The Telugu film industry or popularly known as Tollywood will observe a shutdown on March 19th 2010 to draw Andhra Pradesh government’s attention to deal with film piracy. it may be known that Tollywood producer Yalamanchi Ravichand is on a fast-unto-death over the issue since Wednesday at the office of Film Chamber in Film Nagar, Hyderabad with all leading Tollywood film personalities expressing their solidarity with him. Muralimohan, President-Movie Artists' Association (MAA) said that all film activities related in Tollywood would be halted on Friday to press for their demand of AP government anti-piracy measures.

MAA also appealed to theatres owners and TV channels in the state to participate in the shutdown even as he appealed to film producer Yalamanchi Ravichand to withdraw the fast. Tollywood producers will not take up shooting and all the artists including top stars would participate in a rally. Muralimohan also said a memorandum would be submitted to Chief Minister K Rosaiah to bring film piracy under the purview of Goonda Act. Meanwhile actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi, President-Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) met Yalamanchi Ravichand, producer of ‘Mayagadu’ and urged the Andhra Pradesh government to take firm action to deal with piracy a la Tamil Nadu and said "Piracy is like pick-pocketing and it should be treated as a crime under the Goonda Act."

Popular Tollywood actors like Nagarjuna, Junior NTR also called on Yalamanchi Ravichand to express their solidarity with him. The Telugu film industry, or Tollywood as its better known the second biggest film industry in India after Bollywood, and churns out over 150 films per year at much faster pace than Bollywood. Sometimes Tollywood films are more costlier to make than Bollywood filmns. But like Bollywood film piracy has been causing the industry a loss of over Rs 2 billion (Rs 200 crore) every year. tfc18.com asks Tollywood and Bollywood films fraternity to take up the cause of film piracy at the earnest.