Nidhhi Agerwal reacts to Sivaji’s ‘her outfit provoked the crowd’ remark after mobbing incident, ‘Blaming the victim is called manipulation’ |

Nidhhi Agerwal has reacted to Telugu actor Sivaji’s controversial remarks on actresses dressing “modestly” at public events, days after she was mobbed at a song launch in Hyderabad. Without naming him directly, the actor appeared to call out the narrative around the incident. Nidhhi had attended the song launch of her upcoming film The Raja Saab at Lulu Mall, Hyderabad, on December 17, along with the film’s team. Videos from the event showed her being mobbed by a large crowd of men, with her security struggling to escort her to safety. The actor was visibly shaken as she made her way to her car.

Reaction follows Sivaji’s press conference

Nidhhi’s statement came shortly after Sivaji held a press conference in Hyderabad, where he reiterated his stance that actresses should dress modestly at public appearances. Referring to the Lulu Mall incident, he suggested that Nidhhi’s outfit had “provoked” the crowd, while also remarking that Samantha Ruth Prabhu was “luckily” wearing a saree when she faced a similar situation at a store opening on December 21.Reacting to the comments, Nidhhi shared a photo from the Lulu Mall event on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “Blaming the victim is called manipulation.”

Sivaji denies blame, but doubles down

At the press meet, Sivaji denied blaming either Nidhhi or Samantha, even as he continued to justify his position. When asked why he was advising actresses on how to dress instead of calling out men’s behaviour, he responded, “Who will listen? He says he will still talk to her or click pictures.”Speaking about Samantha being mobbed despite wearing a saree, Sivaji said, “Samantha had the advantage; she was luckily in a saree. Gen Z do not know better, they want to touch artists. Even Sridevi was once touched in Tenali when she was shooting there.”He further added, “I am not blaming Samantha or Nidhhi for it. All I am saying is, they need to be careful. What if Nidhhi’s clothes had slipped? Nobody would even remove the video if we asked them to.”

‘Do not provoke,’ says Sivaji

As reporters continued to question him about harassment being independent of what women wear, Sivaji compared Nidhhi and Samantha with other actresses. “A lot of people asked on social media if anyone ever touched Sai Pallavi, Anushka, Soundarya, Bhumika, or Laya and Meera Jasmine? They all dress modestly,” he said. He concluded by saying, “Do not provoke; men will feel like they can touch you when you do so. Dress however you feel like, but I am just pointing out facts.”