Some of the veterans of the Telugu film industry recently called for a media conference to clear the air over the recent controversy that arose within the Movie Artiste Association (MAA). However, the conference ended on a dismal note. Minutes into the event, Thammareddy Bharadwaj spoke only two lines before announcing that the meeting had concluded. And although the media wanted to ask many questions about the controversy, no answers were forthcoming.
After much confusion, Thammareddy stated that both the Secretary and the President of MAA, Naresh and Sivaji Raja would work together in the coming days. However, no answer was given when asked how the two would work together after flinging bitter accusations against each other. As for the issue of constituting a fact finding committee to get to the answers, Thammareddy surprisingly said that they were the committee and that they found no fault whatsoever.
Interestingly, a few days ago, Naresh had openly come out with evidence showing how Sivaji Raja had blocked his number and also erased all the recordings of the meetings. Nonplussed, the members at the media conference merely said, “Both of them will sort out those problems.” Later, as confusion persisted, Suresh Babu took the mic and said that after the recent issues, they decided to form a collective body. “Though there are several associations and bodies within the film industry, we formed a Telugu film industry collective body,” he stated, adding, “So many statements are being made, that’s why we formed this new body to solve all the issues. We went into the details of the MAA issue and came to the conclusion that there are no financial irregularities.” Further, Suresh said that as per the signed agreement, '1 crore was paid to the MAA.
“There was a third party involved but MAA did not incur any losses because of it,” he said. K.L. Narayana, Gemini Kiran, Sivaji Raja and Naresh were the others in attendance.
“The elders from the industry came together to discuss the issue and they also gave a solution to go forward. This is the silver jubilee year of MAA, so we want to make it a big success,” said Naresh.
Notably, during the press conference, both Sivaji Raja and Naresh sat like enemies and didn’t talk to each other, leading everyone present to ask how they would even work together again. However, on being prodded about Naresh’s accusations against the President, the committee members cut short the Q&A session and left the meet abruptly.
Given the negative impact of this issue on the industry, it seems that everyone decided to brush it under the carpet. For the media people, however, there were more questions than answers at the end of the day.
