Actress Rakul Preet Singh co-stars with South superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni in Manmadhudu 2, a teaser of which introducing her character Avantika released last week and infuriated a section of the Internet. Rakul Preet Singh, who plays the female version of a casanova in the movie, was trolled on Twitter for a smoking scene, and now, in an recent interview with Pinkvilla, she made a reference to Shahid Kapoor's Kabir Singh to drive home her take on trolls. "I don't really get bothered by trolls. I think logo ka kaam hai kehna, kuch toh log kahenge. We are playing characters. Now, whether it is Kabir Singh... if Shahid is smoking in the film it does not make him a smoker. No way he is promoting smoking. He is playing a character Arjun Reddy that is flawed and he does those things. In real life Shahid Kapoor is a vegetarian, we all know that," Pinkvilla quoted her as saying.
Trolls accused Rakul of "promoting smoking", describing the smoking scene as "deeply disturbing", about which she told Pinkvilla that her character is not a "generalised" representation of women: "People should disassociate to what we are playing onscreen is different and it is a story of that one person... we are not putting the entire girl clan into girls not showing in the right way. That's not happening."
Elaborating on her point, Rakul said she has "bigger and better things" to deal with and that trolls are rather inconsequential: "It is that one character Avantika that smokes and it's her story. Once you see the film, people will know why she does. Treat it like the character...For me, it was something different. I really don't pay attention to trolls...there are bigger and better things to do."
Manmadhudu 2 director Rahul Ravindran, who had tweeted the teaser on July 8, was also trolled for the apparently "deeply disturbing" teaser. Trolls also launched a harsh attack on the filmmaker's singer wife Chinmayi Sripaada, citing her condemning of Kabir Singh director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's controversial "slap" interview. "Double standards," Chinmayi was told on Twitter.
If a man is deeply connected with you - He will NEVER LAY HIS HANDS ON YOU.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) July 7, 2019
He will NEVER slap you.
He will NEVER TOUCH YOU without your consent.
Women (and young boys) have been told for aeons that being beaten up is a sign of *Love* / *Discipline*.
IT IS ABUSE!
Earlier in 2017, actress Mahira Khan was brutally trolled after photos of her smoking with Ranbir Kapoor outside a New York restaurant went crazy viral. After the controversy snowballed for days, Mahina Khan told news agency IANS: "Obviously you feel violated."
Manmadhudu 2 releases on August 9.
