Officials spoil the show for Chiru’s son

HYDERABAD: Star sons often have an unfair advantage over their competitors. But Ramcharan Teja appears to be paying a price for being PRP chief Chiranjeevi’s son.

With his ‘Magadheera’ slated to hit cinemas this Friday, officials have thrown the rule book at him, limiting the number of shows to four in a day. Till now the official practice was to look the other way in Andhra and Rayalaseema where traditionally a movie would have seven to eight shows in the first three-four days of its release.

Officials, however, are citing law and order problem behind the restriction. Tirupati RDO M Venkateshwarlu said no theatre in the temple town would be allowed to run more than four shows of ‘Magadheera’. “Films may have been exhibited six to seven times in the past. But we will not allow it this time,” he stressed.

Of the 10 theatres exhibiting ‘Magadheera’ in Tirupati, seven belong to prominent PRP leaders. And papa Chiru is the MLA from here. The father-son duo’s fans argue that their films are being deprived of more shows when films of Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu have traditionally had seven to eight shows.

So who is the villain? According to Tirupati PRP leader Kiran Royal: “Officials are playing dirty by quoting a rule which was never implemented when films of other stars were released.”

Not to be browbeaten, fans associations and PRP leaders might go for ‘benefit shows’ by buying out one or two shows of other films exhibited in theatres, said sources.

The craze for Ramacharan — whose debut film ‘Chirutha’ was released over a year ago — is also evident in the prices of tickets in black. “Chirutha’s box tickets went for Rs 6,000 each in a theatre in Vizag. It might touch Rs 7,000 now given the mass hysteria for his films in north Andhra,” a manager of Srikanth Film Distributors claimed.

While the film is expected to be released in nine theatres in Guntur city alone and nearly 100 theatres in the district, ironically, several Congress leaders in Guntur have booked theatres for all shows for the first two-three days. These include heavy industries minister Kanna Lakshminarayana’s son Nagaraju who has blocked tickets for all the shows (July 31) in two theatres in Guntur, while city mayor Rayapati Saimohan Krishna reportedly booked an entire theatre, said sources.

While the restrictions might spur more houseful shows, the star son on his part has been looking heavenward for the success of his film and was seen praying at the Pedda Dargah in Kadapa and the Srikalahasti Temple on Wednesday.
-----TOI

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