After meeting Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao on Friday, the Telugu film industry biggies seem to be all excited. They have every reason to be as the CM gave a green signal to the film industry to resume movie shootings from June. Soon enough, megastar Chiranjeevi, S S Rajamouli and several others took to their Twitter handle to hail the Telangana Chief Minister for permitting film shootings.
Chiranjeevi, whose film shooting for the upcoming Acharya was halted due to the complete lockdown, profusely thanked KCR. “I wholeheartedly thank Hon’ble CM #KCR garu on behalf of the Film, TV & Digital Media industries for granting a patient hearing & his kind reassurance,” he tweeted.
The massive and lucrative Telugu film industry was hit almost immediately as theaters across the state were closed and major releases were delayed and film shootings cancelled. Tollywood, as Telugu film industry is known, soon began to feel the impact of Covid-19.
Rao on Friday met a number of producers and actors from the Telugu film industry including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Rajamouli, Allu Arvind, Trivikram Srinivas, Dil Raju, Suresh Babu, Koratla Shiva, N Shankar among others. The Chief Minister had assured all possible assitance to the film industry. Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Telangana minister for cinematography Talasani Srinivasa Yadav said the Telugu film industry representatives apprised the CM of several issues related to the industry arising out of the pandemic. “The CM asked the film industry to draw out an action plan on how shooting and pre-production activities can be resumed in a limited way by adhering to social distancing and other norms,” Talasani Srinivas Yadav told mediapersons after the meeting with delegation of representatives of the film industry.
On Friday, Chiranjeevi told the CM that lakhs of workers and technicians were robbed of their livelihood due to the ongoing lockdown. “As have to live with the virus, film shootings should be allowed,” Chiranjeevi reportedly told the CM.
Serious financial ramifications were felt by studios, filmmakers and theater owners.
On his Twitter account, Chiranjeevi wrote, “The Chief Minister assured all assistance to the film industry which will come as a big relief to the thousands of daily wagers. On the behalf of the entire film industry, I thank the CM for patiently hearing the case of the film industry. He assured all possible assistance to the film industry.”
“తెలంగాణ ముఖ్యమంత్రి శ్రీ కెసిఆర్ గారికి పరిశ్రమలోని యావన్మంది తరుపున కృతఙ్ఞతలు?? ఈ రోజు వారు సినిమా, టీవీ, డిజిటల్ మీడియా కి సంబంధించిన సమస్యలు సానుకూలంగా విని, వేలాదిమంది దినసరి వేతన కార్మికులకు ఊరట కలిగేలా త్వరలో నిర్ణయం తీసుకుంటామని చెప్పారు
వినోద పరిశ్రమ పునఃప్రారంభించే విధి విధానాలు త్వరలోనే ప్రభుత్వం రూపొందించి, అందరికి మేలు కలిగేలా చూస్తుందని హామీ ఇచ్చారు. I wholeheartedly thank Hon’ble CM #KCR garu on behalf of the Film, TV & Digital Media industries for granting a patient hearing & his kind reassurance,” Chiranjeevi Tweeted.
Bahubali fame S S Rajamouli whose RRR film shooting has been put on hold due to coronavirus outbreak tweeted, “I sincerely thank Telangana CM, KCR garu for being empathetic to us as we discussed the possibility of bringing back normalcy to the sets of films. He heard us patiently and offered much-needed words of solace. He promised to bring to a resolution very soon and we may get back to do what we love the most! Thanks to Cinematography Minister Talasani garu for his kind gesture of taking this to CM garu’s notice 🙂
” Gourava C M K C R gari, spandana film industry ki chala santhoshanni ichindi. Desham, Rashtram, Abhivrudhi Amshala patla, C M gari vision andari lo chaithanyanni nimpindi,” tweeted N Shankar.
On Thursday, Tollywood’s biggies Nagarjuna, Rajamouli, Allu Aravind, Suresh Babu, and Dil Raju, assembled at Chiranjeevi’s residence in Hyderabad for a meeting with Talasani Srinivas Yadav. The film industry representatives expressed concern over the huge losses incurred by the industry after the shootings were cancelled due to corona virus outbreak.
