Soundarya Rajinikanth and Visagan lose valuables, passport in London airport

Producer and director Soundarya Rajinikanth and her husband Vishagan Vanangamudi are currently stranded in London, having lost their hand baggage containing Vishagan’s passport on September 1 at London’s Heathrow airport.

Soundarya tweeted to Emirates airline about the incident, expressing her disbelief at such a lapse at an international airport. Soundarya was also exasperated at how the matter has been handled by the airline, which reportedly said that it was unable to procure the CCTV footage of the incident.

“Our hand luggage was stolen at Emirates chauffeur lounge as we waited for your car. We immediately filed a complaint with the local Heathrow patrol. We were asked to wait to hear back from the cops via email. The next day we received an email from them that the CCTV cameras in the emirates chauffeur lounge were faulty and didn't record anything on the day of the theft. This is shocking and absolute irresponsibility from the airline and airports we trust as international passengers. We lost valuables and my husband lost his passport,” reads her tweet.

Adding that this has been a traumatic experience, Soundarya also said that the authorities should be held accountable for such incidents. “This has been a very traumatic experience. What is the safety assurance at airports…?? authorities and airlines should be accountable!!! This shouldn't have happened to us and certainly shouldn't happen to anyone else (sic)," she added.

@emirates absolutely unacceptable!!! pic.twitter.com/F3prrJcEif

— soundarya rajnikanth (@soundaryaarajni) September 5, 2019

Emirates is yet to put on an official statement about the incident.

Speaking to TNM, Riyaz K Ahmed of V4U Media and Rajinikanth’s PRO said, “We are waiting to get more details from them (Soundarya and Vishagan). Since the passport has been lost along with the bag, they are currently waiting to know what the next legal procedure is.”

The couple married in February this year and their wedding ceremony in Chennai was attended by many celebrities from the world of entertainment and politics.

Businessman Vishagan had made his acting debut in the 2018 thriller Vanjagar Ulagam. Soundarya, Rajinikanth’s younger daughter, has directed two films including the motion capture animated film Kochadaiiyaan. Written by KS Ravikumar and directed by Soundarya, it was India's first photorealistic motion capture film, featuring characters' design. Rajinikanth enacted and voiced two lead roles in the film. Prior to Kochadaiiyaan, Soundarya had produced the comedy entertainer Goa, directed by Venkat Prabhu. She is currently working on serialising the popular historical novel Ponniyin Selvan for the web format. Soundarya who is the creative director of the series, will be co-producing it under the banner May 6th Entertainment along with Mx Player. The series will be directed by Sooriyaprathap S, a history scholar who has also worked with veteran director KS Ravikumar and Soundarya earlier. The series will be streamed on MX Player.