Telangana activists organised protests on Friday in front of cinemas screening the latest Telugu blockbuster Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu at different places in the Telangana region, alleging that it had dialogues allegedly belittling the pro-Telangana movement.
Members of the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) raided Aradhana Theatre adjacent to the Osmania University campus and took away film reels. These reels were later burnt in front of Arts College.
Activists of other Telangana groups ransacked the office of the film’s director Puri Jagannath in Banjara Hills and damaged a couple of cars parked in front of it. As the news spread protests also spread to various parts of the region. Screening of the film was obstructed in Warangal and other districts headquarters of the region.
The film, released on Thursday, has Pawan Kalyan in the lead.
TSJAC spokesperson, Krishank alleged that the dialogues, written by Mr. Jagannath, mocked the Telangana movement. “It reflects the attitude of filmmakers from Coastal Andhra region on Telangana movement and its culture,” he said.
The sudden outburst against the movie forced the director to call a press conference and assure that “objectionable dialogues and scenes” would be removed from the film. He said a special screening would be held for Telangana leaders and on their suggestion objectionable dialogues would be removed. The film’s distributor and noted producer Dil Raju, who is from the region, said that he had spoken to Telangana JAC chairman, Kodandaram and leaders from various political parties and assured them of removing any “objectionable” content.
Interestingly, even the Telugu Desam Party took strong objection to the film’s content arguing that the TDP chief, N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son Lokesh were targeted. The TDP cadre also burnt the flex boards of film’s hero Mr. Kalyan, younger brother of Congress leader and mega star Chiranjeevi.
