The entertainment biz is at a juncture where a film’s promotional activities are more important than the film itself. So, in such a scenario, where stars leave no stone unturned to publicise their work across various platforms, it comes as surprise that there are a select few who are not game for it.
Why, you ask?
Their fame and glory!
A strong case in point is actor Vijay Deverakonda, who’s forthcoming film Ye Mantram Vesave failed to see the light of day for a long time; the film is finally going to hit theatres this Friday.
Vijay had signed the love story long before he rose to stardom with films like Pelli Choopulu and Arjun Reddy. And while the film awaited its D-day, the 28-year-old rose to fame with his market value and popularity going through the roof. This is exactly why Vijay is in no mood to promote the entertainer. What’s worse is that he has neither shared the film’s trailer nor its poster anywhere on social media. And if that wasn’t enough, he took to mocking the film’s delay calling it a ‘backlog’ while comparing himself to a student who had failed to clear his exams and assignments on time.
When questioned about the eccentric behaviour, Vijay simply shrugged and said: “No comments”.
At the same time, Ye Mantram Vesave’s producer, Malkapuram Sivakumar, says, “The actor should at least promote the film, more so, because we gave him the opportunity (back then). Yes, he rose to quick stardom, but doesn’t mean that he can disown the film. Our director is in touch with him — hopefully, he will be present to promote it.”
Even actress Nivetha Thomas’ Juliet... Lover of Idiot was released last year after prolonged delay. The romantic drama was supposed to be her Tollywood launch vehicle, but owing to the hold-up, and also because the film released after she scored a hat-trick of blockbusters — Gentleman, Ninnu Kori and Jai Lava Kusa — Nivetha gave the film’s promotions a deliberate miss.
Similarly, Nee Jathaleka was supposed to mark Naga Shaurya’s entry into Tollywood, but the film was able to see the light only after he shot to prominence. Expectedly, the actor distanced himself from promoting the film.
Some time back, it was alleged by director Cheran that Sharwanand had refused to promote his film Rajadhi Raja (JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai in Tamil). Interestingly, the film’s Tamil version was directly released into the market with DVDs, but the Telugu version hit the screens only after the actor was back into reckoning.
Cheran argued, “Sharwanand is a promising actor, but he needs to respect the film despite the delay. I am not criticising him for not promoting the film but just saying that he still has a long way to go and such an approach might not do him any good.”
Meanwhile, Sharwa rued, “The film was already released on DVDs in Tamil and I had no clue about it. Also, I was also not informed about the publicity matters of the Telugu version.”
