Vijay Deverakonda is in trouble with his fans, and people are not mincing their words this time around. The OTT release of Parasuram Petla’s The Family Star has ignited a fierce debate, with netizens criticising Vijay Deverakonda for a contentious line in the film.

Parasuram Petla’s film, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Mrunal Thakur, premiered in theatres on April 5 to a lukewarm reception. Although the film contained several cringe-worthy scenes, one in particular, featuring Vijay’s character, Govardhan, sparked controversy. In this scene, a goon portrayed by Ravi Babu visits Govardhan’s home and makes advances towards his sister-in-law in exchange for the money owed by her husband. Despite delivering a spiel about the importance of respecting women and then physically confronting the goons in front of his family, Govardhan issues a thinly veiled threat against the women in Ravi’s family. This moment shocks both the antagonist and the audience.

Following the OTT release of The Family Star, viewers took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their discontent with Vijay for agreeing to deliver the line and with Parasuram for writing it. One X user sarcastically shared screenshots of Vijay's scenes, captioning it, “And the movie's name is Family Star.” Another user questioned their understanding of the dialogue, stating, “You'll find many reasons not to watch this irritating Family Star. But this reason tops my list! Few people I met said that they will react the same way! Naaku Wrong ga Ardamaindha or Meeku anthena! Cheppandi (Did I understand the dialogue wrong)?”

Another user summarised the scene and shared screenshots of the line, remarking, “In Family Star, the 'hero' bashes up the goons of a muscleman who preyed upon the women of his family. And then, proceeds to give a rape threat to the women of goon's family. That's all I have to say.”

Expressing concern, one viewer hoped that Telugu fans would not justify the line by using the usual 'cinema ni cinema la choodandi' (watch a movie as a movie) logic. Meanwhile, another user simply stated, “I want Vijay Devarakonda to never make a movie again,” along with sharing a video clip of the scene. Some even went as far as labelling the actor a ‘disgrace’ to the film industry.