{"id":722155,"date":"2026-06-08T02:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/722155\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T02:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T02:36:09","slug":"indie-film-box-office-indias-peddi-backlash-over-depiction-of-female-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/722155\/","title":{"rendered":"Indie Film Box Office: India’s \u2018Peddi\u2019 Backlash Over Depiction Of Female Lead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tPeddi<\/a> from Prathyangira Cinemas debuted in India \u2014 where it\u2019s the top Telugu opener of 2026 \u2014 as well as Stateside this weekend amid a social media controversy accusing the film of objectifying its female lead.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an unusual move, writer-director Buchi Babu Sana agreed Saturday to modify the scenes called out by critics of the film, which opened to $1.1 million at 755 North American locations for a cume pushing $3 million including Thursday screenings, according to Rentrak (previously Comscore). Set in the rural state of Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s, Peddi stars Ram Charan as a spirited villager who unites his community through sports. Janhvi Kapoor plays his love interest.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs a filmmaker, I believe cinema should entertain, inspire, and connect with audiences. It should never make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected. We have heard the feedback regarding certain scenes in Peddi and have taken it seriously,\u201d Sana wrote on X Saturday. His comments followed rising protest at some dialogue, instances of the camera lingering on Kapoor\u2019s figure, and a forced kiss by the male lead despite the film being marketed as a light romance, according to Indian press reports.<\/p>\n

\n\tKapoor\u2019s makeup artist reposted content that indicated the star had expressed concerns about some of the scenes. Other actresses weighed in on social media to support her.<\/p>\n

As a filmmaker, I believe cinema should entertain, inspire, and connect with audiences. It should never make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected. We have heard the feedback regarding certain scenes in Peddi and have taken it seriously.<\/p>\n

I have always had immense respect for\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 BuchiBabuSana (@BuchiBabuSana) June 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn other specialty action, Black Bear\u2019s critically acclaimed Tuner by Daniel Roher and starring\u00a0Leo Woodall,\u00a0Dustin Hoffman and Havana Rose Liu\u00a0continued its theatrical run, grossing $650k from 504 locations for an estimated cume of $3.1 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tNeon\u2019s I Love Boosters by Boots Riley is at $503k in week 3 on 300 screens with a cume of $8.6 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tLimited openings: Greenwich Entertainment\u2019s\u00a0Jinsei\u00a0began its U.S. run with an exclusive engagement at NYC\u2019s IFC Center, grossing a solid $9.25k.<\/p>\n

\n\tOscilloscope opened Robert Petit\u2019s cinematic documentary Underland, based on Robert Macfarlane\u2019s bestselling book, to $7.2k at New York\u2019s Angelika Film Center.\u00a0Narrated by Sandra H\u00fcller and produced by Darren Aronofsky, it adds LA\u2019s Laemmle Glendale next weekend before\u00a0expanding to additional cities.<\/p>\n

\n\tNoting that doc Steal This Story, Please! about journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, from Xceptional Communcations\/mTuckman media, which opened in April, added $20k this weekend for a $610k cume.<\/p>\n

\n\tWide indies: Pressure from Focus Features is looking at a $3 million weekend no. 2 \u2014 a dip of just 48% \u2014 on 1,855 screens, and a domestic cume of $11.2 million. The WW2 drama stars Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina and Damian Lewis.<\/p>\n

\n\tObsession, also from Focus, continues its sensational run in week 3, down just 7%\u00a0from last weekend with an estimated gross of\u00a0$25.6 million\u00a0from 2,900 theaters. The domestic cume stands at a whopping $152 million with no signs of slowing down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBackrooms from A24 grossed $25.9 at 3,565 theaters in week 2 for an also screaming cume of $135 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese two breakout first features from social media stars Kane Parsons and Curry Baker, respectively, are joined by a third this week, Fathom\u2019s The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, which hit 2,221 theaters for a $12.7 million opening and a $21 million cume including Thursday previews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peddi from Prathyangira Cinemas debuted in India \u2014 where it\u2019s the top Telugu opener of 2026 \u2014 as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,337,48986,202581],"class_list":["post-722155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-peddi","tag-specialty-box-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}