Kriti Sanon-Om Raut’s peck on the cheek at Tirupati leads to controversy, Dipika Chikhlia criticises them: ‘We couldn’t even hug anyone, kissing is beyond the question’

Dipika recalled that during the 1980s, when Ramayan was on air, no one would even call the actors by their name. “When we were in character on the set, people would come and touch our feet. That was a different time. People did not think of us as actors, they thought of us as gods. We couldn’t even hug anyone, kissing is beyond the question. After the release of Adipurush, the actors will get busy with their next project and will forget about their characters but this never happened with us,” she said.

She added that they were “treated like we are gods who have come to live in this world. That is the reason why we never did anything that would hurt the sentiments of the people.”

A video of the Adipurush team visiting the temple in Tirupati started doing the rounds on social media on Wednesday. The video featured Om Raut and Kriti Sanon and as the director bid goodbye to the actor, he gave her a peck on the cheek. BJP state secretary Ramesh Naidu Nagothu shared the screenshot on the clip and criticised the action. He tweeted, “Engaging in public displays of affection, like kissing and hugging in front of the Lord Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala is deemed disrespectful and unacceptable.” Soon after, he deleted the tweet.

Adipurush, also starring Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Sunny Singh is scheduled to release on June 16.