"Making people laugh is the toughest task"

His name has become synonymous with success.Tollywood's hit machine who makes more movies than any other star, Ravi Teja is on a high.Of all the releases this Sankranti, Raviteja's 'Mirapakayi' is doing exceptionally well at the box office.Despite competition from an A-lister hero Balakrishna's Paramaveera Chakra and socio fantasy film Anaganaga Oo Dheerudu, Mirapakayi emerged box office winner.A confident Raviteja says he released it because he was sure it will work this season.


" I am happy it is doing very well.Audience will watch the film if it is good no matter how many release at the same time.In my career, there were four releases for Sankranti festival and this is one of the most successful of them.I never planned conciously to release my film for Sankranti but it is just coincidence. I am overwhelmed with the response" he says with a glint in his eyes.


Overtly shy, Raviteja who entered the film industry with no godfather, today is one of the highly paid stars who is branded as 'minimum guarentee' by the producers. Popular perception is his movies either do exceptionally well or get the money back.Given his 'Akshay Kumar' histrionics blended with slapstick comedy body language, he was recently conferred the ephithet 'Mass Maharaja'. Is he happy with such titles?

"I don't believe in taglines and titles. I don't like them. But my directors and producers call me so.People watch some movie and then compare me with Akshay Kumar or someother actor. I don't believe in number games. Such comparisons keep popping up in media and distribution circles but I don't take them seriously. I would like to be called just Raviteja and nothing else" says the actor who is now giving established A-lister stars a run for their money.

Raviteja's films are a type with trademark comedy.The actor admits that his comedy timing draws crowds and that 'entertainment' is his first priority.

"I like people to laugh and enjoy when they come to watch me in theatres. There is so much drama and pain in everyone's lives. I don't like to replay them in my movies. My films are for those who want to forget their troubles and relax for two and a half hours. Entertainment is my priority.I don't like tragic films and so I believe in making people laugh watching my films" he claims.


This star is one of the few actors in Tollywood who has an image. Though he has done a few thought provoking films like 'Shambho Siva Shambo' and 'Naa Autograph Sweet Memories' in between, offlate he is typecast as an action and comedy hero.The hero opines that though he likes to do scripts that merit critical acclaim, it is not commercially viable.

"I would like to do movies that can win critical acclaim but audience won't watch. People want entertainment.If we make 'different' cinema, the results also will be different.Going by the history, such films didn't do well at the box office.Audience who watch such critically acclaimed movies are very few and we can't keep making films only keeping them in mind.Only musical entertainers with some action have gone on to become hits.Serious films get awards but not money" he says.


"The trick is to try and blend both.For instance in my film 'Vikramarkudu', I play a serious charecter and a comic one and both compliment each other.However, not every script can accomodate both serious and comic charecters.It is rare."Ravi adds.


His comedy timing is earning rave reviews and his movies don't need too many comedians as he makes up for all of them.Ravi reveals that he watches the films of superstars Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda for inspiration.Ravi defends his 'comic' action and declares that making people laugh is one of the toughest thing.

"I observe people outside and their expressioTns.Most of my emotions are picked up from observing people in real life. Besides, I am an avid follower of Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Rajinikanth,Chiranjeevi and Mohanlal. All of them are masters in blending comedy with action.Their comedy timing is splendid and are absolute entertainers.These five are commercial mass actors and are popular because they did 'entertaining' films.Making people laugh is one of the toughest things because the timing is very important." he says.


Hit or flop, he has always been consistent in doing films. He does over three films an year and currently he has 'Veera' a film directed by Ramesh Varma and another untitled film in kitty.Despite his superstar status, Ravi maintains very low profile outside cinema world.He is never seen in social dos or partying with the city's who's who.

"I love to keep a low profile in my personal life. I eat, breathe and live cinema. I don't know anything beyond showbusiness.This is my favourite world and I would like to confine myself to it"


"I don't have future plans and ambitions in life.I love to work round the year. I don't have a fixed rule that I should do these many movies an year. I would like to remain an actor and keep working in cinema until I die" he ends in a typical filmi style.

(Published in Times of India on 18-01-2011)

Taapsee rejects Amitabh's film offer!

Taapsee who is now on a high with two films ready to release in Telugu and a couple in Tamil is on a rejection spree. Sources confirm that this Punjabi girl from Delhi was approached by Puri Jagannath for his upcoming film starring Amitabh Bachchan in Hindi.The movie is titled 'Budda'.

