The Archaeological Survey of India cancelled the permission granted to Telugu movie ‘Duvvada Jagannadham’, starring Allu Arjun, at Chennakeshava temple in Belur.
The crew had sought permission to shoot at the temple premises from February 15 to 21. ASI noted that many norms were violated during the shooting and thus revoked its order. The crew subsequently cancelled its shooting in Belur and left for Hyderabad.
Priests raise objections
Earlier in the day, commotion prevailed for a while in the temple town after a group of locals objected to film shooting at historic Chennakeshava temple. The agitating locals flayed the authorities for granting permission to sets being erected at the property and the inconvenience caused to visitors.
Shooting for the film began here on Thursday but priests and locals took offence to the film crew using a backdrop of replicas of Lord Shiva and Shivalinga at the popular Vaishnava pilgrim centre. The film crew later cleared the set to facilitate visitors.
On Friday, temple priests Krishnaswamy Bhat and Srinivas Bhat raised objections to the usage of Shivaling on the premises and based on a complaint, the Temple Executive Officer wrote a letter to the Endowment department urging the crew to clear Shiva’s idol. Following directions the crew cleared the set property while police intervened and pacified the agitating crowd.
Shooting resumed after director Harish Shankar apologised to the people for the inconvenience caused.
Temple on terror radar
Town Municipal member B L Dharmegowda told reporters that as per information from the Intelligence department, the temple is on the hit-list of terrorists, and Home Minister G Parameshwara had also visited the temple and held discussions in this regard. “The department of Archaeology should not have granted permission for shooting. A PIL would be filed against the department and the film crew,” he said.
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