Back in 2023, during the pre-release event of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal in Hyderabad, then BRS minister Malla Reddy made a bold prediction that Telugu people would rule India and even asked Bollywood stars to move to Hyderabad, claiming that Mumbai had become old, Bengaluru was struggling with traffic, and Hyderabad was the only major city in India.
Three years later, a dig at that statement has now triggered a fresh controversy.
A Bollywood-loving social media handle shared the old video and sarcastically pointed out that several Telugu films had failed at the box office since then. The post mentioned big films such as The Raja Saab, Peddi, OG, Kingdom, Devara, and Guntur Kaaram while mocking the prediction about Tollywood dominating Indian cinema.
Interestingly, director Siddharth Anand, the director of Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan, reacted to the post with a simple “Oops.” That one word may turn out to be a big mistake.
Tollywood has had its share of failures in the last three years, just as Bollywood and every other film industry have. At the same time, Telugu cinema has continued to produce massive pan-India successes like Pushpa 2 and Kalki 2898 AD. So, Siddharth Anand’s reaction can easily be seen as unnecessary trolling that could create trouble for him and his next film.
Sidharth Anand is currently preparing King, his next big project with Shah Rukh Khan, which is scheduled for release in December 2026. The film is expected to face strong competition from huge Hollywood releases like Avengers Doomsday and Dune 3 during the same period. That means he will need audiences across India, including the Telugu states.
Tollywood fans are not exactly known for ignoring such digs, and if they decide to take this seriously, Sidharth Anand could become the target of some serious trolling. When your next film is targeting the entire Indian market, picking unnecessary fights with another huge audience base may backfire. One “Oops” could become a much bigger headache than expected.
