Awards panel leaves TS filmmakers livid

Hyderabad: The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government constituting a committee under K V Ramanachary, advisor to the government, does not seem to have gone down well with majority of Telangana filmmakers since it comprises of some Andhra-born members who do not know the distinct traditional and cultural values of Telangana cinema.

• Majority of Telangana filmmakers are disappointed with the newly-formed film awards committee as it comprises some Andhra-born members
• Telangana cinema boasts of national award-winning filmmakers like B Narsing Rao, B S Narayana and Allani Sridhar

“It’s like having a few AP Ministers in KCR’s Cabinet and asking them to decide the fate of Telangana people,” rues an art director, on condition of anonymity. After being misled by Andhra-born filmmakers that there is no separate Telangana cinema for almost 18 months, pragmatic K T Rama Rao who heads the sub-committee acknowledged that Telangana cinema had its own identity and assured to protect their interests in a meeting with filmmakers.

“We had big hopes on the TRS government and felt that they would safeguard the identity of Telangana cinema in the new State since it was crushed by previous governments in undivided AP. But this awards committee with some Andhra-born members has shattered our dreams and hopes,” laments producer Sangisetty Dasarath, who claims that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao himself told them that he was aware of ‘some big Andhra-born filmmakers’ who were exploiting sons of the soil.

In fact, for awards, Telangana cinema stands a bigger chance than mainstream crass Telugu blockbusters. “In terms of awards, films with good values and messages will have an edge, so commercial Telugu films have no chance. Whereas, Telangana filmmakers stand tall in comparison as we can boast of filmmakers like B Narsing Rao, B S Narayana and Allani Sridhar who bagged national and State awards and brought pride to our State.

So Telangana cinema should be honoured separately without mixing up with Telugu films. We have nothing against Telugu filmmakers but we want Telangana cinema to rise and survive on its own with the support of the TRS government, like Marathi or Kannada cinema,” says writer-director Prem Raj whose film ‘Akasamlo Sagam’ is in the race for awards.

Not only competing in awards, Andhra-born bigwigs hold control over theatres and not giving theatres to Telangana films, which is unfortunate. “Then why we fought for a new State, if Andhraites continue to decide the fate of our films? We plead to the government to take over the 450-odd theatres in Telangana and make it a level-playing field for all filmmakers. Just like the Chinese government that runs more than 25,000 theatres and gives priority to Chinese films over other foreign language movies, we want similar kind of situation in Telangana and Chandrashekar Rao only can do it,” adds Dasarath.