Salman now owns the B'wood cricket team!!

Bollywood studman Salman Khan who in the pinnacle of his career now thanks to the box office hits of 'Wanted' and 'Dabanng' is all set to own a cricket team. No, he is not investing in IPL but in CCL, the Celebrity cricket league where Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood, Mollywood and Sandalwood will have a team for each and stars from each of these film industries will play against the other.

Reliable sources confirmed that Sohail Khan entertainment has already agreed to own the Bollywood team and Salman will lead the Bollywood star brigade which is likely to include Sohail,Arbaz, Suniel Shetty, Sonu Sood et al.The official announcement of Salman owning a team will be out next week and the star is said to have given a written agreement to purchase the Bollywood star cricket team already. Confirmed news is that while there will be bidding for the franchisees of other film industries, Bollywood team is reserved for Salman and it is not up for auction.

"The firm is registered in Sohail's name but Salman is grouping his friends in B-town to be a part of this star cricket team.Salman loves the game and plays with his brothers and friends quite often. He will announce his ownership of the team next week" said a source from Bollywood who is close to the actor.

While Tamil film industry, Kannada and Malayalam film actors associations have already agreed to send their actors to the CCL matches, Tollywood's Movie Artistes' Association is yet to give a writen consent on sending Telugu actors to these matches filled with glitz and glamour.Even as T-wood's MAA is yet to give its nod to its stars,
actors Kajal Agarwal, Mumait Khan, Junior NTR are being approached by corporate companies to form a consortium to be the T'wood's franchisee.


"We were approached by a few to invest in CCL which will start soon. We are yet to finalise the details. Kajal is shooting and is busy. Once she is back,we will take a final call on our investment in CCL" said Vinay Agarwal, mother of actress Kajal.

Tollywood's favourite item girl Mumait Khan who recently started her own entertainment firm Sugarcandy entertainment pvt limited was also consulted for investments into CCL. The actress who is busy hosting Southern carnival stage shows soon too says she will think over it.

"I have just started my firm and I am exploring all oppurtunities in entertainment industry including this CCL. We are starting off with stage shows now. I am in touch with a few friends who are interested in CCL. Will take a deciscion soon" Mumait said.

A litle birdie tells us that a corporate firm has even contacted Junior NTR to join them in being the franchisee to bid for Tollywood team and the actor is seriously considering trying his luck. Talks are on between Chiranjeevi and Daggubati family to come together to form a franchisee too.


While Kannada actor Sudeep is already declared the captain of Kannada actors team, Tamil superstars Suriya or Vijay are likely to be the captains of Kollywood team.
Yesteryear actress Radika Sarathkumar who operates the Raadan pictures is investing in CCL.

"A lot of actors are excited about investing in CCL and being a part of it. We will announce the names next week. A few actors might come together and bid for the team and a few are tying up with corporates to bid for Tollywood team.The franchisee will get 100 per cent of the ticket collections of the matches held in home ground, 7.5 per cent of ad revenue from TV broadcast. The bidding begins at Rs 25 crore for a 10 year ownership of the team.We will be officially launching it in Mumbai next week and the matches will be held between star teams in January" confirmed Vishnu vardhan Induri, co-founder CCL Pvt Ltd.

With Salman entering the stadium and south stars coming together to invest in the franchisees, CCL is surely going to unfold crickentertainment giving IPL a run for its viewership.

Stars avoid clubbing after drug menace!!

Tollywood's young brigade of stars maintained a perfect blend of work and pleasure by shooting all day and let their hair down by night at city's night clubs untiil not so long ago. Ever since actor Raviteja's brothers Raghu and Bharat were caught by the city police red handed buying drugs followed by hour long discussions on news channels and pages of news print spent on accusing the actor community of being drug addicts, most young stars are avoiding clubbing in the city like plague.Once ferocious party animals Allu Arjun, Navdeep, Raja, Subbaraju, Sharwanand, Mumait Khan, Rana et al are now barely seen in night clubs. While party goers fume at lack of glam quotient in night clubs, stars prefer to stay aloof than be branded as 'bad boy' or 'drug' user.

