
Telugu superstar Vijay Deverakonda has made headlines once again, this time for removing the honorific "The" tag from his name. The decision came after he faced massive trolling for using "The" title in his name during Liger promotions.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India, Vijay addressed the criticism and revealed that he has now dropped the tag.
Talking about the backlash, Vijay said, "That was a whole situation in itself. There was a crazy amount of backlash because ‘The' was added to my name. Interestingly, no other person has ever received backlash for something like that. You can have any name—from Universal Star to People's Star—and people younger than me, older than me, those who debuted before me, everyone has a tagline. I was probably the only one without one. Nobody else gets backlash."
Vijay shared that his team suggested adding a tag to his name during Liger promotions as fans and media had already started giving him various titles like "Southern sensation" and "Rowdy star". Initially hesitant, he eventually agreed to their suggestion.
"When they write articles, the press, sometimes, likes to call me 'Southern Sensation', 'Rowdy boy', 'Rowdy Star', and different variants. I don't know how they pick these things. I am not 'Southern Sensation', I am of India. I want to be known, at least, by India, someday. And I felt everything was limiting. I want to be known as Vijay Deverakonda," he recalled.
The actor revealed that he has now asked his team to remove ‘The' from his name.
He said, "I thought, if you do need a tag - 'The' is enough. But, people went, 'How can you put 'The?'. But, the whole point of 'The' is that I don't want a tag and if 'The' is a problem, then I don't want it. If you don't want, I don't either. I told my team to chop it off and Vijay Deverakonda is enough."
Vijay Deverakonda will next be seen in Kingdom. Directed by Gowtam Tinnanuri, the film will hit theatres on July 31.