N Shankar comes under fire

Director Prem Raj who has made ‘Nagaram Nidrapothunna Vela’ and ‘Akasamlo Sagam’ has leveled serious allegations against his fellow Telangana filmmaker N Shankar on Saturday in Hyderabad. Stating that Shankar was never a revolutionary, he said that he headed the unions that Telangana film aspirants formed only but never addressed their concerns. He alleged that Shankar formulated plans to stop the screenings of Ram Charan-starrer ‘Thoofan’ across Telangana but since TJAC organisations were against it, he developed cold feet against Kodandaram.

“In the pretext of getting bail orders for students who agitated against ‘Thoofan’, he took Rs 3 lakh from Vijendar Reddy, VL Sridhar and Lakshman. Can he furnish those documents?,” Prem Raj questioned.

He said that Shankar never participated in the Telangana movement, but cashed on it. “He even used the likes of Kodandaram and Veda Kumar for ‘Jai Bolo Telangana’ (JBT). Wherever he shot for the film, the locals helped him. He is yet to pay for the junior artistes even after the film turned out to be a hit. He went to the extent of saying that he incurred losses due to the film,” Prem Raj claimed and added that Shankar warned exhibitors Sunil Narang, Sadanand and Venkatachari to be paid Rs 3 lakh even though his film was still in consideration from entertainment tax exemption.

He could have made a committed story on Telangana agitation rather than a love story. His idea was to tap in on the market in Andhra, Prem Raj declared by questioning the choice of actors like Jagapathi Babu and Smriti Irani in a film which is about Telangana agitation.

Admitting that he was also a part of Shankar’s wicked plans which he discovered much later, Prem Raj appealed to Telangana aspirants not to fall prey to his proposed district film federations. “He has political aspirations and he is keen to use people on the same purpose,” he said and described Shankar as a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.

When quizzed whether there are people from Seemandhra who are behind this move of him, Prem Raj denied it flatly stating and that he is fighting for the cause of film aspirants of his region. Earlier in the day, Prem Raj and his burned the effigy of Shankar.

Prem Raj, N Shankar’s colleague in the film industry, has launched a scathing attack against the ‘Jayam Manadera’ director saying that he was never a revolutionary but wanted to cash in on the Telangana agitation. “He has political aspirations and is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” added Prem Raj