Chennai: Bouncers of the film 2.0 starring Rajnikanth and Akshay Kumar assaulted two photojournalists during the shoot which was going on way beyond the permitted time in Triplicane on Wednesday morning.
Director S. Shankar later tendered an unconditional apology before the media at a reconciliation meet at the Chennai Press Club.
2.0 shooting spot
Sources said the lensmen S.R. Raghunathan and Sri Barath were stopped at the Eswara Doss street intersection in Triplicane when they were en route to work at around 9.30 am. “The bouncers not only assaulted the lensmen but also used foul language claiming that they had dealt with the cops to conduct their shoot in that locality”, said Bharathi Tamilan, a senior journalist, who rushed to the scene learning about the incident.
"When we checked the permission, it said the permission was accorded for the shoot only upto 6 am on Wednesday. The shoot was limited to public spaces and non-residential areas the opposite of what is unfolding here", said another journalist. A verified copy of this document is available with DC
"An Inspector from the local police was present and the cop asked the shooting crew to vacate the spot. One of the assailants, identified as S. Pappu (33), of Alwarpet was taken into custody on the journalists, who had begun gathering at the spot, insisting on it. They have also lodged a complaint with Ice House Police station”, the journalist added.
An FIR was registered following the complaint, and investigations were launched.
The crew, which was initially against the proposal, informed Shankar who turned up at the Press Club.
"I always ensured that my film shoots never paralysed normal life of people. But this incident is an exception. I will make sure that such acts by the film crew will not happen in future,” Shankar told the media terming the incident as ‘unfortunate’.
