CHENNAI: In a bizarre incident, a Chennai-based realtor has found himself waking up to a flurry of calls with weird requests. A resident of Vyasarpadi has been receiving continuous calls from unknown men asking for actress Vani Bhojan after his number was allegedly used in the recently released Tamil movie, ‘Oh my Kadavule.’
Boobalan, a real-estate businessman from Bharathiyar Nagar, lodged a police complaint against the director of the movie. The movie also stars Ritika Singh and Ashok Selvan and is directed by Ashwath Marimuthu. In a scene in the movie, Vani, who plays a character named ‘Meera,’ gives out a mobile number to the protagonist, which happens to be Boobalan’s.
The man said he has been using the number for 19 years now. “Since the first show of the movie, I have been receiving phone calls from men asking if it was really Vani Bhojan’s number. Several men send flirty messages. When I tell them that it is not Vani Bhojan’s number and not to disturb me again, they use abusive language,” said Boobalan.
People also call asking if he is a “pimp” for the actress. “Initially I did not know what was happening until my friends explained it to me,” said Boobalan, who has been receiving around 100 calls every day and is afraid to pick up calls from unknown numbers.
‘My business has taken a hit as I avoid taking calls’
"My business has taken a hit for the past one month as I have been avoiding calls and some of my clients are angry with me. Everytime my phone rings, my blood pressure increases,” said Boobalan
On Tuesday, Boobalan lodged a complaint with the Cyber Crime division in the Chennai city Police Commissioner’s office and was directed to register a complaint at the Vyasarpadi police station.“I am going to file a petition in court against the director for using my number without my consent,” he said. In another incident, Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of city-based civic rights NGO Arappor Iyakkam, has received over 30 calls since Monday asking for ‘disposable surgical masks.’
He later found that in two Telengana-based newspapers, an ad for ‘Non-woven disposable surgical face masks with earloop’ carried his mobile number along with that of his colleague, also a member of Arappor. The ad titled ‘Coronavirus safety mask’ (sic) claims to offer three masks for ‘a discounted price’ of `Rs 5 and that free delivery was available.
“If one of our numbers were given out, the argument that it was a mistake might have been reasonable but three numbers belonging to our organisation have been published,” he said. “We have never put out these three numbers together. We suspect that it was done on the insistence of a TN-based politician,” he added. Venkatesan said he has filed a complaint with the DGP of TN and Telangana.
Newly released film did the damage
A new film had the actress giving the realtor’s number as hers to the protagonist and ever since, the man has been receiving bizarre calls from unknown persons.