Darshan tells fans to respect CM, after he leaves podium at BIFFes inaugural amid chants of ‘DBoss’

The Bengaluru International Film Festival got off to a glitzy start this evening. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was at the event and just beginning his address, when Challenging Star Darshan reached the venue, prompting the actor’s fans to begin chanting ‘DBoss’, as the actor is popularly known. The chanting continued, leaving the CM unable to continue with his address. He then returned to his seat on the stage to allow Darshan to speak instead.

Darshan, though, did not take this slight of the Chief Minister at the hands of his fans lightly and said, “When the honourable chief minister of Karnataka speaks you have to accord him the respect he deserves and remain silent. I have come here to speak and I will, but later.” He then asked CM Bommai to return to the podium.

Later on, when it was his turn to speak, Darshan apologized to the guests on the stage, including the CM, Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, filmmaker Priyadarshan and the BIFFes organizers for arriving late to the event. Addressing his fans, with regard to the issue with the CM earlier, the actor said that any sort of shouting when elders speak is not an insult to the event or its organizers, but to him, personally. “When elders speak, you have to listen patiently for a couple of minutes. I have always noticed that whoever speaks to the CM always has a list of demands; today, I am not going to ask for anything. What I like about him is that he is often spotted watching movies, which, I believe is the me-time he gets when no one disturbs him. I think cinema gives him relief and so our effort is going to be to make films that you can sit and enjoy,” said the actor.