Vijay Kanakamedala is the director of Bhairavam, releasing on May 30. The film stars Bellamkonda Sai Srinivas, Manchu Manoj, and Nara Rohit and is a remake of the Tamil hit Garudan. Until Thursday afternoon, everything was going well, but by evening, the hashtag “Boycott Bhairavam” began trending on social media. Mega fans started trolling the director and promoting the hashtag.
The controversy stems from a post made in 2011 on director Vijay’s Facebook account. The post featured a meme spoofing the Hindi film Paa as Cha, a derogatory reference to Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan. Vijay had allegedly liked or reposted the meme at the time. Now, Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan fans are calling for a boycott of Bhairavam. The director quickly responded and apologised to Mega fans.
He stated on social media that either his account was hacked or someone else had created it under his name. “I worked with Pawan Kalyan for Gabbar Singh and he encouraged me a lot. He even asked me to direct a film with Sai Dharam Tej, who has always been good to me. I entered the industry inspired by Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan and have worked mostly with Mega heroes. So how can I ever distance myself from Mega fans or make such a mistake?” the director said.
He added that while the post came from his account, he never intended to make such comments. “Even if my Facebook account was hacked, I sincerely apologize to all Mega fans. I will ensure that such posts are not repeated and will be more cautious going forward,” he concluded.
