Police withdraws permission for shooting of RGV's film

Local groups like 'Sarvodaya Mandali' were objecting to the title and content of the film, which is reportedly based on the gang wars in Vijayawada in the 1970s and 1980s.

Police initially granted permission for shooting of the film at various locations in Vijayawada and accordingly Varma completed 10 days of shooting in the Old City area.

However, trouble began two days ago when some local groups took exception to the film's title and content and wanted the shooting stalled. They claimed that the film would revive the gory past of the city and provoke youths to take to violence.

Led by lawyer and Congress leader Naraharisetti Srihari, the local groups demanded that Verma read out the film's script to them before going ahead with the shoot.

"We have withdrawn the permission. We are examining the whole issue. We asked them to submit fresh application. Yesterday, we received two petitions opposing the title and content," Vijayawada City Police Commissioner Amit Garg told PTI over phone.

Varma, popularly known as RGV, completed his engineering course from Siddhartha Engineering College in the city. He was a batchmate of Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal of the Congress.

Inspired by some real incidents during his college days, RGV made his first film 'Siva' in Telugu in 1988 which was subsequently remade in Hindi as 'Shiva'.

A couple of months prior to launching 'Bezawada Rowdeelu', Varma consulted former Minister Devineni Rajasekhar (Nehru) who once lead a powerful faction in Vijayawada.

Vijayawada was notorious for day-light murders in the 1970s and 1980s, but the factionists have remained silent since the late 1990s.

Against this backdrop, Varma, who previously made a few controversial films based on real-life stories, particularly the Mumbai mafia gangs, had announced three months agothat he would make 'Bezawada Rowdeelu' based on the gang wars of Vijayawada.

Apart from arousing curiosity, the project also became controversial since its announcement.