Shekhar's talent hunt

A role in Shekhar Kammula's movie is considered a sure shot ticket to stardom in Telugu cinema.His 'Happydays' that released with fresh faces three years ago made the actors in the film stars overnight.The director who then made 'Leader' which was a blockbuster is now on a fresh face hunt for his upcoming project 'Life is beautiful'.Shekhar has come up with hoardings, tied up with radio stations and is touring colleges in search of the 'faces' for his next movie, something he did for Happydays too.Rubbishing the claims that this is to create buzz for the movie, he says, this is an honest search for the six lead pair for the movie."My next movie needs young fresh faces.They needn't be one of those six pack boys and size zero girls who are usually wanted in films.Any outgoing, energetic youngster can log on to our web site http://www.amigoscreations.com/ and send in their pictures to me. If I feel they suit the charecters in my film, they will be in. I am not looking at this as a forum to create buzz for the movie. In our state which is still obsessed with engineering and medicine kind of careers, it is still difficult to get youngsters into showbizz and this is an honest attempt to search for such fresh faces" Shekhar claims.

With Shekhar Kammula being a brand himself, why not work with established stars in the industry?Is it easier to work with freshers than the known actors?"The script demands fresh faces with no other image.If I cast the same team of Happy days, it will be called its sequel.And the actors now have a certain image that doesn't suit the charecters and hence the fresh face.In 'Leader', I worked with seasoned actors like Suhasini, Kota Srinivasa Rao et al. They give us so many variations for a shot and we can chose what we want from it.At the same time, it is tough to get the freshers to be camera friendly and train them.Everything has its pros and cons.It is just that the script of Life is beautiful demands new faces and hence the search" he clarifies. The ace director whose filmogrpahy has all blockbuster hits and is now a mascot of urban Telugu cinema is not bothered about him being branded as a director who makes cinema for urban youngsters. He says the acceptance of urban cinema is increasing since there are mutliplexes coming up everywhere.

"It is not a concious effort to make cinema for certain audience. I just write the script and make movies. For me cinema is not business equation, it is my passion and a medium to tell a story.I don't do cinema for number games or for monetary satisifaction. When I made 'Anand' my audience were say 15 lakh people and then Happydays was watched by about 1 crore audience.I can clearly see the increase in the number of audience for my movies which means there is an increasing acceptance of urban cinema.Besides, the number of multiplexes are also on the rise.'Urban' stories are not concious deciscion at all. It just happens" Shekhar's movies are a genre Telugu cinema has never seen before. His films don't have murderous villains or cliched comedy tracks.They have no gravity defying fights or vulgur romance.Will we ever get to see a typical mass masala film from Shekhar?"I don't do movies which patronise heroes where the audience see the hero more than the charecter.I will certainly do action movies in the future with an established star" he assures.

With no flops in his career and all his movies being box office hits, expectations are huge on his films.Shekhar says he keeps the pressure factor at bay since he makes movies for the love of the medium than to be number one in the industry."Success doesn't get to my head since I know that audiences tastes keep changing and there is no guarentee for success of my films.So far my movies didn't fail.There is pressure on me but since I make cinema for passion and not for business, I don't let it affect me" the director concludes.

Allu Arjun to wed Telangana girl

Actor Allu Arjun is reportedly all set to tie knot with K Sneha Reddy, the daughter of K C Shekhar Reddy, chairman of SCIENT engineering college in Ibrahimpatnam. Sources from Allu family confirmed that the talks were on between them and Mr Reddy's family for the past one month. Public relations manager of Allu family "We have been talking to them since the past one month. The couple were seeing each other for more than an year now" confirmed a source in the family on condition of anonymity. Interestingly the actor had told just six months ago that he will marry a girl chosen by his parents and that they want him to get married soon.


The Allu family has agreed to Arjun's deciscion to marry Sneha but sources say that the girl's parents have an issue over the alliance which is why things are getting delayed. Mr K C Shekhar Reddy, the father of Sneha however, said that they have not taken any deciscion on the proposal yet."TV news channels have no other news. They have been telecasting about this as if everything is confirmed. We are from an agricultural family from Nalgonda district in Telangana and they are from film industry which are totally different . The proposal has come from Allu family but we haven't taken the deciscion on this yet. There are many marriage proposals to my daughter and this if one of them.It is shocking to see TV channels report that my daughter is going to get engaged to him even as things are not finalised" Mr Reddy told this correspondent.


