakonda pointed out that it was possible for a couple to be in love but give each other “little hits and they completely understand and they’re still in love”.
Deverakonda also said that a couple like this would understand ‘Arjun Reddy’ but a person who has grown up watching his parents hit each other would find it scary, and that it wasn’t possible to make films to “fit” everyone’s personal lives.
Soon, netizens lauded Parvathy for her take on ‘Arjun Reddy’, which has been slammed by many for promoting “toxic masculinity”.
Explaining why he is irritated, he said: “I am normally very understanding. I give people the benefit of doubt. I saw that there was a genuine angst and genuine intention behind these questions. But these people don’t know what they are talking about.”
“I feel they are very misplaced. I didn’t mind the question. I love Parvathy. I admire her work. What irritates me is the social media and media ‘hadavidi’. People go nuts. They don’t know what they are talking about.”
“I dislike that people are celebrating at my cost. That’s my issue. I don’t care what you think of the film, misogyny or the interview,” said the Telugu star.
Deverakonda further added he doesn’t mind when his films don’t perform well at the box office, but he is one actor who is revengeful.
“I am a revengeful person. When people don’t like my film, so many of friends of mine walked out of some film of mine and later called me to say (share their feedback) during early stage of my career. I completely sit and like to know the real feedback.”
Recalling the moment when a little girl approached him to share her feedback about his latest release — “Dear Comrade”, he said: “She loved the first half of ‘Dear Comrade’, but didn’t like second half at all. That was real criticism and I will take that criticism.”
I don’t want to complain. I love what I am doing. Cinema is amazing. But it’s not just about creative... pushing content.”
He shared that there’s a lot of politics in cinema.
“It’s a business. There’s money and propaganda, so much power play happening. I came into cinema thinking that I’ll do whatever I want to do. I don’t care how [the movie] performs. Over time, sometimes you have to show the numbers just to keep the business... Unfortunately, everything becomes business, wish it wasn’t. It would be have been a nicer place to be in. For me, when I try a film and it doesn’t work, I don’t mind if it doesn’t work.
“I feel that Vijay Deverakonda only makes good films. Good films that everyone likes or good films that some people like. That confidence I have. Now if I feel that people are trying to use it.. .a film not many people liking it against me, then I think ‘I’ll show you’. Then I go into a revenge mode and say, ‘I’ll show them in my next film’,” he said.
The Telugu star shot to fame with ‘Pelli Choopulu’ in his home state. The 2017 film ‘Arjun Reddy’ helped him gain national recognition.