Pune, Oct 19: Telugu Titans rode on a solid defensive performance by Vishal Bhardwaj and Abozar Mighani to beat defending champions Patna Pirates 35-31 in Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season VI on Friday.

Both the defenders combined to score 11 tackle points and kept Patna's star man Pardeep Narwal to ensure the Titans' third win of the season.

With Pardeep misfiring and their defence faltering, Patna suffered their second defeat. Manjeet and Vijay together score 16 raid points for Patna but it wasn't enough.

For Telugu Titans, Rahul Chaudhari got seven raid points.

Telugu Titans defence started off brightly as they sent Pardeep Narwal to the bench and led 2-0 after two minutes.

Nilesh Salunke scored with a two-point raid to make it 4-0 for Titans in the third minute. Patna Pirates scored a bonus point and sent Rahul Chaudhari off the mat to make it 3-4 after five minutes.

Patna Pirates got two point raid through Manjeet into lead for the first time in the match in the ninth minute. It took Pardeep 10 minutes to open his account as Patna Pirates led 8-6.

He followed it up with a two-point raid in the next minute as Patna inflicted the first all out of the match to lead 11-9.

Telugu Titans suffered from Chaudhari's indifferent form in the first half. Patna Pirates maintained their advantage at the end of the half as they went into the break leading 17-14.

Rahul Chaudhari scored a raid point in the 25th minute as Titans inflicted an all out to lead 22-21.

Telugu Titans picked up two bonus points and then scored a tackle point to lead 25-21 after 27 minutes.

Pardeep had a quiet start to the second half as he scored just one point in the first 10 minutes. Patna Pirates were trailing 24-27 when they sent Chaudhari to the bench to cut the lead to just one point. Telugu Titans forced a super tackle in the 33rd minute to lead 29-28.

With less than five minutes left, Manjeet scored a crucial raid point as Patna tied the match at 30-30. Mighani sent Pardeep to the bench with a brilliant super tackle and gave Telugu Titans 32-31 lead. Mohsin Maghsoudlou made a critical raid in the 39th minute to give Titans 33-31 lead.

On Saturday, UP Yoddha will play Bengal Warriors whereas Puneri Paltan will face U Mumba in the Maharashtra derby.

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Mumbai (PTI): Filmmaker Vipul Shah says he felt compelled to make a sequel to "The Kerala Story", his controversial 2023 movie about religious conversion, as he wanted to expose a "much larger evil" that extends beyond Kerala and across the country.

The sequel, titled “The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond”, hit theatres last week amid a huge controversy. The film depicts the stories of three Hindu women from different states who defy their families to marry Muslim men and are subsequently forced to convert.

Shah, who has co-written the film and produced it through the banner Sunshine Pictures, said there was no pre-planned franchise strategy after the first film, which earned over Rs 300 crore at the box office and won two National Awards.

“There was no plan to make even ‘Kerala Story 2’. But after ‘Kerala Story 1’, we started getting lots of stories, I realised that there is a much larger evil persisting not just in Kerala but across the country and we’ve to tell this story because it is much bigger and different than what happened in ‘Kerala Story 1’ and that's why we decided to make part 2.

"It was not like a marketing gimmick that, ‘Let's make part two, it's a good brand, let's take it forward’. No, nothing like that,” Shah told PTI in an interview.

While the first part, which was also based on the religious conversion and radicalisation of young women, was directed by Sudipto Sen, the follow-up is helmed by Kamakhya Narayan Singh.

Asked if there will be a third part of the franchise, Shah said there are no concrete plans yet.

“But if there are compelling stories coming our way, some new facts will come to light, maybe we will want to tell that story. But as of today, there is no plan,” he added.

While the creative process of making the sequel was “intense and passionate”, the release has been anything but smooth.

After its trailer was released online, the movie was labelled as hate propaganda by many on social media and in political circles.

Last week, a single bench of the Kerala High Court stayed the film’s release for 15 days. Shah subsequently moved a division bench in appeal, which set aside the earlier order, clearing the way for the movie’s release.

"We all knew the release would be a very big challenge. We had to go through a lot of scrutiny, first on social media, then through court. What's upsetting is that in this noise, the real subject which you reach out to people sometimes gets clouded. You don't want that, you want people to understand the reality of the subject. And look at it from a point of view that there are so many girls whose lives are getting lost.”

With the sequel now running in theatres, Shah claimed that theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been receiving threats to pull the movie.

In Kerala, activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) staged protests outside theatres screening the film, saying they would not allow its screening as it allegedly depicts the state in a bad light.

“It is very disturbing news, some people are threatening the theatre owners in Kerala and Tamil Nadu... they are violating court orders by threatening theatre owners to stop showing the film.

"It is a violation of my right, it is a violation of the order of the court. I would urge both the governments and the chief ministers to take stringent action. Even if they don't agree with the film, it's fine, but that doesn't mean that they will not protect my right,” the producer added.

Though Shah has been making hard-hitting titles like “The Kerala Story” and “Bastar”, he said he has not abandoned commercial cinema.

He recently wrapped “Governor”, starring Manoj Bajpayee, and is gearing up for “Hisaab” with actor wife Shefali Shah and Jaideep Ahlawat.

“Since I made ‘Bastar’ and ‘Kerala Story’, people started thinking that I’ve decided that I will only make this kind of film. It is not true though. I’ll be making all kinds of films. That is what makes me creatively happy and I’m going to continue to do that,” said the producer, who has directed mainstream films like “Aankhen”, “Namastey London”, “Waqt” and “London Dreams”.

Shah said "Hisaab” is about a bank robbery, and he is looking to release it theatrically in June-July.

“I always wanted to make a unique bank robbery. It is unique, funny, and intelligent, just like ‘Aankhen’, which had three blind guys robbing bank. But this is extraordinary, far more believable, real and something like this has never been made in India,” the producer said.