However, news channels and a few film websites have even reported that Allu Arjun and Sneha would get married in the engineering college premises owned by Mr Reddy in another two months.Shekhar Reddy's family hails from Nagarjuna Sagar in Nalgonda district and has been operating SCIENT educational society in Ibrahimpatnam since 2001.


His daughter Sneha Reddy is also the director( academic and planning) of the college. She finished her B.Tech in electronics and communication engineering and MS in computer science from US.

Mumait ropes in actresses for her 'Southern Carnival'

Tollywood's favourite Item girl Mumait Khan who even played lead charecters in a few movies is all set to start a new entertainment firm. The actress is teaming up ten actresses from South Indian film industries to go on a whirlwind tour across South to give stage performances.Similar to the concept of 'unfogettable concerts' where Big B toured the world with his son and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, Mumait has managed to convince her star friends from the South to tour cities to give stage shows. Sources said Reema Sen, Mamta Mohandas, Bindu Madhavi,music director Devi Sri Prasad known for his stage shows are likely to be roped in. A source close to the actress tells us that Mumait Khan will also launch her entertainment firm which will produce the shows for these shows titled 'Southern Carnival' .This is the first time, actresses in such number from South will tour together to perform on one stage. "There will be shows in ten cities in the next few months. To begin with there will be a show at cricket stadium in Vizag and Vijayawada starting next month.

The two and a half hour live show will be telecast on TV later. Since Mumait is from Mumbai and even big stars like Amitabh and Aishwarya take up stage show tours worldwide, she decided to adopt it here" said a source close to the actress. When contacted, Mumait admitted that she is launching her own entertainment firm and says she is doing so to start the culture of stage shows and in the future even produce movies and TV shows through her firm."I have decided to start my own entertainment firm 'Sugarcandy Entertainment Pvt Ltd' which will produce these shows. I started off as a stand by dancer in movies and now I have a huge fan base.I want to start my own entertainment firm to give opputunities to artistes like me with talent." Mumait confirms.

Sources confirmed that Mumait who is currently shooting for 'Nenu Naa Raakshasi' with Rana and Ileana in the lead, has grand plans to launch her firm and the Southern Carnival on a grandscale and is throwing a launch party to her Tollywood buddies in the city next week.

Actors to start Celebrity cricket league

The IPL tournament may have played bogeyman as it emptied theatres but film stars, producers and showbiz people left scared of losing audiences to the cricket craze are taking the beast by the horns. Come January and actors across Bollywood, Tollywood, the Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam film industries are set to give IPL a run for its money. Reliable sources confirm that the film industries are coming together to form the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL).
Raadan pictures, Sprint Telefilms and a few corporate bodies will make up CCL Pvt Limited with city based Vishnu Induri as the co-founder. CCL will have five teams — one each for Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood and Sandalwood with teams of actors representing their respective industries playing the CCL T-20 challenge.
By the first week of December, there will be a bidding for franchises to own these celeb teams. Of the bidding amount, 60 percent will go towards the fees of the actors association of each film industry, who will ensure their actors play in the matches.
The rest of the amount will go as remuneration to the ‘star’ cricketers.
Sources say, unlike in IPL, there will no auction of players as it might hurt the ‘egos’ of the stars. Franchises will choose their team in concordance with the actor associations. They also suggest that the Kannada film artistes’ association and Tamil Nadigar Sangham have already agreed to send their actors for the CCL. In Bollywood a big superstar is planning to take on the responsibility of getting the stars together and even purchasing the Bollywood team. The Tollywood and Kollywood Movie Artistes’ Associations have yet to confirm their participation.
Vishnu Induri the co-founder of CCL confirmed the inception of Celebrity Cricket League Pvt Ltd, “I’ve had this plan a long while and with the success of IPL, we decided to form Celebrity Cricket League. We will soon be making an official announcement.”
Industry sources say, the actors will not have a problem with the match schedules as the matches will only be held on six days a year.
“Cinema and cricket are the two most powerful religions in India and the combo will work magic. It will help actors expand their market as people from across the country will watch these matches,” said a source.
Once the bidding is done in December and star players from the five industries are confirmed, the matches will take place and also be telecast on regional channels and a national channel too.
Of the money got through bidding, 40 per cent will go towards expenses and the rest will go towards remuneration of stars and as fee to the actors associations.
Actor Ambarish, president of the Kannada actors association has confirmed the participation of Kannada and Tamil stars. “Once we get the confirmation from Tollywood and Kollywood, we will start the bidding process” informed Mr Srinivas Moorthy, director, CCL Pvt Ltd told this correspondent.
With actors coming together to play cricket from most powerful film industries in the country, it is sure to be bigger hits than their movies themselves.

