Backlash Over a 'Pedo Joke' Exposes Hypocrisy, Selective Morality of Telugu Film Industry

A video posted by Telugu YouTuber Praneeth Hanumanthu on July 5 has sparked widespread outrage. It first gained attention on Telugu X (formerly Twitter) and is now a topic in primetime debates across mainstream media in both Telugu states. The video, which has been removed, featured Praneeth and his friends making jokes widely condemned as bordering on pedophilia.

This incident highlights the complex dynamics of celebrity worship, social media outrage, and deep-seated societal norms in Telugu culture. The backlash to Praneeth’s comments, though seemingly straightforward, reveals deeper hypocrisies and selective moralities in the Telugu film industry and society at large.

For context, Praneeth, the son of a former IAS officer, recently hosted a YouTube stream with Burra Yuvaraj, Adi Pedireddy, and Bhargav, also known as Dallas Nageshwar Rao. During the stream, they made a series of inappropriate comments about child sexual abuse. The video, filled with sexual innuendos, crude jokes, and raucous laughter, aimed to amuse but instead sparked significant backlash for its tasteless content.

In the video, Praneeth and his friends made inappropriate jokes on a father-daughter template. Comments such as “She (the girl) went from ‘Hi Daddy’ to ‘Hi Nanna’. He (the father) went from ‘Pedo Nanna’ to ‘Pedda Nanna’,” were made, with Praneeth suggesting more humorous content using the template. The banter escalated with lines like, “From stream, I’m going straight to jail,” eliciting laughter from the group. This attempt at dark humour quickly backfired, leading to intense backlash.

The incident gained traction after prominent Tollywood actors such as Panja Sai Dharam Tej, Manchu Manoj, and Nara Rohit flagged the issue on X. All of them are children of legacy actors in Tollywood. This has elicited responses from notable figures in both the political and film industries in the Telugu states. Both the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Telangana took to X, promising strict action against Praneeth.

On July 8, the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TCSB) registered a first information report (FIR) against Praneeth. He was arrested in Bengaluru on July 10 and sent to 14 days of judicial custody by the Nampally Court in Telangana the following day.

Amid the uproar, Praneeth issued an apology on July 6, tweeting, “Edited out the problematic part from the video. Unconditionally and unambiguously apologetic about the lapse in judgement. As a creator, my attempt is always to put a smile. Unfortunately, this time I have crossed the line between what is dark and what is distasteful.”

While the incident seems straightforward, much nuance is missing in this case of exploding outrage, given the obsessive and fanatical role of cinema, stardom, fandom, and celebrity worship in popular Telugu culture.

Selective outrage

“While I fully condemn Praneeth’s ‘pedo’ joke, the irony is that many of the accounts expressing such uncontrolled outrage regularly post sexist and casteist content. Issuing rape threats is a casual daily activity for these men. I have personally faced such abuse,” Ramya (name changed), @thokkathotakura on X, a keen observer of pop culture, told The Wire.

Tabitha Percy, an artist active on X who has closely followed these culture debates, agreed. “It’s highly unfortunate that Praneeth made a joke in such bad taste. However, I remember how he was hounded by Pawan Kalyan’s fans when he called out sexism and misogyny in the movie Vakeel Saab, a remake of the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Pink,” she told The Wire.

Anudeep Katikala, a stand-up comic based in Hyderabad, made similar observations. “His humour is pretty edgy, and people found his content funny because he resonated with public sentiment and opinions. In the past, he has rattled many fans of major heroes by making jokes about genuinely bad films their heroes have done,” he told The Wire.

Praneeth made a review video of the movie Son of India two years ago and was trolled by Manchu Mohan Babu fans. “Fandom in the Telugu Film Industry is clannish, with each hero and their family having their own dedicated fan associations, often neatly falling along caste lines,” Prudy Ray, a visual and graphic designer based out of Bangalore and an active X user, told The Wire. 

Curiously, actor Manchu Manoj, the younger son of Manchu Mohan Babu, ends his angry tweet with a personal Tollywood-style warning: ‘P. Hanumantu, I won’t let you go. Amma Thodu (mother promise—maa ki kasam),’ illustrating how personal and intense these matters often get.

Recently, Praneeth was heavily trolled by Prabhas fans for his review of the movie Kalki 2898 AD. “Just like celebs, fans too don’t have thick skins. Back then, they couldn’t do anything because his jokes were genuinely about bad stuff in the movies, but now they are piling onto him,” Anudeep added. This could explain the disproportionate outrage.

One X user wrote: “Good to see whole Telugus raging out on @phanumantwo (Praneeth Hanumanthu), but most of ’em literally promoted and generalized a literal rape template a month back. Basically, the prior reason for this rage is because Phanumantu trolled their favourite heroes in his videos, not exactly due to concern for that kid.”

