VIJAYAWADA: Despite New Year celebrations, fans and followers of Mega Star Chiranjeevi were found fuming here on Sunday with the district administration for keeping them in suspense on whether it would give the nod to the actor-turned-politician-turned-actor’s ‘grand pre-release’ event — in the run up to his comeback film Khaidi No. 150 — planned at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium (IGMCS) on January 4.
The film, also the 150th of Chiru, is set to hit the screens on January 11. His fans are looking forward to the pre-release function after Chiru let them down by choosing not to hold an audio release function.
The star’s fans’ associations are already making elaborate arrangements to make the event a success but as the confusion over the venue continues, some of them lost patience on Sunday and staged a protest at Gandhi Nagar, accusing the district administration of deliberately dilly-dallying and citing security concerns, traffic issues on the MG road.
According to sources, the function may be shifted to Haailand near Chinakakani or Brahmananda Reddy Stadium in Guntur if the district authorities refuse to give permission for it at the IGMCS. In such a case, the event will have to be deferred to January 7, sources said.
However, none of the members of the film unit made any official announcement in this regard so far. It is learnt that a team from the film unit is also planning to visit the K L University campus on Monday to check if it would be suitable for the mega function.
“Several film functions were conducted in the city in the last two years. But none was conducted on a large scale and people attended the events in limited numbers,” said V Srikanth, secretary, Chiranjeevi Fans’ Association, indicating that Chiru’s event would be different.
He recalled that a decade ago, Chiru’s blockbuster movie, Indra, celebrated its 175-day function in Vijayawada and the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had graced the occasion as chief guest. “This time too, the district administration should give permission without imposing restrictions,” he demanded.
However, sports associations fear that conducting the pre-release event of the film may damage the IGMCS, which is already in a bad shape. In fact, there is a High Court order that the stadium is meant only for sports and games. VMC officials refused to comment on the issue.