News channels mockered in cinema!!

The sudden rise of TV media and 24/7 news channels has not just revolutionised the broadcasting scenario in the country, but also given a host of ideas to our filmmakers who are making movies with the TV media as a base. The way news is reported and hyped, the craving for TRPs and the pressure and vulnerabilities of the TV crew, all lend themselves to perfect script material for our writers and directors.

Be it Rann, Peepli live or several Telugu movies which have had spoofs on the TV media — news channels and their programmes are being spoofed in cinema. From RGV to Aamir Khan, everyone now seems to want to pick on the TV media. “Osama Bin Laden, Google, mobile phones and round the clock news channels were the biggest impact makers on our lives in the last decade. The way these channels function make for great humour and since people watch news, they relate to this subject. Which is why Ram Gopal Varma was fascinated with the idea of making a movie on them,” says Madhu Manthena, the producer of Rann.

Tollywood made an early debut into comedy skits with live shows on TV channels that are satires on news programmes. Comedians Venu and Venky frequently perform the Kukatpally lo Kukka — a skit on how news channels make a hue and cry about a dog’s tail.” Our act on how a TV reporter makes a hue and cry over a dog’s crooked tail was very well received. People attributed it to a few channels,” says comedian Venu.

Movies like Sainikudu, Pokiri and Neninthe had comedians playing reporters eager to get scoops. Ravi Teja played a TV reporter in Aanjaneyulu that released a few months ago. Sources say an upcoming film starring Vishnu Manchu and Taapsee too has a spoof on TV media. Tollywood’s ace director Puri Jagannath who is popular for his comic sub-plots on news channels in his movies wanted to make a movie on the same subject, but not many actors were willing. Sources claim that Ram Gopal Varma’s Telugu movie after a gap of 12 years, Katha-Screenplay-Direction-Appal Raju has a comic track against news channels.

Film critic P Sarath Kumar opines that the over-reporting of TV channels is giving directors a chance to pick on them. “Directors want to settle scores with the paparazzi. Both are equally powerful media and to pick on one another is not a very healthy situation,” Sarath says.

Heroes caught in 'image' trap

This year has been better for Tollywood than last year, but producers have suffered greater losses this year. Sources from the industry confirm that Singanamala Ramesh, who produced Komaram Puli starring Pawan Kalyan, and Khaleja starring Mahesh Babu, both box office duds, left the producer with a loss of Rs 30 crore!

Nagarjuna’s Kedi went unnoticed, and Venkatesh’s Namo Venkatesha managed to break even with difficulty. Producers who mortgaged all their property to make movies with Mahesh Babu and Pawan Kalyan, who haven’t had releases for the past three years, are in deep debt now.
Directors attribute poor story lines, over confidence and the ‘image’ trap of the stars as reasons for such big flops. The industry has lost `100 crore on big star movies this year. Pawan Kalyan’s movie cost Rs35 crore and barely managed to collect Rs15 crore and Mahesh Babu’s Khaleja with a budget of `40 crore couldn’t collect more than `25 crore. Big stars in Tollywood are taking years to churn out clichéd, unwatchable, predictable movies costing exorbitant amounts that lead to bankruptcy of the producers when they fail to make good.

Of the 83 movies that hit the screens this year, three were hits and six managed to break even, which is not a great success ratio, say film experts. While Simha, Maryadaramanna, Yem Maya Chesave , Darling, and Betting Bangarraju were hits, films such as Jhummandi Nadham, Leader, and Bindaas managed to break even. Dubbed movies such as Robot, Yuganiki Okkadu, Yamudu and Awara raked in more moolah than the big movies of Tollywood.

