On Monday, Telugu film critic Mahesh Kathi, who was recently evicted from Bigg Boss Telugu, claimed that he's the victim of organised harassment by fans of actor-politician Pawan Kalyan.
The reviewer alleged that Pawan Kalyan fans have shared his personal number on WhatsApp groups and fan page groups, asking that he be subjected to a coordinated attack for his opinion about the star as a politician and his party Jana Sena Party.
In a 10-minute video posted on Facebook, Mahesh expressed extreme anguish and revealed how self-proclaimed Pawan Kalyan fans have been disturbing him by calling him constantly and also by sending abusive messages over WhatsApp.
Pawan Kalyan fans had earlier trolled Mahesh for his review of Katamarayudu. The trolling and abuse started again after Mahesh gave his opinion about Pawan Kalyan’s politics and the Jana Sena Party in an interview to a Telugu YouTube channel
Mahesh alleged that Pawan Kalyan fans have hacked into his phone, added themselves to his contact list, and that they have been threatening and abusing him.
He lamented that he has not been able to go on with everyday life because of the abusive calls.
“How can I make a police complaint against 7000-8000 people? I have blocked close to 1500 contacts. How many more should I (block)? PK fans representing him in debates and discussions have been asking me to remain silent and not to escalate the issue. I am remaining silent, it is them who have been harassing me. I don’t need any publicity. Pawan Kalyan is not part of my life. Just let me do my job,” he pleaded.
He alleged that Pawan Kalyan fans have been morphing his photo, making memes with vile comments and sending them to him.
In the video, Mahesh also answered a few calls made by self proclaimed Pawan Kalyan fans. He can be heard asking how they got his personal number and why they'd called him.
One of the callers, who identified himself as Deepak and a fan of the actor, sought explanations from Mahesh for his opinions on Pawan Kalyan and his political party. Mahesh shot back, saying he was required to give the caller any answers and proceeded to ask him how he'd got his number.
To this, Deepak replied, “Do you think that you are Chiranjeevi or Pawan Kalyan for us to not get access to your number?"
Another caller said that he'd watched the video on YouTube and felt that Mahesh’s views were wrong. Mahesh replied that the caller could have just ignored him if he'd felt so. The latter, like Deepak, did not give a straight answer to how he'd got Mahesh's number.
Mahesh said, “I’m not stopping these people from expressing their love and adoration for their star, but why are they stopping me from expressing my opinion? If they feel that my opinion is wrong, they can just ignore me, right?”
TNM tried to reach Mahesh but his phone was switched-off.
Meanwhile, a similar organised harassment campaign has been launched against ‘Blue Sattai’ Maaran, a Tamil film reviewer, for his views about actor Ajith Kumar’s newly released Vivegam.
Blue Shirt Address !!
— Asal Siraj (@ssiraj1986) August 26, 2017
23/4,1st, Thiruvalluar Nagar, thirumulaivoyal, Chennai, 62
Phone number : 9381054240
Critically acclaimed writer Charu Nivedita who'd also reviewed Vivegam has also come under attack.