Not Quite the Welcome He Expected: Ranveer Singh Rushes to Karnataka High Court Over Kantara FIR — But Court Gives Him No Special Treatment
A Bollywood star’s legal team sought an urgent same-day hearing over an FIR alleging he mocked a sacred coastal Karnataka tradition. The court had one question: “Why? Because it is Bollywood?”
Actor Ranveer Singh has moved the Karnataka High Court seeking relief from a First Information Report registered against him in connection with his mimicry of a character from the much-anticipated Kantara: Chapter 1 — and his very first courtroom moment offered a lesson in judicial indifference to celebrity.
When his counsel approached Justice M Nagaprasanna on Monday, February 23, requesting the matter be listed urgently at 2:30 that same afternoon, the judge was unmoved. “Why? Because it is Bollywood?” the court remarked orally, before scheduling the hearing for Tuesday instead. It was a pointed response — one that made clear the bench has little appetite for star-driven timelines.
The petition, filed by Singh challenging the FIR, rests on what his legal team describes as a gross mischaracterisation of innocent admiration. His counsel told the court that the actor’s actions amounted to an honest appreciation of the film — an enthusiastic tribute from someone genuinely moved by the content — and that a criminal case had been constructed around what was, at its core, a fan moment.
The FIR, filed by an advocate-complainant, alleges something rather more serious. It accuses Singh of hurting religious sentiments by mocking and demeaning the sacred Daiva tradition — more commonly known as Bhoota Kola — a centuries-old spirit worship ritual practiced by coastal Karnataka communities and brought to international attention through Rishab Shetty’s original Kantara. The complainant’s contention is that Singh’s mimicry, far from being a tribute, crossed the line into ridicule of a living, deeply revered religious tradition.
The matter sits at a tension point that Indian courts are increasingly being asked to navigate: where does enthusiastic imitation end, and cultural or religious insensitivity begin? The Kantara franchise has sparked enormous pride among Tulu Nadu communities, and its depiction of Bhoota Kola has been both celebrated as a cultural spotlight and fiercely guarded against what devotees perceive as casual appropriation or mockery.
For Ranveer Singh — an actor known for his exuberant public persona — the case presents a reputational challenge as much as a legal one. His counsel’s framing of events as “honest appreciation given a criminal colour” will now be tested before a bench that has already signalled, with characteristic bluntness, that fame buys no shortcuts in its courtroom.
The matter is listed for hearing on Tuesday, February 25.
