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Allu Arjun can’t be blamed for fan’s death during Pushpa premiere, says Vishnu Manchu: ‘Watching people scream gives you a high’

Allu Arjun was arrested from his residence on December 13 after the tragic death of his woman fan on December 4 after a stampede like situation at Sandhya Theater due to his 'unannounced' arrival.

Allu Arjun in Pushpa 2. (Photo: Mythri Movie Makers)

In many parts of India, actors are treated as demi-gods and are worshipped by their fans. But, when this kind of fandom takes a dark turn, things can escalate and turn fatal, which is what happened at the premiere of Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2. When Allu Arjun arrived at the premiere of the film in Sandhya theater in Hyderabad, a stampede occurred. A woman died in the stampede and her 8-year-old son was severely injured. As the news surfaced, the management was severely criticised with many also blaming Allu Arjun for being irresponsible and appearing at an event where the security wasn’t up to the mark. However, recently, his friend and colleague Vishnu Manchu said that it is wrong to blame the actor for the unfortunate situation.

‘Wrong to blame Allu Arjun for Sandhya theater incident’

After almost eight months, Allu Arjun’s friend and actor Vishnu Manchu defended the actor as he told Nayandeep Rakshit on his YouTube channel, “I wouldn’t want to deliberate much on that because the case is still going on in the court. But, as the President of Movie Artist Association back in Hyderabad, I really felt that it was not his mistake. The only mistake he did was being him. We all would like to go see the movie in a theater. It gives us a high. People don’t realise it.”

He added, “It is like winning a wimbledon. His movie comes out, he went to see it, getting the high of people screaming for you looking at the screen. That’s a big high. We all actor aspire for that. We work hard for that. We diet, we kill that appetite for that. We sweat and give our blood for that.” Calling the death of the fan “unfortunate”, Vishnu Manchu shared, “Him being the posterboy for that tragedy is I believe is wrong.”

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When Allu Arjun said he was being targeted

A week after the incident, the victim’s family filed a complaint which led to Allu Arjun’s arrest on December 13. He was arrested from his residence in Jubilee Hills. Soon after, the Nampally court sentenced him to 14 days in remand. However, the High Court granted him interim bail for four weeks. The order led to his release from Chanchalguda Central Jail on December 14.

Days after his arrest, Allu Arjun held a press conference and shared his character was being “assassinated”. He said, “It is a very unfortunate incident. It is completely an accident. My condolences to the family. I am taking updates every hour about the condition of the child (hospitalised). His condition is improving, it is very good. There is a lot of misinformation, false allegations are being made. I don’t want to blame any department or politician. My character is being assassinated.”

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The actor added, “I have been going to the same theatre for the last 20 years, and I have been to the same place more than 30 times. There has never been an accident like this before. I should reserve my comments because I don’t want to say anything that will tamper the case.”

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On January 3, the Nampally court granted him a conditional bail and directed him to submit two sureties of Rs 50,000 each. On January 7, he visited the injured child and offered condolences to the boy’s father for the death of his wife. He even announced a compensation of Rs 2 crore for the family. While Rs 1 crore was given by Allu Arjun, Mythri Movies and director Sukumar gave Rs 50 lakh each.

The film earned Rs 1742.1 crore worldwide, according to industry tracker Sacnilk.

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