After passing the bill on video piracy, the Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy was thanked by the film fraternity, informally on different occasions. Today a event to felicitate the Chief Minster was held at Lalitha Kala Toranam, Public Gardens, Hyderabad. Many from both the film fraternity as well as the political front attended the function.

Gangadhar who sang a prayer started off the function. Following which many other cultural programes were held to entertain the audience before the arrival of the Chief Minister. During, Gangadhar's prayer Union Minister for State, Coal and Mines, Dasari Narayana Rao arrived. The members of the film family met him with warm reception.

Following the prayer, Suneeta, playback singer sang a song Sirimalle Puvva which had the audience clapping their hands. After this song there was Raghu Kunche who sang a song from Nuvvu Naku Nacchavu. During this song Minister for Tourism, Dr Geetha Reddy arrived. Vijaylakshmi sang a song from Missamma and wooed the crowds with her voice.

To break the monotony of songs a small act of mimicry by Shiva Reddy was held. The acts done by him had the audience in splits, the bit where he mimicked both the current CM Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and ex-CM Chandra Babu Naidu was funny. His act was followed by a performance by Devisri Prasad, who not only sang songs from his movies but also moved to the rhythm. This was followed by another rendition by Gangadhar and Suneeta, who sang a song from Annamaya.

By this time the Chief Minister arrived with much fanfare, a poojari was holding a Kalasam, in his honour in front of him. D Ramanaidu and Mohan Babu accompanied the guest into the venue. The cultural programes continued even after the arrival of Chief Minister. Vijayalakshmi sang Aa Ante Amalapuram from Arya and this was followed by another performance by Devisri Prasad. Before he sang Devi said, "This is the first time that I am performing in front of the Chief Minister and I am thankful for this opportunity."

Devi's act was followed by a song by Gangadhar who chose a song in praise of the guest. Devi returned to the stage with a song from Shankardada M B B S. Then came an embarrassing moment for the guest when Rajashekhar master performed a specially choreographed song. The lyrics of the song brought more laughs to the audience than anything else. The final act was a performance by Shiva Reddy who was successful in imitating the Chief Minister in front of him.

Then came the main event of felicitating the guest. K S Ramarao acted as the host and invited all the guests onto the stage. First to come was Dasari Narayana Rao, and next was Y S Rajashekhar Reddy who was accompanied by Krishna, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and Dr Rajashekhar. Minister for Information and Public Relations Shabir Ali, was accompanied by Srikanth and Dr Geetha Reddy was accompanied by Jeevitha Rajashekhar.

Lighting the lamp by Dr Y S Rajashekhar Reddy in the company all the members of the film fraternity started the function. Speaking first and foremost was G Adisheshagiri Rao, president, Film Nagar Chamber of Commerce. "I would like to welcome all those who are on the stage and all those who are sitting in the audience. The film industry was earlier in Madras and slowly moved to Hyderabad thanks to the efforts of earlier Congress Chief Ministers. It was those men who encouraged all us to move to Hyderabad by providing us lands for film studios and later provided land for residential purposes."

"Then during Viajya Bhaskar Reddy's time even the various technicians were provided with land to build houses. Now it was Rajashekhar Reddy who saved the industry again, this time the problems were many and the industry was in no stage to recover but thanks to him it is slowly improving. Problems like video piracy and slab have been taken care by the Chief Minister. I thank him as a producer myself for the help he has done us and also hope that we receive the same kind of help even in the future."

Dasari Narayana Rao was the next to speak, "Today is one of those days when the film industry should celebrate as it has slowly won over many hindrances. Right from the setting up of the film industry in Hyderabad to today the congress Government has helped the industry."

"It was Marri Channa Reddy who was instrumental in bringing the industry here, he provided the producers with incentives to move to the city. But then there was a change in government and the then government just unleashed Slab system, which acted as a cancer and ate its way to the roots of the industry and almost destroyed it. It killed the creativity in the industry, both small and big films suffered. Only films that had a mass appeal were what the distributors were interested in. This was weakening the industry and luckily the government and changed and Congress has again come to save the film industry."

"Rajashekhar Reddy is someone who is very straight forward and sticks to his word. Even in our election manifesto film industry was given importance. We promised to take care of the small films and also look into the matter of closed theatres. Video Piracy was also harming films and he has taken quick action that has saved the lives of all those who are related with the industry. As a man from the film industry I thank you for the quick decisions that you have taken and saved the industry."

