Popular Tollywood actor Ram Pothineni was issued a fine of Rs 200 by the Hyderabad police on Monday for smoking a cigarette in a 'no-smoking' area.
The incident took place near the city's historic Charminar, where the actor was shooting for his upcoming film iSmart Shankar. While the actor had lit a cigarette as part of his role for the movie, the Charminar police who recently launched a drive against public smoking under their jurisdiction, slapped a fine.
The Telugu actor was fined under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COPTA) 2003 and he paid the fine.
“So far 20 persons were caught and fined for smoking at the Charminar. We intend to continue the drive because it helps in spreading awareness about ill effects of tobacco,” Charminar police station sub-inspector, B Pandary was quoted as saying.
The drive undertaken by the Charminar police is part of a larger plan by the city police to curb public smoking, by imposing fines of Rs 200, on those who are caught in the act.
Directed by Puri Jagganadh, iSmart Shankar has Nabha Natesh and Nidhhi Agerwal in lead roles along with Ram Pothineni besides Brahmanandam, Rao Ramesh, Tanikella Bharani and Pavithra Lokesh among others in supporting roles. Mani Sharma is composing music for this flick with Raj Thota cranking the camera and Junaid Siddiqui in charge of the editing. Shaik Jonny is the art director of iSmart Shankar with stunts choreographed by Real Satheesh. Ram’s look in the film has been unveiled and the star is seen sporting a spikey hairdo with beard along with a jeans, a shirt and weilding a gun.
The shooting for the film began in January this year and the third schedule is presently underway. The team completed the second schedule in Goa and returned to Hyderabad where the third schedule went on to the floors.