Deeksha Seth and Taapsee were to play roles in this film but Taapsee is believed to have rejected it. The reason-she is not going to act with Amitabh but will be paired next to Sonu Sood.

"She is busy and her dates are crammed now.She will do a film in Hindi only if it is a great script and a seasoned director.In this film, her role is next to Sonu Sood and her rejection has got nothing to do with Amitabh Bachchan" a close aide of the actress informed.

Pawan Kalyan in 'Dabangg' remake

Powerstar Pawan Kalyan is all set to redo what Salman Khan did last year in Dabanngg. Sources from Tollywood confirm the news that Pawan will do the remake of Dabangg in Telugu.Whats more, he is all set to produce this film on house Pawan Kalyan creative works. The project has been titled 'Gabbar Singh'.Director Harish Shankar who directed 'Mirapakayi' with Ravi Teja this Sankranti, will direct this project.

A little birdie tells us that Pawan Kalyan was supposed to do 'Mirapakayi' earlier but it went to Raviteja at the end.The heroine of this film is yet to be finalised. We hear that 'Gabbar Singh' will be shot and released this year itself.

Pawan Kalyan is currently doing three films. One with Jayant Paranjipe which is 'Love Aaj Kal' remake, the other on Jesus Christ and an untitled film. At this rate, Pawan is all set to have four releases in 2011.

(Published in Times of India on 23-1-2011)

Sundeep Kishan-Best Debutant of the year

In Tollywood where movies of three fights and six songs are a standard staple for cinema, 'Prasthanam' directed by Deva Katta came as a surprise to many who gave up hopes.The movie had intense performances, strong dialogues, sensible story line and applause worthy cinematography and more than anything else, the film had Sundeep Kishan.This 23 year old with a mammoth love for cinema is the most critically acclaimed actor this year.Basking in the glory of appreciation for his whistle drawing performance, Sundeep admits that he did the role as he liked it immensely and spontaneity did the wonders on screen.

"Method acting doesn't work for every charecter.For my charecter 'Chinna' in Prasthanam, I had to be unpredictable and spontaneous.I used to reharse my dialogues just minutes before the shot. My body language for that charecter had to be A surprise for the audience and so I conciously didn't follow any method for the performance in it. While shooting for it, I used to talk very little and was in my own world.This process made Chinna an unpredictable charecter on screen that worked" says the actor.Incidentally, Prasthanam was the only Telugu movie that got selected for Indian panorama in Goa film festival this year.

Nephew of ace cinematographers Chota K Naidu and Shyam K Naidu, Sundeep consisders compliments from his family and film maker Krishna Vamsi the best ones for his acting in the movie.

"Krishnavamsi is my favourite director and I admire him a lot . After watching the movie, he walked up to me and abused me with foul words saying how I could deliver such stupendous performance in my first movie. I guess that is the best thing one has ever said to me in appreciation of my work." he reveals.


An MBA from Loyola college in Chennai, Sundeep grew up loving cinema and worked as assistant director to film maker Gautam Menon for the movie Surya S/ Krishnan. This year, his yet another release 'Snehageetam' did decent business in the state cementing his position in Tollywood. Sundeep is now looking forward to the release of his first Hindi movie 'Shor', a Balaji Telefilms production, in which he shares screen space with Tushar Kapoor and Senthil Ramamoorthy. 'Shor' too got rave reviews in all the international film festivals.He says while he loves to do Telugu movies, he saw a great oppurtunity in 'Shor' that made him sign the film.

"Shor is an international film the country will be proud of. Mine is a realistic role in the film and with a strong performance oriented charecter.I thought Shor was a great oppurtunity for debutant like me and I grabbed it. The director of the film Krishna whose earlier movie 99 was my all time favourite . When he wanted to cast me, I went ahead without second thought" Kishan says.

Sundeep is a part of critically acclaimed cinema. Will we ever get to see him in a gravity defying fight sequence and a movie with illogical SUV flying scenes?

"I am not making films for the critics or the audience.No one knows what kind of movies appeal to critics and audience.I can only be a part of a film I believe in. I am not here for money but for satisifaction. I want audience to get value for money when they watch my movies.I want to have a filmography with movies I can be proud of. I don't see anything wrong in movies with gravity defying fights as long as it is value for money to audience. I enjoying movies with fights and songs.'Robot' too had logic defying stunts but audience loved it.I will do any genre if I am confident it will be 'paisa vasool 'for movie goers"

However, Prasthanam wasn't a commercial blockbuster at the box office. Does he think Telugu audience ready to watch parallel cinema?