“Story lines are very weak and there is nothing new in these films. Big stars are not accessible to innovative new directors and only agree to do films with directors who are their close friends. This is costing the producer a bomb and the movies are bombing at the box office,” says director Jaya.Junior NTR, who recently released Brindavanam, which only barely managed to break even thanks to lack of competition, said that he wants to do a different kind of cinema to avoid being caught in the image trap but he can’t come out of that trap.“I will only do movies that suit an image. I can’t step out of it completely. I will try to do innovative roles only within the boundaries of my image,” NTR says, a sentiment typical of the big heroes of Tollywood who won’t try innovative movies. Sources say that these actors are mislead by their coteries to guess what their fans want. This traps them in an image that is proving to be Tollywood’s bane. Unlike the Tamil film industry, which is open to innovation, Telugu heroes refuse to do out-of-the-box movies.

“Producers are being taken for a ride by a few heroes and directors. Producers blindly believe in top heroes and top directors and spend crores on their movies. The output is a movie with a predictable plot and no value for money. Why will the audience come to such films?” says Sreedhar Reddy, director of Snehageetham.Though many industry personalities share the opinion that Tollywood is bleeding due to excess hero-domination and lack of creativity, they shy away from going on record to say so for fear of the consequences in an industry where sycophancy rules.

Tollywood's fight for survival

“If the president of Telugu Film Producers Council doesn’t sign the unanimous resolution, we will all sit for an indefinite hunger strike” reads an SMS sent in bulk to thousands of people in showbiz, media and anyone who is even remotely associated with Tollywood.
It is a sign of the struggle going on in the film producers’ council. The Telugu film industry is currently divided into two groups: one is the A-league film makers who own a huge number of theatres and have half-a-dozen actors in their family, and the other is small movie makers who make films on a budget of less than Rs 5 crore and struggle to get theatres to screen their films. The fight between these two groups in the Telugu Film Producers’ Council led to the resignation of Mr Shyam Prasad Reddy, the president of the Council on October 14.


Trouble had been brewing in the council for long but it broke into the open when the council unanimously passed a resolution a month ago, requesting the government to reduce ticket prices of theatres, cut shooting location charges by 75 per cent, make it mandatory for theatres to screen small budget movies for at least 16 weeks and restrict screening of dubbed movies to 50 theatres in the state.


However, the president of the council, Mr Reddy, did not sign the resolution giving rise to allegations that he was partial to big film makers who own theatres, and was ultimately forced to quit.
“All producers unanimously passed the resolution to restrict dubbing movie releases; English movies can’t be dubbed and entertainment tax should be increased on dubbed movies. Mr Reddy didn’t sign the resolution or send it to the government. He couldn’t walk the tight rope between the small movie makers and A-league film makers and so he resigned,” said a producer on condition of anonymity.


Allegations of acting like a ‘mafia’ by holding hundreds of theatres for themselves and charging exorbitant rents have been levied against Suresh Babu, Allu Aravind et al. The principal demand of small budget movie makers is that theatre rents are too high, amounting to roughly Rs 350 crore every year, which is 40 per cent of the box office collection, leaving very little for the producers themselves. Small movie makers allege that the resolution has not been sent to the government because most of the theatres are owned by a few big names in Tollywood who want things to continue as they are. To make matters worse, the president of the Film Producers’ Council ordered that members should not talk to the media on these issues, and if they do, they will be suspended from the council for six months.



Irked by the threat of suspension, the small budget movie makers started a ‘Save Telugu film industry’— campaign with a blog on the alleged atrocities of big film makers and the bulk sms campaign asking people to save the industry.
“It is shocking to ask small producers not to talk to the media. Power in the Telugu Film Producers’ Council, which has over 600 members, is vested in the hands of a few. Ever since the multiplexes raised ticket prices from Rs 100 to Rs 150, these big shots want to increase ticket prices in stand-alone theatres, too, from Rs 50 to Rs 75, which will kill small budget cinema. They suspended me because I spoke to the media about the ‘mafia’ in the film industry. A few families in the industry are destroying it and so we started the campaign against them,” Mr Nattikumar, joint secretary of the council, told the media.