What is even more ironic is the language used to express this outrage. Posting a screenshot of Praveen’s mother’s Instagram page, one X user wrote: “Praneeth Hanumanthu’s mother’s insta page. She should focus on her kids and the content they are putting out as a priority over her vlogging!”

“I tweeted saying even outrage cannot be expressed by these men without using gender-based curse words that invariably involve female genitalia. Many men responded by accusing me of diverting the issue and saying such cuss words are normal and fine,” Ramya told The Wire.

Ramya also pointed out a pattern. “Every time something like this happens, they isolate this one incident and frame it as a battle between good (them) versus evil (him/her). By absolving themselves, they feel good about themselves. This leads to collective self-delusion by heaping all the blame onto one individual,” she added.

Hypocrisy, thy name is TFI

“To watch someone like Balakrishna romance a 20-something-year-old heroine is cringe-worthy. Yet Telugu audiences, especially fans, love it. Why do Telugu heroes, regardless of their age, prefer to work with much younger heroines?” Tabitha asked. Nandamuri Balakrishna, son of the late actor and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao (NTR) and Hindupur MLA from the Telugu Desam Party, is notorious for his behaviour with co-actors, especially women.

Previously, he made vulgar comments about women at an audio launch. “If I play eve-teasing roles and just follow girls, my fans will not accept it. Either a kiss should be given, or they should be made pregnant. That’s all. We have to commit ourselves,” the actor had said. Incidentally, Balakrishna is closely related to Nara Rohit, one of the actors who expressed outrage.

This trend extends to younger heroes as well. For instance, Vaishnav Tej, brother of Sai Dharam Teja, debuted in Uppena with Kriti Shetty, who was a minor at the time. “Even Sudhir Babu, another outraged actor over 40, acted with Kriti Shetty when she was a minor. In the movie Shyam Singha Roy, there is a sex scene between the lead actor Nani, who is above 40, and Kriti Shetty. How is it that the same people are okay with sexualising a minor?” Tabitha questioned.

Ramya offered a harsher critique. “The Telugu Film Industry itself is a pedophilic industry. It’s all about vulgar titillation in the name of entertainment. They have normalised misogyny, objectifying women, body shaming, making homophobic jokes and stalking. Even TV comedy shows like Jabardasth have normalised such a culture,” she said. Jabardasth is a very popular TV comedy show aired on the Eenadu network.

Incidentally, Naga Babu, another uncle of Sai Dharam Teja, has been a judge on the show for many years. On the show, Naga Babu can be seen laughing heartily. “Even if it is induced laughter added to canned laughter, he seems to be having fun while getting paid for laughing at sexist, colourist, racist, casteist, and body-shaming jokes. How is he not culpable too?” Ramya asked.

Tabitha raises another important question. “What about children who are made to dance to item numbers? Many popular TV shows in Telugu feature such performances. How is it that all these people are okay with that? It’s because we don’t understand the concept of pedophilia. People think paedophiles exist only in America and that it’s only a Western idea.”

Anudeep weighed in: “There are many content creators on the internet who sell content made by children. In fact, Sai Dharam Teja himself endorses one such creator, Arpitha Kowtal. What’s the point of doing this? Marketing your child? The child has not seen anything but the screen. What about the child’s consent and choice? We don’t know how much footage they are shooting because they only put out edited parts. Does this mean they can do anything to become famous? What if she grows up to hate her parents?”

Benign violation theory

Now everyone loves a good laugh, but why are some things funny while others are not? And who decides what’s funny and what’s not? Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren might have an answer. They proposed the Benign Violation Theory to explain why people find certain things funny. According to this theory, humour arises when a situation is perceived as both a violation and benign at the same time.

They highlight two aspects of this theory. The first is violation, which threatens a person’s sense of how the world should be. This can include moral violations, social norm violations, or physical threats. The second aspect is benign. For a violation to be funny, it must also be benign, meaning it is seen as non-threatening, acceptable, or safe. This benign aspect can come from psychological distance, a playful context, or a reinterpretation that makes the situation seem harmless.

“Most jokes, in a sense, are about crossing a line. Take the popular ‘your mama’ joke. If I say ‘your mama is so fat if she sits on an iPhone it turns into an iPad.’ This is a violation. However, some will find it funny, others won’t. What is considered benign and what is considered malignant depends on the culture in which the audience is immersed and familiar with,” said Anudeep.

According to Peter and Caleb, what is considered benign varies among individuals and groups, influenced by factors like cultural norms, social context, personal differences, power dynamics, and media. However, humour ‘gets dark’ when it touches on serious, distressing, or taboo subjects. Dark humour often makes light of topics like death, violence, illness, tragedy, and other morbid or unsettling themes.

