Mumbai: Janhvi Kapoor has called the sexually explicit AI-generated ‘Chuttamalle’ video made using her likeness “deeply violating, bordering on sexual assault”.
In a statement shared on Instagram, Kapoor said the problem went beyond one morphed video.
“Almost every woman in my industry has faced some version of this, and women everywhere are increasingly being subjected to it,” she wrote in an Instagram story from 4 October.
The video altered footage of Kapoor and Jr NTR from ‘Chuttamalle’, a song from their 2024 film Devara: Part 1, to create sexually explicit imagery.
Kapoor added that consent, choice and respect for a woman’s body should be basic manners.
“It is surprising that it still seems too nuanced for some people to understand that even if a woman says yes five days in a row and no on the sixth, that no must be respected,” she posted.
The 29-year-old actor further said that what a woman wears does not give anyone permission to put a camera up her skirt, capture violating angles or visually exploit her body.
“This goes far beyond the AI videos I have dealt with over the last few days, or anything I have personally experienced throughout my career. It is about the larger reality of being a woman: the gaze, the judgement, the constant negotiation for safety, and the feeling that our boundaries somehow remain open to interpretation,” Kapoor wrote.
She said the threat has now moved into the digital space too.
“The answer cannot simply be to ‘protect your daughter.’ We also need to undo the conditioning that makes people believe they are entitled to violate somebody else’s boundaries in the first place,” she added.
Kapoor also thanked her co-star Jr NTR for speaking out after the video began circulating.
“I am deeply touched by NTR sir for taking such a strong stand and condemning this violation.
When someone whom millions look up to speaks up about something that may not directly concern him, it makes a difference to every woman who has experienced some degree of this behaviour,” she wrote.
NTR had earlier called the video “disgusting, sick and shameless” and said using technology to disrespect a woman in this way was “shameful beyond words”. He threatened legal action against those who made and circulated it and called for stricter regulation of AI misuse.
Kapoor also thanked Chiranjeevi, Vijay Deverakonda and Khushbu Sundar for speaking out and calling for action.
She ended the statement by asking, “Is it really too much for a woman to ask to simply be treated and seen as a human being?”
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)