"I have good friends in Tollywood and make it a point to catch up with them whenever I am in the city. But ever since the night clubs have come under scanner for allegedly being hubs for drug usage, I am avoiding them.The news reports of all stars being the same was uncalled for. To avoid being branded, most of my actor friends don't party at clubs any more. I also feel that if we are seen partying too much in our hometown, we are not taken seriously" says actress Sanjana an avid party animal candidly.

Yet another actor seconds Sanjana on condition of anomyity,

"I wasn't in the city when the whole drug issue hit the headlines. But even abroad, I heard about it and there too people were asking me if it is true that all Telugu actors are into drugs. To my horror, anyone who is even remotely seen partying was branded as a drug user. I thought it is not good to be seen clubbing as that image created by news stories hasn't faded away yet" .


Worse, a few night clubs in the city are raided post midnight by police, narcotics officials and more to check for any drug users.The stars say though they are 'clean', there is always a chance of being entangled in unwanted trouble despite their innocence. When an actor called for a party recently at a night club over the weekend, hardly any of his T' wood buddies turned up, thanks to fear of being branded as drug user or bad boy.That apart, most heroes in the industry come from powerful film families and wouldn't like to see their son's rising film career flicker due to 'party boy' image.

"Ever since Bharat and Raghu were caught, actors are being branded as people with no values which is sad. Any generalisation is not true. But many actors think it is better to avoid clubbing than being 'branded' as party animal. I am not clubbing often in the city because most of my friends in the industry don't club as frequently as before" admits Mumait Khan who is a self proclaimed party animal.


"It was raining stars in our night clubs before. But ever since the episode, we hardly see them in our club.Ocassionally one or two actors drop in over the weekends but it is nothing like how they use to turn up earlier" says co-promoter of a popular night club.

While night clubs are strict no-no with stars now, house parties are a hit big time among young T'wood junta. They are proving to be strong alternative party zones to them. Gather at a star's place or a director's office post shoot and party all night is T'wood's newest party format.Safer, the actors now don't feel the need to worry as there are no papparazies eyeing them or onlookers judging them for sipping a glass of wine. Young stars are huddling in their friends places which they say ensures them their exclusivity.

"I wasn't in the town luckily when actor's names were flashed in TV channels randomly alleging them of being involved in drugs. That episode has changed our partying venue from regular night clubs to other places. It is good to be partying in friend's places or decent restraunts were the murky act of shady people don't damage our image. I continue to party because I know I am clean" says Bindu Madhavi, actress who hits the dance floor regularly.


With newer venues proving safer and hassle free, T'wood's party stars are sure to give night clubs a skip for a really long time now.

Yoga works wonders for Shwetha and Hansika!

Shwetha Basu Prasad, the 'Makdi' girl who sizzled in T-town and turned a star overnight with blockbuster hits like'Kotha Bangaru Lokam' and 'Ride' vanished from the city overnight. The actress who went into hibernation post her last movie 'Kalavarking' had tongues waging in the industry with everyone speculating on her where abouts.

Shewtha had put on lots of weight and looked like an 'overgrown' child when she was last seen in the city.The actress who came back recently for a promotional event was stunning after loosing oodles of weight. Sources say Swetha lost 8 kilos in two months thanks to 'hot' yoga. Before you get any ideas, we will simplify what it is for you. The actress is believed to have taken a crash course in hot yoga back in Mumbai where she spent hours in a yoga studio with a room temperature of 45 degrees celcius in it that burnt all her excess fat and gave her a perfect body shape.

"I performed differnt postures in 45 degrees temperature and it burnt my fats faster than usual." the actress now says flaunting her slimer body.Ditto with Hansika Motwani who has lost several kilos of weight to shed her 'chubby' girl image through 'hot' yoga.Hansika who now has no movies in her kitty from Tollywood is hell bent on losing more weight to bag roles.

