'We’ll be more careful': Peddi director Buchi Babu Sana over Janhvi Kapoor’s ‘hypersexualised’ scenes

The portrayal of Janhvi Kapoor’s character in Peddi, starring Ram Charan, has become a major talking point. Amid intense backlash, director Buchi Babu Sana has addressed the criticism surrounding Kapoor’s character and her hypersexualised presentation.

Released on June 4, the highly anticipated film opened to mixed reviews. However, what the makers didn’t see coming was the backlash over how Kapoor’s character, Achiyyamma, was depicted. Several questions have been raised about the hypersexualisation of the character, who is romantically involved with Charan’s character, Peddi.

Peddi director breaks the silence on the backlash to Janhvi Kapoor's character

Much of the criticism focuses on how the female character has been portrayed, with viewers arguing she’s been reduced solely to sexualization. What many would call a playful romance has faced backlash for allegedly normalising non-consent and harassment in the name of love.

In an interaction with SCREEN, Buchi broke his silence, saying he didn’t see this coming and never expected the scenes to be received so negatively by audiences.

“I had not anticipated that the scenes would be perceived so negatively by audiences.” Buchi said.

Addressing future representation of female characters, he said: “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.”

Also Read: Inside Ram Charan’s intense physical transformation for Peddi: Yoga, kushti, calorie deficit diet

Why did Janhvi’s romance sequence with Ram Charan become controversial?

From her very first scene, Janhvi’s character Achiyyamma is framed as something to be gazed at. The camera pans across Kapoor’s body for several minutes before revealing her face, reducing the character to a physical ideal and signalling that female characters are something to be desired, not defined.

In the first half of the film, it’s the romance sequence between Ram and Janhvi’s characters that has raised eyebrows. Beyond how she is introduced, Ram’s character, Peddi, tells his friends he will touch Achiyyamma without her consent, and then does so. Later, when she slaps him, the act is presented as a form of love.