(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Bollywood icon congratulates chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on achieving the dream of separate Telangana and on becoming the first chief minister of the new state.
Hyderabad: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan has offered Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao all the help in transforming Hyderabad into a truly international city as conceived by the latter.
Congratulating KCR as the chief minister is known on achieving the dream of separate Telangana and on becoming the first chief minister of the new state Amitabh who was in the city to receive the Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) National Award 2014 pointed out that he was a frequent visitor to the city both for film shootings and for personal reasons.
“I love Hyderabad for its unique culture and I have been visiting the city for over four decades now” he said.“If my voice or face is needed in any way for Telangana then I will be ready to contribute” the Bollywood legend said at the awards function later on Saturday evening reiterating his commitment to KCR.
KCR in turn informed Amitabh about the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government’s plans to build a Cinema City on the city outskirts spread over 2000 acres and sought his cooperation for making it a success. The chief minister also sought suggestions from the superstar on various features that need to be incorporated in the Cinema City to build it on par with Hollywood.
The chief minister also informed Amitabh that the government will soon come out with an “entertainment policy” offering attractive incentives to cinema and TV industry for shooting films and TV programmes in Telangana.
Later accepting the award from KCR at a glittering function Amitabh said: “About 50 years ago movies were regarded as below dignity and cultured families used to keep their children away from my movies. It is stars like ANR who were not just great actors but also great human beings who brought dignity to the movie industry. I am honoured to get an award instituted by him.”
Presenting the award KCR revealed that he was a big fan of Amitabh. “If there is an actor whose movie I have watched more than once it is Amitabh. I watched Amitabh’s Abhiman more than 50 times. Even today whenever I feel slightly depressed I watch Abhiman” he said.
Lauding ANR’s role in the shifting of the Telugu film industry from Chennai to Hyderabad KCR said he would lend all support for the development of the film industry here. He also heaped praise on industrialist and media baron Ramoji Rao for constructing a world-class film city in Hyderabad.
While Amala compered the programme ANR’s son Nagarjuna proposed the vote of thanks. Actress and Bharatanatyam exponent Shobana along with her students regaled the audience with ‘Dancing Drums’ a specially- choreographed item. — newskhaleejtimes.com
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