Speaking at an event on Monday, director Sreekanth Sangishetty said that a negative review of Deewana was put out on social media by an anonymous individual two days prior to the movie's release. "Someone from Mumbai wrote that the film is 'bakwaas'," he shared, adding that it pained him to read such a review before the romantic comedy-drama was even out in theatres. Interestingly, he attributed such motivated reviews to vengeance against Telugu cinema. "People in Mumbai have something against us. They are hating us," Sreekanth added, fighting back his tears.
The criticism is quite open and absolute. It's controversial, too. Deewana may be a decent film but it's not important enough for someone in Mumbai to want to affect it adversely.
The problem with the 'Telugu film industry is scaring Bollywood' narrative is that it results in an unnecessary sense of self-importance. Most pan-Indian Tollywood movies have struggled outside the Telugu States. Even the recent Peddi didn't make any mark in Hindi. So, why would someone try to break the back of a less-known film like Deewana?
