What’s brewing between Sudeep and Darshan?

The tension is in the air — at least on social media. Take a look at the absurd, and at times horrific, messages exchanged online between fans of Sandalwood stars, Sudeep and Darshan. From name-calling to slander, these supposed fan handles seem to be battling about the supremacy of their idols. While the actors have maintained a dignified silence with regard to speaking about the issue, industry insiders say there is a lot brewing between the two factions. And the subtle and cryptic Twitter updates by the actors themselves unofficially confirm the same. Take a look:
Post rumours of an alleged altercation between the two stars, Sudeep had taken to Twitter in early August with this message: “Read a beautiful line somewhere, “Real MEN don’t need Alcohol and the sun to set to become a man”. Found it an awesome one. (sic)” Along with this, he also shared a visual image that read, “I don’t fight

battle

just to prove a point. I fight when the opponent is worth the fight.” Darshan took a while to follow this with his tweet of an image late in August that read: “I can be mean as f**. Sweet as candy. Cold as Water. Evil as hell. Or loyal like a soldier. It all depends on you.”
The issues between the two are back in focus after the release of Sudeep’s latest film when their fans decided to wash

dirty linen

in public. Crude messages and accusations have indeed scarred news feeds lately. So much so that the stars themselves had to intervene. In his reaction to the latest controversy, Darshan has tweeted: “At present, I am not in Bengaluru as I am busy shooting. I am hearing some rumours about certain people. Please do not provoke celebrities or my dear ones to me.”
Sudeep, too, wrote, “I request u all to concentrate on ur lives n on good things rather than react to avoidable situations. It’s best to throw a blind eye n a deaf ear towards certain voices. Truth will always prevail. So let go. Noone becomes lesser to anyone by doin so. (sic)”
Clearly, these actors are doing all they can to ensure their personal differences remain

strictly personal

. But the fact that there are differences is staring back right through to all who are watching closely.