Vijay Deverakonda Calls Out Paid Smear Campaign Against Ranabaali

Vijay Deverakonda is calling out what he says is a paid, coordinated smear campaign against his upcoming film Ranabaali. The actor says the negative posts flooding social media are not organic fan reactions but manufactured noise timed for the film’s Dasara release.

Identical reels, one recurring instruction

He points to dozens of near-identical reels and messages telling audiences to skip Ranabaali and watch Jailer 2 instead. With the two films reportedly headed for a Dasara box office clash, Deverakonda sees the repetition as a tell. “When you see the same message being shared across reels, see it as unnatural,” he said.

The actor’s argument is simple: genuine audience opinion tends to be messy and varied. When the same line appears across unconnected accounts, he suggests, it is more likely a campaign than a consensus.

An AI warning for paid trolls

Deverakonda did not stop at naming the pattern. He also told the people behind these campaigns to find better work. He said 20 people may run 50 handles each today for money, but artificial intelligence will soon be able to do that job; those behind the fake accounts “won’t be needed then.”

That is a sharp shift from the usual star-versus-troll fight. Instead of appealing to platforms, he is making the economic argument that paid trolling has an expiry date.

Personal attacks against the couple

Recent clips from promotional interviews featuring Deverakonda and his wife, Rashmika Mandanna, have been edited and shared to target the couple. Asked whether the personal attacks land, Deverakonda said he keeps the scale of online negativity in mind. He noted that on October 2 he saw many videos trolling Mahatma Gandhi himself, and if that is the reality, he and Rashmika cannot be affected by every post aimed at them.

Why fans should pay attention

This matters beyond one release. If coordinated accounts can make a film look rejected before it opens, fans may skip a movie they would otherwise enjoy. The worry is not new in Telugu cinema. Actors such as Kiran Abbavaram and Vishwak Sen have earlier spoken about similar organised attacks against their films.

For audiences, the best defence is pattern-spotting before the premiere:

• Look for repetition: identical wording across unrelated reels is a red flag.
• Wait for theatre reactions: genuine reviews emerge only after the film opens.
• Separate personal clips from film quality: a promotional moment edited into an attack is not a review.

The actual verdict will arrive when Ranabaali and Jailer 2 reach theatres this Dasara. Until then, the best move for film fans is to treat repeated, scripted-looking negativity with the same scepticism as a paid promotion.

Source: Filmfare