Scribes attacked by 2.0 film crew; Director Shankar says sorry

Rajinikanth

Chennai: The shooting of Rajinikanth's mega budget film '2.0' here was marred by an unsavoury incident today when two photo journalists were allegedly assaulted by the crew for questioning the blocking of a road. Though the agitated journalists initially lodged a police complaint against the concerned crew members, they withdrew it after the film director Shankar expressed regret.

The journalists, Raghunathan and Sri Barath, alleged they were beaten up when they questioned the blocking of a key intersection in downtown Triplicane by several vehicles of the film crew. "When we asked if it was proper to inconvenience public by blocking roads especially during (morning) peak hour, two crew members used foul language against us and we were beaten up," Raghunathan, photographer of an English daily, told PTI.

He said Barath, working for a Tamil daily, was also assaulted following which they lodged a police complaint seeking appropriate action. He claimed that though permission was given for the film shooting during the evening hours, the crew violated it to suit their convenience. The scribes later withdrew the complaint after Shankar visited the Press Club and expressed regret over the incident.

"This incident happened without my knowledge, I feel very sorry for that, I will see that it won't happen again," he said. When pointed out that he was seen in the vicinity of the incident spot, Shankar clarified that he had around that time moved into a nearby house for shooting a scene. Raghunathan told reporters that the complaint was withdrawn following the director's intervention.

Billed as one of the mega budget films, '2.0', is considered a sequel to the earlier superhit 'Endiran' which featured Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai. The film, nearing completion, also has Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.