PM Bollywood interaction: South feels ignored, PM notes

Tollywood hero Ram Charan's wife and Megastar Chiranjeevi's daughter-in-law Upasana Konidela, talking on behalf of the entire south Indian film industry, said that she felt bad that none of the prominent actors from down south were invited for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tollywood actors meeting on Saturday. Significantly, PM Modi liked her Instagram post, indicating he has taken note of her feelings.

Upasana, the young entrepreneur from Chiranjeevi family and granddaughter of Pratap C Reddy, founder of Apollo Group of hospitals, is active on social media with a huge following. "Dearest Narendra Modi ji. We in the South of India admire you and are proud to have you as our Prime Minister. With all due respect, we felt that the representation of leading personalities and cultural icons was limited only to Hindi artists and the South Film Industry was completely neglected. I express my feelings with pain and hope it's taken in the right spirit", Upasana wrote.

However, Upasana did not mention any name or names of south Indian stalwarts including her father-in-law Chiranjeevi. Chiranjeevi is not only a leading personality in Tollywood but is also a former Union Minister (in the UPA-2 cabinet). His recent release, Syraa Narasimha Reddy, is a big hit.

The PM's Saturday meeting, which had no representation from the south, has created a rage as he posted many photos of himself with Bollywood stars. Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Kangana Ranaut. Jacqueline Fernandez, Imtiaz Ali, Ekta Kapoor, Anurag Basu, Boney Kapoor were present at the meeting, aimed at inviting the film industry to create films that popularise Mahatma Gandhi and Gandhi’s ideals.