Things seem to have taken a dangerous turn between director Puri Jagannadh and the distributors of his last release Liger, starring Vijay Deverakonda.
On Wednesday, Puri filed a complaint against Liger film distributor Warangal Sreenu at Jubilee Hills Police Station, alleging blackmail and harassment. The director also named film financier G Sobhan Babu in the complaint, accusing the latter of threatening violence and instigating others to commit violence against him and his family.
In his complaint, Puri alleged that Warangal Sreenu had defaulted (under the film distribution agreement) on payment of the agreed-upon amount to sub-distributors (exhibitors/ buyers). He also claimed that both Sreenu and Shoban were making false representations that he owes sub-distributors money and that he would pay up that amount.
Ever since Liger, starring Vijay Deverakonda, tanked at the box office, there has been increasing pressure on Puri to return some portion of the money to the buyers (exhibitors) who suffered financial losses on account of the film. (Puri also co-produced the film under Puri Connects). The director said that though he was not bound to return the money under the agreement, he had agreed to compensate the exhibitors on compassionate grounds. Hence, he requested the buyers to give him a month's time to come up with the funds.
But the director feels that Warangal Sreenu and Shoban Babu wanted to extort money from him, and had incited all the sub-distributors to circulate WhatsApp messages calling for a dharna and gherao at his residence.
Puri, who is currently residing in Mumbai, in his complaint, expressed apprehension that Warangal Sreenu and Shoban Babu may physically and mentally harass his family members in his absence and illegally extract monies. He requested police protection for his family in Hyderabad in the event of a dharna being staged at his residence.
(The other day, an audio clip of a voice purportedly of Puri, was leaked on social media in which the person is heard venting his anger against some buyers planning to stage a dharna at his house and trying to extract money illegally from him.)
S Rajasekhar Reddy, SHO, Jubilee Hills Police Station, who confirmed that they are in receipt of the complaint, said, “We have deployed policemen at Puri’s residence as a precautionary measure against any untoward incident.”
