Tollywood waiting to meet AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

There is a strong rumour that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has called representatives of the Telugu film industry for a meeting on September 20 to discuss the industry’s problems in the wake of Covid-19, though the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) says no official invitation has been received.

The buzz is that bigwigs including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and producer Suresh Babu have been invited for the meeting. TFCC Vice-President Mutyala Ramadoss says, “We haven’t received any invitation from the AP Govt officially so far,” but he adds that he is optimistic that a meeting will be scheduled soon.

Ramadoss says the TFCC had written to the AP Chief Minister a few days ago, requesting him to allow four shows of films in single-screen theatres as against the current three shows. “We have also requested the AP state government for 100 percent occupancy in theatres instead of the existing 50 percent. We are hoping that the coming festive season will pump some revenue into the industry,” he says.

Recently, the Andhra Pradesh Government had issued a notification that it plans to launch a website to make movie tickets available to filmgoers. Ramadoss welcomes the initiative but adds a note of caution — “It is still in the nascent stages; we need to look into the execution part, which is very complicated,” he says.