(Theater allocation has been a ongoing issue as most of the theaters are owned by very few people. A senior Producer from TFI laments about the monopoly of these theater owners)

Last night during the pre-release event of Rajinikanth’s Petta, Ashok Vallabhaneni and Prasanna Kumar took a dig on industry big wigs for holding theatres which turned out to be a mafia in Telugu cinema. However the real facts are different and the frustration is not about Petta, it is about NTR. Few days back, Nandamuri Balakrishna called Prasanna Kumar and sought his support for NTR to get decent number of screens in Guntur, Krishna and Vizag after Sai Korrapati gave up.

Prasanna Kumar along with Sunil Narang (Asian Sunil) requested Dil Raju and Vamsi (UV Creations) and this did not fetch good results. Prasanna explained that NTR is a legend of Telugu cinema and they should honor and pay homage to the legendary actor by supporting the film. Despite of having a series of meetings, there were no positive signs. Veteran producer Gemini Kiran too tried to convince Raju and Vamsi but failed to get a positive nod from them. Most of the screens across AP and Telangana are locked for Vinaya Vidheya Rama and F2 which are releasing through Dil Raju and UV Creations.

This is the reason why Prasanna Kumar bursted out on Dil Raju, Allu Aravind and UV Creations for holding theatres and not letting other films get decent release. NTR, Vinaya Vidheya Rama, F2 and Petta are releasing during this Sankranthi season.

— A telugu movie Producer.