Producer Ashok Vallabhaneni, the Telugu distributor of Rajinikanth’s Petta, has levelled accusations against the film’s Telugu producers for controlling the theatre networks in the state. He was speaking at the pre-release event of the movie on Sunday.
“Allu Aravind, Dil Raju and UV Creations (the producers of Petta) have monopolised the theatre network and their writ runs large. Not only Petta, but even the NTR biopic is scrambling for theatres. These producers are behaving as if they’ve owned theatres since birth. Why will they not let other films play in theatres?” Vallabhaneni was quoted in a Cinema Express report.
He also urged the Telugu governments to take action while lashing out at the producers. “They are trying to take over the business. If a gangster like Nayeem can be killed in an encounter, why aren’t these people given similar treatment? The Telugu governments should understand the gravity of the situation and create a healthier environment.”
Meanwhile, Dil Raju, in another report responded to these claims saying the movie had announced its release date only recently and that there were already two other movies in queue.
“For the past six months, we have been discussing about how to share screens and we reached a compromise. Under these circumstances, it is unfair for another film, whose release date was announced less than a month ago, to join the race and demand for screens. The same distributor released two dubbed films recently and got plenty of screens. No one is stopping any films from releasing, but when we have such big and prestigious films releasing for Sankranthi, it is not possible to include more films. If they wait for a week, then there will be quite a lot of options,” said Dil Raju.
Directed by Karthik Subbaraj, Petta is scheduled to release on Thursday. The movie features an ensemble cast of Simran, Trisha Krishnan, Megha Akash, Vijay Sethupati, Bobby Simhaa, Sasikumar and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.