May 30, 2008
Hyderabad

Anchors in Telugu TV industry always found it big in Tollywood. They are part and parcel of the industry, either anchoring the events or doing smalltime roles in films and TV serials. Jhansi, Suma, Udayabhanu, Jahnavi, Shilpa Chakravarty and several others come under this category. Some of them contribute their might as dubbing artistes too. But, here is one popular anchor, who took an oath not to act in films or TV serials.

Pragati, considered numero uno as news reader, occasionally makes her appearance as an anchor. She remains bold and outspoken as a news reader. But, she holds out much feminine charm as an anchor, gracefully shy at times.

Today, Pragati was a guest at the music release function of Gang Leaders, a dubbed Kannada film. Her presence there had even extra relevance as she worked as a dubbing artiste for a character in that film. Wearing a blue saree (seem to be her favorite color), Pragati took to a corner, while her colleagues (dubbing artistes) Kadambari Kiran, Raghu Kunche, MM Srilekha and a couple of others were seated on the dais.

When Pragati was invited on to the dais with a request to speak, she was first reluctant to get up from her chair, partially and stylishly covering her face, but in smiles. On repeated requests, demure Pragati joined her colleagues. She cut short her speech with a single liner of good luck to the man of the evening – dialogue writer of dubbed films Bharati Babu. Immediately, she got down and retired to her corner.

Idlebrain spoke to her. She said she would never be acting in films or TV serials at any point of time in her career. "I am not interested in acting. I am fully content with my profession as a news reader. I will never ever act in films. In future also, my answer would be the same. It gives me immense happiness that I have large number of well-wishers and admirers."