Nandi Awards Controversy - What's Telangana government stand?

HYDERABAD: For the last few weeks, there is a heated debate going on in the Telugu film and political circles about the distribution of the Nandi Awards. Since the bifurcation of the state, the distribution of Nandi Awards was ignored by both governments. These awards were last presented in 2017.

Recently, Telangana’s Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav unveiled the statue of Dasari Narayana Rao in the Chitrapuri Colony of Hyderabad. While he was interacting with the media, Talasani was asked about why the Telangana government is ignoring Nandi Awards.

Responding to the same, Talasani said that no one from the film industry seriously approached the government regarding Nandi Awards. He said that the government is ready but the industry bigwigs need to put an effort into reviving these awards.

Nandi Awards presentation was started in 1964. Till 1977, these awards were distributed only for Best Films. From that year, actors and technicians were also given awards. Nagarjuna happens to be the hero with the highest Nandi wins. He won five Nandi Awards as a producer and four as an actor. Mahesh Babu is in the second place with eight Nandi wins. Venkatesh and Jagapathi Babu won the award seven times. Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and Kamal Haasan won these awards thrice in their respective careers.