The upcoming Telugu film Kushi has sparked debates amongst netizens due to its lyrical video, which features Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Vijay Deverakonda. In the still, Vijay is seen placing his leg on Samantha’s shoulder while she looks away. This image has stirred outrage amongst viewers who have been reminded of an old tweet from 2014 that caused quite a stir back then.
The tweet was a response to Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh’s pose in an advertisement that had him resting his foot on actress Deepika Padukone’s shoulder. While many criticized Ranveer’s stance as being disrespectful towards women, Samantha had responded to the backlash stating that if the same pose was done by a female actor then it would have been appreciated and accepted by society. She further questioned if one should accept only ‘what society says’ and also asked people to be ‘open-minded enough’ while viewing any such body language between two people irrespective of their gender.
The same controversial photo has now been recreated in Kushi’s lyrical video, leading netizens to call out both actors over their choices of participating in such shots that are deemed disrespectful towards women. Although no further explanation has been given by either actors yet regarding the incident, fans can only hope that they make a statement soon regarding the same as it further perpetuates negative stereotypes towards women in Indian cinema. At the time, during the promotional phase for Mahesh Babu’s Nenokkadine, a poster was released showcasing him and co-star Kriti Sanon. Fans were not happy with how Kriti had her arm placed around Mahesh’s feet. It was then that Samantha took to social media to comment about how regressive it all seemed – and now the same attitude is being thrown back at her in light of this newest controversy.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Vijay Deverkonda have recently joined forces for an upcoming Telugu film.
Directed by Shiva Nirvana and composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab, Kushi is being produced by Mythri Movie Makers and is set for release across multiple languages on September 1st.