"For a film not to do good, there are so many factors. Telugu audience adored films like 'Sinduram' and 'Anthapuram'. If a film is good, it works and the movie's success depends on lot of circumstances. For all you know the taste of the audience might change by the tiime you finish your movie. For instance, Prasthanam had four songs. But after the morning show, audience wanted us to remove those songs immediately.Commercial cnema is something that works at the box office. There is nothing called parallel cinema genre, because all movies are made to work at the box office. Audience love to watch good cinema anyday" he quips.

Sources say, Sundeep is waiting for the response to' Shor ' to make his next move in Tollywood and is also in talks with Tamil film makersAn ardent cinema lover, this three movie old star reveals that his life time ambition is to make his name synonymous to good cinema and worth applauding acting.

"I am ambitious and want to do lot of films. I want audience to believe in me for my films. I want to do movies that make people trust me.I want to be a reason for them to come to theatres. I would consider that my life time achievement if they associate me with sensible entertainment." he says on a parting note.

(Published in The New Indian Express on 20 Dec, 2010)

"I don't care who my co-star is"

After 'Anand' and 'Godavari' became blockbusters, everyone thought she will be the next big thing in the industry.Her sky rocketing career didn't take off at the pace her fans thought it would.With no regrets of where she is today, Kamilini Mukherjee is back with whistle worthy performance in the latest release 'Nagavalli'.She plays a mentally disturbed girl and looks a million bucks after she lost weight. She clarifies that she didn't lose weight because she wanted to and not becuase any role demanded her to.

"It was just a wake up call and I realised I was chilling and need to be more fit. So I started working out. It is purely coincidental that my slimmer look worked for my charecter in Nagavalli where I play a mentally disturbed girl who is kept indoors for two years. Also when I started shooting for Nagavalli, I fell ill which actually worked wonders for the role." she explains.

This Bengali bombshell rubbishes the rumours that she was not happy with the length of her role in 'Nagavalli'. She says that her screen time in this movie is more than the same charecter in Kannada version.

"I am happy with the time I got to be on screen in 'Nagavalli'.Infact the director and the team worked on my charecter and added a song to it which wasn't the case with in its Kannada version. I have done such short length roles in 'Happydays' et al. The duration of my role never bothered me as long as I got to perform and my presence has relevance to the story"




The actress was last seen in ' Maa Annaya Bangaram' starring with Rajasekhar. While most of her contemperaries who are far less critically acclaimed chose to work with A-league stars, why does she work with a star from any league?

"For me, script, my role and the director I am working with matters and not the co-star.I know that most starlets work in projects with hardly any role just because a big hero is acting it.That is a conventional way of working. But I don't measure my career graph on the basis of how big the hero I worked with. I see if I am growing as an actor and the kind of roles I have played than whom I am seen on screen with. For me acting with Sharwanand or Venkatesh next to me is all the same. I would like to work with any actor as long as my role is challenging and different from the ones I did before" Mukherjee says.

For long she played Miss good two shoes and was seen drapped in saree, running around trees. Her last few movies like 'Maa Annaya Bangaram' and
'Bramhanandam drama company' in Telugu went unnoticed. She says she doesn't regret doing films because she didn't want to be typecast.

"In Maa Annaya Bangaram, I played the role of a timid spineless girl, something I haven't done before.I am always in look out for roles I haven't played before. I was being typecast and so I am glad I decided to come out of it and something unconventional.Otherwise it would have been boring for me and the audience too.The day acting bores me, I would venture into a new branch of cinema perhaps.If I stick to the same image comfortable in that zone, I would n't have viewed myself with a compliment." says the actress who keeps shuttling between Hyderabad and Mumbai.

She candidly admits that her staying in Mumbai might get her lesser offers from Tollywood but that she believes in her work speaking for itself than PR around being in Hyderabad.


"I am very recluse and maintain a low profile.I am perpetually hiding. I always promote my films pre and post release but I am not someone who will be conciously seen at events to build my PR. Even when I am in Hyderabad, I would finish my shoots and do things that have nothing to do with cinema. I know that by being in Hyderabad and attend events, be seen and get clicked, I might get more offers. But I would like to stay in Mumbai because it gives me that personal space. I let my work speak for itself" says the actress who is doing a film with Venu and has two more Telugu films in her kitty which will go on floors in the next two months.She is also looking forward to doing her first 'Bong' movie which was to start shooting long ago.

