Days after director Buchi Babu Sana apologized and removed portions criticizing the portrayal of Janhvi Kapoor’s character Achiyyamma, Peddi is set to return to theatres with an extended cut from Wednesday. The revised version will include three previously deleted scenes, including two involving Janhvi’s character and one featuring Jagapathi Babu.

The announcement was made by Buchi at a success meet in Hyderabad on June 14. Confirming that the film had already been re-edited, the director said the additional scenes would be added to theatrical prints from Wednesday. He also expressed confidence that the restored footage would help audiences connect more deeply with Achiyyamma and add emotional weight to her arc. Peddi, starring Ram Charan along with Janhvi, released on June 4 and emerged as a box-office success.

However, the film also sparked widespread criticism online over the depiction of Achiyyamma, with viewers objecting to certain camera angles, close-ups and romantic sequences that they felt objectified the character. Responding to the backlash earlier this month on X, Buchi acknowledged that “a few shots turned misleading” and confirmed that the team had taken corrective measures by removing the contentious portions. He also issued a public apology, stating that women deserve to be represented with dignity and respect.

At the film’s success meet on Sunday, lyricist Anantha Sriram said he disagreed with director’s decision to apologize.

Defending the filmmaker, Sriram said, “A character behaves the same way… that is the director’s imagination. It is a character created with that imagination.” He argued that social media opinions were increasingly shaping creative decisions and questioned whether directors were being given enough freedom to tell their stories.

He also suggested that similar emotions are judged differently depending on how they are expressed. “If you use big words like vital attraction, hormonal reactions, etc., it is called awesome... If the hero speaks his tribal language and says, ‘I will touch you’, it is called vulgarity,” he said.

While noting that Buchi Babu may have apologized out of courtesy, Sriram warned that such criticism could end up “trampling on creativity” and make it harder to make strong points through commercial cinema.