Representatives of Tollywood met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office in Amaravati on Tuesday, to discuss the affairs of the Telugu film industry in the state, given the coronavirus pandemic.
Actors Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna, director Rajamouli, producers Daggubati Suresh, C Kalyan, Dil Raju and Prasad V Potluri were among those who attended the meeting with Jagan.
The representatives met with Jagan a day after the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana said that shooting for film and television in the state could resume with immediate effect, with COVID-19 guidelines in place.
Speaking to reporters after meeting the Andhra CM, Chiranjeevi said, "During the lockdown, shootings have stopped. Telangana has allowed us to resume shootings for TV serials and films. We made the same request here. They accepted, and the shootings will resume from June 15."
"As theatres have also been closed amid the lockdown, we have asked that the minimum power tariff that they have to pay each month, be waived off. The state government has agreed to this," he added.
Chiranjeevi said that the possibility of implementing a flexible ticket rate in the state, along the lines of Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru would help the producers and makers of films to make a profit. This was also discussed during the meeting, he said.
"The Telugu Film Industry is interested in investing in Andhra Pradesh. We are looking at Visakhapatnam as a destination, as envisioned by former CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy (Jagan's father). If the infrastructure is set up, we will see the growth of the industry in Andhra as well," he said.
The representatives also discussed the Nandi Awards for 2019-20, which are film awards given out by the state government each year. These have been pending due to the COVID-19 crisis.
One of the prominent faces of Tollywood, Nandamuri Balakrishna, was absent from the meeting. He had earlier lamented that industry representatives had neither informed nor invited him for a meeting with officials of the Telangana government. Later, he claimed that he would skip the meeting with Jagan because of his birthday celebrations.
Meanwhile, with the Telangana government granting permission for shooting, several projects which were in various stages of production, can resume their work. Some of the major Telugu films in the works include the Ram Charan and Junior NTR starrer RRR and Rana Daggubati's Virata Parvam among others.