“The decision of the A.P. government to shift the capital out of Amaravati to Visakhapatnam is a political one, and the Telugu film industry has never taken part in any political decision,” senior producer, distributor and former president of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce Daggubati Suresh Babu has said.
“The industry always stays apolitical. The film industry people normally don’t speak collectively,” he reiterated, adding that there may be individual opinions. “We don’t have the wherewithal to come out with our views,” he told The Hindu .
People associated with the industry might react if there was something related to the industry, he said. Mr. Suresh Babu’s statement assumed significance in the wake of repeated requests of the farmers protesting in the Amaravati region to support their agitation.
‘Moral responsibility’
On Saturday, members of the student JAC of the Amaravati Parirakshana Samithi and farmers led bythe CPI leaders met representatives of the chamber in Hyderabad, including its secretary and producer Damodar Prasad, Prasanna Kumar and others, and requested them to extend their support to their agitation. They claimed that almost 65% of the cinema revenue was contributed by A.P., and so it was the moral responsibility of the actors to stand by the farmers.
Mr. Damodar Prasad assured them that he would hand it over to the persons concerned. He also made a point that people from the industry might respond individually and not collectively.
T.N. example
Outside the chamber, the student leaders and farmers held placards with photographs of top heroes, and raised slogans such as “Be real heroes, support Amaravati.” Citing the example of how the Tamil film fraternity had come out in support of Jallikattu, they said that Telugu actors should learn from them. Some of them said that if the need arose, they would not hesitate to enforce a ban on screening their films in Andhra Pradesh.
The ongoing strike by the farmers entered 54th day on Sunday, and the condition of two youth, Srikar and Ravi, who had been on fast for the last 150 hours at Velagapudi, was said to be serious.
