Actor Karthi has apologised to actor-politician Pawan Kalyan following his remark on Tirupati Laddu. He said that he holds his traditions dear as a humble devotee of Lord Venkateswara.
He took to his social media handles and wrote, "Dear Pawan Kalyan sir, with deep respects to you, I apologize for any unintended misunderstanding caused. As a humble devotee of Lord Venkateswara, I always hold our traditions dear. Best regards."
The remark was made during the pre-release event for his upcoming film, Sathyam Sundaram (Meiyazhagan in Tamil). When Laddu became a topic of conversation. He said, “Let’s not talk about Laddu now. It’s a sensitive issue.”
Actor-politician Pawan Kalyan, who recently announced that he will observe an 11-day penance to make amends for the Tirupati Laddu defiling issue, reacted strongly to the remark. Speaking to reporters, he said, “I respect you as an actor but don’t dare say that or make jokes about the Tirupati Laddu. In fact, I urge everyone from the film fraternity, to either support in this fight or stay silent. I would request everyone to refrain from making unnecessary remarks.”
The Tirupati Laddu row started when Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, released a report that said the Tirupati Laddu was made using beef fat and animal ghee in the previous regime of Jagan Mohan Reddy. This started a huge row of strong reactions from politicians and people are fuming with the derailing act. More details are yet to come about the issue.
Meanwhile, Sathyam Sundaram is slated for release on September 27. The film, directed by C Premkumar of 96-fame, also stars Arvind Swami and Sri Divya in lead roles.
(This story first appeared in Cinema Express)