“We want the theatres to follow a revenue-sharing percentage system on the tickets sold per show in the place of the rental system. We are also being blackmailed by a few big film producers to stop our demands. The council failed to protect the interests of small movie makers,” says Jaya, a director who is actively fighting to fulfil the demands of small movie makers.
It is also being held against the Producers’ Council that it did not intervene in the controversy over the title of the film Khaleja though small time producer Vijayabhaskar Reddy had registered the title much before Mahesh Babu poached it for his film. The top film makers rubbish all these allegations.

Daggubati Suresh Babu, who has taken hundreds of theatres on lease and is said to be charging high rents for the past several years, claims that it is not big versus small movie makers, but successful versus unsuccessful movie makers in Tollywood.
“The rents of theatres in the state are lower than in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. If these film makers make unwatchable movies and accuse us of acting like a mafia and charging high rents, it is baseless. We are charging `10 per ticket in theatres for 20 per cent of the seats as per government norms. What is the harm in increasing the rates of tickets for other sections in the theatre? These are allegations being made by unsuccessful movie makers against successful ones. None of the producers alleging lack of theatres or losses due to high rents have ever made a sensible and watchable film,” declares Suresh Babu.


With actors confined to their work and a leadership crisis in the industry, Tollywood is out on the streets waging a war with itself in the name of ‘survival’.

Plastic hero on experimental mode!!

Fans call him fantastic, detractors say he’s plastic but seven years (and some cosmetic surgeries) after his debut, you have to admit, Allu Arjun has a niche. A commercially viable star, Bunny as he is fondly called, just starred in Vedam, touted to shatter the typical commercial Telugu formula. Arjun says he acted in this multi-starrer hoping to create a new facet to parallel Telugu cinema, “Last year, all the Tamil hits didn’t follow the typical four-fights-five-songs formula. My heart will always beat for commercial cinema but there is a need for T’wood to create a new segment to create new audiences. Bollywood had Om Shanti Om and A Wednesday and both were hits. It’s imperative to foster that sort of movie making culture in Tollywood.”

His popularity in Malayalam had him christened ‘Mallu Arjun’. Apparently, he’s set his sights on the Tamil film industry. He nods, “I am talking to Tamil filmmakers. I would like to be popular in all the South Indian languages.”

In an attempt to focus on the quality of his films, Bunny is working in only two films a year. He reinvents himself for each film and while he’s currently learning martial arts from Vietnamese experts, he has also been practising the art of lip-locking if his last three films are anything to go by. Inspired by Kamal Haasan? “Every kiss in my movie is justified,” he chuckles, “All the lip-locks were imperative, the story wouldn’t have taken a new turn if the heroine kissed me on the cheek!”
Despite being the senior actor, Arjun maintains that his cousin (and Chiranjeevi’s son) Ram Charan Tej will always be number one to his number two. “I know I’m not the best dancer or actor and there are many who are more talented. I am what I am today because Chiranjeevi supported me. There is no competition between Charan and me. My position will remain after Charan” he says in filmy style.

refutes rumours of ego hassles with Manchu Manoj on Vedam (apparently forcing Manoj to be credited as a ‘special appearance’), “I don’t have an attitude at all. Manoj and I have no issues; we gave interviews together. I did Vedam to break the perception that heroes clash during multi-starrers.”

Rumoured to be getting hitched soon, Arjun confesses that the lookout for his bride is on, “Because my parents and I are looking for all the same qualities in a girl, I am sure we will find my bride soon. Marriages don't work on deadlines and I will get married when I get a suitable girl.”

T'wood's 'Red' renaissance

If there is one thing Tollywood film makers are good at it is taking ‘inspiration’ from elsewhere. Telugu cinema is not only inspired by stories, locations and songs, but also by technical advancement in the Tamil film industry too. Lately it has become obsessed with the ‘Red’ digital camera with over a half a dozen movies using it, saving on the cost of film stock. This freedom from the worry of processing, developing and scanning the film to digital format is the reason many film makers and stars are purchasing these cameras. Kamal Haasan was one of the first actors in the South to have a Red camera and shot Eenadu with it last year. In Tollywood, RGV’s Raktacharitra, Nagarjuna’s Gaganam, Siddharth’s 180 and Telugu NRI movie Karma, which all release this season, were shot on Red. Film makers say the industry's latest obsession comes from the fact that the cost of production decreases by 40 per cent if shot digitally. Dil Raju, producer of Gaganam says that, “For new film makers who shoot with a lot of retakes, it saves immense cost on film. For a big budget movie, shooting on digital saves more than Rs 75 lakh.”

