Akkineni Nagarjuna's Annapurna studios catch fire, sets of Manam destroyed

A fire broke out on a film set at the Tollywood’s famous Annapurna Studios in Banjara Hills on 13 November. “A film set caught fire at around 6.15 pm following which four fire tenders were pressed into service. Though flames were very high, the blaze was completely extinguished within two hours,” Hyderabad Assistant District Fire Officer Y Prabhakar Reddy told PTI on 13 November. He said no casualties are reported in the incident. [caption id=“attachment_4208657” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Annapurna Studios up in flames. Image from Twitter/@PrashanthMJ111[/caption] According to another Fire official, the exact cause of the blaze was being ascertained. However, prima facie short circuit is suspected to be the cause, he said. Annapurna Studios, promoted by noted film actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, is one of the oldest studios in South India. It was was established in 1975 by the late Telugu actor Nageswara Rao Akkineni. It mainly produces and distributes Telugu films and also provides various production facilities, including sound stages for set construction, outdoor sets, editing, dubbing and digital intermediate suites. Nagarjuna said nobody was injured, adding it was rather sad that the set erected for film Manam was gutted. He said the memories of his father and legendary actor were associated with it.