Venkatesh Maha breaks silence after facing backlash for KGF comment: 'Opinion of a section of people, not only mine'

Venkatesh Maha took to social media and released a video after some people criticised him for his recent comment, pointing towards Yash's KGF.

Filmmaker Venkatesh Maha, who is gearing up for the release of the forthcoming Telugu anthology film Anger Tales, rubbished Prashanth Neel’s KGF franchise in a promotional interview. In turn, he earned the wrath of fans on social media. After facing heavy criticism for his words, the filmmaker issued a statement on social media.

Venkatesh Maha on his recent comment, referring to Yash's KGF.

It happened at a panel interview where Maha was present. Besides him, writer-directors Indraganti Mohana Krishna, Nandini Reddy, Vivek Athreya, and Shiva Nirvana were also a part of the discussion. The conversation mostly was centred on the portrayal of women characters in commercial cinema.

During the discussion, Maha, without mentioning any name, questioned the sensibility behind the mother’s character in KGF. He told journalist Prema, “In this movie I don’t want to name, I want to meet this utterly selfish woman who advises her son to amass wealth through whichever means. She wants him to rule the world. We celebrate the hero and laud his efforts when he builds narrow cubicles for people who dig up gold for him. He takes all that gold to the seat and gets buried in it. What are we telling our audience? Why is the audience making these films big hits?”

After the clip went viral on social media, several fans mercilessly criticised Maha for his comment on KGF. Following the backlash, Maha released an apology video in which he said it was the ‘opinion of a section of people’ and not only his. He added that he should’ve been more careful with his choice of words while making his point. However, he said he still stands by his opinion and the discussion it has started needs to be taken into consideration.

While Maha had no named the film, many fans connected the dots and assumed he was referring to Yash's KGF. One of the users wrote on Twitter, “This is unacceptable #VenkateshMaha garu. Every film has its own story to present to the audience. But such degrading comments are not healthy for any filmmaker.#kgfchapter1 #KGFChapter2 are loved by the audience.” Another user added, “Young director Venkatesh Maha's headstrong talk against the commercial cinema lands him in controversy. In first place, Venkatesh has made only one good movie so far, not yet qualified to think himself as a so-called "sensible director". Passing negative comments on others.”