Buchi Babu cuts controversial Janhvi Kapoor scenes from Peddi: ‘Few shots turned misleading’

He was equally clear about what the film was not. “This is not a commercial film. It is not just a culmination of five songs and fights. Actor Ram Charan wanted this to be an inspirational story, our Peddi’s journey.” And that, he insisted, is what brought the two of them together. “Ram Charan and I wanted to tell a good story. That brought us together.”

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The question at the centre of that story was simple: What happens to exceptional physical ability when it has no institutional support? Buchi Babu answered, “Villagers carry 150 to 200 kg easily. Because they remain in villages they have become coolies. Or else they would have been winning medals in heavy weightlifting competitions.”

It is also why the character played by Shiva Rajkumar carries so much of the film’s thematic weight. “That is why Shivanna’s character exists in the film,” Buchi Babu explained, adding, “He explains that whatever daily work he gives to Peddi in the film, like drawing water from the well or lifting heavy rice bags, eventually adds up to the training of wrestling.”

The same logic runs through Boman Irani’s character, who begins the film looking at the villagers with skepticism. “Boman looks at the villagers with a negative eye, and says out loud if these guys will bring medals. And the idea changes as the movie goes forward. He realises the potential of these rustic players in the village.”

For Buchi Babu, Peddi was also a film about geography and invisibility. He traced that back to his time working on 100% Love with director Sukumar. “I saw these people from remote villages who would not even have stepped into big cities or seen any luxuries. I wanted to make a film that shows the relationship between these people and our country, to make them feel like all of us are brothers,” he said.

The scale he was thinking about was significant. “I read there are almost 20,000 villages,” he said, adding, “And the movie is my way to bring a connection and bring them into light for the country.”

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He was equally direct about the film’s intent. “We did not want to tell a simple, ordinary film. We wanted to make a sports drama that tells the importance of a person to an institution, how a man strives for identity or the village’s identity.”

Hit and a miss

Viewers have questioned how Janhvi Kapoor’s character Achiyyamma is written, with a section of the audience and women’s rights groups criticising the romance track. The makers announced the trimming of scenes deemed disrespectful towards women, and Buchi Babu addressed the criticism without deflection.

“In my opinion, a lot of people misread Janhvi Kapoor’s track as unnecessary in an otherwise good story,” he said.

Compared with his previous film, Buchi Babu explained that with Peddi, the approach was deliberately different. “In this film, I went a little radical, because Peddi comes from a remote place, somewhere far away from the hills. I wanted to show the rawness and later correct it in the end, saying that this guy is this way because of his upbringing and atmosphere. For such a character, he thinks he has to marry the woman he loves.”

But he admitted where it went wrong. “In this process, a few shots turned misleading. We have taken corrective measures to remove them, and we have removed them.”