Bollywood film producer Boney Kapoor weighed in on the Pushpa 2 stampede issue, which resulted in a woman’s death and a child getting critically injured on the premiere date of the hit film. After a formal complaint and rounds of media debates on who should be held accountable for this, the film’s lead actor Allu Arjun was arrested in connection with the death, but was released from jail after a day. 

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While the blame game continues, Boney Kapoor feels Allu Arjun was unnecessarily dragged into the Hyderabad Sandhya Theatre stampede controversy. 

Boney did not mince words in defending the actor.

He said that while it was tragic, it wasn’t Allu’s fault and the death was a result of the uncontrolled crowd.

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He added that Allu was being unnecessarily dragged into the matter.

Boney Kapoor on who should be held accountable for Pushpa 2 stampede death

Boney spoke about Allu Arjun Pushpa 2 debacle at the Galatta Plus Roundtable for Filmmakers where he was asked about the craze for South Indian stars in India.

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Boney said, "When I first saw Ajith's film releasing at 1 in the morning, I was shocked to see 20-25,000 people outside the theatre. After I came out of the show around 3.30-4 am, there were still that many people outside. I am told the same thing happens with films of Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, or present-day stars like Jr NTR, Ram Charan, and Mahesh Babu."

He added, "Ticket rates are inflated on the first two days or at least the first day, for extra shows. That is why this situation has arisen, where, unnecessarily, Allu Arjun was dragged and blamed for the death of a fan. It was only because of the crowd that had gathered to see the film."

Also read: Anti-Heroes We Loved To Hate This Year: Yearender 2024

The mishap took place on December 4 when a stampede-like situation took place at Hyderabad’s Sandhya Theatre.

It resulted in the death of a 35-year-old woman who had specially gone to Hyderabad to attend the premiere of the film. She lost her life and her young son was admitted to the ICU. 

Allu’s surprise visit to the theatre resulted in this mayhem. 

Pushpa 2, meanwhile, has become the most successful release of 2024 and the second-most successful Indian movie ever after Aamir Khan’s Dangal.

Also read: Pushpa 2 box office: Allu Arjun's film becomes second-biggest Indian grosser of all time