Smoking scene criticism: 'King of Kotha' director posts stills from 'Vikram', 'Leo'

'King of Kotha' director Abilash Joshiy possibly could have stirred up a hornet's nest when he posted the pictures from Tamil movies 'Vikram' and 'Leo' reacting to a criticism by a YouTuber about Dulquer Salmaan's smoking style in the recently released movie. The response comes days after a prominent YouTuber opined that Dulquer, who played Raju, a gangster in 'King of Kotha', looked like he was licking a lollipop instead of smoking a cigarette in the movie.

Abhilash reacted by sharing stills of Kamal Haasan and Arjun Sarja taking a puff from a cigarette in 'Vikram' and 'Leo' respectively on his Instagram Stories. In an apparent dig at the YouTuber, he captioned the posts: 'Lollipop?'

The response has generated a lot of discussions on social media. The filmmakers had earlier stated that there was a targeted negative campaign against the film, which affected the movie's collection at the box office.

'King of Kotha', which hit theatres last month, features Shabeer Kallarakkal, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Prasanna, Nyla Usha, Soubin Shahir and Shammi Thilakan in lead roles. The film is expected to start streaming on a major OTT platform by the end of September.