Ram Gopal Varma Criticizes Celebrity Reactions to Janhvi Kapoor’s Deepfake Controversy
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma recently shared his thoughts on the deepfake video controversy involving actor Janhvi Kapoor. The AI-generated video created an inappropriate version of Janhvi from her song ‘Chuttamalle’. Many celebrities posted messages online to support Janhvi and criticize the creators of the video. However, Ram Gopal Varma believes this approach was wrong.
Writing on X, Varma stated that public posts by celebrities only made the offensive video more popular. He said that millions of people ended up watching the link because of all the public noise. According to Varma, bringing so much attention to the victim’s identity and the offensive content was harmful. He argued that the smartest choice would have been to quietly focus on catching the criminal instead. He added that people cannot win against AI, so trying to fight it directly is useless.
The only thing all the celebrities succeeded in , is to publicise and thereby make crores and crores of people see the objectionable link ..The smart thing would have been to concentrate on catching the perpetrator and publicise that ..Instead what they did is to tweet and bring enormous attention to the victim’s identity and the offensive content which is also a crime
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) October 4, 2026
The issue began when the fake video started spreading across social media platforms. On October 5, Janhvi posted a long statement online expressing her anger and sadness over cybercrimes. Shortly after, her ‘Devara’ co-star Jr NTR posted a strong message standing by her. Other major stars, including Chiranjeevi, also joined in to support her and speak out against deepfake misuse.
When you can’t WIN , you should JOIN …. . If you fight A I , it will ERASE you out of EXISTENCE 😔
— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) October 5, 2026
This event shows two very different ways to handle online harassment. Most celebrities prefer to openly condemn deepfakes to show solidarity with the victim and raise awareness. On the other hand, Varma believes high-profile reactions only draw more unwanted attention to the crime. While both sides agree that AI misuse is dangerous, they disagree on the best way to handle it.
