When a superstar's bold turn for billboard on busy street led to 40 accidents, cops had it removed, but film bombed
In 2010, director Radhakrishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish was working on an anthology film with some of the leading actors of the Telugu industry. The experimental film, titled Vedam, focussed on five people in Hyderabad, whose lives intersect at one hospital after a terror attack. While the film was a serious slice-of-life drama, during the promotions, the film's team highlighted the female lead in seductive poses on promotional material. One of them got so much mileage that it caused countless traffic accidents.
Vedam stars Allu Arjun, Manchu Manoj, Anushka Shetty, and Manoj Bajpayee. Anushka, one of the leading female stars in Telugu cinema at the time, played a sex worker in the film. The promotional material used pictures of her from a photoshoot she did in a yellow saree, in rather suggestive and seductive poses. One of these was used on a giant billboard on a busy street in Hyderabad.
Recalling the promotions recently in an interview with 123Telugu, director Krish said, 'As part of the film's promotions, we had unveiled a giant hoarding featuring Anushka in a seductive pose. The hoarding became such a rage that it caused more than 40 accidents at the Punjagutta Circle.'
Eventually, after the local traffic police received multiple complaints about the 'bold' poster, the film's team was forced to take it down. 'We had to remove the hoarding after several police complaints were filed. That was the kind of massive impact Anushka had made with her character,' Krish added.
Vedam was released on 4 June 2010 to largely positive reviews. The film garnered acclaim from the critics, but very little love from the masses. It earned just ₹10 crore in its opening weekend, and by the end of its run, was unable to recover its costs. However, it later won five Filmfare Awards and 2 Nandi Awards. It even featured in several lists of the best Telugu films of the decade. Despite its commercial failure, over the years, Vedam has solidified its position as a cult classic.
Anushka went on to appear in hits like Singam before becoming the first female Telugu star to give a solo blockbuster in Rudhramadevi (2015). The same year, she also appeared as Devasena in the Baahubali series. She will be next seen in Ghaati, which reunites her with Krish. The film is scheduled to release on 11 July.
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