“Let’s consider making a rape joke. We must ask, who will laugh— the perpetrator or the victim? This is crucial. In a public space, there is always an audience, so we must be extremely careful and considerate. Intent versus impact matters in jokes. People can understand the joke in two ways: how you meant it and how they perceived it. Intent and impact should be aligned,” Anudeep explains.

As a professional comic, Anudeep feels Praneeth’s attempt was juvenile and poorly executed without any sense of responsibility. “These are not professional jokes. The joke shouldn’t normalize pedophilia. It could’ve been done differently and more clearly, perhaps using irony. The angle matters. The perspective matters. As professionals, we scrutinise every word we use and research every topic thoroughly,” he said.

“We professionals make jokes about taboo subjects and themes to sometimes bring the perspective of victims because, more often than not, such subjects are not discussed openly in our hyper-conservative culture,” he added.

Public lies and private truths

What does this incident and the response to it reveal about Telugu culture and society at large? And what does this mean for democracy?

“Telugu culture is toxic. Casual misogyny, casteism, and colourism thrive here,” says Ramya. Prudy Ray agrees. “The culture is problematic. Men react if a child is involved, but ignore it if it’s a grown woman. Telugu society is highly patriarchal. Even school children, especially girls, are touched inappropriately in a playful manner. This happened in my school. The culture stems from a patriarchal ideology where men think women are property. This toxic masculinity originates from that belief. The Telugu Film Industry promotes this and doesn’t question it, setting a precedent for how to react,” he told The Wire.

Explaining how the Telugu Film Industry shapes culture, Prudy said: “Most movies glorify harassment and stalking, demanding love from women, and promoting a toxic idea of love. Children who grow up without love or care are often influenced by these popular cinematic notions. They learn how women should be in a relationship and what demands men can make. These warped portrayals lead to unhealthy relationships in real life, reinforcing harmful stereotypes and expectations.”

Pointing to the conservative core of Telugu culture, Tabitha asks: “Have we ever discussed paedophilia in Telugu culture as a problem? Never. It’s not funny because we haven’t discussed it. So it’s not a benign violation. As long as we don’t challenge the status quo, the jokes are fine. That’s why their small bubble of friends finds it funny, but the larger collective might not. Why are we so uptight?”

This has democratic implications as well. Peter and Caleb explain that what is considered benign depends on social and power dynamics. 

“The same rules don’t apply to everyone. When celebrities and people in power transgress, it’s often overlooked. But if others make minor mistakes, the full force of public morality descends on them,” said Anudeep. “When we ask fans why there is no similar outrage for Balakrishna, the usual response is ‘Balayya is Balayya,’” he added.

Anudeep is highlighting the process of creating exceptions. From exceptions for the Brahmin man in the Dharmashastras to American Exceptionalism, this old idea is central to creating hierarchical humans (homo hierarchicus). George Orwell captured it in Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal.” Once an individual is deemed more or less than others, it allows for dehumanisation and undemocratic behaviour.

Ramya explained how power dynamics induce peer pressure: “Praneeth had also made pedo jokes on his broadcast channel, which includes other content creators. Many in the channel even laughed at these jokes. Initially, they might have been unsure if they should find such dark jokes funny. However, since Praneeth is very popular, they might have felt compelled to laugh at his jokes, assuming he knows what he’s doing. This problematic role modelling induces peer pressure and groupthink.”

Tabitha believes it is crucial to have open discussions about these issues rather than treating them as taboo. “We shouldn’t stop with Praneeth’s incident. We need to investigate and discuss this toxic culture publicly; otherwise, a great opportunity for democratic discourse would be lost. Men will slip back into their ways of casual sexism and rape threats,” she said.

She emphasised the importance of addressing these issues publicly. “There is no point in performing moral superiority or virtue signalling in public when we are degenerate in our private lives,” she added.

Prudy agrees: “I understand men’s saviour complex, however I feel these days it’s mostly confined to the public sphere. I’ve seen men express outrage in public but remain mere bystanders when, for instance, their neighbour is beating his wife, often dismissing it as a family affair. In public, they gain attention and can delude themselves into feeling virtuous. In private, unfortunately, no such rewards exist.”

Finally, Anudeep expressed his concern about how this incident might affect his work and passion. “I come from a marginalised section of society and believe humour can be a form of protest, a way to ‘punch up.’ Questioning the status quo and the establishment is one of the primary responsibilities of a comic. Since my jokes, like most, are about crossing lines, what if tomorrow politicians say we cannot joke about them? This situation could easily turn into a slippery slope and be used as an excuse to shut down dissenters, leading to further democratic backsliding in an already conservative Telugu society,” he said.

With additional inputs from Madhuri Keta.