T'wood on 'topical' cinema mode

Run a research on a controversial personality or take up a story line that it 'it' topic now , weave a script and present it on celluloid to make the movie a 'minimum guarentee success'. The denizens of Tollywood showbiz are now tuned into topical cinema mode busy searching for long forgotten heroes of real life or inspirational movements that occured moons years ago, making it the most obvious trend in the film industry.

After RGV whose flickering career breathed a sigh with good openings for his biopic Raktacharitra-I, Nagarjuna who is craving for a hit since two years is gearing up to do a movie titled 'Rajanna' on anti-Razaakar movement in Telangana.His ready to release film 'Gaganam' is said to be mirroring the events that happened during the Khandahar flight hijack incident a few years ago. Kalyanram's recent movie 'Kathi' is one of the movies that was made on Tollywood's favourite topic-factionism. With Telangana tide rising all time high, director N Shankar is making 'Jai Bolo Telangana' on the need for seperate statehood and managed to rope in actor Jagapathi Babu for a role in it.Pawan Kalyan is swearing by the life of Jesus Christ for his next and Balaji telefilms will soon shoot a film on the real life story of yesteryear starlet Silk Smitha who commiitted suicide a few years ago in Chennai.


T-town film makers are of the opinion that movies with 'topics' that are fresh and 'in' vogue generate curiosity among audience which works magic at the box office.The classic example of this theory is they say 'Raktacharitra-I' that opened to housefuls in the state even as it was a flop in Hindi. The movie managed to impress audience in the state due to their 'connect' to the story and a curiosity factor.


"Though the audience know the real life story on the faction fued between the two families in Anantapur district, they still came to the theatres to see how RGV projected it on screen. They wanted to know if there is something more in this film about the fued that they didn't know of.If the film makers manage to sustain that public interest on the topic throughout the movie, it will do well" says Rajkumar, co-producer of 'Raktacharitra' who is hoping an equally good response from movie goers to the second part of the film hitting the screens soon.


T-town movie makers have also a rare distinction of aping the scripts that were recent blockbusters. With Raktacharitra turning out to be a success, no prizes for guessing what story lines are in demand in the industry now. A truckload of controversies that give enough free publicity cocktailed with eager audience is enough to get break even openings, directors think.


"For topical cinema, one doesn't have to invest much on publicity. The script evokes controversy or outcry from some sections of society which will grab public attention anyway." Jaya, film maker says candidly.

"Varma's next movie 'Katha-Screenplay-Darsakathvam-Appalraju' is also topical. It deals with an amatuer film makers woes in Tollywood. Such topics grab public attention faster than the cliched four fights, six songs love stories with predictable storylines.The topical cinema needs to be treated well failing which it might backfire" Sreedhar Reddy, director opines.

Ace film maker Deva Katta too is now believed to be working on script that is inspired from the real life conflict between the various trade unions in Vijayawada which will go on floors from next month.Directors say that since audience come to theatres for entertainment, it is also imperative for directors to capsule these topical scripts with a few commercial 'elements' to make it work at the box office.They remind films of director Krishna Vamsi, Shankar who chose topics like terrorism, corruption, patriotism, Naxalism and made it work at the box office before.

"My movie is on a topic that every one now talks about. Everyone knows I am making a film now because it has Telangana in its title.I have dealt with topics like factionism, naxalism et al before which did commercially well.Topical cinema is evergreen if it is treated well without being too preachy. It should be sugar coated with a few commercial aspects to do well" says N Shankar, director of 'Jai Bolo Telangana'.

If another hardhitting topical cinema does well at the box office in Tollywood, this genre is bound to stand as challenging opposition to the gravity defying commercial movies.

Saibaba's birthday forces RGV to postpone release of RC2

Ram Gopal Varma who managed to rake in moolah in Raktacharitra-I thanks to reel load of controversies the movie evoked seems to avoid them like plague in Raktacharitra-II. Though the trailers of part-II that were screened in the climax of Part-I declared that the movie will release on November 19th, Varma has postponed the release to December 3rd now. Sources close to the Varma tell us that since Godman Satya Sai Baba's birthday falls on Nov 23rd which is just four days after the release, RGV decided not to release his film on Nov 19.

