OU to serve notice over film shooting

HYDERABAD: Authorities at the Osmania University on Monday said they will soon serve notice on the agency that sought permission to shoot portions of ` Azhar', a film on the life of former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin, on the varsity premises.
On Sunday , over 150 students ­ a majority of them activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ­ disrupted the shooting of the film, saying it was a purely commercial film and not a documentary .The students gathered at the Arts College, where Tony D'Souza, director of the film, was filming scenes along with his crew. The protests became so intense that the director and the lead actor Emraan Hashmi had to be locked up in a room for safety.
On Monday , OU registrar E Suresh Babu sided with the students and said he was in the dark about the nature of the film. “We will send a notice to the agency seeking explanation. Permissions were given to shoot a documentary , not a commercial film,“ he said.
Students also alleged that the filmmakers toyed with their sentiments by attaching the tagline `Pride of Telangana' with the film. “They assured the administration that the documentary will showcase the background of Telangana.However, it clearly looked like a commercial setup,“ said Donthadani Veera Babu, head of ABVP in OU.
Some students even alleged that the registrar had given a back-door entry to the crew in return for a huge sum of money . “There is absolutely no provision under which the university can allow such commercial activities on campus.The administration must issue a notification soon in this regard,“ said Veera Babu, demanding a ban on filming at OU and its constituent colleges.
The disruption, however, prompted a disappointed Emraan Hashmi to tweet: “As time goes by, I have realized, pleasing everyone is close to impossible, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake!!“ The movie is being produced by TV soap opera queen Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and two others under the banner of Balaji Motion Pictures and MSM Motion Pictures. The film completed the first schedule of shooting in London sometime ago. In fact, the crew faced no trouble during shooting at the Oval and Lord's cricket stadia.