Rashmikas The Girlfriend Pulled Into Ketan Murder Debate

Ketan Agarwal was allegedly killed by his fiancée Siya Goyal and her lover Chetan Babulal Chaudhary, who reportedly pushed him into a gorge at Lohagad Fort in Maharashtra’s Sahyadri range.

The incident was initially reported as an accidental fall during a trek, but police later uncovered what they believe was a murder plot.

As fresh details continue to emerge in the case, some social media users dragged Rahul Ravindran’s Telugu film The Girlfriend, starring Rashmika Mandanna, into the discussion.

One X user shared a still from The Girlfriend and claimed that films like these highlight certain stories in favour of women while ignoring crimes such as the Ketan Agarwal murder case.

Another user tagged Rahul Ravindran and asked him to make a film on “atrocities of women on men.”

Rahul responded with a detailed note, making it clear that he does not see such crimes as “atrocities of women on men.” Instead, he said they should be seen as horrible acts committed by individual human beings who happen to be women.

The filmmaker said that, on the other hand, there exists a system that has suffocated women for centuries through everyday microaggressions and unequal power structures.

“I see some horrible incidents of sociopathic human beings who happen to be women, committing horrible crimes. On the other hand, I see a self-sustaining system that has lasted centuries that suffocates women,” he wrote.

Rahul said he made The Girlfriend from that perspective because he had seen many women around him suffer silently. He added that he felt responsible as a man because he benefits from that power equation.

The director also clarified that he had not yet read the full details of the Ketan Agarwal murder case.

He said that if he finds an interesting story there, he may choose to tell it someday, but it would be about one particular woman committing a crime and not about “crimes of women on men.”

“There is a difference, the way I see it,” he said.

Rahul further explained that The Girlfriend had nothing to do with such criminal cases.

He pointed out that the boyfriend character Vikram, played by Dheekshith Shetty, was not shown as a murderer or a rapist in the film. There was no physical abuse, and the character was even faithful, he said.

Yet, Rahul noted that a section of viewers still got triggered by the film and asked them to think about why that happened.

At the same time, he said criticism is welcome and that he would take feedback seriously and introspect.

Coming back to the Pune murder case, police say Siya had allegedly made several attempts to take Ketan to Lohagad Fort. The couple first visited the fort on May 31. Four days later, on June 4, Siya reportedly tried to take him there again, but Ketan’s mother did not allow the visit.

On June 14, she allegedly convinced him to go again. During that visit, police claim she tried to push him off a cliff, but Ketan survived by grabbing a bush. When he questioned her, Siya allegedly claimed there was a snake and that she had acted to protect him.

The investigation into the case is still underway.

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