Telugu news: 17 MLAs abstain from Chiru’s birthday celebration

Praja Rajyam Party president and mega star Chiranjeevi celebrated his birthday on Saturday at his residence and the party office in Hyderabad, but about 17 legislators in his party (except K. Kanna Babu and Ganta Srinivas Rao) did not attend the celebrations. Party leaders explained they were busy organising the birthday celebrations in their respective constituencies and hence could not attend the function at Hyderabad.

Legislators' absence has an immense significant in this present political scenario of Praja Rajyam Party with a section of legislators reportedly advising Chiranjeevi to merge with the ruling Congress. Asked about the way forward in the wake of reports that the party would wind up and merge with the Congress, the actor said that was impossible. "I have been denying any such developments and you do not believe me," he said.

Tamil Movies : Theatre is my first love: Rajinikanth

Stage is the testing ground for entry into films, said Superstar Rajinikanth at the valedictory function of the drama festival organized by the South Indian Film Artistes' Association. “You get the satisfaction only on stage,” said Rajinikanth, recalling the days of his 25 stage plays in Bangalore.

Deeming it fortunate to be associated with great names like Sivaji Ganesan, N.T. Rama Rao and Rajkumar, Rajinikanth said he learnt the intricacies of acting in conversations with these and other worthies.

Rajinikanth said it was a proud moment when V.K. Ramasamy praised him for delivering the dialogues in the right fashion during the making of Velaikaran.

Malayalam Movies: Jyothirmayee: No repetitive roles please

Relegated to bit roles in Tamil, Jyothirmayee has turned her attention to Malayalam. With a big banner and big names – Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi in lead roles – Jyothirmayee will essay the role of a doctor in an untitled moive touted as a suspense thriller.

The lady is understandably thrilled with the whole plot revolving round her character.
On Vedigundu Murugesan and her comedy track with Pasupathi, Jyothirmayee said she had a rollicking time during the shoot. But the true reward was when her work won encomiums from audiences.

What Jyothirmayee did not bargain for was the fleet of offers, all laced with comedy. "I saw the risk of being typecast when the Malayalam offer came by providence. I will return to Tamil after finishing the Malayalam project and before signing a Kannada movie,” says Jyothirmayee of her future plans.

Tamil Gossips; Cyber Police seized Sneha morphed photos?

Cyber crime officials have captured numerous images of Sneha from her tormentor Raghavendra, who was arrested recently following a complaint from the actress. Apart from the morphed images of Sneha with him, Raghavendra was also in possession of various images of her taken apparently without her knowledge in shooting spots.

His seized mobile phone also contained messages that were sent to Sneha. The messages are being probed into for further investigations. The cyber crime officials are also planning to interrogate Sneha in this regard as part of the investigations.

Telugu Gossips: Naga Chaitanya’s Josh movie confirm on Sep 3

Release date for Nagarjuna’s son Naga Chaitanya’s Josh has been fixed. Producer Dil Raj today announced that the movie is going to hit the theatres on September 3rd. “We have completed all the shooting part and is releasing it on Sep 3rd on grand scale.

Dil Raju told the media. He also said that music has been appreciated by one and all. "Especially the title song has became a rage with youth, " he said.

Tamil Gossips: Rajnikanth depending on LTTE?

A huge salvo was thrown by Sri lankan Minister Abdul Rishad saying that Rajnikanth films like Kuselan and Endhiran are have been funded by the LTTE.He says that the funds are being diverted through a London based Tamilian who is passing on the funds to the film makers.

Though the Minister has no proofs, and these are mere allegations, such a trend if true is disturbing. On the other hand one feels that the truth may be entirely different and given the type of image that Rajnikanth holds these allegations may be entirely false.

Look out Batman, here comes Kandasamy!

N K Ekambaram, one of the leading cinematographers of the South Indian film industry is the man who shot the most awaited Tamil film, Kandasamy and the Telugu version Mallana. Kandasamy stars Vikram and Shriya Saran and is directed by Susi Ganesan.
His resume boasts of the National award-winning Iyarkai and the scientific thriller E among many other films. He is currently working on the Hindi film De Dhana Dhan and also an English film.
R G Vijayasarathy caught up with Ekambaram to discuss his work in Kandasamy which is releasing on August 21.

Next, 'Sona Ka Swayamvar'

Days after Rambha announced that she would conduct a TV 'swayamvar' a la Rakhi Sawant to find her bridegroom, Kollywood siren Sona has come out with a similar announcement.
The item dancer says that she has been approached by a TV channel to do a show, tentatively titled 'Sonavin Swayamvaram'.
"I love to do the show since it sounds like lots of fun. Wait for a while... there will be a sweet surprise waiting for Tamil audiences...," says Sona, one of the most sought after item dancers in Kollywood.
The actress, who became a sensation in Tamil films with her bold costumes in films such as 'Pathu Pathu', has five films on hand. Her recent release 'Azhagar Malai' has her in a bikini.

