Actress Nikitha banned for 3 years
Two days after Kannada star Darshan was arrested for beating up his wife, he and his family faced fresh trouble on Sunday, with the Kannada Film Producers’ Association (KFPA)imposing a three-year ban on actress Nikitha Thukral from acting in Kannada movies.
The ban comes after Darshan’s wife Vijayalaxmi named Nikitha in the police complaint.
KFPA office-bearers decided to ban the actress after visiting Vijayalaxmi in the hospital on Saturday, sources said.
“It’s a lesson for other artistes,” KFPA president Munirathnam, said, explaining the association’s decision. “We want them to be more professional and concentrate only on their jobs.” He said the three-year ban on Nikitha had been taken as Vijayalaxmi had “brought out a few things” in her police complaint and the decision “has been taken keeping the complaint in mind and the future of the actor, not to mention the future of the industry.”
Nikitha had called the ban “ridiculous” and accused the KFPA for acting “without proof.” The actress, talking from Mumbai, said: “Without consulting me, the KFPA has slapped the ban. Darshan and I have acted in three movies. There’s nothing between us beyond professional relationship.
“I’ve been flooded with calls for the last three days and am going mad. I’m single and yet to get married. Has anyone thought of my future? Is it right to tarnish a girl’s image? If Darshan has a problem with his wife, why should I be dragged into it?”
Following the ban, makers of Nikitha’s latest venture in Kannada, the Naganna-directed “Kranthiveera Sangolli Rayanna”, decided not to shoot the pending scenes of the movie and would go ahead without them, film sources said.
The ban had set off ripples in the industry, with a senior actress terming it “unprofessional”.
“Nikitha was shocked to know that Vijayalaxmi has named her in the police complaint,” the actress, who had closely worked with her, said.
“A few days ago, Nikitha lost her father; and now she is unnecessarily being dragged into the controversy. She has been in the industry for more than six years and has acted in movies in Hindi and almost all South Indian languages. Never has she been projected in a bad light. But now it is truly unprofessional of the producers association to ban an actress,” she said. Nikitha is consulting her lawyers to “take action against people involved in tarnishing her image.”
The ban comes at a time when Nikitha, a Punjabi, was all set to produce a film in Kannada with shooting scheduled for the first week of October.
Vijayalakshmi, meanwhile, is learnt to have visited her husband at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Nimhans campus, after being discharged from a private hospital on Mysore road on Sunday morning.
Wrapping her head with a black shawl, Vijayalakshmi, accompanied by her son and a relative, met Darshan and enquired after his health.
Senior advocates are sure that the actor will get bail when his case comes up in the magistrate court on Monday, since the complainant herself has appeared and filed an affidavit.
Bail orders, once obtained, will be sent to the jail authorities who will visit the hospital where Darshan is being treated to officially release him. The actor is unlikely to visit the Parapanna Agrahara jail again.
However, it may be a while before the case is closed. The jurisdictional police have to file a B-report and convince the court (to close the case), which is sure to take time.
