Sandeep Reddy Vanga said the first response to such a crime should be empathy, not finding a convenient scapegoat in cinema.
Dhruv Rathee had posted about the attack and wrote that Animal and Dhurandhar gave templates to criminals.
The attack took place on October 31 at Zilla Parishad High School in Raptadu, Anantapur district.
Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga seems to have taken an indirect swipe at YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and other critics after they linked films like Animal and Dhurandhar to the chainsaw attack on a Class 10 student in Andhra Pradesh. He did not mention anyone by name, but his post is widely being read as a reaction to those drawing comparisons between the movies and the incident.
What Sandeep Reddy Vanga wrote in his post
In his remarks on X (formerly Twitter), Vanga said the first reaction to a crime of this kind should be empathy and an effort to grasp the wider issue, not "finding a convenient scapegoat in cinema". He also said some people were treating the case as an "excuse to settle personal scores", arguing that their interest was not in the victims or their families but in using the tragedy to attack someone else's work.
Turning his criticism toward actors, directors and producers, the Arjun Reddy director said they were suddenly acting like social reformers whenever an opening arose to criticise other filmmakers. He ended his post by saying a "tragedy deserved empathy, not opportunism."
Vanga's reaction comes amid rising social-media outrage, with several users saying films such as Animal, Marco and Dhurandhar normalise extreme violence and might have influenced viewers.
Dhruv Rathee's post on Andhra Pradesh school attack
The debate escalated after Rathee shared a report on the Andhra Pradesh school attack and aimed a dig at Ranbir Kapoor's Animal and Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar. He wrote, "Special thanks to movies like Animal and Dhurandhar for giving templates to these criminals."
His post prompted mixed responses online. Some users backed his criticism, questioning violence in mainstream cinema, while others defended the filmmakers and said fictional stories should not be blamed directly for real-life crimes.
Rathee had already posted videos laying out why he found parts of the films troubling, and his latest remarks carried that view into the debate over a real-world crime.
About Andhra Pradesh attack
On October 31, 2026, a 21-year-old entered a classroom at Zilla Parishad High School in Raptadu, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, and assaulted a Class 10 student with a mechanised chainsaw.
Police identified the accused as Hemanth. According to reports, he targeted the girl, Gopika, after she rejected his advances.
She sustained serious injuries to her neck and abdomen, and her right hand was almost severed. Another student was hurt while trying to shield her.
