Ram Pothineni pays fine for smoking in public; is it a publicity stunt for iSmart Shankar?

Telugu actor Ram Pothineni has revealed that he paid a fine of Rs 200 for smoking in public place near Charminar in Hyderabad. However, some people think his tweet was an act of publicity stunt for iSmart Shankar.

Ram Pothineni was busy shooting for the music video of a song from his upcoming movie iSmart Shankar near Charminar, which is a historical monument in the city. He was caught smoking nearby. The Tollywood actor was fined Rs 200 by police for smoking in public. Later, he admitted his mistake on his Twitter account. He said that the smoking scene is part of his movie, but he paid the fine to respect the law.

Ram Pothineni tweeted this morning, "Naa time-u.. Public time-u waste cheyadam ishtam leka respond gaale... "Shot la kalchina thammi..Break la kaad..Title song la chustaavga stepu..phir bhi law ki izzat ichi fine kattinam.. Gippudu nuvvu kuda naa lekka.. #LiteTheskoPaniChusko " -Ustaad #iSmartShankar (sic)."

A photo featuring Ram Pothineni smoking on the set of iSmart Shankar is now going viral and creating a lot of buzz on social media. Some feel that it is a publicity stunt of the makers of the film. A fan with the Twitter handle‏ @KareemK99126751 took a dig at Ram Pothineni by replying, "TRP kosam news nailu Publicity kosam police nailu️."

But the fans of Ram Pothineni have a different opinion about this incident. They say that the government spends a lot of money on creating awareness about not smoking in public places, but Ram's incident would create more awareness than those advertisements.

A fan with the Twitter handle @rfahyd wrote, "Akkada cigar kaalchoddani chala mandiki telidu..ipdu awareness vasthundi publick ki kuda.. Govt NonSmoking Advt chesina intha awareness raaledemo ipdu occhinantha.. #Ustaad Swag Prajalaki panikocchindi."

iSmart Shankar is an action film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh, who has also co-produced it with actress Charmme Kaur under the banners Puri Connects and Puri Jagannadh Touring Talkies. Ram Pothineni, Nidhhi Agerwal, Nabha Natesh and Satya Dev are playing the lead roles in the movie, which is scheduled for worldwide release on July 18.