Muhurtham inside, chaos outside

The star-studded muhurtham of the Kannada movie ‘Jogayya’, the 100th film of cine star Shivarajkumar, was attended by South Indian stars Chiranjeevi, Suriya and Vijay.
The police and commuters had a tough time from 2.30 to 6 pm. Many were seen cursing the authorities for renting out the stadium for public functions.

While thousands of fans inside the stadium raised slogans in favour of Shivarajkumar and movie director Prem, those stranded on roads cursed film personalities for organising such an event in the heart of the City.

The police turned off signal lights at Siddalingaiah Circle and controlled traffic manually. Some of the traffic cops stood at Rajaram Mohan Roy Circle giving directions to road users. Situation turned worse at around 4 pm and vehicles were seen lined up from Hudson Circle to Siddalingaiah Circle.

The stretch between Gandhi statue to Siddalingaiah Circle on Kasturba Road was chock-a-block with vehicles, so was Vittal Mallya Road.

The organisers had to deal with more crowds than expected, as many Telugu and Tamil- speaking people thronged the stadium to take a glimpse of their favourite heroes. In addition, the hype created about the film in the media by its promoters drew more crowds to the event. All these factors led to the chaos, analysed traffic police.

“The function was slated for 3 pm. Hundreds of people started proceeding towards the stadium from 2.30 pm, partially affecting vehicular movement. Within minutes numbers swelled. Trouble started when people started crossing over roads to enter the stadium. The police immediately swung into action to control the situation,” said ACP (traffic Central) A Nagappa.

After the traffic cops sweated it out for hours, the situation limped back to normal at around 6 pm.

Chiru, Suriya, Vijay steal the show

With Telugu mega star Chiranjeevi clapping the first shot, Kannada actor Shivarajkumar’s 100th movie ‘Jogayya’ went on floors at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Monday. Directed by Prem and produced by Rakshita Prem, the film will cast Shivarajkumar as an underworld don.

Many big names from the film industry including Tamil superstars Suriya and Vijay, veteran actor Ambareesh, producer Parvatamma Rajkumar, actor Puneeth Rajkumar and KFCC President Basant Kumar Patil graced the occasion.

Over 100 dollu kunitha artistes performed on the occasion. Since it was also Shivarajkumar’s birthday, he was gifted a silver crown even as he performed with artistes. The programme was delayed by about two hours.

Speaking on the occasion, Chiranjeevi said: “Shivarajkumar is successfully taking forward the legacy of his father with his dedication and hardwork. When I see the enthusiasm of his fans today, I can definitely say that this film will become more successful than ‘Jogi’.”