Ranveer Singh
Credit: Instagram/@rohitshettypicturez
Bengaluru police on Wednesday booked Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh for hurting religious sentiments by mimicking 'Daiva' in front of Kantara actor Rishab Shetty.
The High Grounds police registered the FIR following a court directive on a private complaint filed by advocate Prashanth Metal.
"The complainant submits that he is a devotee of Chavundi Daiva, a revered guardian spirit worshipped in the traditional Bhoota Kola rituals of coastal Karnataka and that the said deity is also his family deity. He has been worshipping the said goddess with divine pleasure since childhood. On November 28, 2025, during the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, Ranveer Singh, a Bollywood actor and public figure, while present on stage and in the presence of the hero of the movie Kantara: Chapter 1, allegedly performed acts that insulted and mocked the sacred Daiva tradition," the FIR quotes the FIR as saying.
The complainant alleged that Singh imitated the divine expressions of Panjurli/Guliga Daiva in "a crude, comical, and derogatory manner" and further verbally referred to the sacred Chavundi Daiva as a "female ghost".
Singh also allegedly enacted the emotional 'Chavundi Daiva' scene from Kantara: Chapter 1 despite an alleged request not to perform the Daiva act.
The complainant submitted that Chavundi Daiva is not a female ghost but a powerful and fierce guardian spirit symbolising justice, protection and divine feminine energy, and holds deep religious and cultural significance in the coastal region. Referring to the deity as a ghost is described as blasphemous and a serious insult to Hindu religious beliefs and practices, the FIR notes.
The video of the incident had gone viral on social media, causing "grave mental agony, anger, and resentment to the complainant and other devotees". Following the outrage, Singh apologised.
The actor has been booked under BNS Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 302 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person).