“My Hindi movie Shor is being shot on Red and we saved a lot of money on the production,” says actor Sundeep Kishan, who co-stars with Tusshar Kapoor and Senthil Ramamurthy in the film. “When digital still cameras came, people said they won't work but they are everywhere today. Soon, Red cameras will take over the industry. A small budget movie can save Rs. 30 lakh easily shooting with this camera and a quality movie can be made in Rs 1 crore since the film cost is saved.”Besides cost, shooting on digital formats saves the time, since the time taken to process and scan the film stock is saved. Actor Vishnu Manchu, whose upcoming movie will have all the commercial elements, acknowledges the decrease in the cost of making a movie if shot with Red, but says he bought four of them as the future of film making and film projectors is digital.

"The cameras with film will live for another four years at the best. The film projectors are going digital and so we tried this new camera. People couldn't tell the difference between the conventional film camera and this digital camera when I showed them the test shots," he says.Critics who watched Raktacharitra are all in admiration for the cinematography and declare that there isn't much difference in the quality even though this film was completely shot on digital. With the Red renaissance beginning, the industry is surely in for a major cinematographic change in the near future.

TDP's ire forces RGV to cut NTR scenes

Controversial film-maker Ram Gopal Varma has agreed to delete scenes featuring a character similar to N.T. Rama Rao from his latest movie Rakta Charitra, after the former chief minister’s family and the Telugu Desam created uproar about his being portrayed as a person who endorsed murders.
The Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, objected to the portrayal of NTR in the movie and others threatened to move court. Following this, RGV made a climb down and the co-producer of the movie, C. Kalyan, declared that the scenes to which the TD objected will be taken off immediately. The movie that hit the screens in three languages on Friday features Shatrughan Sinha, a thinly veiled portrait of NTR.

Vivek Oberoi promotes for RC week before his wedding

Just a week left for his wedding and Vivek Oberoi in his 'moustache' look is in the town busy promoting for his movie 'Raktacharitra' with RGV as the director.Eight years after the duo's movie 'Company' brought Vivek to limelight, he feels this movie now will go beyond the magic created by Company.

"It has been eight years since 'Company', my first movie released for which Ramu was the director. Ever since I have done 22 films and Ramu has directed many and we grew in this profession. This should obviously reflect that experience and cross the milestone created by Company, besides RC has far more wider emotional spectrum than Company" says the actor whose last few movies 'Prince', Kurbaan' et al bombed at the box office.

He maintains that there are very few films in his filmography which he is proud of and Paritala Ravi's charecter 'Pratap Ravi' in RC will certainly be one of them. Has he managed to read, research or visit Anantapur to know more about Ravi?"I went by what Ramu told me about Paritala. He was an extraordinary man who fought for the rights and justice of his people and went against the system. I watched his videos and pictures to learn his body language. I grew my moustache for the charecter and had to shave it off in between for promotion of Prince and grew it again after 45 days. Twirling my moustache has sort of become a habit for me now and am proud of the charecter I have played in this film. I had to shoot the movie in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil" Oberoi says with the confidence of bouncing back after series of flops. But what went wrong for Vivek in the last few films?

"Art is not a product which is even in all its occurences. All the paintaings of the popular painter or all the novels of the best writer may not be good. Cinema is another expression of art where a few charecters work and a few don't" he smiles. All set to tie knot to Priyanka Alwa in Bengaluru next week, the actor blushes talking about his fiance. He says Priyanka has brought stability into his life and she is 'home' for him now. Though he is not looking forward to a break immediately to go on a honeymoon as the second part of the Raktacharitra will release next month, he says this is a biggest test of his professionalism.

"Like Ramu ji said, I got married to Raktacharitra first and am fulfilling my committement towards it before I move on to my real life commitment.Marriage for me like for anyone else is the biggest milestone of my personal life. I wanted to enjoy every aspect of the marriage and the ceremonies but since it is sandwitched between the releases of two parts of Raktacharitra. It was difficult for me I am finding it to be the biggest test for my professionalism. Life for me has been a constant roller coaster ride and I have been like all other actors, under constant storm, evaluation, acceptance, rejection, judgement for my performances and opinions. Life of actor is brewing all the time for good, bad and ugly.Priyanka has brought stability and calm to me and is my home now. She is my partner, friend and is also my refugee." he talks with eyes filled with content as if he were reading a poem.

