For the first time in Tollywood history, actors discreetly came together to discuss the problem of releasing big films one after the other.
The initiative was taken by Allu Arjun and Rana Daggubati who hosted a lunch last Sunday, at Rana’s place.
The main focus of the lunch meet was controlling release dates. The superstars as well as newcomers are not happy with the close gaps between their releases. They feel, the films are eating into each others businesses and nobody is being allowed to make big money. Another issue discussed was how to help each other out if small films got stalled due to financial problems.
According to a source, Ram Charan and Manchu Lakshmi also attended, along with 15-20 young actors including Sundeep Kishan, Naani, Nikhil, Sushanth, Tharun, Varun Tej, Sai Dharam Tej, Rakul Preet Singh and Sonal Chauhan.
Nobody posted pictures on their social networking sites from this lunch or tweeted about it.
Why the secrecy? Out of respect for the Movie Artiste Association (MAA), joked a source. “There is already an association (MAA), which is only meant for actors and their problems. So if they spoke about the meet, then what is the point of MAA? Thus, the secrecy,” says the source.
Even Manchu Lakshmi, who is vice-president of MAA, jokingly warned the actors about the meet.
The actors felt that meeting up at one of their homes for lunch is a far better option than going to MAA to find a solution to film clashes because, “Presently, MAA is concentrating on petty issues, mostly of veteran actors. They always look for publicity and do not concentrate on serious issues,” reveals a young actor present at the lunch.
To ensure this is not a one-off, plans for follow-up meetings were made too. It was decided that everyone will meet once a month with a different actor playing host. “Next time, a young actor will be hosting the lunch and some of the young actresses like Tamannaah, Samantha and others may also join,” says the source.
And to add some glamour to these lunches, it was decided that every session will have a guest of honour. Our sources say that director Mani Ratnam has agreed to come for the next meet. They are also planning to invite Deepika Padukone. “Rana has a lot of connections in Bollywood and he will invite celebrities from Mumbai to encourage our young talent,” adds the source.
The actors will also ask seniors like Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR and Prabhas to come for the meetings.
