Vijay Deverakonda on Telugu shoots stopping: Every now and then there is strike

Over the last ten days, film and TV shoots in the Telugu entertainment industry have been halted.

The reason is a decision by the Hyderabad-based Active Telugu Producers Guild (ATPG), which says it is needed to restructure the revenue structure in the industry. In the meantime, shoots have been delayed and films are stalled. Actor Vijay Deverakonda recently reacted to the situation, calling it temporary, and adding that such strikes are common down south.

Vijay has worked in several successful Telugu films over the years, including Pelli Choopulu, Arjun Reddy, and Mahanati to name a few. He will be soon making his Bollywood debut with Liger, which also stars Ananya Panday and boxer Mike Tyson. It was during the promotions of Liger that he addressed the shoot halt.

As reported by the Times of India, Vijay addressed the issue during a group interaction and said, “This is a temporary hold. The shoots will resume in one week. it’s just that the producers have decided to stop the shootings for a while to get everyone on one page in terms of remunerations, cost of production and other technical aspects. Owing to this they decided to put shoots on hold for some time.”

The actor added that such strikes are common in the industry. “We have a system of unions there, every now and then they call for a strike for a few days. Since somebody wants a raise or something else. We all wait till the strike, when they sort their things out again we get back to work,” he said.

Liger, Vijay’s Hindi debut, releases in theatres on August 25. For the film, Vijay underwent mixed martial arts classes in Thailand in preparation for his character. The film has been shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi, and will be dubbed into other regional languages as well.