Just because Vijay Deverakonda’s latest film Dear Comrade underperformed at the boxoffice, the knives and claws are out in the Andhra film industry.

Rivals are gleefully writing epitaphs for his career. And the rival camps are celebrating. One entitled (read: star kid) A-list hero even told me, “It was too much too soon for Deverakonda. This myth of his superstardom was being created by his PR machinery.”

Firstly, Vijay’s stardom is no myth. And if Vijay could create a myth if stardom for himself he would have created it for his brother too. In the 8 years of his career Vijay has featured in at least 5 major successes.

Sure, Dear Rivals, Dear Comrade didn’t do as well as it was expected to. There were various factors contributing to this setback, one of them being the audiences’ over-expectation. Also, many felt the character Vijay played was too similar to what he did in Arjun Reddy.

Be as it might, the glee with which the failure of Dear Comrade was greeted by a section of the Telugu film industry was nauseating.

Why not celebrate every success in the Telugu film industry and commiserate every failure? And why spread nasty rumours about an actor just because his last film didn’t do well?

The “reliable” reports that have appeared in many section of the media suggest that the producers of the Deverakonda starrer Hero have panicked and shut shop after Dear Comrade.

A ‘source’ has been quoted as saying, “The production house was not pleased with the output and could not arrive at a conclusion with the director on how to take it forward from here. Hence, they have decided to drop the film, despite spending Rs 15 crore on its making so far.”

However Vijay rubbishes these reports. When I spoke to him he said, “I’m shooting for Hero right now. It’s a film based bike racing.”

As for the bitching backbiting and backlash Vijay has one magic mantra for self-preservation. “Do your work. Let others do what they think right.”

The anti-wave is disturbing, to say the least. There are more factions and camps in Telugu cinema than in Bollywood. Why can’t there be room for everyone?