Allu Aravind gives political twist to casting couch issue

The casting couch issue that dragged actor Pawan Kalyan and director Ram Gopal Varma into it took an interesting turn with producer Allu Aravind trying to give it a political twist while lashing out at Mr. Varma in support of Pawan Kalyan.

Mr. Aravind, brother-in-law of actor and politician Chiranjeevi, fell short of abusing Mr. Varma for his claims that he had advised actor Sri Reddy to drag Mr. Kalyan into the issue. He said he was well aware of a plot that was emerging to defame Mr. Kalyan and added that Mr. Varma was a part of it. Where would he have gotten ₹5 crore that he claimed to have offered Sri Reddy, he asked. “He should not stoop to such level and defame the industry that has given him everything,” Mr. Aravind said. He wondered whether Pawan Kalyan’s fans would forgive Mr. Varma.

Mr. Aravind hinted that similar attempts were made 10 years ago when Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) was launched, but the situation was different now and Chiranjeevi’s family was well-equipped to tackle it. The way media works has also changed and every move would be dissected, including the attempts to defame Mr. Kalyan.

On Sri Reddy’s allegations, he said the industry has taken them seriously and the issue would be tackled with all seriousness that it deserves, but it was unfortunate that she was being used to defame the industry. “I spoke to Suresh (Suresh Daggubati) and he said he has immense respect for the law of the land. He said he would let it tackle the allegations levelled against his family.” As the issue took new twists and turns, Mr. Varma, on Thursday, tweeted expressing his apologies to actor Pawan Kalyan and his family for encouraging Sri Reddy to abuse him.

A day earlier, Mr. Varma, in a video posted on YouTube, said he encouraged Sri Reddy to abuse the actor who had advised her to go to the police rather than seeking justice through media.

Meanwhile, actor Sri Reddy also tweeted apologising to Pawan Kalyan’s mother. She said what she did was wrong and it was not deliberate. She claimed she was disturbed by her trolling by Pawan Kalyan’s fans leading to such statements.