Pune: The cast of the film Yeh Saali Zindagi had to face an agitated and angry crowd at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC) during its annual festival Madhyam after the film's leading actor Arunoday Singh kissed a girl student who walked on to the stage as an "impromptu" dare.
Arunoday, who is the grandson of senior Congress leader Arjun Singh, his co-actor Chitrangada Singh and director Sudhir Mishra were at SIMC's Viman Nagar campus to promote their upcoming film. According to eyewitnesses, the emcee cracked a joke about the record number of kissing scenes in the film, to which Arunoday said he would kiss any girl who walked on to the stage.
Within a few seconds, a girl walked on to the stage and Arunoday did as he had said. The two were allegedly lip-locked for 15-20 seconds.
Following this, the festive mood suddenly degenerated into one of outrage, as both student volunteers and college authorities were angered by the public display of affection and got into an argument with the media team of the film.
College authorities, who termed the act a cheap publicity stunt to promote the movie, say the film team had come prepared to carry out the stunt and it was not a decision taken by the actor on the spur of the moment.
SIMC Director Anupam Siddhartha told MiD DAY that he was furious with the actor and film cast for their "unpardonable" act.
"I was backstage when it happened and I don't believe all this was impromptu. I think they planned it well in advance as a low-cost means of promoting their film," he said. "They are operating on a shoestring budget and I understand that they want to get publicity free of cost but I wish they hadn't used our college as a means of achieving that. But I can't blame actors who haven't tasted success yet and are desperate to make it."
So angry was Siddhartha that he even offered to teach Arunoday some decency if he wanted and show him how to conduct himself on a college campus. Siddhartha said that though the film crew apologised several times after the incident, the damage was done.
The college authorities have now not only banned the actor and the entire film crew from the campus and all sister concerns of the institute, but are also in the process of drafting a protocol for any future visits by film crews for promotion purposes.
"Though we have had director Sudhir Mishra on the campus four times, still this incident happened. To avoid any such embarrassment in the future, we are drafting a protocol where all film crews invited will sign a document stating what they will do and what they aren't allowed to do on campus," Siddhartha said. "We want the scripts in advance and no more impromptu publicity stunts."
When Mid DAY contacted Arunoday, he said, "It was just a peck on the lips because of audience demand and I did not realise that it would be such an issue. And they were not elementary kids, they are responsible for their actions."
The actor added that the crew was not asked to leave the campus immediately but was present for over an hour after the incident.
"If the institute had an issue, they should have spoken to me," he said.
Director Sudhir Mishra apologised for hurting the sensibilities of college authorities but defended his team by stating it was an impromptu act.
"I didn't ask the girl to walk up on stage and she knew what was coming. It was just a harmless impromptu dare and I'm sorry if it hurt someone's sensibilities. But we live in the 21st century and I think these things are not such a big deal," Mishra said. "And this wasn't a publicity stunt; we don't need to do these things to promote our film."
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