Jolie’s bodyguards arrested

MUMBAI: The bodyguards of Hollywood couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were in the news for the wrong reasons again on Thursday after they allegedly manhandled some people during a film shoot in a school here.

Parents of children waiting to take their wards home were livid with anger that the bodyguards -- who had assaulted a British photo-journalist in Pune last month -- had attacked them and passed racial slurs against them.

The parents filed a complaint with police against the school's management and an unnamed bodyguard who allegedly attacked and abused people. They said police were initially reluctant to register a complaint but later relented.

Irfan Khan, an eyewitness who pacified the irate crowd at Anjuman-e-Islaam School in south Mumbai, said one bodyguard threatened people and called them "bloody Indians", pushed a small child and misbehaved with a woman.

The unit of the movie A Mighty Heart , which stars Jolie as the widow of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was filming at the school when the incident occurred.

Classes in the secondary section ended at 12:30 pm and students emerged to find all the gates of the school closed, Khan told reporters.

"The parents were very worried about what will happen to the children. There was such a large crowd of children that there were chances of a stampede," he said.

The bodyguards told parents not to get in the way of the filming. "He (a bodyguard) pushed a small kid, he misbehaved with a woman. He abused them as bloody Indians," said Khan.

Another parent complained the children were locked up for four hours after their classes ended just because of the film shoot.

Khan said the bodyguard said "Get out you bloody Indians" and then made a gesture by drawing his hand across his throat.

"He pushed a lady who was trying to spot her children...So parents were really very angry," he said. Khan said the matter was resolved by parents and no member of the school's management was present when the incident occurred.

Parents also raised questions as to who had permitted the film crew to shoot at the school.

The producers of A Mighty Heart , in a statement, blamed the incident on "paparazzi waiting at the gates of the school".

"We had the full permission and cooperation of the school to film on the premises. Unfortunately, our arrival was impeded by the paparazzi waiting at the gates of the school.

When the gates were opened to allow the parents in to collect their children, the paparazzi rushed the school causing confusion," said the statement from the producers