Nani BREAKS SILENCE, clarifies his comment 'Telugu movie industry lacks unity'

Telugu star Nani, who is riding on the success of his latest outing 'Shyam Singha Roy', recently hit headlines for the wrong reason. The actor stirred up a controversy when he spoke about the lack of unity in the Telugu industry and expressed his opinion on the ticket price issue. 

As reported by IANS, Nani had said about the Telugu movie industry, "We have problems here. And it would have been nice if everyone would have come out to defend each other." "We lack unity. I wish this statement wasn't true. But we missed sorting the problems together."
 
Nani also mentioned that the industry must have stood stronger when the movie 'Vakeel Saab' was released itself. 

For the unversed, the Andhra Pradesh government had slashed movie ticket prices and it was seen as retaliation for leading star Pawan Kalyan's political ambitions, which was evident from the release of 'Vakeel Saab'.

Now that the state government has been ordering theatre raids, Nani is the only Telugu actor who has spoken on these issues apart from a few who support him.

And while Nani's statement stoked up controversy, in his latest interview with radio host Siddharth Kanan, he opened up on his statement and when asked if he still stands by them, Nani said, "It came out of pain. It came from a place where I wanted all of them to come together. I wanted all of them to come together on one stage and express it the way it should be expressed. Even people on the side will understand the real problem here. I wanted them to come together for not us. We are all happy but there are thousands of families who are wishing something good happens."

Mentioning that his statement was read out of context by the media and people of social media, Nani further said, "The reason I made that statement was that I wanted everyone to come together as one voice against this issue. So that we are not misunderstood and misquoted by the media."

In the meantime, 'Shyam Singha Roy' producer Dil Raju defended Nani against criticism over the actor's comments on the ticket price issue.

The makers of Nani and Sai Pallavi-starrer 'Shyam Singha Roy' had organised a success party for the movie. Dil Raju, who addressed the gathering, spoke on the movie's success.

Dil Raju also conveyed that Nani is being targeted for no reason. Backing Nani for his comments on the movie ticket issue, Dil Raju said that Nani had spoken on issues faced by the Telugu film industry, but his words had been deliberately twisted.

"Nani was the only actor who gave up two theatrical releases. He understood the situation and allowed the makers to release his movies on OTT platforms. He is a sensible actor," Dil Raju said.

He said, "Some media people are trying to twist Nani`s words. Even the YouTube thumbnails are misleading. The forepart is chopped off just to make him bad."