Actor Balakrishna arrested

Police yesterday arrested Nandmuri Balakrishna, son of movie star-turned politician N. T. Rama Rao, for allegedly shooting and seriously injuring producer B. Suresh and his friend Satyanarayana Chowdhary on Thursday night in Hyderabad.

Balakrishna fired his revolver at Suresh and Chowdhary following an argument at his home with the film producer and his friend.

The two were hospitalised with serious injuries. They were in stable condition and their injuries were not life threatening.

Balakrishna had checked himself into a hospital. Police arrested him, but a local court allowed Balakrishna to stay in hospital for a day for a medical checkup. If convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison.

Attempts are being made to hush up the entire episode because Balakrishna and Chowdhary were close friends and because the entire film industry has come under pressure.

When Balakrishna was injured in a shooting at Jaipur two months ago, Chowdhary had flown in there. The two also share business interests. However, the Chowdhary family is refusing to divulge its future course of action.

Balakrishna let go his pent-up anger against producer Suresh over Nartha-nasala – a film with the actor in the lead role. The producer pulled out in the beginning saying a mythological film would simply not be a box office hit.

His co-producer, Lakshmipathi Raju, a close friend of the actor, instead decided to continue making the film, but ran into financial problems after Suresh known for his action based films – failed to pay him more than Rs12m over another film Lakshmi Narasimha they produced together.

As a producer, Suresh was also involved in Aadi – centred also around the Rayalaseema faction feuds. Frustrated, Raju turned to the actor for help. The actor frequently asked the producer to pay up and was furthered angered by Suresh's bad mouthing the film which did not help the former's effort to fund the film.

Producer Bellamkonda Suresh was reluctant to meet Balakrishna but went to the actor's home on June 3 convinced by adviser-astrologer Chowdhary to get dates for a future film, despite being aware of the actor's anger at him.

As Thursday's events proved, Chowdhary's influence over the actor was on the wane as Balakrishna was apparently unhappy with his advice of late.

The actor's fans are also believed to have objected to Chowdhary's influence on his career. The film Narthanasala may also be jinxed, after its heroine, Soundarya, died in a helicopter crash campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

A hush-up is certain after the actor refused to talk to a magistrate in hospital and got away with it; but agreed to meet Suresh's sister Nagalakshmi, also a producer, reportedly brokering a truce. Nagalakshmi is saying the incident is unfortunate.

The complainant in the case, K. Srinivas Chowdhary, Chowdhary's son, turned hostile suddenly claiming he did not file a police complaint. "I haven't lodged any complaint. That much I can tell you," Srinivas said.

The magistrate who heard the actor yesterday initially suggested he be shifted to the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) but conceded the actor's plea to remain at Care Hospital.

The actor reportedly confessed to the shooting, saying the producer breached his contract by not exhibiting Lakshmi Narasimha at 287 centres simultaneously. He accused Suresh of deliberately releasing it in only 85 centres in the state.

But the best evidence of the hush-up was the fact that one of the eyewitnesses, Siva Reddy, is missing since June 3 from the actor's city bungalow.

The city police are looking out for the possibly injured man who is believed to be a vital eyewitness in the shootout.