In Tollywood, directors rarely admit mistakes before the dust settles. So when Buchi Babu Sana — the man behind Ram Charan’s Rs 350 crore sports drama Peddi — openly confessed that the film’s trailer was a blunder, the industry sat up and listened.
The Trailer That Nearly Sank the Ship
Director Buchi Babu Sana has admitted that the trailer of Ram Charan’s Peddi was not cut properly and may have damaged the film even before its release. He said too many elements were packed into a single scene, giving audiences the wrong impression about the movie.
In his own words? “In the trailer, too many things were packed into one scene. It was just too much. We cannot afford such mistakes with big films.”
For a film carrying one of Telugu cinema’s biggest stars on its shoulders, that’s not a minor oversight — that’s a self-inflicted wound. And the audience noticed immediately.
The Internet Turned on the Film Fast
The trailer attracted heavy negativity, with many viewers criticising the presentation of Janhvi Kapoor’s character and certain romantic scenes. What was meant to build hype instead sparked a wave of doubt — and in today’s social media age, doubt spreads faster than any marketing campaign can contain it.
Even actor Jagapathi Babu admitted that the negative campaign before release had worried the team. He said some people who genuinely wanted the film to succeed had started believing it would fail. That’s the kind of pre-release mood that haunts even the most confident producers.
Then Something Unexpected Happened
Just when it looked like Peddi was heading for a rough ride, the tide turned at the theatres. Buchi Babu said reviews and audience reactions gradually turned positive from the second day, with families beginning to watch the movie.
And the comeback had an unlikely hero — content creators. According to the director, influencers with lakhs of followers posted personal reviews, reels, and video clips, generating the kind of word-of-mouth that no paid advertisement could have manufactured. In 2026, it’s not just critics who make or break films — it’s the guy with 2 lakh subscribers who genuinely loved a scene and told his followers why.
The Controversy That Refused to Leave
Even as the box office stabilised, Peddi walked into another storm. Some viewers accused the film of oversexualising Janhvi Kapoor’s character Achiyyamma and presenting non-consensual physical contact as romance. It was the kind of criticism that no team wants to face — and that no PR team can easily spin away.
Responding to the backlash, Buchi Babu said the intention was never to disrespect or objectify any female character, and that the team had taken the feedback seriously.
The Bigger Question
Peddi is a sports action drama set in rural Andhra Pradesh, reportedly made on a massive budget of around Rs 350 crore. At that scale, a poorly cut trailer isn’t just a creative miscalculation — it’s a financial risk. Opening weekend numbers are decided in the first 48 hours, and those 48 hours are shaped almost entirely by how a trailer lands.
Buchi Babu’s admission is refreshingly honest in an industry that rarely acknowledges missteps while the film is still in theatres. But it also raises a question worth asking: with all the money, the talent, and the months of preparation that go into a film of this scale — how does the trailer still end up as “too much”?
Perhaps that’s Tollywood’s next lesson to learn. And if the director’s candour is anything to go by, at least someone is paying attention.
