Tollywood A-listers did not think it was worth their while to pay homage to popular Telugu actor and comedian Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, who died on December 7 at his residence in Dilsukhnagar.
Except for a few producers like Ramanaidu, Rajendra Prasad and Pokuri Babu Rao and actors like Ali, Uttej, Thankilla Bharani and Madala Ravi and a few small actors, no one from the industry turned up.
It can only be taken as doublespeak when industry people say that they are united and are always there for the artistes. “People knew him only as an actor. But I knew him from my childhood as he used to come to see my father, Madala Ranga Rao. Together they participated in many programmes for people in rural areas,” says Madala Ravi, actor and a close associate of Dharmavarapu.
Many might not have known the actor’s address as he lived far from the regular film fraternity, but they could have at least turned up for the condolence meeting held on Monday evening. Siva Krishna, Sivaji Raja, Brahmanandam, Sudha, Bangalore Padma, Sr Naresh and a few other small actors attended, but not a single big film personality turned up.
Film personalities, however, did not miss out Tweeting about it. But one suspects that this had less to do with paying respect and more about showing the world that they were doing so. “R.I.P Dharmavarapu garu. Great actor”, read one such Tweet,
“He spent more time with film people than his family. People of the film industry should change their attitudes, especially the big ones,” says a person who doesn’t want to be named.
