Telugu movie producer Allu Aravind said on December 9 that the Telugu film industry has always had the support of chief ministers, be it the late Chenna Reddy or incumbent Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
The producer made these remarks on day 2 of Revanth’s flagship initiative, the Telangana Rising Global Summit, held before the release of the ‘Telangana Rising 2047’ vision document. Allu’s remarks came during a panel discussion on ‘The Creative Century: India’s Soft Power and the Future of Entertainment’.
Aravind also said that the focus should be on promoting regional stories to put a spotlight on Indian cinema.
“We shouldn’t focus on making Avengers or Transformers. It won’t work. The immediate past indicates that movies like Kantara and Pushpa, both deeply rooted in regional politics, have made an impact across the country,” he said.
Film producer Daggubati Suresh spoke about how since 1976, the Congress government in Telangana (then united Andhra Pradesh) provided a push for the film industry.
“In the 70s and 80s, there was a major shift with actors and producers trying to set up base for Telugu cinema in Hyderabad and move out of Chennai and they were assisted by the government here,” he said.
Filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chaudhary spoke about how he had to shoot 500 advertising films before moving on to directing one full-fledged movie. “What filmmakers need from state governments are incentives. If there was a body that could streamline production of filmmaking and assist new filmmakers, a lot more could happen,” he said.