4 min readHyderabadJun 18, 2026 11:52 AM IST
A re-edited version of Ram Charan’s Peddi has started rolling out in theatres this week from Thursday, carrying close to six minutes of new footage aimed at giving the film’s romance and emotional beats more room to breathe. The production team has confirmed the addition of approximately 5 minutes and 56 seconds of fresh footage to the theatrical cut, with the new material including a key scene for senior actor Jagapathi Babu as well as additional scenes built around heroine Janhvi Kapoor.
The added material is reportedly aimed squarely at giving Janhvi Kapoor’s character, Achiyamma, more depth and a stronger emotional arc, something several reviewers had flagged as a weak point in the original cut. Achiyamma is the daughter of a local politician played by Rao Ramesh, who campaigns to get her father elected as an MLA while her romance with Peddi’s character develops alongside that political track.
According to early reactions to the new cut, the additional scenes built around a Pelli Choopulu style sequence, a traditional bride viewing setup common in Telugu families, land as comic in the film’s first half before turning more emotionally resonant in the second. A market scene placed just ahead of the Chikiri song has also been added, reportedly giving the film’s central romance a more grounded, lived in feel before the track begins. The new material involving Janhvi Kapoor’s character and Rao Ramesh’s politician character is said to better explain his motivations later in the story, tightening a thread that several reviewers had previously found thin.
Rao Ramesh’s role had been described in early reviews as appearing in only a handful of inconsequential scenes, making this particular addition notable, since it directly addresses one of the more specific criticisms levelled at the film’s supporting cast.
Taken together, early word on the reloaded version suggests the added footage is meant to smooth over some of the connective tissue between key moments rather than alter the story itself, with the broader aim of making the film’s emotional beats land more effectively than they did in the original three hour cut. The timing of the release is notable too, with the new scenes helping steady the film’s hold in Telugu speaking states and supporting strong occupancy in Hindi belt markets just as its theatrical run enters a more competitive phase.
This addition comes on the back of an earlier round of edits made to the film. Following backlash over scenes that many viewers felt objectified and hypersexualised Janhvi Kapoor’s character, Achiyyamma, director Buchi Babu Sana publicly apologised and confirmed that the controversial portions had been removed from the film.
The re-edit arrives alongside a major box office milestone. Ram Charan’s sports drama has crossed Rs 400 crore in worldwide gross collections within two weeks of release, with the production team describing it as South India’s top earning film of 2026 so far. The makers confirmed the milestone on social media, posting that the film had crossed 400 crore gross worldwide, a figure that arrived even as the film’s daily domestic collections slowed considerably heading into its third weekend
Directed by Buchi Babu Sana, Peddi also stars Shiva Rajkumar, Jagapathi Babu and Divyenndu, and continues to perform strongly at the box office despite the controversy, with the film holding its position as one of the year’s biggest South Indian releases through both rounds of editing.
Ram Charan in a still from the movie Peddi, directed by Buchi Babu Sana