'Duvvada Jagannadham has nothing against Brahmins'
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,February 22 2017]
It's not unusual to see Brahmin characters being shown in poor light in our movies. Brahmins are either shown to be irrationally orthodox, greedy, as meat-eaters who conceal their eating habits to their clients (read 'Ready' and 'N' number of such comedies), or as self-important people wrongly taking pride in their knowledge of the scriptures.
But controversies that ensued after the release of one particular film alerted the filmmakers to the pitfalls of portraying Brahmins in the wrong way. It was the 2012 film 'Denikaina Ready', following whose release representatives of the community took recourse to legal action against the filmmakers. Both Mohan Babu and Manchu Vishnu had to come out and say that they hardly had any intention to disrespect the community. Their genuine statements were appreciated by the representatives of the community and the issue was closed for good.
With Allu Arjun playing a priestly role in the big-ticket 'Duvvada Jagannadham', the prospect of another such controversy cropping up wasn't ruled out.
Probably sensing this, feelers have been sent by the makers about the entertainment being healthy and nothing offensive towards Brahmins. A national daily has quoted a prominent representative of the community as saying that Harish Shankar took care not to portray Brahmins in cheap light.