Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah has accused the BJP government of pressuring theatre owners to replace Puneeth Rajkumar's last-week release James with blockbuster Hindi movie The Kashmir Files.
Siddhu Raises Issue in Assembly
Siddaramaiah raised the issue in the Assembly the makers of James have spoken about the issue with him. "BJP is forcing the theatre owners to replace James with The Kashmir Files. In Many places, the BJP legislatures have asked the exhibitors to screen the Hindi movie instead of the Kannada flick," he claimed.
"When The fans of Puneeth Rajkumar are eagerly waiting to watch James, replacing the movie with another movie is not acceptable. The people of BJP act like they are noble humans. We do not ask anybody to not watch movies and whoever likes the movies they will watch, but harassment should stop," the former Karnataka Chief Minister said.
He also urged the state government to give tax exemption for James.
On Monday evening, Kishore Pathikonda met Siddaramaiah at the Taj West End and explained the problem the Kannada movie was facing. He had requested the former CM to raise the issue.
James Sets Box Office On Fire
Meanwhile, James has done a record-breaking collection at the box office. Going by the claims made by the makers, it has minted over Rs 100 crore in a matter of three days to become the fastest-highest grossing flick.
James is the final movie of Puneeth Rajkumar, who died by cardiac arrest last October. His untimely death shocked the entire film fraternity and watching the movie has become an emotional ride for the fans.
On the other hand, there is also the possibility of James being reduced to a minimum number of screens as SS Rajamouli's multilingual movie RRR is ready to hit the screens worldwide on 24 March.
