Actor Joju and cinematographer Venu engage in public fight; case filed in Thrissur East station

THRISSUR: Actor Joju George fired veteran cinematographer Venu from the former's debut directorial 'Pani'. After this, Venu lodged a complaint with the police citing threats from goons of actor Joju. The shooting of the movie is going on in Thrissur for the last month. From the beginning, Joju and Venu were at loggerheads. There were also certain rumours about Venu behaving rudely with others in the film set.

Joju and Venu got into a public fight during the shooting at the Police Training College the other day. The differences between the two nearly reached the verge of a physical fight but were stopped by the timely intrusion of others in the set. An air conditioner was destroyed in the melee. After the incident, Joju, who is also a producer, decided not to allow Venu to helm the cinematography of this movie. The makers then roped in cinematographer Vijay who did stellar work in Joju’s hit movie ‘Iratta’.

On Friday morning, cinematographer Venu lodged a complaint with Thrissur East police about receiving threatening calls asking him to leave Thrissur. According to the complaint, the goons have asked him to leave the city immediately or else face consequences. Police are currently checking the recent phone calls that reached Venu’s phone.

“Venu and his assistants were fully paid. There are still 60 days of shooting left. But sadly he had to be replaced since he was creating a ruckus not just for me, but for the whole crew.” Joju said.

This is not the first time that Venu has been fired from a film. Venu was earlier fixed as the director of the movie ‘KAAPA’ produced by FEFKA Writers' Union. However, just before the shooting, disagreement loomed between co-producers and Venu, citing the high remuneration demanded.