Raktacharitra-II as the title suggests is filled with scenes of blood as it deals with the faction fued between the families of Paritala Ravi and Maddhelacheruvu Suri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Incidentally, since Satya Sai Baba's ashram 'Prashanti Nilayam' at Puttaparthi is also in the same district, Varma has decided to postpone the release of the film to avoid any untoward disturbance to Baba and his devotees on his birthday in his district.

"The second part of Raktacharitra has very high expectations because the story in this part is more recent occurence that the first part. Besides, Tamil Superstar Suriya is acting in this part. The people in Anantapur are polarised between the two faction groups and if the story of the movie doesn't suit their affiliation towards their group, they might turn violent. This is surely going to disturb the birthday celebrations of Satyasai Baba as his ashram is in the same district" said a source on condition of anonymity.

When contacted, the co-producer of the film Raj Kumar admitted that Baba's birthday is one of the factors for postponment of the release, the others being the release of Ramcharan Tej's 'Orange' in the same week and post-production work of the movie.

"A few have brought to our notice that the release of RC-II is closer to the date of Baba's birthday.Besides, Ramcharan's 'Orange' is releasing in the same week which will leave us with fewer theatres to release our film. Since Charan's 'Magadheera' was a blockbuster, it is obvious that exhibitors are keen to screen his film. Also the post-production work of Raktacharitra-II is still in progress. The sum of all these factors forced us to delay the release of our film." Rajkumar said.

Ileana angry with RGV!!

Who doesn't like praises? And more so actresses. But Tollywood actress Ileana doesn't even when it came from popular film maker Ram Gopal Varma. RGV tweeted a week ago that Ileana is a brilliant actress and would like to make a movie with her.

He went ahead and praised her beauty. Though she wouldn't have minded until there, RGV also tweeted that Ileana is parallel to legendry actress Vyjayanti Mala Bali. This comparison drew severe ire from movie buffs following RGV on twitter. While a few replied saying Ileana can't act to save her life while others termed it a blasphemy and insult to legendry Vyjayanti Mala for comparing her to Ileana. Many jaw dropped and smirked at the tweet.

A few think it was RGV's way of provoking public ire and humiliating Ileana. The actress now feels humiliated at RGV's way of making people lash out on her acting skills.She is believed to have expressed her unhappiness to RGV on being compared to veteran actress that defamed her.

Nayanatara to play Sita!!

Actress Nayanatara who hits the headlines more often for her affair with actor-director Prabhu Deva has signed a mythological cinema 'Sri Rama Rajyam' in which she plays godess Sita. Nayan who has always played glam doll roles running around tress and damsel in distress charecters for the first time will play a charecter in a mythological movie. Sources say actor Balakrishna will play the lead role of that of Lord Sri Rama and the movie will be directed by veteran film maker Bapu.


Industry sources confirm that the movie is just a remake of blockbuster movie 'Luva Kusa' in which Balakrishna's father N T Rama Rao played the charecter of Lord Srirama and actress Anjali devi played the Sita's charecter.


However, many film makers in Tollywood are grimacing at Nayanatara being chosen to play Godess Sita's charecter, a role that was immortalised by veteran actress Anjali Devi.

"Nayan can't even render her own dialogues in Telugu. Godess Sita's charecter will have a lots of dialogues and poetic recitals. Wonder how she fits the charecter?" laughed a director on condition of anonymity. Well looks like Nayanatara has lots more to worry about now apart from the legal battles over her affair with Prabhu Deva.

After 'Duryodhana', Srikanth titles his next 'Dushyasana'

Whats with actor Srikanth and Kaurvaas? Yes you heard it right. The actor who played the lead in a movie titled 'Operation Duryodhana' with Posani Krishna Murali as director now is playing the lead in a movie titled 'Dushyasana(brother of Duryodhana) with the same director.Sources from film nagar tell us that the movie is all set to go on floors this week and has political overtones like 'Operation Duryodhana'.

Actress Sanjana is playing the lead next to Srikanth.