Despite her goody two shoes image, she had her share of controversy too. She was potrayed nude in national award winning Malayalam film Kutty Shranku. Though she clarified that it wasn't she but a body double, the number of hits on you tube to get a glimpse of her is only on the rise. Did this controversy bother her?

"I am not a net savy person and so I didn't pay attention to it initially. But my mom told me that it is doing the rounds on youtube now. It is an award winning cinema and I did a decent job but people are making an issue out of that 100 seconds visual.People are ignoring the value of that movie by cringing about that scene.The episode made me angry.When I wore a saree, a few said she only wears saree and can't carry off western attire. When I wore modern outfits they said something else. People will forget all this soon and only a great movie called 'Kutty Shranku' will be remembered" she says confidently.

(Published in The New Indian Express on 22 Dec, 2010)

10 Chartbusters of T'wood-2010

1) Inumulo Hridayam ( Robot)

Like Rajni, like song. AP got hypnotised to this track which released a month in advance to the movie.Lyrics penned by Suddhala Ashok Teja and sung by Suzzane, Kash n' Krissy, A R Rahman's ' Inumulo Hridayam' was a classy number that is still numero one in the charts.The song is a must play in all radio stations after audience watched stylish Rajnikanth wear silver and gold coloured suits depicting Robot and splendid Aishwarya potrayed as Robot woman who set the screen ablaze in this number. 'Khilimanjaro' and 'Neelo Valapu' from this movie were also notable musical hits this year.



2) Ee Hridayam( Yem Maya Chesave )

The movie wouldn't have been as big a hit it was, without this track.The song was in air every five minutes. It was in malls, radio stations, theatres, TV and hotels.Vijay Prakash and Suzzane sang this western classical number composed by A R Rahman.It was shot on Nagachaitanya and Samanta in exotic locales of New york and other parts of US. The song left an indelible impression on young audience who flocked the theatres to watch it.The tunes with the chorus in a new format, English lyrics mocktailed with visuals of a saree clad Samanta and blazer garbed Nagachaitanya was an experience to experience.


3) Bangaru Konda(Simha):

This track was the soul of Tollywood's Dabbangg, 'Simha' that gave new life to flickering career of Balakrishna. Composed by Chakri and shot on Nayanatara and Balakrishna, Bangaru Konda is one of the biggest hits this year.Sung by Hariharan and Kausalya, this title song was played where ever Balayya went.Filled with conventional instruments like drums and choreographed well this harmonious and prayer like song proved a great asset to the movie. Other tracks like 'Simhamanti Chinnode'. and 'Janaki Janaki' too complimented this song making this album a chartbuster in 2010.


4 )Aunana Kaadana..( Leader):

Shekhar Kammula, the director of this movie has given the musical helm to his find Mickey J Meyer once more and to Mickey's credit, he hasn't sullied the faith shown in him. This slow song picked up fast and helped create buzz around the movie.Kudos to singers Naresh Iyer and Shweta Pandit whose voice suits the romantic flavour of this track made audience excuse the minor glitches in the movie.This song was one of the most melodious numbers in 2010 that was pleasant hearing.

5)Inka Eedo( Darling)

G V Prakash Kumar, nephew of A R Rahman who gave music to this movie set a standard for melody tunes with this track. Super sweet melody that rejuvinates our ears,' Inka Eedo 'is the best thing about this film with a tune hard to forget. Shot on Prabhas and Kajal, the visual spectacle created by the movie maker by choregoraphing it in jaw dropping locales in Europe and potraying the actors infront of visual effects soaked Charminar and Buddha statue in Hussain sagar lake that is wet with snow, audience were mesmerised and it will take a long time to forget this super melody.


6)Chiru Chiru Chiru Chinukai(Awara):

Music maestro Ilayaraja's son Yuvan Shankar Raja proved that music is in his DNA through this song. The song made this Tamil to Telugu dubbed movie a hit and earned its star Karthi huge fan base in the state.Yuvan maintained a fine balance between melody and jhatka beats that caught the listeners interest.The orchestration was truely gimmicky and no other singer could have carried it off other like Haricharan did.The zest with which he sang the song reflects in its energy and it remained chartbuster all through the year.




