Several stars in the South Indian film industry carry iconic titles such as Thalapathy and Thalaivar. However, Vijay Deverakonda recently invited backlash after simply adding 'The' before his name. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Vijay addressed the criticism and expressed his discomfort with labels like "Southern sensation".
Vijay Deverkonda on backlash for adding ‘the’ to his name
Speaking about the backlash, Vijay explained, "That was a whole situation in itself. There was a crazy amount of backlash because ‘The’ was added to my name. Interestingly, no other person has ever received backlash for something like that. You can have any name—from Universal Star to People’s Star—and people younger than me, older than me, those who debuted before me, everyone has a tagline. I was probably the only one without one. Nobody else gets backlash."
During the promotions of Liger, Vijay revealed that his team had encouraged him to adopt a tag, as people had already begun coining their own titles for him. Although he initially resisted the idea—preferring to be recognised simply by his name—he eventually gave in, noting that the media had started referring to him as the "Southern sensation", the "Rowdy star", and various other monikers.
He added, "Then they (his team) said, ‘We’ll use this Southern sensation,’ and I replied, ‘I’m not a Southern sensation, I’m from India. I want to be known by India, at the very least, someday.’ I felt everything was limiting. I want to be known as Vijay Deverakonda, and if you do need a tag, ‘The’ is enough. But people were like, ‘How can you put ‘The’?’ I was like, the whole point of ‘The’ was that I didn’t want a tag. If people don’t want it, chop it off.”
{{/usCountry}}He added, "Then they (his team) said, ‘We’ll use this Southern sensation,’ and I replied, ‘I’m not a Southern sensation, I’m from India. I want to be known by India, at the very least, someday.’ I felt everything was limiting. I want to be known as Vijay Deverakonda, and if you do need a tag, ‘The’ is enough. But people were like, ‘How can you put ‘The’?’ I was like, the whole point of ‘The’ was that I didn’t want a tag. If people don’t want it, chop it off.”
{{/usCountry}}Vijay also revealed that he has now asked his team to remove ‘The’ from his name, and confirmed that he won’t be credited as ‘The Vijay Deverakonda’ in his upcoming film Kingdom.
Vijay Deverakonda's upcoming film
Kingdom is a Telugu-language spy action thriller written and directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri. Produced by S. Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya under the banners of Sithara Entertainments and Fortune Four Cinemas, the film also stars Satyadev and Bhagyashri Borse. It is the first instalment of a planned duology and is scheduled to release in cinemas on July 31.
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