Vivek who was all praise for 'Magadheera' can't stop raving about the dedication and professionalism shown in Tollywood, something he says is absent in Bollywood.This Hyderabadi born actor who left the city at the age of three hopes the audience in the city and the state accept him in the role.

"When I was shooting for this movie near Charminar, huge crowd gathered to see the shooting and they were screaming 'Hyderabad ka shaer(tiger). I share a great relationship with AP. I had a home in Hyderabad and my aunt still lives in the city. I used to come to the city during my summer vacation. The love those bystanders gave me while shooting in old city was so genuine and I hope the rest of Andhra also shares the love and accepts me in the role" he hopes.

I want to be Number one in Tollywood

You will see a new NTR”. That’s what the actor says when asked about his upcoming film Brindavanam. NTR Junior sports an urbane look in the film, different from his earlier clichéd action movies and the actor, who completed a decade in Tollywood, says from now he will do something new in every film within the boundaries of his image. “I love movies like Kotha Bangaru Lokam and Bommarillu but I can’t do roles like that because I have an image of a commercial hero. I don’t want to be typecast, I want people to think I can be as versatile as my grandfather,” the actor says. Whether hits or flops, NTR has been doing movies for the last 10 years and he promises to continue doing so with at least three releases every year.

NTR rubbishes rumours about the release of Brindavanam being postponed to avoid competition from Mahesh Babu’s Khaleja. “Brindavanam censored on the 7th of this month and so couldn’t release it the next day due to technical issues and not to avoid competition.” In fact, there are even bets being taken in the market on which film will fare better, Mahesh’s Khaleja or NTR’s Brindavanam.

“For every movie release, we are rivals. I believe in number games. Every actor has his goals and there is nothing wrong in wanting to be number one. I will always work towards being the numero uno hero in Tollywood.”

The actor who is now engaged and is soon to get married, blushes while talking about his fiancée. “People scared me that life would change drastically post commitment but it fortunately didn’t. My fiancée is a sweet girl and lets me be what I am. The only change I find post-commitment is that I have to call her every day. My mom is the happiest person now. She was happy when her son became a successful star and is now glad that I’m going to marry someone both of us like. I wanted to marry someone who will be a good wife and a daughter-in-law. I am glad we found the girl.”

Will he take a break post marriage? “I am not getting married in December or anytime soon. We are yet to finalise the dates and it is not anytime before December this year. I will not take any break and my wedding won’t affect my work at all,” he says.
Last year, when the actor campaigned for TDP, political observers called him the future of the party and a potential candidate to lead the party in the future. Is politics his future career plan?

“I don’t live in the future. It is all destiny. For now I am a sincere worker of TDP. I don’t know what will happen the next minute. When I finished the campaign, I met with an accident and landed in hospital. Similarly, nothing is certain about the future. For me politics is a medium of service and not a means to get publicity or money. Let us see what destiny has in store for me,” he says.

Masala movies back in action!!

Six fights, four songs, a couple of tear-jerking emotional scenes and a clichéd storyline had always defined Indian cinema. Over the last few years, however, this genre of cinema had taken a hiatus as multiplex audiences had moved on to the “Karan Johar genre” of family drama in Bollywood and college and youth-oriented stories in Tollywood. But just when we thought Indian cinema had moved on from masala films, along came Dabangg and Robot that not only re-established the might of masala films but broke all records.


Film critics and trade analysts claim that audiences in stand-alone theatres had always remained loyal to masala flicks but filmmakers like Karan Johar had started targeting audiences abroad with storylines centred on NRI families.
“Ask any film buff and he will say that he wants entertainment and wants to forget his worries for sometime. The audience want to watch desi movies but for dollars, dirhams and pounds, our movie makers shifted their focus to NRI based stories. The viewers in stand-alone theatres couldn’t connect to it. It is like trying to force a guy who has had Indian thalis all his life to have a Russian dish. The box office revenues of Dabanng and Robot prove that moviegoers are tired of “NRI” movies and want desi cinema and that the genre is evergreen,” says Taran Adarsh, Bollywood trade expert.


“Stories that are ‘thought provoking’ and full of NRI issues are saturated now and it is masala that audiences now want,” adds Adarsh.


