Hyderabad, May 9 (IANS): In true filmi style, young Telugu film actor P. Navdeep was early Sunday arrested for drunken and rash driving after a hot chase, police said.

In a reversal of roles, the hero turned villain when he tried to give the slip to the police after spotting a police team checking vehicles for drunken driving in the posh Banjara Hills area in the early hours of the morning.

The incident took place near the Indo-American Cancer Hospital when the actor, who was coming out from a club along with his friend, saw policemen checking vehicles and tried to speed away by driving on the wrong side.

The policemen chased the vehicle and tracked it down some distance away. They arrested the actor and made him sit in an auto-rickshaw. As some cameramen tried to capture the scene, the actor behaved rudely with the police and the auto-driver, asking them to move fast. Navdeep had covered his face with the cap of a policeman.

Navdeep was taken to the Banjara Hills police station where a case was filed against him for drunken and rash driving. A medical test was conducted on the actor at Gandhi Hospital and he would be produced before a magistrate.

Talking to reporters Sunday morning, the actor admitted that he was drunk but claimed that the level of alcohol was within the permissible limits.

"Driving on the wrong side is a small thing but it became a big issue due to the presence of the deputy commissioner of police," he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Stephen Ravindra was leading the police team that was checking the vehicles.