Dear Comrade lip-lock video: Vijay Deverakonda upset with fans for targeting Rashmika Mandanna

Actor Vijay Deverakonda has opened up on the controversy surrounding his lip-lock scene in Dear Comrade and expressed his displeasure over fans target Rashmika Mandanna over the video.

The makers of Dear Comrade had released its teaser in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada on March 16. This first look video took social media by a storm and registered over five million views in less than 48 hours. It struck a chord with many viewers and generated a lot of hype and curiosity about its release.

But some viewers were not happy with the lip-lock scene featured in the teaser of Dear Comrade and they had resorted to troll Rashmika Mandanna on the social media. They said that the movie deals with a serious subject and there was no need for a silly scene like lip-lock between the hero and heroine. They had even said that Vijay Deverakonda is serial kisser Emraan Hashmi of Telugu cinema.

Vijay Deverakonda was little bothered about viewers calling Emraan Hashmi. Hence, he stayed away from responding to them. But he was said to be disturbed over his co-star Rashmika Mandanna being targeted with abusive words. "He never expected the Twitterati to go into a rant over a harmless kiss," Deccan Chronicle quoted a source close to the actor as saying.

While he is used to raising hackles and eyebrows with his unorthodox roles and attitude, Vijay is appalled that his co-star is being targeted with unflattering comments. Dear Comrade has several moments of intimacy between Vijay and Rashmika. Now, he is in two minds as to how to deal with the intimacy quotient in Dear Comrade because he doesn't want his leading lady to be targeted."

Most of the leading stars in Tollywood said no to intimate scenes with their co-stars as they are scared of being targets for the audience. "Should a kiss even be the reason for debate and discussion in a country plagued with much bigger problems?" asked the source.