For the sake of publicity!
Tollywood stars are sparing no effort to ensure that their films get that extra mileage through any kind of publicity, be it good or bad
If you want to get some publicity for your upcoming film, all you need to do is make a controversial statement, criticise your co-star or a big celebrity. Very often, before their film releases, many film stars, who are known to be reclusive, are willing to even reveal details of their personal lives. Take for instance, Anushka Shetty, who normally does not interact with the media, was talking about her rumoured marriage with Prabhas while promoting her film Bhaagamathie.
Ditto with Naga Shaurya, who is promoting his upcoming film Chalo. Though Sai Pallavi is not related to this film, the actor criticised her heavily in interviews.
Filmmaker and critic Kathi Mahesh became a celebrity once he criticised actor Pawan Kalyan. The war of words between the actor’s fans and Mahesh continues even to this day. Vijay Deverakonda, too, made controversial remarks about the Censor Board before the release of Arjun Reddy.
Ram Gopal Varma loves to get attention just before his film releases, the most recent instance being for his short film God, Sex and Truth which he wanted to release on the Internet.
“I don’t know whether it has helped my film or not, but when I attended interviews, the anchors asked me about Sai Pallavi and I just replied whatever I felt,” says Naga Shaurya, adding that he doesn’t want to use her name for promoting his film. “I spoke many things about my film and my life, but it seems people are only concentrating on Sai Pallavi,” he says.
Filmmaker Thammareddy Bharadwaj says that there are quite a few films that didn’t do any publicity, but still did well. “Look at Baahubali, they didn’t give even a single advertisement here, or any interviews in Telugu, but the film became a huge hit,” he says.
When told that he’s in the news regularly for criticising Pawan Kalyan, Kathi Mahesh says, “Many people criticised Pawan Kalyan and some even wrote books against him, but no one talks about them. So, why only me? I can speak in a way that people listen to me. If I am incapable, people would not care.” He adds that he is not joining any political party as reported by many. “I didn’t get any invite from any political party, it is just a rumour,” he clarifies.