From Baahubali to Peddi, these movies from South Cinema drew criticism for romanticising toxic masculinity and reducing their female leads to objects of desire.
Key Points
- Buchi Babu Sana’s Peddi has drawn significant criticism for its highly sexualised portrayal of Janhvi Kapoor and a scene depicting the hero forcibly kissing and molesting her.
- Director Buchi Babu Sana has publicly apologised and promised to remove the controversial scenes from Peddi following widespread outrage.
- Several other major South Indian films, including Arjun Reddy, RX 100, Pushpa: The Rise, Baahubali: The Beginning, Kantara have faced backlash for their problematic treatment of female characters and glorification of toxic male behaviour.
Buchi Babu Sana’s Peddi has taken a flying start since its theatrical release on June 4. Unfortunately, it is not just at the box office that the film has taken off.
The high-octane sports drama, starring Ram Charan in the lead, has also attracted considerable criticism from both audiences and critics for its deeply problematic presentation of its female lead, Janhvi Kapoor.
To be fair, Peddi never really hid what it was planning to do with Janhvi’s character.
From the posters and songs to the trailers, it was evident that the actress was being presented primarily through a highly sexualised lens, dressed in revealing costumes designed to emphasise her physical appearance.
Where Peddi goes further than even Devara (2024), another Telugu film criticised for reducing Janhvi to a glamorous presence is in the way the camera itself seems obsessed with objectifying her.
The film repeatedly frames her through voyeuristic angles that were designed to reflect the hero’s lustful desire for her. And then there is the scene that sparked the biggest backlash. In it, the hero forcibly kisses and molests the heroine under the cover of darkness.
When she later confronts him, he justifies his actions by claiming that men from his community only know how to express love in such a manner.
The outrage that followed was swift and severe. As criticism mounted across social media, Director Buchi Babu Sana publicly apologised and promised that the controversial scenes would be removed from the film.
While Peddi continues to draw flak from moviegoers over this, it is remarkable that some filmmakers and major stars still believe they can get away with such portrayals in an era when conversations around sexism, misogyny and toxic masculinity in cinema are far more prominent than they were a decade ago.
Sreeju Sudhakaran highlights 10 major South Indian films from recent years that courted controversy for their treatment of female characters and their glorification of toxic male behaviour in the name of mass heroism.
Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)
Language: Telugu
S S Rajamouli’s fantasy epic changed the landscape of Indian cinema and helped make ‘Pan-India cinema’ part of the everyday film vocabulary.
Pan India, yes. Progressive, not so much.
The first Baahubali film generated considerable backlash for the romantic track involving Prabhas and Tamannaah Bhatia.
What the film presents as playful courtship was viewed by many as harassment. The most controversial sequence sees the hero forcibly altering the heroine’s appearance and effectively stripping away parts of her clothing. That she eventually falls in love with him only made the situation worse for critics.
The controversy surrounding these scenes was such that when Baahubali: The Epic (2025), the re-edited single-film version of both movies, was released, Tamannaah’s role was significantly trimmed.
Kasaba (2016)
Language: Malayalam
Mammootty’s cop entertainer sharply divided Kerala audiences because of the actions of its protagonist, particularly in his interactions with women.
Intended to portray him as edgy and unconcerned with social niceties, the character instead behaved boorish and pervy with the female characters.
The scene that drew the strongest criticism featured Mammootty’s character humiliating his female superior by putting his hand inside her trousers and pulling her towards him. For many viewers, it crossed a line that the film seemed unwilling to acknowledge.
The debate further intensified when actress Parvathy T publicly cited Kasaba as a film she disliked during a Women in Cinema Collective press conference.
Arjun Reddy (2017)
Language: Telugu
Interestingly, the outrage surrounding Arjun Reddy became louder only after its Hindi remake, Kabir Singh (2019), was released.
Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, both films emerged as massive blockbusters in their respective industries.
Critics, however, took issue with the way the arrogant, self-destructive protagonist treated the women around him, whether it was his controlling behaviour towards his girlfriend, his aggression towards other women or his deeply problematic sense of entitlement.
Vanga’s response to the criticism was, well, Animal(2023).
That film too became a blockbuster, highlighting the clear divide between what many critics question and what a substantial section of the audience is willing to embrace.
Chunkzz(2017)
Language: Malayalam
It takes a certain acquired taste to enjoy Omar Lulu’s comedies. The humour is often cringeworthy and rarely funny, yet some of his films have somehow found favour with a section of younger audiences.
