Five producers from Malayalam cinema are under the scanner of the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), and one among them, who is also an actor was fined Rs 25 crore, for receiving black money from overseas to finance ‘propaganda’ films. Though the identity of the producer ‘who is also an actor’ isn’t out, a online news portal claimed that the mentioned producer is Prithviraj Sukumaran.
Actor-producer-filmmaker Prithviraj Sukumaran has now slammed the portal for making allegations against him, and has clarified that he hasn’t paid any fine. The ‘Gold’ actor also confirmed that he will be initiating legal action against the portal for the false and defamatory allegations.
In a statement shared on social media, Prithviraj Sukumaran said, “It has come to my attention that the YouTube channel by the name Marunadanmalayali has published a false and defamatory story, alleging that I have paid a fine of Rs. 25,00,00,000/- pursuant to proceedings initiated by the Enforcement Directorate and am making propaganda films. The allegations are devoid of any truth, is malicious, and defamatory. I am initiating legal action for the false and defamatory allegations that have been made against me. I hereby request all responsible media channels to ensure that any further reporting on the allegations are done only after the facts are verified and confirmed. He further added, “I usually tend to ignore these because terms like “ethical journalism” are fast becoming redundant in the times we live in. But there is a limit to propagating absolute lies in the name of “news”. This is a fight I intend to see through to the end. Filing civil and criminal defamation charges. PS: For those of you who are still wondering… NO, I haven’t paid any fines whatsoever.
On the work front, Prithviraj ventured into Bollywood as a producer earlier this year, with Akshay Kumar’s Selfiee and will be playing pivotal characters in three big movies including Hombale Films’ Salaar and Bollywood films Bade Miyan Chotte Miyan. The actor is next set to helm Mohanlal-starrer Empuraan, which is touted to be one of the biggest budgeted Malayalam movies and has Antony as its producer.
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