Telugu Film News

Wedding bells for Sridevi

Smitha Mathew [March 3, 2009, 6:31:48 PM]


Beautiful actress Sridevi has decided to enter wedlock, joining the list of actors who are getting married this year. Sridevi’s parents Manjula and Vijaya Kumar have arranged her wedding with Rahul, a Hyderabadi software businessman. The engagement ceremony will be on March 18 and Sridevi will wait a little longer before actually tying the knot. The wedding is on 18th June.


Sridevi made her debut opposite Prabhas; despite being beautiful and talented, she could not rise to become a top line heroine.

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Prabhas-Puri Jagannath team up

Smitha Mathew [March 3, 2009, 2:40:57 PM]


Prabhas is teaming up with director Puri Jagannath in a film by producer Adithya Ram who has recently launched the Adithya Ram Movies banner. Shooting is set to commence on March 18. This new flick from Puri Jagannath is said to be action-oriented and the script has been designed to suit Prabhas’ image.


This is Adithya Ram's fourth film; his earlier films are Sandade Sandadi, Khushi Khushiga and Swagatham.


Adithya Ram announced this forthcoming film in a press conference in Hyderabad. He revealed this will be a big budget film with action, romance and comedy elements. Bollywood’s latest sensation Kangana Ranaut will be the leading lady. Puri Jagannath has worked very hard to polish the script; the producer and director are confident that the end product will be an awesome film. The role is tailormade for Prabhas, who has just finished shooting for the action thriller Billa.

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Meistri releasing on March 11

Smitha Mathew [March 4, 2009, 11:27:56 AM]


Dasari Narayana Rao’s Meistri (also spelt Maistri) is all set to release on 11th March. Directed by Suresh Krishna and produced by K. Ramakrishna, Meistri has Dasari Narayana Rao, Mohan Babu and Srihari in important roles.


Speaking to the media at a press conference, Ramakrishna said that this film has realistic characters and that the script is created in a way as to portray real-life incidents on screen. Meistri audio, released on 23rd February, is doing record sales. The trailer, running in more than 300 centres, has already captured the interest of the people.


Meistri is releasing ahead of the general elections and is said to have many references directed at the political situation in Andhra Pradesh.

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Jr. NTR to start his road show on 12th March


Young tiger Jr. NTR is all set to start his political road shows from Nimmakuru village, the native place of Late NTR on 12th March. He is going to canvass for Telugu Desam Party for about one month. NTR will start his tour after paying tributes to Late NTR at NTR Ghat. Chandrababu Naidu and Balakrishna will give a flag to him. For this Jr. NTR has taken break from his film shootings for the past one week and he is busy watching film clippings of Late legend NTR and his political speeches.


The TDP party is pinning high hopes on Jr. NTR as he is known for his powerful dialogues. TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu is using NTR as trump card just before elections commence. He thinks that the road shows of Jr. NTR will help in wide publicity of the party for the coming elections.


The general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha will be held in five phases, on April 16, 23 and 30, and 7th May and 13th May. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswami, along with Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S.Y. Quraishi has announced on 2nd March. The counting of votes has been scheduled for 16th May and the results would be announced the same day.


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Allu Arjun’s new film to start on 21st March


The shooting of style star Allu Arjun’s next film in the direction of Guna Sekhar is going to start on 21st March in a special set erected at Ramoji Film City. Guna Sekhar’s credits include ‘Bala Ramayanam’, ‘Sogasu Chuda Tharama’, ‘Manoharam’, ‘Okkadu’ and ‘Arjun’. DVV Danayya is producing the film under Universal Media banner. A new heroine will be introduced with this movie. Mani Sharma is scoring the music for this flick. The shooting of the film will be completed by August.


Currently, Allu Arjun is busy in working for the film ‘Arya-II’ in the direction of Sukumar. Kajal Agarwal is the heroine in this film. Navadeep and Shraddha Das are playing second leads in the movie. V Aditya Babu and Bhogavalli Prasad are producing the film under Aditya Arts banner.

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Expensive sets for ‘Mahathma’ in RFC


The film “Mahatma” starring Srikanth and Bhavana in the lead roles is now getting ready to shoot the major part of action sequences in specially erected sets at Ramoji Film City. These expensive sets have been designed by the art director Srinivas Raju. This is Srikanth’s 100th film which has been launched recently. The second heroine of the film is yet to be finalized.
Creative director Krishna Vamsi is helming film and C R Manohar is making the film under Golden Lion Productions banner. Srikanth and Krishna Vamsi had teamed up earlier in the blockbuster, 'Khadgam'.

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The new Pepsi Brand Ambassador – Ram Charan Teja

IndiaGlitz [Tuesday, March 03, 2009]


Replacing the stronghold place of Chiranjeevi, his junior Ram Charan Teja has now been signed up as the brand ambassador to endorse Pepsi in Andhra Pradesh.


Statistics derived says that in India, Thums Up is still the market leader in the states of AP, West Bengal and parts of UP. Megastar of Telugu cinema and the now leader of Praja Rajyam party, Chiranjeevi was once the iconic signature of Thums Up and his endorsement influenced the sales largely in those times.


To break into the market, PEPSICO has roped in Ram Charan and he is going good so far campaigning for the youngistaan ads. The company has hired Chiru’s brother Pawan Kalyan and even his nephew in the past to increase the sales but all turned out vain with their competitors reigning in the state.


But, in reality the manufacturers are still not aware of a fact that why people love Thums Up over other colas, in this era of Pepsi and Coke. Among different colas, Thums Up is the only drink that has a spicy flavor which has found patrons in these particular regions.


It would be good if they understand that it’s not because of the endorsers but the product. For now, we will have to wait and see if Ram Charan would live up to his father’s name.

