Bengaluru: Ranveer Singh, who landed in legal trouble after mimicking Rishab Shetty’s expressions in ‘Kantara Chapter 1’, has approached the Karnataka High Court challenging the FIR registered against him.
Ranveer’s case was listed before Justice M Nagaprasanna for urgent listing, reported Live Law.
“The petitioner is a Bollywood actor. His honest appreciation of Kantara Chapter 1 is given a criminal colour,” Ranveer’s lawyer said, and requested that the matter be listed at 2.30 pm today.
The court turned down that request, s
aying, “Why? Because it is Bollywood? Tomorrow.”
Ranveer, currently basking in the success of ‘Dhurandhar’, mimicked Rishab twice on November 28 last year during the closing ceremony of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.
Ranveer took to the stage and made faces while appreciating Rishab’s performance in ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’. Rishab stood up and requested him not to do that, but Ranveer repeated it while greeting and hugging the actor-director.
An FIR was registered against Ranveer in Bengaluru in January, following a complaint filed by 46-year-old advocate Prashanth Methal alleging that Hindu religious sentiments and the daiva/bhoota kola tradition of coastal Karnataka had been hurt. The case was booked under sections 196, 299, and 302 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Ranveer did apologise after considerable backlash, saying that his intention was to highlight Rishabh’s incredible performance in the film.