Split in movie body, members call for general body meet

Ch Sushil Rao / TNN / Oct 23, 2019, 04:52 IST

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Split in movie body, members call for general body meet

Hyderabad: The Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA) is heading for a vertical split with a section of film artistes led by its general secretary Jeevitha Rajasekhar charting their own course by calling for an extraordinary general body meeting.
The tussle is reportedly between Rajasekhar, vice-president of MAA, and Naresh, president. Jeevitha, Rajasekhar’s wife, released a video recently in which she talked about differences within the 26-member executive committee.“We have not been able to sort them out,” she said, and added that signatures of 200 members were needed to convene an extraordinary general body meeting.
Naresh, in another video, said there was no need to change bylaws since MAA had been functioning with the same laws for the last 26 years. “I did not attend the meeting on October 20 because it was not an official meeting. I do not understand the need for an extraordinary general body meeting that was called by Jeevitha,” he said.
An attempt to hold a general body meeting on October 20 did not materialise after a member had gone to the court saying it cannot be called for without the president in chair. The meeting was later termed as a ‘friendly’ gathering.

But, the meeting had acrimonious moments when senior actor and writer Parachuri Gopalakrishna left the venue as his plea to be heard was ignored by other members. “He left the meeting with tears in his eyes,” recalled actor Prudhvi Raj.
Prudhvi Raj, a YSRC supporter and chairman of TTD’s SVBC channel in July, attended the meeting in his capacity as executive member of MAA. “I wonder what was the purpose of the meeting. It was directionless,” he said. “When a committee of elders has found that there were no irregularities, the chapter should be closed. Some members are trying to rake up the issue unnecessarily,” Prudhvi said.
Sources said there had been a heated discussion during the meeting about funds generated from an event in Dallas in the United States of America in which Tollywood stars had taken part

About the Author

Ch Sushil Rao

Sushil Rao is Editor-Special Reports, at The Times of India, Hyderabad. He began his journalism career at the age of 20 in 1988. He is a gold medalist in journalism from the Department of Communication and Journalism, Arts College, Osmania University, Hyderabad from where he did his post-graduation from. He has been with The Times of India’s Hyderabad edition since its launch in 2000. He has also done an introductory course in film studies from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and also from the Central University of Kerala equipping himself with the knowledge of filmmaking for film criticism. He has authored four books. In his career spanning 34 years, he has worked for five newspapers and has also done television reporting. He was also a web journalist during internet’s infancy in the mid 1990s in India. He covers defence, politics, diaspora, innovation, administration, the film industry, Hyderabad city and Telangana state, and human interest stories. He is also a podcaster, blogger, does video reporting and makes documentaries.

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