Vishnu Manchu's production house claims ‘sabotage, personal vendetta' behind Kannappa's stolen hard drive: ‘No secret who orchestrated this'

Indian Express

4 days ago

Just a month before the release of actor Vishnu Manchu's pan-Indian film Kannappa, a hard disk containing footage from the movie has allegedly been stolen from the office of his production house 24 Frames Factory in Hyderabad's Film Nagar. Now, 24 Frames Factory has released a statement, claiming that there's 'sabotage and personal vendetta' behind the robbery.
In the statement, they confirmed that a hard drive was stolen. 'A hard drive containing a pivotal action sequence between two lead characters of Kannappa, along with critical VFX work, was stolen during transit. The drive was shipped from Hive Studios, Mumbai, and intended to be delivered to our official production office,' it read.
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Reports also suggested that the individuals who stole the drive were associated with Team Kannappa, but the production house dismissed those claims and added, 'Shockingly, the package was unlawfully intercepted and signed for by an individual named Mr. Raghu, who acted under the instructions of a woman named Charita. Neither of them are employees, representatives, or associates of 24 Frames Factory. Their act constitutes impersonation and theft.'
Vishnu Manchu's production house 24 Frames Factory also revealed that a police complaint was filed around four weeks ago. 'A police complaint was formally filed nearly four weeks ago, and the investigating authorities have been fully briefed on the identity of those behind this. It is no secret who orchestrated this attempt—both we and law enforcement are well aware of the forces at play. The perpetrator's identity is known, and the motive is clear,' the statement said.
They also claimed that the culprits have plans to leak more than 90 minutes of footage from Kannappa. 'More disturbingly, credible intelligence has recently emerged that these individuals, under guidance from the same source, are planning to leak over 90 minutes of unreleased footage online in a desperate attempt to derail the release of Kannappa. In response, the Executive Producer has formally escalated the matter to Cyber Crime authorities to take swift and firm action.'
Vishnu's production house concluded the statement with, 'It is disheartening to see such cheap and calculated tactics being deployed from within the industry itself. This is not mischief—it is sabotage, and it reflects a deeply unfortunate descent into personal vendetta-driven behaviour. At a time when Telugu cinema is earning global recognition, stooping to such levels is not just regressive—it is disgraceful.'
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According to a police complaint, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, the film's footage was sent to their office by Hive Studios, a VFX vendor, from Mumbai on March 23.
The complaint further mentioned that the courier was sent by DTDC. A staff member of the production house received the courier and gave it to another staff member, who is allegedly absconding with the disk. 'The hard drive was taken without any authorisation and with malicious and deliberate intent,' the complaint, which is quoted in the FIR, read.
Kannappa is set to hit theatres on June 27. It also features Mohan Babu, R Sarathkumar, Arpit Ranka, Kaushal Manda, Rahul Madhav, Devaraj, Mukesh Rishi, Brahmanandam, Raghu Babu, Preity Mukhundhan and Madhoo in pivotal roles and Mohanlal, Prabhas, Akshay Kumar and Kajal Aggarwal in cameos.