7)Where is the Pancha Kattu?( Adurs):

This track 'Chary' for which Junior NTR turned singer worked wonders and how.The lyrics that wittily teased 'Chary' and his Shikha hair style and dhoti were new and catchy.Rita who sang with NTR pepped up this number with her husky voice.The song worked also as it was picturised on NTR himself. It doesn't have an overdose of orchestra and makes for a pleasant hearing. The music director Devi Sri Prasad realised the importance of lyrics in this song and didn't bombard it with too much noise making it one of the most heard songs in 2010. Chandrakala.. sang by Haricharan was another impressive number from this album.






8)Naa hridayam (Yamudu)

Dubbed version of Tamil blockbuster 'Singham', 'Yamudu' did decent business in the state. 'Naa Hridayam' sang by Suchitra Karthik Kumar brought some succor to one's ears.Music director Devi Sri Prasad proved his forte in giving music that lasts for years.This song had simple chorus,soothing instruments that can take you into another world. The lines in the song have ' Naa Hrudayam' in a few lines sung by chorus that makes the listener remember the words and stores the song in his memory for a while.It was a visual treat too to see bikni clad Anushka dance to this song with hunk Suriya. Naa Hrudayam created a record of the sorts by being played the highest number of times by radio stations in the city.



9) Amma Talle Noru Muyave( Puli)

Poor script, pathetic performance by stars and lousy screenplay of Puli didn't stop people from listening to 'Amma Thalle'. A R Rahman's music for Pawan Kalyan movie though didn't seem to impress audience here initially grew on them slowly.Lyricist Chandrabose took three months to write the songs and it paid off. Superfast utterances of tongue twisting lyrics by Shweta Mohan for A R Rahman's music made this song a new experience for Telugu audience. The audience adopted the song and ditched the movie.


10)Sydney Nagaram ( Orange):

The beauty of Australian city Sydney got multiplied with this song. Composed by ace music director Harris Jayaraj with the voices of Karunya and Ranina Reddy, this track was the most in demand this year.This romantic track made the audience go jiggy. With not too many instrumental interludes, Harris kept it simple and let the voice of Karunya work wonders. His voice echoed the feeling of love and joy in this track.As the lyrics of this song went ' This is the time to fall in love...oh my love...welcome to my heart..fall in love.. fall in love, the audience truely fell in love.

(Published in Times of India on 29-12-2010)

10 Important incidents of Tollywood in 2010

10 Important incidents of Tollywood in 2010:

Telangana agitation, stalling movie screenings, attacks on film shoots:

Telangana agitation that spilled over to the first half of this year had an impact on movies like 'Adurs' that released in January this year. Shooting sets of Mahesh Babu's 'Khaleja' were burnt, slogans were raised at ' Brindavanam' shoot of NTR, shoots of a few films abrupted across the region. The release of NTR's 'Adurs' was in dilema owing to the producer's support to anti Telangana agitation.A few film makers accused agitators of blackmailing them for money and a few others silently 'discussed' the matter with the agitators.

Navdeep goes to jail:

All party and no work made Navdeep a bad boy. Drunk at a party in a night club on 9th May, the actor drove his car in the wrong direction and abused cops who tried to stop him in a filmi style. IPS officer Stephen Ravindra arrested the actor after chasing him and sent him to police station late in the night and that too in an auto. Eeeeks!! Whats more, TV media covered it live. Navdeep whose hangover died the next morning realised the blunder and apologised but it was too late. The actor was in the news for wrong reasons yet again when he and his friends went boating in Nagarjuna Sagar and were alleged of boating in the river bed without permission.

Small Vs Big films:

T-town's favourite dispute topic-big movie makers acting like mafia, continued to hog news print this year too.Small budget film makers accused the President of Telugu film producers' council , Shyam Prasad Reddy of being biased towards big shots like Allu Aravind and Suresh babu and carried an aggresive SMS and email campaiign against him, forcing him to resign. A blog campaign against Sureshbabu and Allu Aravind accusing them of killing cinema, by holding hundreds of theatres in their hands sustained a cold war environ in Filmnagar.

Veturi Sundara Rama Murthy Died:

One of the legendry writers , Veturi ,who could write on any genre and emotion and considered one of the biggest assets of Telugu cinema passed away in May this year. His death is the biggest loss to the creative quotient of Telugu cinema.He penned songs for hundreds of movies that went on to become the blockbusters. He had a great art for writing lyrics for dubbing songs for the original tunes of the song.

