A case has been filed against Arvind Bolar, a veteran Tulu theater and cinema artist and presenter of a regional private channel Walter Nandalike at the Kaavoor Police Station in Mangalore for allegedly satirizing astrologers.
They had satirized priests and astrologers on a comedy show titled ‘Private Challenge’ telecasted by a popular regional channel in coastal Karnataka ‘Daijiworld’ on August 9th.
In the comedy program, which was aired on August 9, artist Arvind Bolar portrayed the character of “Baredipi Astrologer” or a scripted astrologer. The program has satirized how astrologers claim to hypnotize people and also predict future events. However, a local person called Shivraj had filed a complaint in the police station for hurting religious sentiments.
Several people had stood with the veteran actor and had opposed the filing of a case against the artist. #WeAreWithArvindBolar was trending on social media as people from Coastal Karnataka and elsewhere took to gather support for the actor.
In the meantime, Channel presenter Walter Nandalike and artist Aravind Bolar appeared on the same channel and clarified about the incident that “They hadn’t spoken anything ill on the show, and that it was disheartening to see such attacks being hurled at them despite them doing no wrong. We apologize if our words had hurt anyone’s sentiments”.
However, on August 11th, Artist Arvind Bolar went into the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) office at 5 PM in the evening and apologized after the case was filed against him.
Vartha Bharathi.in has reported that Vishwa Hindu Parishad Mangalore Division Secretary Sharan Pumpwell commented on the issue “Arvind Bolar personally visited the ‘Vishwasri’ Office of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and apologized for the act. He has also that he will not do any scenes like this in the future”. Theatre artist Sadashiva, Vishwa Hindu Parishad District President Gopala Kuttaaru, Bajrang Dal’s Bhujanga Kulal, and Office bearers of Vishwa Hindu Parishad were present.
Speaking about the issue with gaurilankeshnews.com, the veteran artist Arvind Bolar noted that “These kinds of incidents have been on the rise as youth circulate messages on WhatsApp and Facebook. As a senior artist, we must not get irritated with these happenings and resolve it within ourselves. Being someone who is involved in the theatre and film world, I have done many roles. However, this is the first time something has like this has happened. I did visit the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office. We have spoken about the issue because we have lived like a family in the region. This is nothing to be taken seriously. I’m a theatre and film artist. For me, the love that people have showered always is the most important thing. I’m grateful for it”.
