My movie ticket was sold for Rs 10: Pawan Kalyan

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan took a dig at the previous YSRCP government, saying the price of his movie ticket was slashed to Rs 10 when the tickets of the movies of all other actors were sold for Rs 100.

Stating that his fight was not for money or records, he said he stood for justice.

The actor-politician was speaking at the pre-release event of his upcoming movie ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’ here on Monday night.

He remarked that his only mistake was to give a flop, and since then, he never got back the grip on movies.

The actor also admitted that he did not have any big directors with him. He praised Trivikram for standing with him and giving him a hit with ‘Jalsa’.

He recalled that when his movie ‘Bheemla Nayak’ was released, everyone’s movie tickets were Rs 100, but his movie tickets were only Rs 10-15.

“That day, I said, ‘Who the hell can stop us?’. It was not about money or records. It was about courage. I stood for justice,” said the power star, as the actor is popularly known, amid loud cheers by his fans.

Claiming that he never attempted to create records, Pawan Kalyan said he only wished to live as an ordinary man.

He told his fans that they are his strength. “If I have reached this position today, fallen and risen in politics, it’s all because of you. I have no weapons. I have no goondas. I have only fans in my heart,” said the Jana Sena leader.

Pawan Kalyan told the fans that it has been 30 years since he entered the film industry. He said, though he has aged, the spirit in him has not died.

He recalled that when he was doing ‘Gabbar Singh’, a fan urged him to give a hit. This became possible with Harish Shankar. He said he did this film at a difficult time.

“Johnny failed, but fans did not leave me. As all relations are interlinked with money, I returned my remuneration. I always value relationships,” he said.

Pawan Kalyan said ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’ is a special movie for him. Scheduled to be released on July 24, this will be his first film to hit the screen after he became the Deputy Chief Minister last year.

He said the film faced several challenges during its making for five years, but he stood by producer A.M. Rathnam.

The actor revealed that though he had learnt martial arts, he had to practice it again for the movie. He remarked that though he faced real-life goondas and rowdies after entering politics, he struggled to do this before the camera.