Fight for titles:

As if titles matter in the success, of our films, Telugu film makers spent more time this year in fighting for titles than use their creativity in making watchable movies.First it was amatuer film maker Vijayabhaskar Reddy who filed a case against Mahesh Babu's movie Khaleja for using the title he had already registered. However, the court allowed Mahesh to use the title Khaleja prefixing 'Mahesh' to it. Another film maker Gunasekhar accused actor Nandamuri Kalyanram of encroaching his title 'Kathi' for his movie through series of press conferences. T-activists also hogged limelight demanding Pawan Kalyan to remove 'Komaram' from his movie title 'Komaram Puli'.Title war this year offered better entertainment than the films this time, must say.

Drug arrests:

This is the biggest of all controversies that shattered the image of Tollywood.City cops nabbed actor Ravi Teja's brothers Bharath and Raghu, red handed while purchasing cocaine from a Ugandan on August 20 in Banjara Hills .In the next two days, cops leaked a few names of star party animals whose contact details were reportedly found in that Ugandan's phone.Stars were seen barging into TV stations to give explanations, rushing with rejoinders and 'ready for blood test' slogans for the next few days until the issue mysteriously subsided.Cops have been repeating what has now become the most popular TRP getter for channels, with their once every month statement' we are investigating the involvement of actors in the drug case'. !!

Big movies, bigger flops:

Fans waited three years for Mahesh Babu to do 'Khaleja' and two years for Pawan Kalyan's 'Puli'. The movies released and left the producers in tears and fans distressed.The screenplay and story line in 'Khaleja' made the movie a flop and Puli was awful. Multiplexes saw people returning their tickets of these movies or reselling them to less informed souls. And films like 'Marocharitra' starring Varun Sandesh made audience scream and rush out of theatres as if they were escaping from a haunted house.Ditto with Ramcharan's 'Orange' too didn't meet expectations.Big movies made the the industry bleed a loss of Rs 100 crore this year.

Nandi awards controversy:

When 65 something year old director turned actor turned MP, Dasari Narayana Rao was declared the state government Nandi award best actor this year for his performance in 'Mestri', everyone in Tollywood jaw dropped. Ramcharan Tej was expected to bag the award for 'Magadheera'.Street talk was Dasari influenced the Nandi jury to name him the best actor. Fuelling the controversy, Chiranjeevi in his speech at a filmi do said his son doesn't crave for awards. Ouch!!The war of words from both the sides proved a popular perception that Nandi awards like every other awards are about influence and not talent.

Ramanaidu wins Dadasaheb Phalke:

A stalwart in Indian cinema production, Daggubati Ramanaidu won the Dadasaheb Phalke award this year for his contribution to Indian cinema. Before him, Nagireddy, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, LV Prasad et al won the award in Telugu.Naidu produced about 130 films in about a dozen languages and continues to produce films even today. His award was celebrated by Tollywood.

Nagababu raises budget issues:

Chiranjeevi's brother Nagababu dropped bomb shells and almost wept at an audio launch. We are sure anyone who loses Rs 6.5 cr on a movie, thanks to terrible direction and heroine tantrums will do the same.'Orange' starring Ramcharan Tej and Genelia bombed badly at box office making its producer Nagababu spit fire on the director Bhaskar for taking an year to make an unwatchable and complicated movie.Nagababu accused Genny of blackmailing him of walking out of the movie if Rs 10 lakh was not paid in excess to her remuneration. His outbursts sparked off a debate in Tollywood on minimising movie budgets.

T'wood strike against piracy:

Telugu film industry came together in unity to support film producer Yalamanchili Ravi Chand who sat in for a surprise hunger strike on March 17, demanding the government to bring in stricter law against video piracy. Tollywood unanimously decided to go on strike in support to Ravi's cause. Actors lined up infront of Ravichand's hunger strike camp to pledge support and the government decided topunish bring video pirates under goonda act. The act however is yet to be passed in the legislature.

Film federation and Producers' council strike:

For the first time, Tollywood shut down for more than a week. Producers demand increase in working hours for stars and lesser number of shooting days, employees demand producers to pay more, actors refuse to take pay cuts-mocktailed to occur the biggest logjam in history of Telugu cinema. With crores of rupees at stakes and bloated egos on all sides, shootings came to a halt, schedules went haywire, releases put on hold, making it a worst ever phase for Telugu film industry.Thanks to the strike, the industry which is already in deep losses has suffered more due to shooting delays.Shootings resumed on December 30.

(Published in Times of India on 28-12-2010)