Sona Mohapatra, Vikramaditya Motwane criticise Sandeep Reddy Vanga for his tweet on Hyderabad rape

The brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Hyderabad has shocked and enraged the nation. Among those who expressed their anguish on social media also included Hindi film stars. But one reaction that has received criticisms not just from regular social media users, but also fellow industry members is that of filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga. 

Reacting on the ghastly incident, Vanga wrote on Twitter, “FEAR is the only factor which can change things radically in a society and FEAR should be the new rule. Brutal sentence will set an example. Now every girl in the country needs a firm guarantee. I request @warangalpolice to come into action.#RIPPriyankaReddy.” 

The filmmaker had received widespread criticism on social media for allegedly glorifying toxic masculinity in his Telugu film Arjun Reddy (2017) and its Hindi remake Kabir Singh (2019), despite both the films being successful. 

Referring to that film and the scene where the protagonist slaps his girlfriend, Motwane replied to Vanga’s tweet saying, “Will that FEAR stop them from slapping her?” 

Mohapatra, known for her bold tweets on issues related to women, came down heavily on Vanga. She said, “Would also help if you did your job better. Stop making films where you glorify sexist behaviour, misogyny & violence against women. Films like #KabirSingh aka #ArjunReddy where you ride on male toxicity for commercial gain. Maybe use your ‘virtue signalling’ in your work?” 

Vanga hasn’t replied to both of them yet. The filmmaker also ran into controversy for having defended his portrayal of love in the film, Kabir Singh and Arjun Reddy. In an interview with FilmCompanion.com, Vanga had justified his hero’s temperamental behaviour calling anger the 'purest emotion', and also said that a romantic relationship doesn’t really count if 'you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other.' 

More recently, actress Parvathy on the same FilmCompanion platform had criticised the film. With Arjun Reddy (2017) actor Vijay Deverekonda present on the panel, Parvathy said, "Whereas, if you're saying that there's no passion in a relationship without slapping each other – and I see the comments on YouTube, where people are engaging and resonating with that – you are engaging with the wrong thing in a massive, mob-like manner, where you're inciting violence."