Rattled by a series of untimely deaths, the Telugu film industry, nicknamed Tollywood, will perform a "yagnam" (a Vedic ritual) for three days starting 21 March. Called the "Amrita Pashupata Maha Mrityunjaya Homam", this puja is expected to ward off the eyes of Lords Yama and Shani on the Telugu film industry, the second largest after Hindi, in the country.

Tollywood, in the last two years, has lost close to two dozen leading artistes, directors, producers and technicians, due to a variety of reasons, mostly related to poor health. Some of them are veterans like actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, producer D. Rama Naidu, director Bapu and leading music director Chakri, among others.

Normally, the passing away of a few actors and technicians in the span of a year is a common phenomenon for any film industry. But Tollywood is in a state of panic, as sometimes one condolence meeting is extended to another, to mourn the death of another artiste.

"Our members are worried over this spate of deaths, most of them untimely and unfortunate. Unlike in the last five decades, we have lost many of our colleagues in the last two to three years. We do not know why, but the Telugu film industry is continuously mourning one or the other death in the last few months," veteran actor, producer and Rajahmundry TDP MP, M. Murali Mohan told The Sunday Guardian.

The president of the Movie Artists Association (MAA), Murali Mohan, who is one of the organisers of the yagnam, told this newspaper that the ritual would be held under the aegis of Swami Swaroopananda of Visakhapatnam. Murali Mohan did not specify the amount being spent on the ritual, but sources pegged it to be around Rs 2 crore.

The industry is so worried about the deaths that a faction ridden Tollywood is coming together to conduct the ritual. It will also bring all the leading stars together. Veteran director and former Union Coal Minister, Dasari Narayana Rao, popular actor and former Union Minister Chiranjeevi, and former Rajya Sabha member Mohan Babu are likely to join hands for this yagnam.

"The coming together of the different groups of the Telugu film industry is another positive side of the yagnam. The sudden death of great actors like Sri Hari, comedians like M.S. Narayana, Dharmavarapu Subramaniam, Ahuti Prasad, A.V.S., actress Anjali Devi and cinematographer Vincent and many others is scary," Hema, a popular actress told this newspaper.

The suicide of hero Uday Kiran last year pressed the panic button among the members of Tollywood. Some actors and technicians in the film industry suspected that "some evil forces were at work and angry with the wrongdoings of those from the industry". They said that performing a yagnam could ward off all evil and bring peace and happiness to Tollywood.