'Entirely My Initiative, No Connection With Telugu Industry': Suresh Kondeti On Santosham Awards Row

The Santosham South Indian Film Awards are organised by Suresh Kondeti every year. Suresh Kondeti is a reporter who claims to have close ties with Chiranjeevi and some members of his family. The journalist was recently caught up in controversies after the poor treatment was meted out to Kannada and Tamil celebrities at the award ceremony held in Goa. This has led social media to express their resentment and they are even blaming the Telugu film industry and the Chiranjeevi family for the fiasco.

A Kannada film journalist named A Sharadhaa dropped a post on X in which she claimed that numerous Kannada celebs were disrespected at the event held in Goa. She wrote on X, “The event, which started well, abruptly halted when it was the Kannada film industry’s turn to receive awards. The organizers switched off the lights as soon as Ramesh Aravind took the stage, prompting the anchor to leave and asking Kannada actors to depart.”

Further highlighting the mismanagement, Sharadhaa added that the actors who attended the event had no accommodations arranged and even faced issues while checking out of their hotel because dues had not been paid. It was only after the police intervention that they managed to leave for the airport.

Netizens were seemingly angry for disrespecting Kannada celebrities at the event that was expected to celebrate all four South Indian film industries. To address the issue and refute the claims about the involvement of the Telugu film industry, Allu Arjun’s father and Chiranjeevi’s brother-in-law, producer Allu Aravind held a press meeting in Hyderabad. He said, “A journalist has been holding an award function for many years but he was unsuccessful while holding an event in Goa. Many have alleged that he is one of our family members’ PR. Just because we have clicked pictures with him, doesn’t mean he represents us.”

Allu Aravind also added that it was not right for the mega family into the fiasco as the responsibility for the event was solely on Suresh and had nothing to do with the Telugu film industry.

Suresh Kondeti, in the aftermath, tendered his apology on social media and said that it was entirely his initiative and had no connection with the Telugu industry. Clarifying that he had no intention to cause any trouble to celebrities, Suresh said, “I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused by our event. Mis Communication occurred during the distribution of accommodation to almost 1,200 celebrities,” adding that while organising such a big event, the chances of issues are highly likely.