02 January,2025 05:33 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Boney Kapoor, Allu Arjun (L-R)
Almost a month after Allu Arjun's arrest, because a fan died in Sandhya theatre during the stampede at the premiere of the film, producer Boney Kapoor has reacted on the case. Boney Kapoor said that Allu Arjun was 'unnecessarily dragged' in the case as the death was largely due to the large number of crowd gathered there.
In a recent interview with Galatta Plus, Boney Kapoor mentioned that he was amazed to see the craze of South Indian fans for the stars. He said, "When I first saw, Ajith's film releasing at 1 in the morning. I was shocked to see 20-25k people outside the theatre. After I came out of the show around 3.30-4 am, there were still that many people outside. I am told the same thing happens with films of Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, or present-day stars like Jr NTR, Ram Charan, and Mahesh Babu."
Boney Kapoor defended the Pushpa 2 star, Allu Arjun, and said, "Ticket rates are inflated on the first two days or at least the first day for extra shows. That is why this situation has arisen where unnecessarily Allu Arjun was dragged and blamed for the death of a fan. It was only because of the crowd that had gathered to see the film." Earlier, Varun Dhawan, Nani, Rashmika Mandanna, and Pawan Kalyan came out in support of the Pushpa 2 actor.
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On the eve of Pushpa 2's release, a special screening of the film was kept for the fans at Hyderabad's Sandhya Theatre. Allu Arjun arrived with actress Rashmika Mandanna and wife Sneha Reddy unexpectedly and a large crowd gathered at the theatre. This led to a stampede-like situation, causing the death of a 35-year-old woman, Revathi. Her 8-year-old son was admitted to the hospital in a critical situation. The state government alleged that Allu Arjun appeared at the theatre unannounced and without permission. He also refused to leave after being told of the situation. Allu Arjun has dismissed these claims.
The actor was arrested last month on the charges of culpable homicide among other things. But he was released the following day after the Telangana High Court granted him interim bail. The case is currently under investigation.
