Young Director Venkatesh Maha caught into controversy after openly criticizing the way “KGF” movie was made. A recent interview conducted on YouTube to mark International Women’s Day has stirred up a controversy, with filmmaker Venkatesh Maha facing criticism for his comments about the portrayal of women in the popular Indian film, KGF. Maha, who has directed just two films, made comments during the discussion about the portrayal of women in commercial cinema, stating that if “sensible filmmakers” like him decided to set aside their “ethical reservations,” they could easily make better commercial films than the ones currently being praised.

Maha went on to criticize the portrayal of the mother character in KGF, without naming the film specifically. He expressed his disbelief at the character’s advice to her son to amass wealth through any means necessary and surround himself with it at the time of his death. He also questioned the audience’s fascination with films that celebrate the hero’s efforts to build narrow cubicles for gold diggers, only to bury the gold in the sea. His comments sparked outrage among fans of the film, who took to social media to criticize Maha for his remarks.

Maha expressed his opinion about the plot of the KGF movies, which revolve around the bond between the protagonist Rocky (Yash) and his mother. He mentioned a scene where the mother asks for a quantity of gold, and Rocky liberates the workers at the KGF mines to obtain it. In the sequel, KGF: Chapter 2, Rocky drowns all the gold. Maha criticized Rocky’s actions, calling him a “lowly dog.” The filmmaker pointed out that there were thousands of workers who could have benefited from the gold, and it was a disappointment to see Rocky destroy it instead of using it to build homes for them. Maha found it perplexing that the mother requested someone to behave in such a manner and questioned why the audience would applaud such a storyline.

Watch the video below :

#InsecureLoaferVenkateshMaha

How arrogant is this bitch? pic.twitter.com/EYnxFBHG0D

— Dvp (@InfoMl) March 6, 2023

Although the video of the interview has received less than one lakh views, the quotes were posted on social media and quickly went viral. The controversy sparked by Maha’s comments has drawn reactions from others in the film industry. Nandini Reddy, who participated in the discussion, apologized for any hurt caused. Maha himself released a statement on Twitter, apologizing for the language he used but standing by the views he expressed.

Check out some of the reactions his opinion received :

Venkatesh Maha made a great film and possibly a trendsetter in TFI but him being condescending towards KGF style commercial cinema and calling audience dumb for its pan India success is really off putting and reeks of elitism.

— Social Experiment (@GoneWorse) March 6, 2023

Directors like Venkatesh Maha will never understand that Commerical cinema is the most challenging filmmaking ever

Formula keeps changing every 3-4 years and audience keep expecting new way of story telling if impressed they give 1000cr KGF or else the director’s career is done

— Detective (@cheeks4042) March 6, 2023

Venkatesh maha responding on kgf success and story isn’t a problem, many might have felt the same way after watching Kgf.

But the way he reponded isn’t good, being a director himself he could have said his opinion in better way.

— Sunny (@Dr_S_Chanamolu) March 6, 2023

Venkatesh maha responding on kgf success and story isn’t a problem, many might have felt the same way after watching Kgf.

But the way he reponded isn’t good, being a director himself he could have said his opinion in better way.

— Sunny (@Dr_S_Chanamolu) March 6, 2023

“I empathize with the emotion of all the fans in everything that happened over last 24 hours. There’s a lot of discussion happened in that panel and the 2 mins your are watching is a clip out of the context. It makes me sad that along with me my fellow filmmakers in the panel are also getting trolled. I don’t want any one of them to take a hit for my opinion. They are some of the most respected directors in Telugu film Industry, and I humbly request you all to protect that” read the press release of the filmmaker.

pic.twitter.com/3BMjapuoXm

— Venkatesh Maha (@mahaisnotanoun) March 7, 2023

Venkatesh Maha made a splash in 2018 with his debut film, Care of Kancharapalem, which received critical acclaim and won several awards. The film was later remade in Tamil and Kannada. His second feature, Uma Maheshvara Ugra Roopasya, was a remake of the Malayalam hit, Maheshinte Pratheekaaram, and was released directly released as a direct OTT release.

Here’s the video released by the filmmaker in his official Instagram handle :

 

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A post shared by Venkatesh Maha (@venkateshmaha)