It has been nearly a month since Tollywood megastar Chiranjeevi had a luncheon meeting with Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at the latter’s Tadepalli residence.
After the meeting, the megastar clearly told the media persons that he had discussed the issues of Telugu film industry with Jagan, particularly on the controversy over cinema tickets pricing.
He said Jagan had assured to consider all the issues in a sympathetic manner and requested all the people in the film industry not to make any controversial statements on the issue. He also showered a lot of praise on Jagan in this regard.
However, so far, there has been no further steps from the government on the cinema ticket pricing issue. There have been reports that Jagan has already taken a favourable decision and it is only a matter of time that the issue gets resolved.
Yet, there are sceptics who still doubt whether Chiranjeevi’s meeting with Jagan to discuss the film industry issues. On Monday, Movie Artistes’ Association president Manchu Vishnu expressed the same doubt.
He said the meeting between Chiranjeevi and Jagan Mohan Reddy was purely a personal affair and had nothing to do with the Telugu film industry.
“Chiranjeevi had met Jagan in his personal capacity and not behalf of the association of film industry,” he said.
Vishnu said it was not proper for one or two people to hold talks and make it an issue.
“We have to stand united on the cinema ticket pricing issue. We shall go by the decision of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce. I don’t want to make emotional statements to divert the issue,” he said.
The MAA president pointed out While Telangana government has increased the cinema ticket prices, Andhra Pradesh government reduced them.
“We shall talk to both the state governments. In fact, it was during the YS Rajasekhar Reddy regime that there was a GO on increased ticket prices. This also has to be discussed,” he said.
There were reports that the Manchu family was not happy with Chiranjeevi going alone to meet Jagan to discuss the issue. The family reportedly expressed anger as to why the new about the meeting was kept a secret.
Vishnu’s father Mohan Babu already wrote an open letter questioning the domination of a couple of heroes, directors and producers in the film industry and their involvement in lobbying with the Jagan government.
