World-renowned documentary filmmaker, David Bradbury, was on Thursday prevented from entering Idinthakarai, where the local people are on a protest against the commissioning of the nuclear power plant at Koodankulam for more than a year.
According to police, Bradbury, along with his wife, Lenthall Treena Rose, and a five-year-old son, Rasuul, was travelling from Kanyakumari on the highway towards Thoothukudi in an autorickshaw. When they took the turn towards Idinthakarai village, they were stopped at the Thomas Mandapam check post.
Though Bradbury had a business visa and all three of them had their travel papers intact, they could not explain the reason for their visit to Idinthakarai, police said and added that they were asked to proceed as Section 144 was in force in Idinthakarai.
During the 20 minute interrogation, Bradbury had said that he was visiting various beaches and was on his way to Thoothukudi, police said. Sources said that Bradbury had come to India to attend the Mumbai international film festival that started on October 18.
The Oscar-nominated Australian has shot 21 documentaries since he started his career as a journalist with Australian Broadcast Corporation in 1972. In A Hard Rain, shot in 2007, he explored the other side of the nuclear power debate.