During an appearance on Koffee With Karan Season 9 with Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor reflected on the criticism surrounding her character in Peddi.
Janhvi Kapoor’s character in the Ram Charan-starrer Peddi faced severe online backlash for hypersexualisation, extreme objectification, and questionable portrayals of consent through body-focused camera angles. On Koffee With Karan Season 9, Janhvi admitted the depiction was problematic, called the experience "violating," and expressed regret for not being more vigilant or using her voice to prevent it.
Karan said, "So, what happened with the Peddi controversy? I know it really affected you in more ways than one because I spoke to you on the day it happened. There are two ways of looking at it. One, there was a lot of sympathy that there has been a sexualisation to her portrayal of this character. And the other, there was a section saying, "But she was on that set. Why didn't she stop it?" And what did you feel?"
Janhvi admitted she was initially reluctant to address the controversy because of the hard work put in by the film's cast and crew. Nevertheless, the actor acknowledged the validity of the concerns raised regarding how her character was depicted.
"I felt many things, Karan. I feel the reason I was so apprehensive to talk about it was that many people worked very hard on that film. And I really didn't know what to say or if there was anything really to say even."
"Because it's important that I take ownership for my half of whatever that fiasco was, because it weighs heavily on my conscience, the sort of negative impact a narrative like that can have on our society. Specific to my gender, right? And I think that shame I'll always carry with me," Janhvi added.
Janhvi also admitted that she could have brought up the concerns she had about the scenes.
"Could I have done more? Could I have been more vigilant? Could I have made a bigger scene? A hundred per cent, yes. Was it problematic? Was it extreme objectification? Did it even propagate sexual assault narratively? Yes. But yeah, I mean, the only thing I can do is to ensure that doesn't happen again."
She explained that actors often find themselves in situations where they feel they have to follow a director's instructions.
"And again, I don't like saying this because it sounds like I'm shifting blame. But you know what it's like: you feel like whatever the director says, you have to be professional. You have to listen to the director."
Janhvi noted that scripts rarely reveal how camera angles and visual execution will turn out on screen, and explained that she tried to raise concerns whenever she became aware of them.
"So I was really navigating how to make things less problematic, as best I thought, as and when information was becoming available to me. Because you know this, I can just say that very rarely is there a bound script. And very rarely in those scripts do you see where the camera angles are."
Rather than dismissing the criticism or deflecting, Janhvi owned her position, and also acknowledged the privilege and agency she has to push back against uncomfortable choices on set.
"But having said that, I need to also take responsibility for my half of it. I do come from a place of privilege. I should have taken advantage of that because I'm going to get the shit for being privileged anyway. So I might as well have leveraged it."
More on the Peddi backlash
Public controversy surrounding Peddi centered on the portrayal of Achiyamma, played by Janhvi Kapoor, over allegations of overt sexualization and the potential normalisation of sexual assault.
Following the backlash, director Buchi Babu Sana released a statement of regret, disavowing any intention to trivialize female characters, while the production team formally removed or re-edited the contested sequences for the film's theatrical distribution.
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