The officials of the Enforcement Directorate served notices to Tollywood director Puri Jagannadh and his partner Charmme. The duo appeared before the officials of ED for investigation over the investments made in their recent feature film Liger. They are being investigated since morning about the investments pooled by Puri and Charmme. There are speculations that the Enforcement Directorate received a tip that renowned politicians invested in Liger. All the transactions related to the film are being verified. Puri and Charmme may have to appear before the ED once again. They are served notices 15 days ago. Liger directed and produced by Puri Jagannadh featured Vijay Deverakonda in the lead role and the film ended up as one of the biggest disasters of the year.
Actress, ‘Liger’ co-producer Charmme Kaur takes a break from social media
Actress Charmme Kaur, who is also one of the producers of the just released Telugu film ‘Liger’, on Sunday announced that she was taking a break from social media.
Taking to Twitter, Charmme Kaur said, “Chill guys! Just taking a break (from social media) @PuriConnects will bounce back. Bigger and Better… Until then, live and let live.”
Charmme’s decision to take a break from social media comes at a time when ‘Liger’, the film she produced along with Karan Johar, Puri Jagannadh, Apoorva Mehta and Hiroo Yash Johar, has fared badly at the box office.
The film, which featured Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey in the lead, was made on a lavish scale and was even promoted as boxing legend Mike Tyson’s first Indian film.
Rumours doing the rounds in the industry suggest that Liger’s poor performance might have a telling impact on the next project of director Puri Jagannadh with actor Vijay Deverakonda as well.
If the rumours are to be believed, ‘Jana Gana Mana’, the next pan-Indian film that director Puri Jagannadh had planned to make with Vijay Deverakonda in the lead, has been shelved. There has been no official announcement, though, about it.
Charmme about her Equation with Puri Jagannadh
There are a lot of rumors and speculations about the bonding and relationship between Puri Jagannadh and Charmme. Ever since Charmme joined as co-producer, rumors took the front seat. Charmme is a woman who is self-enthusiastic and she revealed several times that she wanted to pick up production after she had no films as an actress. During the promotions of Liger, Charmme responded about the rumors and about her relationship with Puri Jagannadh.
“People always see things from their own perspective and they have the right to do so. It is all about success. After Liger and Janaganamana end up as massive hits, people will see me and Puri sir as role models. They will discuss about our journey and how we made up to this stage. I am not bothered about any rumors or relationships” responded Charmme. The actress is co-producing all the Puri Jagannadh’s films and she is even over-looking the business deals.
Puri Jagannadh and Vijay Deverakonda had all the praises for Charmme for handling things with perfection. Liger featuring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Pandey is hitting the screens on August 25th across the globe.
Actress Charmee Kaur appears before ED in PMLA case
Tollywood actress Charmee Kaur on Thursday appeared before Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with a money laundering probe linked to four-year-old drug case.
Charmee reached the ED office in Hyderabad around 10.30 a.m. As she was getting down from the car, a large number of waiting camera persons and photographers moved closer to her, leading to chaos. She requested the camera persons to give her way.
The actress’ personal security personnel intervened to make way for her to enter the ED office.
She is the second Tollywood personality to appear before ED. Earlier, director Puri Jagannadh was questioned for nearly 10 hours on Tuesday.
The ED last week issued notices to 10 persons connected to Tollywood and two others including a private club manager as part of a money laundering probe linked to the drugs racket.
Actors Rakul Preet Singh, Rana Daggubati, Ravi Teja, Charmee Kaur, Navdeep, Mumaith Khan and director Puri Jagnnadh have been asked to appear before ED between August 31 and September 22.
Tanish, Nandu, actor Ravi Teja’s driver Srinivas are also among those summoned in connection the drugs racket which was busted with the arrest of drug peddlers in 2017.
The ED also gathered details of the investigations conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana’s prohibition and excise department.
The drugs racket was busted on July 2, 2017 when customs officials arrested Calvin Mascarenhas, a musician, and two others and seized drugs worth Rs 30 lakh from their possession.
They had reportedly told the investigators that they are supplying drugs to film celebrities, software engineers, and even students of some corporate schools. Mobile numbers of some Tollywood celebrities were allegedly found in their contact lists.
The excise department had constituted SIT for a comprehensive probe. A total of 12 cases were registered, 30 people were arrested while 62 individuals including 11 people connected with Tollywood were examined by the SIT under section 67 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code.
The SIT had collected blood, hair, nail and other samples from some of those who appeared before it for questioning and sent them for analysis.
Actors Ravi Teja, Charmme Kaur, Mumaith Khan, director Puri Jagannath and young actors Tarun Kumar and P. Navadeep were among the stars who were questioned by the SIT.
Cinematographer Shyam K. Naidu, actors Subbaraju, Tanish, Nandu and Ravi Teja’s driver Srinivas were also among those questioned.
The SIT filed charge sheet in eight out of 12 cases. It, however, gave clean chit to the film personalities who were questioned as part of the investigation.
An emotional incident that made Puri and Charmme thick friends
Tollywood director Puri Jagannadh and actress Charmme Kaur turned thick friends at a point of time and they are now producing films jointly on Puri Jagannadh Touring Talkies banner. There were several speculations about their relationship but none of them responded about it. A person from the industry who is quite close to Puri and Charmme revealed the real incident which made them thick friends. Puri Jagannadh is known to have tasted several lows in his career.
“At one point of time, after a series of debacles, several actors stayed away from Puri. Even his close friends kept ignoring and never responded to Puri’s calls. Charmme without second thought stood as support for Puri. When Puri was running bad with finances, Charmme is the only person who helped Puri. She even invested her savings in the film ‘Jyothi Lakshmi’.Though the film ended up as a disappointment, the actress never took them back. Puri soon after he received the remuneration for his next project returned the amount to Charmme but the actress never accepted the money. It is then, Puri joined her as his partner in the production house. It was an emotional moment when Charmme stood by Puri when no top actor or Puri’s close friends responded” said the person about their friendship.
Charrme is now handling the production responsibilities of Puri Jagannadh Touring Talkies and Puri Connects with utmost perfection. Thanks to Charmme, Puri Jagannadh is completely focused on direction and has no mood to look at production.
