Siddharth on being forced to leave Chithha event in Bengaluru: ‘We lost the opportunity to speak about a good film’

The incident resulted in heavy backlash from fans in Tamil Nadu. Kannada superstar Shivarajkumar apologised to Siddharth for the ill-treatment on behalf of the Kannada film industry. While Siddharth has been silent on the issue so far, he has now opened up about the issue. In an Instagram Live, Siddharth said that cancelling the event for the bandh cost them a lot. However, he said that the unfortunate part of the incident was that he couldn’t talk about a good movie to people there.

In the video, the actor said, “Yesterday, in Bengaluru there was an incident. The backstory of it is that this is the first time, as a producer, I screened my film to many ahead of the movie’s theatrical release. It was shown to the media in Chennai and Kochi. There was a plan for such a show in Bengaluru as well. I had plans to show the film to about 2,000 students ahead of the release. No one has done it so far. There was also a plan to screen the film for Kannada stars that night. But everything was cancelled by us as a mark of respect to the bandh. We incurred a huge loss, but beyond that, it was disappointing that we couldn’t share a good film with people there.”

He added, “The press was supposed to watch the film after the interaction, but you all saw what happened there. It happened in front of many cameras. I don’t want to talk about it. When the film is getting a good response, I don’t want to talk about anything to distract the attention. There’s no relation between my film and the issue. I believe my social responsibility will show up in the films I make spending my money.”

The Kannada version of the movie, Chikku, will be released tomorrow in theatres, according to the actor, who is floored by the good response the film has been receiving in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.