Nagarjuna Akkineni defends Telugu films against allegations of sexism, ‘promoting stalking as romance’

Nagarjuna Akkineni, in a new interview, addressed allegations that Telugu films and song lyrics are ‘sexist’ and guilty of ‘promoting stalking as romance’. He said that the actual essence is lost in translation.

While Nagarjuna admitted that some films are guilty of sexism because ‘the world is not a perfect place’, he said that the ‘majority’ is not like that.

Speaking to Film Companion, Nagarjuna said, “The Telugu language is such, if you translate it literally into English, it is going to look very, very sexist. I also tried to analyse this with many people and talked about it. Even if you pick out Bangarraju songs, they are pure folk tunes… If you translate those lines, it will look like… I mean, there are lines which are so beautiful when they are written in Telugu but if you translate it in English, it is going to be like, ‘Are you going to sleep with me tonight?’ They translate like that but if you look at it, you see Telugu women singing those.”

“There are some films which definitely are doing what you said they are doing. The world is not a perfect place, this happens. But the majority is not like that,” he added.

Nagarjuna is currently gearing up for the release of the Telugu film Bangarraju, in which he stars alongside his son Naga Chaitanya. The film, a sequel to the 2016 hit Soggade Chinni Nayana, is directed by Kalyan Krishna Kurasala. It also stars Ramya Krishnan and Krithi Shetty, and is set to open in cinemas on January 14, amid the Omicron scare.

Also see | When Naga Chaitanya shared Nagarjuna’s first reaction to him dating Samantha Akkineni: ‘You’re telling me this now…’

Apart from this, Nagarjuna will be seen in Ayan Mukerji’s long-delayed Brahmastra, the first part of a proposed fantasy trilogy. The film also stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan and Dimple Kapadia. It is scheduled for a theatrical release on September 30.

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