Actor Siddharth's Chithha event disrupted over Cauvery row; Prakash Raj, Shiva Rajkumar apologise

Tamil Nadu actor Siddharth of Rang De Basanti fame faced disruption by pro-Kannada right wing outfit protesters on Thursday during a promotional event of his upcoming movie Chithha. Amid a simmering row of Cauvery water sharing between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Swabhimani Sene on Thursday interrupted a press conference being held by actor Siddharth for his film and demanded him to leave the venue.

The actor was promoting his upcoming film 'Chikku' in Bengaluru when the members of Karnataka Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Swabhimani Sene disrupted the event, saying that it was not an appropriate time for him to do that as Tamil Nadu is demanding Cauvery River water from Karnataka.

On Friday, actor and politician Prakash Raj extended an apology to Siddharth on behalf of ‘sahrudya’ (tender hearted) Kannadigas. Prakash wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Instead of questioning all the political parties and its leaders for failing to solve this decades' old issue.... Instead of questioning the useless parliamentarians who are not pressurising the centre to intervene.. Troubling the common man and artists like this can not be accepted.. as a Kannadiga .. on behalf of Kannadigas. sorry #Siddharth #justasking.”

Further, Kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar, who was recently seen in Rajinikanth-starrer 'Jailer' has apologized to Siddharth on behalf of the protesters. 

As per a Times of India report, the actor extended his apologies in Kannada, "Today, on behalf of my industry, I would like to say very sorry to Mr Siddharth. I am very hurt and such a mistake will never happen again. Kannada people are good people, they love all films and all languages. It's only the people of Karnataka who watch all kinds of films."

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Karnataka has been witnessing protests over the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu after the Supreme Court refused to intervene in the decisions of the Cauvery Water Management Authority(CWMA) and its assisting body Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) that directed the state to do so.

In the latest decision, the CWRC had ordered Karnataka to ensure the release of 3,000 cusecs of Cauvery water at Biligundlu starting from September 28 till October 15, 2023. In the earlier spell, it was 5,000 cusecs.

Karnataka to ban Rajinikanth movies over Cauvery row?

A News9live report quoted Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj declaring that Tamil star Rajinikanth's films may be banned in the state. "Rajinikanth should not come to Karnataka. He should be banned from entering Karnataka. Rajinikanth films should be banned in the state. It is a warning. He should not play games. He should speak up about the issue because he was born in Karnataka and grew up drinking Cauvery water,” he added.