Rumours About Kollywood Ban on Telugu Actors Utter Rubbish: Nadigar Sangam
Popular actor Nasser and president of Nadigar Sangam, officially known as the South Indian Artistes Association, based out in Chennai, rubbished rumours about banning Telugu actors in Tamil movies. He claimed that he also heard the speech of superstar Pawan Kalyan at an event and now he wants to shut down these rumours once and for all in an exclusive chit-chat with Deccan Chronicle.
Q: Why this ban on Telugu actors in Kollywood? Pawan Kalyan also raised this topic.
A: It is nothing but utter rubbish because such a decision was never made in the Tamil film industry. Since the Tamil film industry always welcomed talent with open arms for decades starting with SV Ranga Rao garu to the latest Kota Srinivas Rao garu and also from other languages, hence these reports are just unfounded. Probably, Pawan Kalyan Garu was misinformed about the whole issue, so I wish to clarify as the president of the Tamil Actors Guild that such things will never happen in Kollywood and Telugu actors can come and work in Kollywood without any hassles.
Q: Then how come these rumours cropped up, when the actors’ guild has not made any decision?
A: We were also a bit shocked when such rumours were spreading like wildfire on social media and other outlets. Firstly, our Nadigar Sangham has no such clause of banning actors or extending non-cooperation against any actor as we encourage talent from across India. Later, we realized that it was taken out of context from a decision made by the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI). The cine workers union had some issues with a company in Hyderabad over sharing daily wage workers in appropriate ratio while working in Tamil movies. Just an issue of daily wage workers was twisted and blown out of proportion. Even the president of FEFSI, Mr Selvamani, has also issued a clarification and shut down this rumour.
Q: Don’t you think restricting actors from other languages could dent Tamil films?
A: It will affect drastically because new-age cinema has changed after “Baahubali’ and now its reach has hit the skies. With most of the films being made pan-India, actors from Bollywood, Malayalam and Kannada industries have to join hands and work together to take cinema to the global stage. Already, breaching regional and language barriers, regional cinema has touched new highs and gone great guns, so opening up more for technicians and actors is the need of the hour.
Q: You are a sought-after-multilingual actor and won appreciation for your riveting performances in Telugu films like “Pokiri,’ “Badshah’ and ‘Baahuabali’?
A: I felt bad when I heard these silly rumours since an actor has to expand his horizons and showcase his skills in various language movies to reach out to maximum viewers. An actor from a particular language turns multilingual to explore different kinds of roles and portray characters that depict varied shades in him. With cinema turning global, I wish more multilingual actors will have a good time in the days to come.