In Pics: 'Thillalangadi' movie launch

The launch of Jayam Ravi's 'Thillalangadi', a remake of the Telugu superhit 'Kick', was held at AVM Studios on August 19. Ilaiya Thalapathi Vijay sounded the clap and Shankar directed the first shot.
Karthi and director Ramanarayanan were among the dignitaries who graced the occasion.
The film is being directed by Jayam Raja, the elder brother of Ravi. The female lead of the film is Tamannaah. Shaam will essay the same role he did in the Telugu original. Suhasini, Prabhu and Mansoor Ali Khan are among the cast of the film.
Click on, to see snaps of the glittering function...

'Kandhasamy' Reloaded

The anxious wait is finally over: The first official superhero of the South, 'Kandhasamy', will hit cinemas, this Friday, August 21. The Susi Ganesan film stars Chiyaan Vikram and Shriya Saran in the lead; it promises to be a spectacular action extravaganza shot in a scale on par with any hollywood superhero film.
Here are a few stunning snaps from the mega entertainer!

Karthi in 'Naan Mahan Allai' remake

Paruthiveeran Karthi will play the lead in the remake of Rajnikanth superhit 'Naan Mahan Alla'. Susindran of 'Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu' fame will be the director.
Kajal Agarwal, who stars in the Telugu blockbuster 'Magadheera', is the female lead.
Gnanavelraja's Studio Green is the producer andSR Prakash Babu and SR Prabhu are the co-producers. The shooting is expected to begin on September 4. Yuvan Shankar Raja will score the music; Mathi is the cameraman.
Three years after the release of the nationally acclaimed 'Paruthiveeran', Karthi is still awaiting his second release. Lingusamy's 'Payya' and Selvaraghavan's 'Aayirathil Oruvan' are expected to be released soon.

Hot Kiran Rathod loves a 13-year-old boy...

Kollywood hottie Kiran Rathod plays a 30-year-old woman who falls in love with a 13-year-old boy in Aishwarya Films' latest venture. Directed by Narasimha Nandi, the movie also stars Gundu Hanumantha Rao, Tilak, Ragini, Rajitha, Jenny, Gowtham Raju, Mallika, Chandra, Sudharasan and Ranga...Click on, for exclusive stills from the movie!

Shruthi Haasan in Simbu flick?

Shruthi Haasan may be paired up with Silambarasan in his forthcoming flick, 'Valiban'.
The rumourmills in Kollywood say that Simbu has offered the female lead role to Kamal's daughter and she has not refused the role. They add that 'Valiban' is just the new name of 'Poda Podi', a film Simbu had planned with Sarathkumar's daughter Varalakshmi as the heroine. The project, to be directed by Simbu himself, was shelved as Vaalakshmi backed out of it.
Shruthi debuted in films with the Bollywood flick 'Luck', co-starring Inraan Khan in the lead. Though the film was a flop at the B.O., her performance came in for great praise from one and all.
The multi-talented Shruthi, who is composing the music for her father's bilingual 'Unnai Pol Oruvan' ('Ee Naadu' in Telugu), is being flooded with offers from Tamil.

Jayam Ravi forays into Bollywood

Jayam Ravi’s forthcoming release Peranmai has been in the making for quite a while now.

The film, which is being directed byJananathan has some tricky fight sequences and was shot extensively in forests delaying the project even further.

When a Hindi film producer came to know of Peranmai through his sources he decided to lap up the film’s rights even before it is released in Tamil.

However, the director and the producer of Peranmai disclosed the difficulties in remaking the film and advised the Bollywood producer to dub the film. The final outcome of this discussion is yet to be known.

Nayan laps up another biggie

Nayanthara, in all probability, will star in Electra, a Malayalam film. Talks are on with Arya to play Nayan’s pair in the film.

With the actress desperately needing a success to sustain in the race among the leading actresses in the southern circuit,

this film could just do the trick. Apparently, Electra is inspired from a Greek play and is heroine oriented.

Sources say that Nayan is keen on working in this project and is reshuffling her dates to accommodate the film. Electra will be directed by Shyama Prasad and produced by Vindhyan.

Sneha’s marriage proposal

Sneha’s recent complaint to the Commissioner of Police T Rajendran bore the desired results with her tormentor for the past six months being arrested by the cyber crime sleuths.

According to the complainant, N. Raghavendran has been harassing her by sending countless SMSs everyday proposing to marry her.

