The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy has announced that the state government plans to institute a national award in the name of Telugu film legend B N Reddy from next year.

The CM was speaking at the state government-sponsored ‘Nandi Awards’ presentation fete. The function was held on Sunday in a grand manner with much pomp and gaiety for the first time in its history - the venue, LB stadium, was packed with thousands of film enthusiasts!

Saying that the government had taken several decisions for the well being of the film industry in the past four and half years, Reddy came out with more populist schemes for the Telugu film industry. He also announced the hike in the movie ticket rates from Rs. 35 to Rs. 50.

Dr Reddy presented NTR National Film Awards for the years 2003-2006 to G Krishna, Ilayaraja, Ambarish and Waheeda Rehman respectively. The award consisted of Rs. 5 lakh cash, a memento and a citation.

Raghupathi Venkaiah awards for the year 2005 and 2006 were presented to film producers M S Reddy and D Rama Naidu.

‘Nandi awards’ for the best film for the year 2005 and 2006 were won by ‘Pothe Poni’ and ‘Bommarillu’ respectively. Mahesh Babu got the best actor award for the year 2005, while actress Trisha received best actress award for the same year. Nagarjuna bagged best actor award for 2006.
 
The event was attended by Ministers A Ramnarayan Reddy, K Rosaiah, Mohd Ali Shabbir, M Mukesh Goud, AP Film Development Corporation chairman G Adiseshagiri Rao and actors, including Chiranjeevi’s brother and producer Nagendra Babu, technicians and artistes.