In Tollywood too, the Balakrishna starrer Simha was a blockbuster and resurrected the actor’s dwindling career. The movie had heavy dialogues, bloody scenes, sentiment, family drama, three heroines and an item song. Just what the audiences wanted.



Since Telugu cinema over the past five years had seen exponential growth in “youth oriented stories”, the success of Simha came as a pleasant surprise to many. “Commercial cinema with fights, songs, senti scenes and family drama are always a hit. It is just that we should treat the story well and make sure that there’s something for all audiences. In Simha, we didn’t have too many lengthy dialogues and it was a hit with young audience,” says Boyapati Srinu, director of Simha.
The sc-fi Robot was made with Rs 180 crore and it has reportedly raked in Rs 205 crore worldwide over this weekend alone. Theatre owners. They inform that the audience’s tastes change every six months. “When a masala movie clicks, its collections are several times higher than a hit movie with a ‘college’ story because unlike youth-based movies, a masala movie is watched by people of all ages,” says Vijandar Reddy, senior exhibitor and member of AP Film Exhibitors Association.


“Masala films are everlasting. With masala as the premise, the sensibilities of youth should be added for it to do wonders at the box office,” says director N. Shankar.

Robot mania hits Tollywood

It seems that filmmakers are suffering from an acute case of Robot-phobia. With the Rs180-cr Rajinikanth starrer Robot slated for release this Friday, the makers of Mahesh Babu’s Khaleja and Junior NTR’s Brindavanam have postponed the release of their much-awaited films by a week.
Pushing back the release dates might actually be a good business move as all the multiplexes showing Robot are already housefull for the first five days and tickets were sold out within an hour online.
While no where near the mega budget of Robot, Mahesh Babu’s new release after a three-year hiatus was made with a budget of Rs 45 crore and Junior NTR’s Brindavanam cost a whopping Rs 30 crore.

Thota Kanna Rao, the distributor who bought the Telugu rights of ' Robot' for Rs 27 crore, can’t stop mentioning the amount spent on making this movie at every promotional event. “Rajinikanth has universal appeal and the combo of him with A.R. Rahman and Shankar makes my investment safe. We are releasing it in 500 theatres. There were so many rumours of a lukewarm response but in eight hours, 50 theatres confirmed that they would screen the movie. There are enough reasons for it to be a blockbuster,” he says.

“We are distributing Robot in the Nizam area and learnt that tickets were sold out almost immediately for the first five days. Even if other movies release in the second week, we are sure collections won’t drop as the state government has declared Dussehra holidays from October 8,” says P. Srinivas Rao, general manager of Multidimension Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Makers of Mahesh Babu’s 'Khaleja' are, however, not so confident. The producers of this movie Singanamalai Ramesh and C. Kalyan, who burnt their fingers with the recent Pawan Kalyan-starrer Komaram Puli, are hoping that Khaleja will save them from further debts. Puli was made with a budget of Rs 40 crore and barely managed to collect Rs 15 crore. Industry sources say that the producers have even mortgaged their properties for Khaleja and are praying that it will be a hit that will bail them out.

Even the usually reclusive Mahesh Babu is aggressively marketed the film with whirlwind visits to radio stations, chatting with fans and tweeting with a vengeance.
“Ours is a big budget movie which will release in 500 theatres. We are banking on the movie for its story and hope audiences will help us break even. Recently, Puli bombed at the box office though it was Pawan Kalyan’s release after so many years. However, we are sure ' Khaleja' will do better not because it is Mahesh’s release after years but because the movie itself is appealing,” says C. Kalyan.

Junior NTR’s 'Brindavanam' too is releasing in the second week of October. The actor reportedly charged Rs 8 crore for the movie that also stars Kajal Agarwal and Samantha. With a budget of Rs 30 crore, most of which went in paying hefty fees to the actors, it will be a wonder if producer Dil Raju manages to break even especially taking into account that the movie’s audio and trailers have failed to evoke much interest.

“Junior NTR will be seen by his fans in a new avatar in this movie. It is a blend of class and mass characters. All I hope is that it will be a hit for the actor in his career,” says Dil Raju, not dwelling further on finances.
But till Khaleja and Brindavanam releases, it is going to be Boom Boom Robot da Robot da... all the way.