Kalyan Ram’s next offering



Kalyan Ram is ready to begin his next film and shooting will commence on February 5th. This time, he has chosen newcomer Naren as director. Although Hansika Motwaani was considered as the heroine, Kalyan is heard to have dropped her because she has increased her remuneration considerably since Maska did well at the box office. So it is heard that Kalyan is looking for a newcomer and is focusing on models from Mumbai.


Kalyan Ram’s first film, Athanokkade under the banner of NTR Arts, was a hit; his next film Hare Ram also had a good run at the box office.



Hansika in huge demand



Hansika Motwaani charges more than one crore but that is not stopping pruducers from casting her in their movies. Hansika knows that opportunities lost will never come back and is eagerly signing all the big projects offered. She is currently acting in Maska by Ram and is doing a guest appearance in Billa.


Now, she is all set to act in a flick with Kalyan Ram to be produced by NTR Arts, directed by newcomer Naren and begin shooting in December. It is heard that the producers are still negotiating rates with her.




Arundhati: Tamil version on February 20th



If a film is a hit in Tamil, it will automatically get dubbed in the other 3 South Indian languages. But will the dubbed version becomes a hit as well? Only time will tell. But sometimes, the producers and distributors are pleasantly surprised when the dubbed versions earn more name, fame and money than the original.


Producer Shyam Prasad Reddy has decided to dub the mega budget graphical extravaganza Arundhati in Tamil. The film has not broken records and created new ones. So it is no surprise that Tamil production houses are queuing up with offers running in crores to acquire the Tamil dubbing rights of Arundhati. But the producer still has to decide if he will release the dubbed version himself or sell the rights.


The dubbed version is planned for a February 20th release.




Krishnam Raju concerned for Prabhas' safety



Prabhas' new film, the Telugu remake of the Tamil hit Billa (2008) is progressing at a brisk pace. Anushka's all set to wow audiences with her bikini act and Namitha is reprising her role in the Telugu version too. But more than acting in the slick production and giving a new interpretation to Ajith's role as Billa, Prabhas is excited about acting with his uncle, Krishnam Raju, describing it as one of the greatest moments of his life.


Krishnam Raju, a very famous action star in the 1980s and 1990s, was apprehensive as he watched nephew Prabhas perform some risky stunts. He said that he was 'petrified' as he watched Prabhas risk his life, forgetting that he himself had done much more daring stunts in his heyday!


Prabhas plays the ruthless Billa while Krishnam Raju plays the cop assigned to nab him.




Courtesy: http://telugu.galatta.com/

POISON

Poison starring Rajeev Kanakala, Nagendra Prasad, Sindhu Tulani

Banner : Joshika Sai Lakshmi Films

Name of the film : Poison

Main cast : Rajeev Kanakala, Nagendra Prasad, Sindhu Tulani, Suhasini, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, MS, AVS, Srinivasa Reddy, Mumaith Khan, Geeta Singh, Melkote, Vasu Inturi, Sattana and others

Music : Chandralekha

Producer : D Ramesh Babu

Director : Phani Raju

Sequel to Arya

Sequel to Arya

It is learnt that producers Aditya Babu and Bhogavalli Prasad are making a sequel to Allu Arjun's super duper hit Arya which met with huge success in the box office. Allu Arjun is retained as the hero in the role of a software engineer. While Anu Mehta was the heroine of Arya, Kajal Aggarwal has been selected to play the leading lady in Arya 2.

Arya was the debut movie of director Sukumar and he is directing Arya 2 too. The shooting is planned in Annapurna Studios.

Arya, which was released in 2004, is Allu Arjun’s second movie and its success made him a star. Apart from him, Siva Balaji also played a pivotal role in the film.

Mohan Babu in Mesthri

Mohan Babu in Mesthri

Mesthri, also spelled Meistry, starring Dasari Narayan Rao and directed by Suresh Krishna, is fast nearing completion. Mohan Babu is powerful in his role of a Dalit leader and he appears onscreen for around 15 minutes.

The scenes involving Mohan Babu are being filmed on a lavish scale with a budget of Rs. 3 crores. Insiders say that these scenes are crucial for the movie’s plotline. Sri Hari also has an important role in the film, which is planned for release during Sankranthi.

Mesthri, conceptualized as a political satire, will definitely bring a lot of mileage for Dasari Narayan Rao who along with Mohan Babu, are Congress sympathizers. Political watchers expect a celluloid war between Chiranjeevi’s camp and Dasari in the coming months before the elections.

Shriya on Kamal and Shankar

Shriya on Kamal and Shankar

A doe-eyed beauty, a divine beauty, all these words and more come to mind when Shriya Saran’s name is mentioned. Her innocence radiating from the screen, coupled with sensuousness has sent her fans, especially men, into mindless frenzy. Recently, this delectable lady voiced her opinion on two film personalities who have influenced her in a major way.
The first personality is of course director Shankar, who directed Shriya in the biggest hit of her career, Sivaji - The Boss. Her portrayal of a loving, dedicated and above all, protective wife was very subtle and moving. She attributes this to director Shankar, whom she likens to a authoritarian who works in the best interests of the movie and the actor, ensuring that he extracts only what is necessary for the role.

Her other favourite is of course Kamal Haasan, who has turned his talents to direction with Marmayogi, which is currently in production. Kamal Haasan, who has always been able to elicit the most sensual performances from his co-stars, will be locking lips with Shriya Saran in Marmayogi. Kamal, she says, is a perfectionist and does not stint any efforts until the end-product is exactly the way he wants it -- perfect.

Well, knowing Shriya Saran’s penchant for hard work, she sure won't be grumbling about all those re-takes to get something ‘just so’.