Producer in cleft stick
Tollywood producer Dil Raju, also known as V Venkata Ramana Reddy, is facing challenges after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy criticised Allu Arjun's involvement in the Sandhya Theatre stampede during a legislative session. Additionally, Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy announced that the government would not allow pre-release events or offer incentives like ticket price hikes for films.
These developments are sure to affect the producer much more than anybody in the film industry as two big-ticket films — Game Changer, starring Ram Charan Tej and Vekatesh-starrer Sankranthiki Vastunnam — bankrolled by him are set for Sankranti release.
Dil Raju, who has been appointed chairman of the Telangana Film Development Corporation, has a lot of balancing act to do to win back the government’s favour for Tollywood. One has to wait and see whether he is going to leverage his proximity to the ruling dispensation to undo the damage. Meanwhile, after the statements of Revanth and Venkat Reddy, the film industry is maintaining a deafening silence lest it should invite further trouble.
Bringing retired babu to his knees
When the Commission of Inquiry on Kaleshwaram, headed by Justice PC Ghose, summoned a retired IAS officer to appear before it, he initially tried to ignore the same. When the Commission elaborated the powers it wields, the former bureaucrat budged from his position. During the cross examination, the Commission chairman made some sarcastic comments against the official. Ghose even commented that if he were the chief minister, he would not have selected the officer for the top post he held.
Desire for plum positions
Though it has been a year since the Congress took over the reins of the state, there have been no bureaucratic transfers in key departments, including the secretaries of Finance, Industries and Agriculture departments. A few senior IAS officers are reportedly hoping that these secretaries, who have been serving in same positions for a long time, are transferred so that they can occupy these plum posts. On several occasions in the past few months, there was talk of changes in these departments, raising hopes of these babus. Since those hopes ended in disappointment, that is till now, it remains to be seen when their wishes will be fulfilled in the near future.
Revanth’s bait to BRS MLAs
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s comment in the just-concluded winter Assembly session addressing some BRS MLAs has left many scratching their heads trying to fathom the motive behind it. In his speech in the House, he observed: “There are several MLAs in the Opposition benches who are my very good friends and they are conscience-stricken for their failure in developing their constituencies when their party (BRS) was in power.” The CM went on to advise his ‘friends’ to sit up and think. Is he trying to lure the MLAs from the Opposition into the Congress or is he truly sympathetic to their dilemma? Only Revanth Reddy knows!