Pushpa 2 stampede: Ram Gopal Varma defends Allu Arjun, says wrong to blame him for the mishap

Ram Gopal Varma took to social media to share his views. He feels it is ‘ridiculous’ to hold Allu Arjun responsible for the unfortunate incident in Hyderabad.

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has come out in support of actor Allu Arjun, who has been facing criticism following the death of a woman in a stampede. The tragedy took place at the film's premiere on December 4 in Hyderabad.

The incident happened on December 4 at the theatre in RTC X Roads for Pushpa 2: The Rule.

Ram Gopal Varma supports Allu Arjun

The director took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his views. He feels it is ‘ridiculous’ to hold Allu Arjun responsible for the unfortunate incident.

“It is truly ridiculous to blame @alluarjun for the unfortunate death of a woman in a stampede outside a theatre playing #Pushpa2. Celebrities by their very appeal draw huge crowds whether they are Film Stars , Rock stars and even Gods for that matter,” he began his post.

In the long post, the director further shared, “And stampedes happen very commonly when there are huge crowds and this is not the 1st time a stampede happened... So whether a stampede is caused by accident or by negligence or by incompetence or even by intent , that can only be known from an investigation perspective on a case to case basis. And many times even when the deaths are in thousands , no body could place the blame on anybody because of the random causes”.

“So banning benefit shows due to the incident cannot be an answer. To start with a benefit show shouldn’t be called that... There was a time when Benefit shows were put for the purpose of charity towards some cause like flood victims etc. The real purpose of these so-called benefit shows is to cash on the hype and craze in the audience to make them feel the thrill of seeing it first before anyone else,” he added.

The director feels the more apt term is “special show”.

“On one hand if Allu Arjun or his team , if they themselves publicised his upcoming visit , then that information is public and isn’t it then the police’s responsibility to ask him not to come. If they did not do it, it means that they too dint anticipate which makes the incident an accident,” he noted.

The filmmaker reminded his followers that stars often visit theatres with huge crowds gathering together to get a glimpse of the actors.

“This is just a rare unfortunate incident So even if one wants to take action either the police or theatre management should be made responsible for whether a star should be given permission to come but why ban BENEFIT SHOWS? Also there were hundreds of BENEFIT SHOWS all over the state and #alluarjun just came to one theatre and so instead of putting restrictions on a star attending a theatre , to ban BENEFIT SHOWS is like BANNING TRAFFIC because of an ACCIDENT,” he added.

Ram Gopal asserted that “the knee jerk action of banning the benefit shows is a highly misplaced understanding of the issue”.

“So I hope that all the powers concerned will think on this in a rational way and take a logical decision instead of reacting for the purpose of emotional pacification,” he concluded.

About the mishap

Last week, a woman, Revathi, died, and her son, Sritej, was injured at a stampede at the Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad during the premiere of Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2: The Rule. On Friday, Allu Arjun reacted to the news of a fan’s death and hospitalisation of a young boy. The actor revealed he donated ₹25 lakh to the family, promising to cover their medical expenses.

On Saturday at the success bash of the film, Allu said that he did not leave the theatre midway through the film because he discovered the fan’s death but because the management told him it was disrupting the peace. “I watched the film and left midway because management told me it was causing issues. We only found out the next day that Revathi had died; I was shocked,” he said, adding, “It took me time to respond psychologically…I want to stabilise and come back to the table; it takes me time to process. When we heard what happened, we all blanked out. Sukumar garu became really emotional; all our energies went down.”

After learning the news, the film’s producers, Mythri Movie Makers and Rashmika Mandanna, expressed anguish. Cinematography minister, Komatireddy Venkata Reddy said permissions will no longer be given for benefit shows in Telangana.