The Andhra Pradesh government has offered financial support of Rs 17 lakh towards the treatment of noted film critic Kathi Mahesh, who has been hospitalised after meeting with a serious car accident a few days ago. A letter from the Chief Minister’s Office to the Director of Apollo Hospital, Greams Road in Chennai, where Kathi Mahesh is undergoing treatment, said that the state government has assured an amount of Rs 17 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Kathi Mahesh, a native of Andhra’s Chittoor district, has been a vocal supporter of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the YSRCP in the past, and has spoken in Jagan’s favour in several television debates.
The accident happened late on the night of June 25 in Kodavalur mandal of Andhra’s Nellore district, when Kathi Mahesh was traveling on the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway. According to reports, the car in which Kathi Mahesh was travelling had collided with the rear end of a truck. He suffered severe head and eye injuries (subarachnoid haemorrhage with orbital leak) and multiple facial wounds, and was first admitted at Medicover Hospitals in Nellore before being moved to Chennai. Doctors had reportedly said he is out of danger and stable, and will have to undergo a craniofacial reconstruction operation, which will further allow eye surgery.
Kathi Mahesh became a well-known critic because of sharp reviews on Telugu movies. He has made regular appearances on television news channels as a panelist, and has also been a contestant on season 1 of Bigg Boss Telugu. He has also appeared in Telugu films like Hrudaya Kaleyam and Kobbari Matta. Kathi Mahesh, who belongs to a Dalit community, was even banned from entering Hyderabad by the city police for six months in 2018, over his remarks in a news channel on Ramayana’s Rama and Sita. Police accused him of causing ‘unrest’ by making ‘controversial’ remarks, and invoked the Telangana Prevention of Anti-Social and Hazardous Activities Act,1980 against him. The move was criticised by several activists for impeding free speech.
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