Cabinet Sub-Committee will be constituted to resolve the problems of the film industry

metro india news  I hyderabad

It seems as a classic case of ‘much ado about nothing’ as far as the recent discord between the Congress government and the Telugu Film Industry goes.

In a key meeting held on Thursday between the Telangana Government and the Telugu film industry, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddyunderscored his government’s proactive support for the film industry, highlighting that eight Government Orders (G.O.s) had been issued in the past year to facilitate filmmaking, including permissions for Pushpa-2 to shoot at police grounds.

“No issues arose until the unfortunate stampede incident,” CM Reddy stated, adding that he had known prominent actors Allu Arjun and Ram Charan since their childhood and bore no personal grievances against them.

Addressing the aftermath of the stampede, the Chief Minister expressed disappointment that the filmmakers did not reach out to the affected family to address the situation. “Only after waiting for 11 days without any initiative from the filmmakers did the government step in.

Once a stampede leads to a death, an FIR is automatically registered, and the law takes its own course. No one in the government can intervene in this legal process,” sources quoted CM Reddy as saying.

“It is my responsibility to enforce the laws. I do not have any personal preferences. The film industry should remember its social responsibility and join the efforts to check drugs and other societal problems” CM said.

The Chief Minister said the film industry should take the responsibility of educating people and create awareness on social issues, including Drugs and Ganja menace. CM reminded that the previous Congress governments had done a lot for the development of the film industry and reiterated that the current government would continue the legacy.

Benefit shows and ticket hike is a small part: DilRaju

Later speaking to the media, Film Development Corporation (FDC) Chairman DilRaju said that the meeting resolved to take Hyderabad and Telugu Film Industry to greater heights. 

"The view of the CM is that the film industry should give suggestions to the government to see that, not just Indian films but Hollywood films are also shot in Hyderabad. Besides Telugu movies, shooting of movies of other languages, including Hindi, Tamil and Kannada, are already happening in the city.

CM wants to create an ecosystem so that even Hollywood film shoots happen here in Hyderabad," DilRaju said.

When asked about the government's stance on allowing benefit shows and hiking ticket prices on special occasions, DilRaju said they are only a "small part" of the issue and that the bigger vision is how to take Telugu cinema to the international level and to make Hyderabad city an "international hub".

It may be recalled that Cinematography minister KomatireddiVenkat Reddy recently said the state government, in future, will not give permission for benefit shows and may consider ticket price hike only for certain categories such as films made on social causes, history of Telangana, freedom struggle etc.

The minister’s statement, if implemented, will have a considerable impact on the high budget films such as Ram Charan's "Game Changer", NandamuriBalakrishna's "DaakuMaharaj" and Venkatesh's "SankranthiVasthunnam" which are slated for release during Sankranti in three weeks from now.