In a recent podcast, actor-director Ravi Babu criticized the culture of hosting pre-release events. He finds AVs that get screened during such events bloody and stupid. "Do you see Hollywood movies conduct such events? Their stars attend talk shows and are done with it. Pre-release events are irritating," Ravi Babu said.
In response to his criticism, netizens have argued that Tollywood needs such events to cater to the fan culture. "Pre-release is the only occasion when fans meet their heroes. Hollywood movies don’t have fan culture and they don’t need that culture. For Indian Cinema, especially Telugu cinema, heroes don’t exist without fans," Chandan wrote.
Out of 100 movies that get made in a year, hardly 15 of them feature heroes with a fan base of their own. But the number of events held exceeds fifteen. Pre-release events are promotional events and promotions are not wrong in and of itself. The issue is that these events are used to shore up the film's non-existent appeal through lies and damn lies. Only those with no respect for the audience's money and time can manufacture dozens of lies in a span of three hours.
