Speaking at the trailer launch event of an upcoming movie on Friday, legendary filmmaker K Raghavendra Rao opined that films these days don't meet with box-office success unless there is a liplock. While the 'Annamayya' and 'Pelli Sandadi' director appeared to make the utterance casually, it is safe to assume that he might be believing it to be mildly true at the very least.
When 'Arjun Reddy' was released and became a rage, many commented that its craze would have been muted had it not been for the kissing scenes between Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey. Some filmmakers took this myth seriously and made rom-coms with forced liplocks that ended up looking dirty. Most of those films were embarrassments.
When 'RX 100' was released, similar myths were minted. In reality, the film worked because of the twist involving Payal Rajput's character, not because of the raunchy scenes.
Raghavendra Rao is experienced enough to realize that neat family entertainers in the 1990s were far more popular than the soft porn movies that were made at that time. In today's times, when pornography is widespread, it is silly to suggest that youths are desperate to watch liplocks in mainstream movies.