"This film has political overtones with powerful dialogues. Since Duryodhana's name was already used for the first film, the director thought his brother Dushyasana's name will fit the movie" said a source.

Interestingly, the movie with Duryodhana as the title was a huge controversy when it released three years ago with Telangana rashtra samithi raising objections to anti Telangana dialogues in the film.The controversy worked at the box office in the movie's favour earning the movie makers huge money.Perhaps Srikanth hopes to rake up controversies with 'Dushyasana' as the title this time.

Sneha Ullal missing from Hyderabad.

What one expects to happen to an actress after her movie breaks box office records? Get more offers, scream from the top of the roof on the success, be the most sought after brand ambassador for dozens of products and hog the limelight.But all these didn't happen to Sneha Ullal. The damsel who was imported from Mumbai after her movie 'Lucky struggled to survive in Tollywood suddenly vanished from the city six months ago after her last movie 'Simha' with Balakrishna was a blockbuster hit. Filmnagar sources say Sneha increased her remuneration phenomenally after the hit which is why she has no offers in T-town. Sneha shifted her base back to Mumbai as producers are not willing to pay her more than Rs 35 lakh.

"Sneha wanted to settle down in Hyderabad and was even in search of a nice place to buy. She even bought furniture for her place.After 'Simha' became a hit, she increased her remuneration thinking producers will pay her since her movie is a hit. Contrary to her expectations, she didn't get any roles.Dissapointed, she decided to go back to Mumbai and try her luck" said a close aide of the actress.

She is now relegated to item numbers and cameos in T'wood.

She is however believed to be telling her friends that she wanted to take a 'break' from Tollywood after the phenomenal success of 'Simha' which is why she hasn't signed anything as yet. The actress was in the town this week for a promotional do sporting the tee of Salman's 'Being human'. Now, one wonders if she really took Salman's cause seriously or is just trying to flaunt her friendship with him to lure producers here.

Shraddha says no to second leads

After Madhur Bhandarkar's Dil To Bacha Hai Ji happened to her,Shraddha refuses to accept second lead roles in Tollywood now. Shraddha who has done nine films in Telugu had to confine herself to second lead charecters where hero dumps her for a senior heroine or heroine's friend et al. Ever since her Hindi film' Lahore' won critical acclaim and national award and she bagged a role in Madhur's film, Shraddha is strict no-no to second leads in T'wood.She is overwhelmed at Madhur's movie and can't stop raving about it. She played a role in Venkatesh's 'Nagavalli' which has five heroines and that hereafter she will not act in a movie as second lead at all.


"I am playing a lead role in Bollywood movie and it will be stupid on my part to take up second leads in Tollywood. I am not going to accept any blink and miss roles or second leads anymore. I will do only main lead in Telugu hereafter" she declares.

The actress reportedly plays an RJ who wants to be an actress in Madhur's film. She is all excited about the movie's first trailers that will be out next month and the movie that will hit the screens in January.

Mohanbabu tweets!!

What does one do when one completes 35 years of debut into film industry? Cut cakes, throw a party, get falicitated, do charity or at best launch ones own postal stamp by the government. It wouldn't be Mohanbabu if he did any of those. The actor and former MP joined twitter on eve of completing 35 years in the industry raising quite a few eyebrows in Filmnagar.Mohanbabu is known for his powerful punch dialogues on screen and he often uses them even in his real life which make for great entertainment. He has openly challenged the dominance of Chiranjeevi in Tollywood and also against Telangana activists in the city. With his entry into twitter, he has become the senior most artiste from Tollywood to be tweeting. Though the first few tweets on @themohanbabu were non controversial, his strong likes and dislikes, his opinions on industry, heroes and actors is bound to be sensational.

Sources say though he considered several titles for his twitter debut , he decided to go with his name. We hear, his staff assists him put up his opinions on ongoing issues, his life, cinema, his children and film industry politics.

His daughter and actress Laxmi Manchu, daughter in law Viranica Manchu were overwhelmed with his deciscion start tweeting and tweeted a welcome to him. Industry expects a few sensational revealations, fights, accusations and past experiences from him now that he has a platform.