Event, which was to be attended by Jr NTR, was denied permission as police said they didn't have enough force for crowd-control.
Police denied permission for Brahmastra event in Hyderabad as they didn't have enough force to control the crowd. (Supplied)
The Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhat starrer Brahmastra‘s mega pre-release event in Hyderabad, which was to be attended by Jr NTR, was cancelled by police hours before it was scheduled to start at the Ramoji FIlm City (RFC) on Friday, 2 September.
The organisers, who announced the event had to be cancelled due to “unforeseen circumstances”, said they were holding a smaller event that was not open to the public at one of the city’s 5 Star hotels later in the evening.
One of the event managers associated with the event told South First that the organisers had “suffered a loss of over ₹1 crore” because of the cancellation.
Rejecting the application seeking permission to hold the event, the police said its force was stretched because of the ongoing Ganesha festivities in the city.
The rejection letter to the organisers, Aadhyasree Infotainment, also said: “You applied at the last minute for permission at a short notice. Hence, we couldn’t gather sufficient force.”
The letter recalled the pre-release event held in 2021 by the organisers for the film Radhe Shyam, and said they had “issued unaccountable passes to fans and violated the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, and created unruly atmosphere”.
A case was registered against the organisers at that time.
Police said that for the event, the organisers had orally said they expected 10,000 to 12,000 people to attend, “but there is no proper system and procedures to issue passes. Also, the place of event is located beside NH65 road, hence, there is chance to huge traffic jam on National Highway”.
However, after the cancellation of event, fans are not happy. “Go back safely @tarak9999 fans! We need official apologies from the production house and the organizers of the event,” read a tweet.
? Go back safely @tarak9999 fans!
We need official apologies from the production house and the Organizers of the event@shreyasgroup @DharmaMovies @BrahmastraFilm @ssrajamouli
— Rock Tollywoodⱽᵃˢᵗʰᵘⁿⁿᵃ (@TeamRockTwood) September 2, 2022
Apart from Jr NTR, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, the event was to be attended by Brahmastra director Ayan Mukerji, and RRR director SS Rajamouli, among others.
All the stars were expected to be present at the smaller do at the 5 Star hotel, along with a contingent of some 50 journalists flown in from Mumbai.
It was at Ramoji Film City that Jr NTR on 21 August met with Union Home Minister and the BJP’s No. 2 Amit Shah, a meeting that had created ripples in political circles in the two Telugu states.
It was widely speculated at that time that Shah had asked Jr NTR — grandson of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister NTR — to campaign for the BJP ahead of the Telangana Assembly elections that are just over a year away.
Officially, though, the BJP said Shah had met with the Telugu star to congratulate him for his multi-lingual blockbuster RRR which has given him a national profile.
Jr NTR, who has earlier campaigned for the TDP, has some appeal among Andhra settlers in Telangana and could persuade them to back the BJP. The TDP had just about 3 percent vote share in the 2018 Assembly election, but every bit would help the BJP as it seeks to enter into as many alliances as possible for incremental gains.
