Row over Nandi awards

Yesterday, The state government of Andhra Pradesh has announced the winners of Nandi awards for the consecutive years 2014,2015 and 2017. A lot of the film fraternity raised immediate concerns after the announcement and everyone has their own reasons. Firstly, Producer Bunny Vaas raised concerns over Chiru family not being selected for almost no number of awards despite being a major contributor to Tollywood. He stated that Chiru family generates 50% revenue in the Industry but has never been properly honoured. Producer Bandla Ganesh claimed that these are not Nandi awards but Cycle awards! He stated that TDP is heavily influencing the award nominees. Director Guna Sekhar drafted an open letter to the CM of Andhra Pradesh, asking why hasn’t his film Rudrama Devi was given an entertainment tax subsidy, despite being a historic Telugu film. He asked why was another such historic film Gautami Putra Satakarni was exempted from entertainment tax.

Though several such disputes are usually expected after each Nandi award announcement ceremony, the criticism is a bit harsh in the current scenario. The government and the award committee officials and jury members are yet to respond on the issue.