Untoward incident: Ekta Kapoor's banner apologises for Kangana's spat with reporter

Mumbai: Ekta Kapoor's banner Balaji Telefilms on Wednesday expressed regret over actor Kangana Ranaut's spat with a PTI journalist during a promotional event for the film "Judgementall Hai Kya".

In a statement, the banner said it would like to apologise as the "untoward incident" happened at their event on Sunday. "A lot is being reported about the debate that ensued between our film 'JudgeMentall Hai Kya' actor and journalist Justin Rao, at the film's song launch event on July 7, 2019.

Unfortunately, the event took an unpleasant turn. "While the people involved in it fairly held their own perspectives but because it happened at the event of our film, we, as the producers, would like to apologize and express regret for this untoward incident. We would like to maintain that our intention was not to disrespect or hurt anyone's sentiments," the statement read.

The production house also hoped the media will not "let this one incident hamper the team effort that has gone behind making the film". The statement comes a day after a delegation from The Entertainment Journalists' Guild of India met Kapoor and conveyed their decision to boycott Ranaut.

Members of the Guild demanded a public apology from both Kapoor and Ranaut, journalists present at Tuesday's meeting said. "We, as a guild, have collectively decided to boycott Ms Ranaut and not give her any media coverage," the delegation said in its letter to Kapoor, adding that the boycott will not affect the film or the rest of the cast.

The members said in the letter that Ranaut had lashed out at the journalist even before he could complete the question he was asking at the press conference to promote the film on the pretext that he was running a "smear campaign" against her. Ranaut had also accused Rao of writing negatively about her film "Manikarnika". The journalist denied the allegations and the actor's claim that he personally messaged her and spent three hours in her vanity van. He said he met the actor briefly for an interview and there were no personal messages.

Ranaut's sister Rangoli Chandel said on Twitter that the actor will not apologise. "I promise one thing that there will be no apology from Kangana," she tweeted and described the journalists as anti-national. "Judgementall Hai Kya", which also features Rajkummar Rao, is scheduled to be released on July 26.