Vijay Devarakonda's Geetha Govindam and Taxiwala footage leaked, culprits arrested

A Hyderabad-based third-party film editor, Rajesh, and 17 students from Guntur's Vasireddy Venkatadri Institute of Technology (VVIT), have been arrested in Hyderabad and Guntur for stealing footage from actor Vijay Deverakonda's upcoming films, Taxiwala and Geetha Govindam, and other films that are under production.

The film editor and students were nabbed after a complaint from the production house, Geetha Arts, who received a tip-off from a small-time director in Vijayawada. The police recovered a hard disk and laptops consisting of the video footage from these upcoming films and prevented it from being circulated or downloaded to other devices. 

Police have reportedly tracked down the IP addresses of the students who were uploading the video on Google drive and circulating it on other social media groups. When Cinema Express reached out to Bunny Vas, the producer of Geetha Govindam, he confirmed the news and said, “We got a tip-off from a budding director from Krishna district, who alerted our production office about the leakage. We have approached the police, who have traced the culprits using the IP addresses, seized laptops, and hard disk. It’s saddening to see students being part of such crimes and I request one and all not to get embroiled in such controversies as it may ruin their future.”

According to reports, the police are also on the lookout for another group that is said to have been part of this leak. Not so long ago, a still from Jr NTR’s Aravinda Sametha Veeraraghava found its way online and went viral, forcing its makers to ban mobile phones on the sets. In the past, films like Attarintiki Daredhi, SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise, Spyder, and Jai Lava Kusa fell prey to such leaks.

Directed by Parasuram (Bujji), Geetha Govindam is slated for release on August 15, while Taxiwala is likely to hit the screens in September.