After a year late when he defeated actor Prakash Raj in the Movie Artists Association (MAA) and became president of it, Manchu Vishnu met with the media on Thursday, October 13, at a hotel in Madhapur of Hyderabad.
He listed out the new panel’s achievements so far and some amendments made to the association’s existing rules. Vishnu’s biggest promise while running the elections was that he would construct a building for the MAA at his expense. However, that is yet to materialize. Speaking to media persons on Thursday, Vishnu said that it would take another three years for the building to come up, by a decision taken by MAA as a whole.
During a meeting in the presence of 200 members from the association, Vishnu said that he had raised two options. One was to buy a building, 20 to 30 minutes away from Film Nagar. He said he has seen the building, and it can be made ready in the next six months. Meanwhile, Vishnu said the current Film Chamber office is going to be demolished and they will build a new one. The second option is to have an office space in the new Film Chamber building.
Vishnu stated that all the members have opted for the second option, as it is more convenient for everyone. So, it has been decided that MAA will have its own office within three years according to him. Also, Vishnu said that until then he will bear the costs of the MAA office space.
Manchu Vishnu also informed the several changes have been made to the guidelines regarding gaining membership in MAA. “As per the new rules, a lead actor should at least have two releases, either in theatres or on a streaming platform, to be a life member of the MAA. Similarly, for a character artist to get life membership, they should have been in at least 10 movies, with a screen space of at least five minutes in each of those movies and dialogues spanning at least two minutes,” he said. Other members can apply for ‘associate membership’, which was earlier referred to as ‘temporary membership’. Besides, only those who have had a life membership for at least five years would be eligible to contest or even vote in the MAA elections in the future, he added.
Further, even actors from other film industries cannot just come, act and go into Tollywood, Vishnu said, adding that they too should take a membership with MAA. The MAA president said these guidelines were changed to make the association’s bylaws more “user friendly” for actors.
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