India’s ‘Peddi’ Faces Backlash Over Depiction Of Female Lead, Director Agrees To Modify Scenes — Specialty Box Office
Peddi from Prathyangira Cinemas debuted in India — where it’s the top Telugu opener of 2026 — as well as Stateside this weekend amid a social media controversy accusing the film of objectifying its female lead.
In an unusual move, writer-director Buchi Babu Sana agreed Saturday to modify the scenes called out by critics of the film, which opened to $1.1 million at 755 North American locations for a cume pushing $3 million including Thursday screenings, according to Rentrak (previously Comscore). Set in the rural state of Andhra Pradesh in the 1980s, Peddi stars Ram Charan as a spirited villager who unites his community through sports. Janhvi Kapoor plays his love interest.
“As a filmmaker, I believe cinema should entertain, inspire, and connect with audiences. It should never make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected. We have heard the feedback regarding certain scenes in Peddi and have taken it seriously,” Sana wrote on X Saturday. His comments followed rising protest at some dialogue, instances of the camera lingering on Kapoor’s figure, and a forced kiss by the male lead despite the film being marketed as a light romance, according to Indian press reports.
Kapoor’s makeup artist reposted content that indicated the star had expressed concerns about some of the scenes. Other actresses weighed in on social media to support her.
In other specialty action, Black Bear’s critically acclaimed Tuner by Daniel Roher and starring Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman and Havana Rose Liu continued its theatrical run, grossing $650k from 504 locations for an estimated cume of $3.1 million.
Neon’s I Love Boosters by Boots Riley is at $503k in week 3 on 300 screens with a cume of $8.6 million.
Limited openings: Greenwich Entertainment’s Jinsei began its U.S. run with an exclusive engagement at NYC’s IFC Center, grossing a solid $9.25k.
Oscilloscope opened Robert Petit’s cinematic documentary Underland, based on Robert Macfarlane’s bestselling book, to $7.2k at New York’s Angelika Film Center. Narrated by Sandra Hüller and produced by Darren Aronofsky, it adds LA’s Laemmle Glendale next weekend before expanding to additional cities.
Noting that doc Steal This Story, Please! about journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, from Xceptional Communcations/mTuckman media, which opened in April, added $20k this weekend for a $610k cume.
Wide indies: Pressure from Focus Features is looking at a $3 million weekend no. 2 — a dip of just 48% — on 1,855 screens, and a domestic cume of $11.2 million. The WW2 drama stars Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina and Damian Lewis.
Obsession, also from Focus, continues its sensational run in week 3, down just 7% from last weekend with an estimated gross of $25.6 million from 2,900 theaters. The domestic cume stands at a whopping $152 million with no signs of slowing down.
Backrooms from A24 grossed $25.9 at 3,565 theaters in week 2 for an also screaming cume of $135 million.
These two breakout first features from social media stars Kane Parsons and Curry Baker, respectively, are joined by a third this week, Fathom’s The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, which hit 2,221 theaters for a $12.7 million opening and a $21 million cume including Thursday previews.
