For many years, several actors, directors and producers have complained that heavily critical, instantly-served movie reviews have taken a toll on the financial health of the Telugu film industry. Allu Arjun and Jr NTR have previously questioned instant verdicts handed over by reviewers. They did this after the release of DJ and Janatha Garage, respectively.
Pawan Kalyan, however, never hit out at reviewers explicitly. For the first time, he did it at yesterday's OG event, saying that prompt social media updates during the earliest screenings are a problem. "Watch the movie completely. Don't talk about individual scenes and shots," was his message. Pawan Kalyan went beyond hitting out at LIVE updates. He suggested that everyone these days comes with the mindset of a reviewer. He used emotional language, saying that the 'usuru' of film producers will come back to haunt film critics some day. "Crores of rupees are at stake. For some movies, the interest amounts paid are up to Rs 40-50 Cr," he said.
Netizens are questioning Pawan Kalyan's logic, arguing that producers are over-burdened by hefty remunerations charged by greedy actors. Recently, HanuMan producer Chaitanya Reddy stated that no film producer has seen more than Rs 10 Cr as profit on even hit movies since the pandemic. This is quite telling. Blaming negative reviews seems to be a cope. Production costs have gone up because, if producer TG Vishwa Prasad is to be believed, wasteful expenses have skyrocketed.
