Kannada actor Rishab Shetty opened up about the stampede that recently broke out at Tamil actor-future politician Vijay’s rally for his political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur. In an interview with NDTV, Rishab spoke of ‘hero worship’ and called the death of 41 people during the stampede a ‘collective mistake’. Here’s what he said.

Rishab Shetty on stampede at Vijay’s rally

Rishab was asked to weigh in on the fan craze for heroes and the stampede that broke out at Vijay’s rally recently. In response, he said, “If we like a hero or his character, we do hero worship. How can I comment on that (the stampede)? It’s unfortunate when these accidents happen; around 40 people died there.”

The actor-filmmaker then stated that he doesn’t believe one person could be blamed for it, calling it a ‘collective mistake’. “I don’t think it could be one person’s mistake; maybe it was a collective mistake made by many. Maybe it could have been controlled. That’s why we call it an accident. It was not intentional. We should take precautions. But who will control a mob? How can I comment on that? We can easily blame the police or government; they also have a responsibility. But sometimes they will also have trouble (controlling the crowd),” he reasoned.

2025 Karur crowd stampede

On 27 September this year, Vijay visited Karur in Tamil Nadu as part of a statewide tour while campaigning for the 2026 elections. According to the state police, a crowd of nearly 30,000 people gathered at a venue with a capacity of 10,000. At least 41 people died and more than 60 were injured in a stampede that broke out that evening. Vijay has since announced a compensation of ₹20 lakh for each victim’s family and ₹2 lakh each for the injured. He spoke to those affected in the stampede via video call on Tuesday.