The worst offender, however, is Chunkzz, a youthful adult comedy built almost entirely on sexist humour and misogynistic characterisation.
The film revolves around a group of engineering students who spend much of their time behaving creepily towards the women around them, including their teachers, while casually slut-shaming them. They crack pervy jokes, leer at women and generally conduct themselves in ways that would land them in serious trouble in the real world.
What makes it worse is that the film treats these antics with a nonchalant ‘boys will be boys’ attitude and expects the audience to indulge them as harmless fun. Sorry, that’s a hard pass.
Geetha Govindam (2018)
Language: Telugu
Ah, Vijay Deverakonda. Sorry, bro, but here comes another one of your films.
Like Arjun Reddy, Geetha Govindam was a major commercial success and marked the first on-screen pairing of Vijay Deverakonda and his future wife Rashmika Mandanna.
The romantic entertainer was generally well-liked, but its opening stretch left a sour taste for many viewers.
In the notorious sequence, the hero attempts to take a selfie with a sleeping female co-passenger and accidentally ends up kissing her. Yes, the rest of the film is largely devoted to him trying to redeem himself and win back her trust, ultimately ending with her kissing him during another bus journey.
Still, quite the message to send impressionable youngsters.
RX 100 (2018)
Language: Telugu
Ajay Bhupathi’s romantic thriller attracted considerable attention for its intimate scenes featuring Karthikeya and Payal Rajput.
Yet more than the kisses, lovemaking scenes and glamorous presentation of the heroine, what sparked debate was the portrayal of the female lead herself. The movie depicts her as a manipulative woman who uses the hero as an object largely for her own sexual gratification.
For some viewers and critics, the characterisation felt deeply problematic and exploitative, though unlike Arjun Reddy, the movie’s Hindi remake, Tadap (2021) didn’t generate the same kind of outrage.
iSmart Shankar (2019)
Language: Telugu
Puri Jagannadh’s sci-fi action entertainer, starring Ram Pothineni, enjoyed a successful theatrical run and received reasonably decent reviews. However, controversy erupted after its streaming release when clips from the movie began circulating online of the hero stalking, harassing and verbally degrading the female leads.
More troubling for many viewers was the fact that the women often responded positively to this behaviour, seeing it as flirtation rather than harassment.
The sequel, Double iSmart (2024), featured moments of a similar nature. Unlike its predecessor, however, it failed to replicate the same box office success.
Pushpa: The Rise (2021)
Language: Telugu
Allu Arjun’s pan-Indian blockbuster transformed him into a global sensation, with Pushpa‘s mannerisms and dialogues becoming part of popular culture.
Pushpa may have been everyone’s favourite anti-hero for the time being, but not all of his actions were quite ‘heroic’. Many viewers objected to the way Pushpa behaved towards Srivalli, played by Rashmika Mandanna. One particularly controversial moment involves him effectively offering her money in exchange for a kiss.
The songs also attracted scrutiny. Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava and Saami Saami were criticised for their objectification of women, with the latter portraying Srivalli’s devotion to her lover in a manner many considered regressive.
Pushpa 2: The Rule (2024) hardly improved matters, with the highlight being the crass lyrics and picturisation of the song Peelings.
Kantara (2022)
Language: Kannada
Rishab Shetty’s Kannada blockbuster won widespread acclaim for its blending of folklore and mass elements, and its breathtaking climax that featured a very fine performance from Shetty. Yet, like several other recent pan-Indian hits, Kantara attracted criticism for its romantic track.
Much of the courtship between the lead pair involves the hero physically intimidating or manhandling the heroine.
Even before they enter a relationship, he publicly pinches her waist and repeatedly invades her personal space, actions the film presents as flirtations rather than what it is supposed to be: Sexual harassment.
Mr Bachchan (2024)
Language: Telugu
Ravi Teja’s films have rarely been coy about objectifying women, and several of them have also attracted criticism over the significant age gap between the star and the actresses cast opposite him.
Among them, Mr Bachchan, the Telugu remake of the Hindi hit Raid, stood out for all the wrong reasons.
Much of the criticism centred on the romantic track between Ravi Teja and the considerably younger Bhagyashri Borse, along with the way the songs were picturised.
One particular number drew attention for choreography that had Teja placing his hands in the back pockets of Borse’s skirt as part of an intimate dance routine. The sequence was clearly intended to appear romantic and playful, but many viewers found the dynamic unsettling rather.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
