Social media casts a shadow on Telugu film industry

Social media can decide a film’s fate. A single comment can spark outrage,  but the same issue can also attract attention. The incidents with ‘Thandel’ and ‘Laila’ show that in today’s world, online reactions can help or break a movie.

Hyderabad: Social media is a double-edged knife and it can cut either ways.

For Tollywood, it can also make or mar the prospects of a yet-to-be-released movie depending on how the fans respond and their commitment to their hero or heroine. Fans, it is well known, can also adversely affect the prospects of a movie of a personality, who may be considered as an enemy of their idol.

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The recent two examples of controversies in the Telugu film industry involving producer Allu Aravind and actor Vishwak Sen show how social media can impact a film’s success.

At the Thandel pre-release event, Allu Aravind spoke about producer Dil Raju’s recent highs and lows, mentioning the performances of ‘Sankranthiki Vasthunam’ and ‘Game Changer’. However, some fans seemed to have misunderstood his words and thought he was criticising Ram Charan, which led to he being trolled heavily on social media.

Later, while discussing Thandel’s piracy issue, Allu Aravind apologised. He said, “I never meant to insult Charan. He is like my son, and we share a close bond. I felt bad after realising my mistake.”

In the second instance, Vishwak Sen’s film ‘Laila’, also faced a similar social media backlash. The problem started when actor ‘30 Years Industry’ Prudhvi made some comments which were perceived to be negative about YSRC MLAs at the film’s pre-release event.

This had apparently upset the party’s supporters, who made it a point to trend the hashtag ‘#BoycottLaila’ with over 25,000 posts on social media platform X.

Worried over the possible negative fall out on the film prospects, Vishwak Sen and producer Sahu Garipati quickly responded at a press meet, distancing themselves from the comments made by fellow actor Prudhvi.

“We had no idea about Prudhvi’s comments and they have nothing to do with our film,” said Garipati. Vishwak Sen added, “Why should a whole film suffer because of one person’s words? We worked very hard, and this controversy is unfair to our team.”

He also apologised to the political party’s leaders and asked people to focus on the film, not the controversy.