Opinion: Reel gets Real - Pushpa Allu Arjun's stand-off with Hyderabad police goes from bad to worse
Apart from the political support Allu Arjun received from the BJP and the BRS, the impression that gained ground was that the actor was trying to project himself as a victim, by virtue of having spent time in jail.
Even though Allu Arjun was granted interim bail by the Telangana High Court on December 13 and ordered to be released from judicial custody that he had been sent an hour before by a lower court, he had to spend the night inside Chanchalguda central prison in Hyderabad due to technical reasons. He was allowed to go home only on Saturday morning and all through the day that day, a horde of Telugu cinema personalities visited him at his residence.
That is not what upset the corridors of power in Telangana. The Allu family allowed hordes of mediapersons into the garden of his house to let them shoot and broadcast live pictures of this show of solidarity. It was as if Arjun wanted the optics to convey the point that he had got support on his side. To his critics, it came across as a show of strength.
Apart from the political support Arjun received from the BJP and the BRS, the impression that gained ground was that the actor was trying to project himself as a victim, by virtue of having spent time in jail. Hyderabad police officers wondered why no one was instead talking about 35-year-old Revathi, the mother of two young children, who suffocated to death at Sandhya theatre on the evening of December 4 where Allu Arjun's presence whipped the crowd of fans into a state of crazy frenzy. Those in the government asked why no one was bothered about the state of Revathi's son, 9-year-old Sri Tej, who, too was asphyxiated that evening and continues to be extremely critical, barely surviving on the ventilator at a hospital in Hyderabad. His brain has suffered significant damage, and it will take a long time for him to recover.
While opinion is divided over whether Arjun should be held responsible for the stampede, fresh evidence that has come to light has given ammunition to the action taken by the city police. Initially, Team Arjun went to town brandishing the letter given by the Sandhya theatre informing the local police two days before the event that the personalities associated with Pushpa 2 would visit the cinema hall on December 4. The revelation reflected poorly on the police, which tried to wriggle out by saying it received 300-odd such requests every day and mere acknowledgement of the letter did not mean permission had been granted.
What the Sandhya theatre management did not reveal - and strangely, the police too did not bring it to light - was that the local inspector had explicitly, in a handwritten note, forbidden the hero, heroine and production team from visiting the theatre during the special show on December 4. In his note, he had pointed out that the theatre was located adjacent to the restaurants and there is only a single entrance gate to the complex. It clearly mentioned the inability to control the crowds if the celebrities came for the special show. A representative of Sandhya theatre had received the note and acknowledged it as well. The inspector who wrote the note said it was part of the documentation submitted to the court during the hearing of the case.
The question therefore arises whether the Sandhya theatre management conveyed the refusal by the police to the Pushpa 2 production team. If it did not, it needs to be held responsible. If it did inform and, despite the thumbs down, Arjun and others visited the hall, then he has to bear part of the blame. It is not good enough to say that he has always watched every film of his with fans at theatres for the last 20 years. The fandom for post-Pushpa Allu Arjun is not the same as it was for pre-Pushpa Arjun. One of the city's top cops pointed out that the hysteria got worse when the actor emerged out of the sunroof of his vehicle to wave to his fans.
There is a school of thought that believes that many in the film industry deliberately create a frenzy around their movies to maximise collections. A horde of private camerapersons capture every move of the lead stars and social media is flooded with reels and shorts, creating a FOMO for those who have not seen the film as yet. Hence, in this case, the attempt is now being made to shift the focus from star power to the life lost and the little one who is battling for his life. They are the real victims, say those tracking the case. The much-publicised visit by the Hyderabad police commissioner and the Telangana health secretary to the hospital to visit the child was a step in that direction.
The police were also irked by Arjun's move to approach the higher court to quash the FIR lodged against him. Now, the police plan to move the Supreme Court urging it to cancel the bail given to the actor. Sandhya theatre, too, is in the line of fire with the police seeking to cancel its cinematograph licence. It is clear that the battlelines between the police and the Pushpa star are now clearly drawn. The reel is now real.