Recently, on September 28 actor Siddharth walked out of a press conference for his film, 'Chithha' in Bengaluru, after members from a pro-Kannada organisation barged in and disrupted the event. Reportedly, they wanted to halt the event and also insisted the actor should express support for the Cauvery movement. A protester asked them, “We are fighting here and the Cauvery water is going to Tamil Nadu. And he is promoting the film, do you guys want this?”This led the actor to walk out of the press meet with folded hands. Later, Prakash Raj and Shiva Rajkumar extended an apology to Siddharth.
Rumours have been doing the rounds that Siddharth was told to leave as there was a bandh on that day. So, he has clarified that no such strike was announced on that particular day.
The 'Rang De Basanti' actor told the media, “Chithha was released in three languages-Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam on September 28. On the day of its release, there was no bandh anywhere. Consequently, we booked a private auditorium and paid for it to host a press conference on the same day. Suddenly, a few persons barged in, and as you witnessed, events unfolded afterwards. Now, there are many false claims circulating that we deliberately scheduled the press conference on a bandh day for our own interests. This is untrue. There was no bandh on that day; it occurred the following day. Nobody had the legal right to impede my work on that day. We genuinely did not commit any wrongdoing''.
On the apologies offered by Prakash Raj and Shiva Rajkumar, Siddharth said that he can’t accept that because “they did nothing wrong and it wasn’t their fault in any way,” but he thanked both. “They didn’t have to do such a kind thing, but they did it because of their generous hearts. I thank them for it” added Siddharth.
