Rajath Mayee’s Sipayi seems to have been painfully stranded in beautiful waters. In a rather strange twist of events, the 16-member crew of this film has been helplessly grounded in Thailand, waiting for the government’s green signal to return to India. Sruthi Hariharan, who plays the lead actress in the film, gave City Express a first-hand account of their situation from Pattaya, where she has currently been put up along with producer, lead actor Siddharth Mahesh and the rest of the crew.
“We shot a few sequences on February 5 in Bangkok. On the second day, while we were shooting in Pattaya, some high ranking immigration officials came and demanded a work permit. We didn’t have one because according to the specified rules, we did not need a work permit if we our shooting was completed within a 15-day period,” says Sruthi.
The team was then asked to stop shooting and taken to the immigration office in Pattaya. “Our passports were seized and in the middle of all this, our Thai coordinator has vanished and even after many attempts, his phone is unreachable. We were taken to the police station where they seized the rest of our equipment. We were asked to pay 6 lakh bahts (equivalent to about Rs 12 lakh) in order to be released on bail. Getting so much money at such short notice was difficult but we managed,” Sruthi says.
According to the actress, it was Ram Purohit and his son who aggravated the situation. “The duo, working as camera attenders for Sipayi went around talking about another film Sindhoora, which they were planning to shoot after our schedule. This was another project all together but the authorities might have thought that we were extending our shoot over the stipulated 15 days. Our producer Siddharth has been a rock and has gone out of his way to take care of all the expenses,” she says.
The team tried to take help from the local Indians, but it was in vain. “Initially we tried doing things on our own, but language is a big problem here. Nothing worked in our favour till the Indian embassy stepped in,” she says.
The actress states that on February 13, the embassy worked on all the paperwork and the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Ananth Kumar, as well as the Karnataka Film Chamber came to their rescue. “There are other ministers who are helping us. Thankfully, the ambassador of Thailand is on our side. Both governments are now involved, but there is so much paperwork left to do. Thailand is renowned for its tourism and such confusion should not take place here,” she says. Sruthi’s parents along with the families of the other team members are hoping for the crew’s safe return.
Producer and hero spends 20 lakh
The Thailand embassy detained the Sipayi team because of a missing work permit, but as per the embassy website, it is clearly mentioned that one does not need a permit if the shooting is completed under 15 days. “Our schedule was from February 5 to 10 and the Film Chamber had given us the requisite permission for 5 days. We were cornered and helpless due to all the confusion. According to the Indian embassy, this kind of incident involving a film crew has happened for the first time. They have assured us that things will be sorted out by Monday. It has been a costly outdoor experience as I have spent around Rs 20 lakh till date to look after the entire crew and not gone any further with the film,” says Siddharth.