Chiranjeevi and his family had earlier shied away from attending the MAA meeting, and addressing the Sri Reddy issue. One controversy led to another, with his brother Pawan Kalyan, too, being embroiled in it. After keeping mum for a long time, the megastar has now decided to take matters to his own hands. Along with his family members, on Tuesday night, the Telugu film industry actors, directors and producers held an emergency meet at Annapurna Studios. Other top actors such as Mahesh Babu, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, Nani, Rajasekhar and Manchu Lakshmi among others were in attendance.
Though everyone is tightlipped about the meet, according to a source, the main agenda was damage control. “From the last few days, there have been many controversies and issues dogging the industry and everyone is hurt about these incidents. To keep everything in order, the industry people assembled and came out with some suggestions to implement in the future,” says the source.
Venkatesh and Nani were also a part of the meeting
Though there are reports that the industry is divided into two groups, with the Mega family representing one community and the other comprising of actors of other communities, the source clarifies, “Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Ram Charan, Jr NTR, Venkatesh, Nani, Sai Dharam Tej, Varun Tej and many other actors were present, so there is no question of the industry being divided.”
Apparently, there was also a suggestion to boycott a few television channels which recently aired some negative news about a few actors. “While they all discussed about the media channels, the word ‘boycott’ didn’t come up at all,” says a source, adding, “In spite of getting plenty of advertisements, the top three channels were telecasting negative stories about the industry, so Chiru suggested to remove LLP (Limited Liability Partnership), because of which these channels would earlier get advertisement revenue from the movie industry, and everyone agreed.”
Allu Aravind
Discussions regarding providing basic amenities to women artistes, and cost-cutting, were also held. It was decided that if a woman is being mistreated on the sets, the lead actor of the movie has to intervene and immediate take action.
Interestingly, all the top producers including Allu Aravind, Gemini Kiran, Supriya, Dil Raju, D.V.V. Danayya, Ashwini Dutt, B.V.S.N. Prasad and many others were present at the meeting. Apparently, the Megastar is leaving for the US to raise funds for the Movie Artistes Association, and wanted to meet the industry folks before he left. “Once he returns, they will meet once again and officially announce their plans,” adds the source.
Meanwhile, Prabhas and Nagarjuna, who were not in town, reportedly spoke on the phone with Chiranjeevi. “The Telugu film industry is going to have spokespersons soon and only the appointed ones will speak with the media on industry issues,” reveals the source, adding, “Chiranjeevi also suggested that big films don’t need much publicity, and requested top actors to support small films to which they all agreed.”
Further, the source shares, “The Pawan Kalyan, Sri Reddy or RGV issue didn’t come up in this meet as they were all concentrating on the bigger issues, including safeguarding women, that the industry is facing.”An official announcement about the future course of action is expected before May 1.
