BANGALORE: The potboiler drama of Sandalwood actor Darshan bashing up his wife is showing no signs of conclusion. Bangalore‘s first additional chief metropolitan magistrate Venkatesh Ulagi dismissed his bail petition yesterday and ordered him to remain under judicial custody.
One of the reasons for the court rejecting his bail plea could be that the First Information Report (FIR) filed by his wife Vijaylakshmi at the Vijaynagar Police Station on 9 September speaks of a sordid history of abuse, despite her giving a different version later. The medical report of his wife, on being admitted to the hospital, belies her later claim that she had slipped in the bathroom and sustained injuries.
Meanwhile, people across the industry and various walks of life have come in support of Nikitha Thukral against the unilateral ban imposed on her by the Karnataka Film Producers Association (KFPA). The KFPA had announced a three-year acting ban on the actress, blaming her for the marital discord in Darshan‘s personal life. Allegedly, over the last few years, Darshan has had liaisons with a number of women.
Thukral is a North Indian - a Punjabi, who has acted in around 30 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. She has denied any ‘other than professional‘ association with Darshan.
All the three actor sons of the doyen of the Kannada Film industry, the late Dr. Rajkumar, have condemned the KFPA saying that it was an irresponsible act and that no association could interfere in the personal affairs of anybody.
The Rajkumar family is known as the first family of Sandalwood and its members wield a considerable amount of power in the industry since they are big producers, distributors and actors. Amongst the other big names from Sandalwood who support Thukral include Ambreesh, Tara and Kannada Cine Artistes Association (KCCA) secretary Doddanna.
A number of people have questioned the KFPA‘s high handedness in blaming the woman and not banning Darshan too; if at all the ban had to be enforced.
Darshan‘s incarceration has put on hold four film projects which are under various stages of production and have cost about Rs 300 million to date. Amongst the four movies is ‘Kranthiveera Sangoli Rayanna‘ (KSR) which is about 80 per cent complete and on which the producers have reportedly spent around Rs 120 million to date. Darshan and Thukral play the lead roles in KSR. The other affected movies are ‘Virat‘, ‘Chingari‘ and ‘Sarathi‘.
