VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed for a while near Kaleswara Rao Market here on Monday when police denied permission to actor Jagapathi Babu to take out a padayatra citing law and order problem. The actor was mistaken to be taking part in ‘Chalo Assembly’, called by the Left Parties to demand Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh.
The versatile actor took out a similar padayatra at R K Beach, Visakhapatnam on Sunday where he did not reveal the purpose for his walkathon. Upon receiving information about Jagapathi Babu’s visit, several followers of the actor thronged Kaleswara Rao Market and raised slogans supporting the actor.
At one point, police prevented the actor from participating in the padayatra and deployed special forces near Vastralatha complex, One Town. The confusion escalated further as even close aides of the actor were unaware about the purpose of his walkathon.
However, in due course, police granted conditional permission to the actor’s walkathon. Clad in a white shirt and dhoti, Jagapathi Babu walked silently through the streets of One Town and Kothapet area and later interacted with the people.
Speaking to the media persons, Jagapathi Babu said that his padayatra is aimed at supporting low budget films in Telugu Film industry and nowhere related to the demand for Special Category Status for AP or to protest against the controversy surrounding Nandi Awards. “It may take at least 15 years for the Telugu film industry to shift to Amaravati from Hyderabad. I dont know what late film director Dasari Narayana Rao spoke about the survival of low budget films in the industry. Nowadays, several young directors have made films with a low budget which has earned laurels and won National Awards,’’ he said.
The actor also said that because of the preference for big-budget films, distributors are not willing to screen low budget films. The issue can be resolved only if all the producers and distributors join their hands to protect low budget films from dying down. He added that the future course of action will be revealed in Hyderabad in a similar walkathon.