At last, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has given appointment to the delegation of Telugu film industry representatives led by megastar Chiranjeevi on September 20.
A communication to this effect was conveyed by the chief minister’s office to Chiranjeevi through state minister for information and public relations Perni Venkatramaiah alias Nani on Monday. The exact time and duration of the meeting is not immediately known.
The delegation is likely to comprise another top hero Akkineni Nagarjuna and producers Dil Raju and Daggubati Suresh Babu, besides a couple of others to be chosen by Chiranjeevi.
The delegation is expected to bring to the notice of the chief minister several issues confronting the Telugu film industry during the Coronavirus pandemic and seek a solution to them.
The issues of enhancement in cinema ticket prices and running of additional benefit shows for films in the first week of their release are some of the requests to be put forth by the Tollywood delegation.
From the government side, Jagan would explain to the delegation the recent decision of his government to take over the online cinema ticket sale in the theatres.
Before that, the government would make a thorough study of the decision and its legal implications, sources said.
In the past, a delegation led by Chiranjeevi met Jagan to discuss the problems of the Tollywood, but nothing has materialised from the meeting.
This time, the meeting has to be far more serious, because it would be the big heroes who would be losing heavily if the issues of ticket pricing and additional shows were not resolved.
The meeting is also likely to discuss the incentives to be given to the film industry to expand its base to Visakhapatnam, sources added.