"Even the exhibitors will benefit from the lowering of prices and will be thankful for lifting off the slab system. But I would also like to warn the exhibitors that they should be truthful and try and save the industry in their own stride."

Krishna who spoke after him said, "I would like to thank the Chief Minister for all that he has done for the industry. Y S Rajashekhar has kept his word by helping us out in everyway he possibly could. There is nothing else I would like to talk as most of it has been talked by Dasari Narayana Rao."

Amidst the cheers of the audience Megastar Chiranjeevi took the mike and said, "Welcome to Dasari Narayana Rao who is the well wisher of the whole industry and also a guiding personality to all of us. Then to the one person without whom this night would not be possible, Y S Rajashekhar Reddy and the other ministers Shabir Ali and Geetha Reddy. Everyone has problems and even the film industry is not spared in this matter, even we have problems but our earlier pleas were overlooked."

"But most of them felt that the problem of the film industry is limited to the 100-200 people who are seen in front of the screen. But there are those who are not visible on the screen and still suffer the problem, like all the technicians and crew who work on the films. This not just the problem of them it is the also the problem of all those cine goers who felt the pinch while watching the film."

"The response given by Y S Rajashekhar Reddy when we approached him with the problem was heartening, We never expected him to react so soon to our request and make them come true. Thank you sir, but I would also like to ask another favour from you. If possible could you look into the problem of Black Ticketing, most of the audience who want to watch their favorite film fall pray to these anti social elements."

"We would be thankful to you if you could introduce variable admission rates so that people will be discouraged from purchasing black tickets. This is nothing new or first of its kind, it is being done in Tamil Nadu and Maharastra. I think it is a very big wish but I would wish that you look into the matter."

D Ramanaidu said, "Thank you for the helping hand that you have given us and for all the help that you have done for us. It has always been the Congress government that has helped the film industry grow and establish itself in Hyderabad. We also hope that this help will continue and we will be able to revive the industry."

Mohan Babu's speech was something that the audience enjoyed listening to. He said, "I wanted to speak first and not give a chance to Dasari Narayana Rao, because if he speaks there is nothing else left to speak. Y S Rajashekhar Reddy has been a good friend of mine and Chandra Babu Naidu introduced him to me. We have always been meeting and he keeps finding about the industry from me. Once I net him over breakfast and the media was present and asked me as to what we spoke. I simply told them that I only wished that he go to a higher position, the media being media ridiculed that I wanted Chandrababu Naidu to loose and Y S R to become the CM."

"The gods must be listening because it came true. When I became the president of MAA all of the members asked me to take up the issues of the industry and meet him. When I went to him and requested audience for all the members of the fraternity he was forthcoming and invited us all to his place for discussions. I begged him to take care of our problem of piracy. When my friends came and asked me as to why I begged then, I said that if I would beg, piracy would make me a poor man."

The felicitation of Y S Rajashekhar was done by the film personalities, who gave a memento, and a shawl. Then many from the industry individually and many people from the various distributors and exhibitors associations felicitated him with shawls and mementos.

Y S Rajashekhar Reddy said, "When the film folk came to meet me I knew that this was not just the problem of one person or one producer. The film industry gives employment to a few thousand people. A failure in such an industry will be the loss of employment to so many of them. It is the duty of the government to take care of the problems of people and industries. So what we did for the film industry was just our duty and nothing beyond that."

"Many of you know that for the past 20 years slab system has been hurting the entertainment industry. If a theatre closes due to this problem the 20-30 people who are employed in the theatre loose their jobs. It is the government's duty to take care of them and not just overlook their problem. Even the technicians who earn some two to three thousands by working hard should also be taken care off. Video piracy which is killing the industry by providing pirated CDs the third or fourth day of the film's release should be curtailed."

"We brought out an anti piracy bill to protect the industry, and it is a warning to the video pirates that government will not keep quite and let them do as they wish. Even the ticket rates should go down to provide the audience with affordable entertainment. The films should also deal with social responsibilities, and should help in the development of the society."

" The film industry should flourish and grow in Hyderabad, and I also see that Ramanaidu is taking it to Visakapatnam and I wish it also grows there. This government will do all it can to help the film industry in times of distress."

K C Shekhar Babu delivered the vote of thanks. Also present at the event were, D Suresh Babu, Allu Arvind, Tammareddy Bharadwaja, C Kalyan, Jagapathi Babu, Manoj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan, Neelakanta, Madala Ravi, Veda, Shriya, Sangeeta, Asha Saini, Reema Sen and Navneet Kaur.

- Aditya