Why is #boycottbhairavam suddenly trendy?

Everything seemed to run smoothly. The buzzing around the film was strong, the promotions were in full swing – suddenly the trend “#boycottbhairavam” took over. What happened?

A single political comment by director Vijay Kanakamedala has triggered intensive negativity in the film.

Ironically, the people who insist that politics and cinema should not mix are often the first to make political statements when they have given a microphone – just to sabotage their own films. That is exactly what seems to have happened with Bhairava.

As part of the film's promotions, Vijay Kanakamedala made a politically accused comment that grabbed many in the wrong way, in particular supporters of the YSR congress party.

Since then, the trend “#boycottbhairavam” has gained the drivetime, especially in the YSRCP-oriented social media handles.

This is not the first time that such a counter reaction occurred. The actor Prudhvi recently made political comments at an event for the film Laila.

The controversy played and the main actor Vishwak sen had to deal with the Fallout. At some point he was so desperate that he had broken out into tears – but until then the damage was done. Laila turned out to be a disaster.

Now the story seems to be repeated. Vijay Kanakamedala's remark – “Someone always rises to protect Dharma. Exactly a year ago, someone did the same in our state – has angered the fans of YSRCP, who regard it as a veiled reference to the opposition manager Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Ironically, the Bhairava event took place under TDP supporters, and no one else made political explanations. But Vijay seems to have crossed a line.

While he promotes the film with the line “a Mahabharat where our own people kill our own”, he seems to let his personal agenda in the way – and in the process of injuring his own film.