Vijay Deverakonda revealed that he had a conversation with his Liger co-star Ananya Panday after she criticised the gender politics of his film Arjun Reddy on Koffee with Karan. In a new interview, Vijay said that they spoke after Ananya pointed out that her comments about Arjun Reddy were being appreciated online.
Vijay said that he is proud of Ananya for voicing her opinion, and that he is always open to contrasting takes on subjects. Often, he said in a Bollywood Hungama interview, he likes to debate just for the fun of it.
He said, “I didn’t know what was happening. She mentioned that people seem to like her take, her very honest opinion on the film while I was next to her. But then, she is comfortable talking and I am really open to opinions. I love listening to people’s opinions. I don’t disregard anybody. If you feel this way, good. There must be a reason you feel this way. I may not agree with you or see both sides of the coin but I am glad she spoke what she thought.”
Ananya added, “It never even crossed my mind that Vijay would take offence to it because he is not really that kind of a person. I feel that I can share any sort of opinion in front of him and he has been very open to all of it. So I never felt he would have a problem with it.”
The two actors appeared together on Koffee with Karan, and Vijay was asked about the controversy Arjun Reddy has generated. He had said that he doesn’t find the film to be ‘misogynistic or anti-feministic’, and admitted that it could be triggering to someone who has been in an abusive relationship themselves. Karan asked Vijay if he could ever be Arjun Reddy in real life and Vijay said, “I would never raise my hand. If it ever reaches a point where I feel such anger towards a woman, I will walk out. It will never reach a point where it gets abusive in any nature. You don’t need that stress in life. If something is stressful, walk off.”
Ananya had said, “Honestly I feel if people have come up to him (Vijay Deverakonda) then I’m sure there are people like that. I’m just not surrounded by those people. And I would not advise any of my friends to be okay with it. But, that’s just how I am.”
