"The Telugu film industry, which made a fortune off showing Reddys as violent factionists and Hyderabadis as having impure language, is bowing down to the TDP pressure," alleged Kaustubh, a social media user, commenting on the recent ETV Win controversy. In a web series titled AIR, a controversial scene was deemed to be offensive to the Kamma community. The OTT platform has since apologized and removed the scene.
Many allege that ETV Win promptly withdrew the scene because a lobby close to the ruling Telugu Desam Party in AP had exerted pressure. This is just a theory. Most likely, the streaming platform withdrew the scene because of incessant online backlash.
The whole issue has sparked counterarguments. In the 2000s, many blockbusters had Reddy factionists as villains. It started with Samara Simha Reddy and was followed by Indra, Aadi, Chenna Kesava Reddy, and other movies. But there is a difference. "In all those movies, the hero is also a Reddy. Those films depicted a sub-regional fight for dominance. They were hero vs. villain stories and were not about caste," argues Varun Chowdary. Pothuraju counters the argument. "The Rayalaseema factionist and the Paatha Basthi rowdy sheeter are common characters in Telugu cinema. You will never see a Vijayawada Chowdhary in a negative light in these movies," the netizen writes.
