Projecting Rudhramadevi As Telangana Pride Cost Gunasekar The Nandi Award?

Hyderabad: The controversy surrounding the choice of winners for Nandi Awards by the Andhra Pradesh government continues to hot up as filmmakers, actors, fans and even critics expressing their anguish. The latest to join the bandwagon is none other than maverick filmmaker Gunasekhar. His last movie Rudhramadevi released in 2015 and also won many accolades for the manner in which the story of the Telangana warrior princess was portrayed. Unfortunately, the movie seems to have been written off by the Nandi Awards Committee. Except for Allu Arjun's character of Gona Ganna Reddy, which won him SV Ranga Rao Award for Best Character Actor, the film hasn't bagged awards a single award, not even a jury award so far.

This has naturally upset the filmmaker who had put in his heart and soul to bring back the rich history of the newly formed state.If you can read my mind, you too must be wondering if Rudhramadevi being portrayed as Telangana pride killed the chances of it bagging any awards. But director Gunashekar is quick to rubbish such claims saying: "Rudhrama Devi was a 13th century warrior queen who united the Telugus and upheld our glory. There is absolutely no merit in that argument, where is the question of regional differences?"

He even questioned Chandrababu as to why his film was not exempted from tax while Balakrishna starrer Gautamiputra Satakarni was given tax exemption. He further said that anyone who questions the awards selection for 2014, 2015, 2016 would be sidelined for the next three years. Meanwhile, R. Narayana Murthy has extended his support to Gunasekhar.