Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau issues notice to actor, producer, director of Telugu movie Ganja Shankar

HYDERABAD: The Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TS-NAB) has issued notices to actor Sai Dharam Tej, the producer and the director of the upcoming Telugu movie Ganja Shankar, directing them to change the movie title and refrain from showing any narcotic or psychotropic images or its consumption.

In a post on X on Saturday, the TS-NAB said, “The TS-NAB director issued notice to Ganja Shankar film crew raising objection over title and content depicting the character as a ganja peddler and its glorification. We request the film fraternity to sensitise the concerned to refrain from glorifying sale, consumption etc, of drugs. .”

TS-NAB Director Sandeep Shandilya said, “In your movie, depicting the protagonist as engaging in ganja business and glorifying his acts and the title Ganja Shankar will create negative impact on the viewers, especially students and youth.”

“We expect you to refrain from depicting any scenes in your movie where consumption, sale, peddling and supply of ganja is glorified and shown as a heroic act and you desist from having such scenes in your movie and to abstain from propagating such acts which will have deleterious effects on the young generation,” he said.

The movie makers were also asked to drop ‘Ganja’ from the film title. The bureau warned of legal action as it believes that the film title and trailer could be seen as abetting the commission of the offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.

The film is directed by Sampath Nandi with Sai Dharam Tejas lead actor. Notices were also sent to the presidents of the Telugu Film Producers Council, Directors Association and Movie Artist Association.