In a meeting with Telugu film industry heavyweights on Thursday, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy dug in his heels and stuck to his stand of no more concessions for movie screenings, refusing to hike ticket rates for new releases and telling Tollywood veterans. To stay in line and respect the law.
The Chief Minister also asked actors and the film industry to participate in the government’s anti-drug campaign in a big way, support women’s safety initiatives and promote projects like ecotourism and temple tourism instead of state aid and support. A nearly 40-member Telugu film industry delegation to meet him included top actors, directors and producers.
comes in the background of the meeting Pushpaa 2 actor Allu Arjun has a run in During the premiere of his film, a woman died.
The Chief Minister informed the delegation that actors and actresses will not do road shows at film premieres unless permission is given by the police. Actors should not insist on attending the premiere if the police feel it could lead to a law and order situation like in the Sandhya theatre, he said.
CM of Telangana with stakeholders of Telugu film industry. (Express Photo)
He said that the behavior of the bouncers will be investigated and those employed as personal security will be held accountable and responsible for their actions. Event managers should not try to outwit police by claiming that a limited number of invitations or passes have been issued when the estimated crowd is beyond capacity, he said.
The CM told the delegation, which also included Arjun’s father Allu Arvind, that neither he nor his government was retaliating against the actor or the film industry and had no intention of targeting anyone. He said he was shocked by the undue amount of criticism directed at his government and the police over the stampede.
“The police did not give permission, but we were heavily criticized and personally attacked,” he said. He also said that if the woman had not died, this matter would not have been taken so seriously. He said that there will be no compromise on the security of citizens.
Actors Akkineni Nagarjuna, Daggubati Venkatesh, Murali Mohan, Raghavendra Rao, Shyam Prasad Reddy, Daggubati Suresh Babu, Trivikram Srinivas and Boyapati Srinu were among those who met the Chief Minister at the Telangana Police Integrated Command and Control Centre. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Wickeramarka, Minister for Roads and Buildings and Cinematography Komatireddy Venkata Reddy and Director General of Police Dr Jeetendra were also present.
Telangana CM Revanth Reddy in the meeting. (Express Photo)
Telangana Movie Development Corporation president Dil Raju later said that issues like ticket rates paled in comparison to the Chief Minister’s vision of taking Telugu cinema to the global stage. “These small things like benefit shows and ticket rates do not matter. About 200 Telugu films are released every year. The Telugu film industry and the government will work together to take Telugu cinema to the global stage, this is a big responsibility given to us by the Chief Minister,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that his government would give full support and assistance to the industry. On August 24, a film delegation that included Nagarjuna at the convention center in Madhupur, which was demolished by the Hyderabad Disaster Relief and Asset Protection Agency, made several proposals, including allowing benefit programs and increasing ticket rates. Director and screenwriter K Raghavendra Rao said that like all previous governments, the Reddy government was looking after the Telugu film industry. Rao and actor M Murali Mohan said the industry was disturbed by the stampede incident. Mohan told the Chief Minister, ‘We are saddened and saddened by the death of the woman.
The Chief Minister promised to form a sub-committee of the Council of Ministers for the problems and solutions of the film industry.
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