Pellichoopulu director files complaint against social media trolls

Hyderabad: The acclaimed director of Pellichoopulu, Tharun Bhascker Dhaassyam, filed a police complaint on 1 July after being trolled for a post he shared on his social media page.

According to a document the director uploaded on his Twitter page, Tharun had approached the Cybercrime Assistant Commissioner of Police at the Gachibowli station to register complaints against two Twitter accounts - Anudeep and Krishna Teja Chowdare. The director had previously approached the individuals to inform them of the effect of social media trolling. While their initial response was positive, they allegedly morphed the conversation to make it appear as though the director had threatened them.

Recently, Tharun, in an Instagram story, had praised the Malayalam film 'Kappela' and had commented on the status of the Telugu film industry. "Guys, watch Kappela on Netflix now. The hero doesn’t scream...He doesn’t sound over-smart, using idioms all the time. No slow-motion fights that challenge the theories of physics. The hero doesn’t make a re-entry every two minutes. He also doesn’t make long speeches about farmers and soldiers in the last 10 minutes. Even this is called cinema," his post reads when translated in English.

After the post, he was trolled by Tollywood actor Mahesh Babu's fans who thought the director was attacking the Telugu superstar.

Tharun told NewsMeter, "I never meant to target any particular individual. It was just a funny comment on the commercial film industry. But the trolling soon turned into threats, and I had to take a stand. I contacted the trolls personally, but they soon started levelling allegations against me."

He added, "I don't have a problem with people sharing their opinions about my post but it is the trolling that has to be answered."