KGF maker Prashant Neel quits social media: Kannada film industry fans to blame?

Kannada film industry (KFI) fans are fiercely proud of and are all about safeguarding the interests of the industry, or so they believe, and, hence, they deem it normal and acceptable to shower anyone who doesn’t fall in line with abuses, no matter who he/she is and that person’s contribution to Kannada cinema.

While Rashmika Mandanna has been at the receiving end of KFI fans trolling ever since she decided to focus on Tamil, Telugu and even Hindi cinema, for supposedly snubbing Kannada cinema, forgetting her roots and, not speaking in Kannada, among many other things. KGF maker Prashant Neel is believed to be the latest to face these brickbats. The result – he just upped and left social media.

Last night, it came to the fore that Prashant’s social media accounts have been deactivated. The reason is said to be the fact that the filmmaker chose to wish his friend and KGF leading man Yash on his birthday on January 8 with an Urdu post. The post itself was a nod to an Urdu dialogue from the film, but that is not reason enough that will fly with KFI fans, who went to town to troll the filmmaker.

Quoting a line that Eashwari Rao says in the film, he wrote, "'Falak ka dastoor..khuda ka hukum..aur ek bhai ki dua hai..ki hatom ki..lakeero ko bhi ruksat kar..roknese bhi nahi rukegi..tumhari ye sultanat.."

As it is, Prashant has never been very active on social media, popping up only for special occasions like birthdays of cast/crew members or when there is an announcement related to his film. It is believed that Prashant’s wife Likitha manages his social media accounts and she probably had enough of the abuse coming his way. Prashant had faced some backlash earlier last year, when he revealed that he would be making two back-to-back Telugu films, Salaar with Prabhas and an untitled project with NTR Jr before returning to Sandalwood. Netizens had accused him of abandoning the industry that gave him the fame and money for greener pastures. Right now, Prashant is not on any platform, and the hope is that he will resurface in time for the Salaar updates, the release of which is still more than 8 months away.