Minister for Information Technology and Panchayati Raj, K.T. Rama Rao on Monday reached out to help a struggling movie artiste Nagaiah, who is better known now as ‘Sircilla’ Ramulu with financial help of Rs. 1 lakh and a house in future for his son who is a light-man in the film industry.
Mr. Nagaiah and his family have been finding it difficult to eke out a living and live in Krishna Nagar, an area that is mostly inhabited by those working in the 24 different crafts of the film industry. He was spotted on the road by director Radhakrishna ‘Krish’ Jagarlamudi for the 2010 hit film Vedam . His role as ‘Sircilla’ Ramulu earned him critical applause and it was followed up by small roles in about half-a-dozen films. Recently, a journalist who found the septuagenarian loitering around Krishna Nagar, virtually begging people for some assistance, tweeted about the dire straits of the struggling artiste. The tweet that had ‘Sircilla’ in the content instantly connected with Mr. Rama Rao who asked his office to trace him. Incidentally, Mr. Nagaiah gets an Old Age Pension (OAP) from Andhra Pradesh.
On Monday the Minister had his staff bring the artiste to him. The old man was accompanied by Director-Culture, Government of Telangana, Mamidi Harikrishna and film director N. Shankar, of Sriramulaiah and Jayam Manadera fame. The Minister also spoke to Movie Artistes Association president Rajendra Prasad on steps to be taken to help such struggling artistes.
