Mahesh Babu refuses to acknowledge Ram Charan's Zanjeer as Priyanka Chopra's 1st Telugu film; fans think it's hilarious

While promoting their upcoming film Varanasi, Mahesh Babu insisted on calling it Priyanka Chopra's first Telugu film and fans are having a field day.

asActors Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran, along with director SS Rajamouli, shot for interviews with foreign publications during the first glimpse release of their film Varanasi. In one of their interviews with Screen Rant Plus, Mahesh refused to acknowledge Priyanka’s previous Telugu work, and fans think it’s hilarious.

Priyanka Chopra will soon star with Mahesh Babu in Varanasi, she previously worked with Ram Charan in Zanjeer.

Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra banter about her first Telugu film

In the interview, Priyanka said, “For me, I haven’t done a Telugu movie in like, I don’t even know…” when Mahesh commented that she hasn’t done one before. Priyanka laughed and replied, “Yeah, I haven’t done one,” to which Mahesh added, “She’s not, this is the first time. So, I don’t know what she’s speaking.” Priyanka summed it all up by saying, ‘it’s complicated. ’

Fans react to Mahesh Babu refusing to acknowledge Ram Charan’s Zanjeer

Fans thought it was hilarious that Mahesh was pretending that Priyanka had not acted in Ram Charan’s 2013 flop Zanjeer, which was released in Telugu as Thoofan. One fan reacted to the interaction and commented, “PC saying ''This is my first Telugu film" - is a humiliation to Toofan and Ramcharan.” Another wrote, “MB: This is her first Telugu film. OREY (laughter emojis).” Numerous others also left similar comments while sharing the clip. “No one wants to remember toofan,” joked a Redditor.

Ram’s fans, however, claimed that Zanjeer was technically a Hindi film and was only dubbed in Telugu. One Ram fan wrote, “Crct e kada janzeer hindi movie kada (Correct right, because Zanjeer is a Hindi film).” “U don't know the difference between straight film and dubbed film,” wrote another. However, a Redditor pointed out, “Some people are saying dubbed movie. They are wrong. It is definitely a Telugu movie. It is shot in both languages with different actors.”

Zanjeer was directed by Apoorva Lakhia and was shot simultaneously in both Hindi and Telugu. It was Ram’s Hindi debut and Priyanka’s Telugu debut. Interestingly, Thoofan was not supposed to be Priyanka’s Telugu debut. In 2002, she was supposed to star in a film called Apuroopam, which was later shelved. Varanasi will be released in theatres on April 7, 2027.