Hyderabad Blues

Charity gone awry

In their enthusiasm to help the flood-hit citizens of, some Telugu stars namely Daggubati Rana, Lakshmi Manchu, Madhushalini, Kajal Aggarwal, Nani and Tejaswi planned a novel method to urge Hyderabadis to donate funds. Termed Mana Madras Kosam, the plan was to appeal directly to common citizens to do their bit for Chennaites. What resulted, however, was complete chaos. As the stars walked into Forum Mall at Kukatpally, crowds went berserk and they rushed towards the stars. Many fell down in the jostling, children were pushed around and the actresses had hands of strangers all over them.

Kajal Aggarwal looked terrified and was close to tears. Daggubati Rana appealed to the wild crowd to be patient and maintain a decorum but his pleas fell on deaf ears. The muscular Rana then had to shield his female colleagues from the shady men who had gathered around the actresses. The stars had to rush into a coffee outlet and stayed there till the crowd dispersed. 

Later on, it was an all-male star gang consisting of Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Nikhil, Nani, Allari Naresh and some others who visited other malls. The women decided to skip the mall crawl and stay safe instead. Meanwhile, some other actors of the industry are sniggering among themselves and wondering why this "star gang" felt they could stir people enough in Hyderabad malls with a slogan like Mana Madras Kosam. While almost every filmi family in the Telugu industry has roots in Chennai, the average Hyderabadi is doing his/her bit for charity in other ways. "The mall misadventure seemed ridiculous and unplanned. Who would be blamed had there been a serious stampede and anyone was injured? This was nothing but an attempt to gain publicity which backfired. I hope these actors have learnt a lesson," asserts a top star.

?The same old, sad story 

The death of five people after consuming spurious liquor at Swarna Bar in Vijayawada has put the Andhra Pradesh government on a back foot. Twenty nine others were hospitalised and questions are again being raised about how contaminated liquor finds its way into the market so easily. The ruling Telugu Desam, promptly laid the blame on prominent Congres?s? leader Malladi Vishnu, since the bar is owned by his relatives. The Naidu government has formed a Special Investgation Team to probe into the cause of deaths and to find out how the liquor was adulterated. In the meantime, YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy issued a statement saying, "In about three years, our party will come to power and we will impose prohibition."

This has drawn ire from TD politicians who have sought to remind Jagan that it was his late father, Y Rajasekhar Reddy, who increased the number of belt shops in united AP. TD leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy said that a statement like that coming from Jagan was rich considering he was flanked by "liquor barons" such as Botsa Satyanarayana and Dharmana Prasada Rao in the party. Probably realising this, Jagan got another party leader, G Srikanth Reddy to hold a press meet. Stating that the liquor tragedy was saddening, Srikanth Reddy urged those within YSR Congress who had liquor businesses to come out of the trade. This has caused consternation among all those party leaders who have essentially bankrolled their political careers through the liquor trade.

?The food we eat

The civil court ban on beef and pork festivals at Osmania University campus notwithstanding, students in the university attempted to take out a protest rally. Some students were arrested as a preventive measure and there was heavy police bandobast around the university as well. The police also arrested Goshamahal BJP legislator Raja Singh. In order to convey the message that they were free to eat what they wanted, some students put up photos on the social media of eating beef in their rooms. Some others opposing the festival, put up songs reminding their fellow students of the importance of a cow in Indian households. Overall, the situation near OU was kept under control by the police and there was no outbreak of violence as such. T Raja Singh issued a statement from the police station that the TRS government was biased against gau bhakts and was allowing impressionable youths to be brainwashed into supporting the beef festival.?