Though the actress never, responded, she once SMSed him not to disturb her to which he refused to budge.

Raghavendran, a B.Com graduate, is into real estate business in Bangalore. He had come to Chennai to sign up a land deal where he was apprehended by the police team headed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crime Cell) Dr. M. Sudhakar.

Sarath wants Dr. Kamal Haasan Road in Chennai

The Nadigar Sangam President Sarath Kumar said that the film stars would initiate the move to rename the Eldams Road as Dr. Kamal Haasan Road.

According to Sarath, renaming the road, in which the star has been living for years,

is the apt way of felicitating him on his Golden Jubilee year in Kollywood.

Sarath Kumar added that the Nadigar Sangam will petition the state government and the Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi to do the needful.

Gautham Menon shifts to Andhra

After the stupendous success of Vaaranam Aayiram, director Gautham Vasudev Menon has moved on to his next project Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya with Silambarasan and Trisha.

This project is getting completed steadily and the film will be released soon. Meanwhile, announcement about his next venture has come out and this time, it is not in Tamil but in Telugu.

There were always speculations that he would be directing Mahesh Babu. However, this time around, Gautham would wield the megaphone for the star kid Naga Chaithanya, son of Telugu star Nagarjuna. This film will be produced by actor Krishna’s daughter Manjula for Indira Productions and the music will be scored by double Oscar winner A R Rahman.

The film was launched amidst much fanfare a couple of days back in Hyderabad. Heroine is yet to be finalized. While talking at the launch Gautham said that like all his other films, this film also would be a musical fare and would be a soft romantic flick.

Mammootty: Actor of the decade

The award 'Actor of the decade' will be conferred on Mammootty during the Jai Hind Utsav Film Awards ceremony, organized by Jai Hind TV at Corporation Stadium, Kozhikode on Sunday to mark its second anniversary, said M.M. Hassan, managing director of the channel, at a press conference in Kozhikode. Other award-winners are: Dileep (producer of Twenty:20 best film); Prithviraj (best actor); Gopika (best actress); Ranjith (best director); Jayaram (most popular actor), Jagathy Sree Kumar (overall contribution to Malayalam cinema); Sreenivasan (excellence in different aspects of film-making); Siddique (second best actor); Samvruta Sunil (second best actor); G. Venugopal (best singer); Manjari (best female singer); and Lalu Alex (special award). Music programmes featuring Blaze and Vasundhara Das, dance by film actor Sweta Menon and special sessions devoted to singer Mohammed Rafi and music director Baburaj will be held. K.P. Mohanan, chief executive officer of Jai Hind TV, was also present at the press conference.

Kamal’s golden jubilee celebrations

When it comes to the achievements and contributions of Kamal Haasan, the Ulaga Nayagan to the filmdom, there will not be two opinions. Talent, intelligence, sincere, dedication, perseverance and many such adjectives only superfluously describe the artist that Kamal is. In fact, it will not be an exaggerated statement to say that the generation that has known him is certainly a blessed one. Hence it is only natural to celebrate his fifty years in films. Vijay TV has been nominated to do this and is out to launch a spate of events in the next 6 weeks. The celebrations will witness many activities across the state. This exclusive event will be one of its kind ever attempted for any star and will be carried out in various phases.

Phase 1 will have customized “Kamal Bus which would visit the film trade centers and fan clubs in Tamilnadu and Bengaluru. An exclusive photo exhibition with rare photographs from Kamal Haasan’s life will be on display on this bus. Apart from the photo exhibition, the fans, technicians and artists will sign the huge scroll that would be presented to the star. The bus leaves from Chennai and travels to Chengalpet, Pudhucheri, Villupuram, Perambalur, Tiruchi, Madurai, Paramakudi, Tuticorin, Thirunelveli, Nagercoil, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Bengaluru, Thirupathur, Vellore and Kanchipuram over a period of 12 days.

Phase 2 is called Iyal Isai Nadaga Thiruvizha that celebrates the three forms of Tamil language at three key locations in Tamilnadu i.e. in Madurai, Coimbatore and in Chennai. In Madurai, there will be a seminar on Thamizhum Kamalum which would be a literary discussion on how Kamal has made use of literature in many films. Coimbatore would have Kamalum Kaadhalum which would be a grand musical nite featuring some of the most popular evergreen hits of Kamal Haasan. Finally in Chennai, Vijay TV has planned to organize a Kamal Haasan film festival over 3 weeks in August - September in partnership with Sathyam Cinemas; showcasing some of his best movies ever.

Special On air episodes: Parallel to these on ground events at Coimbatore, Chennai and Madurai, the biography of Kamal Haasan will be aired on Vijay TV. This 16 episode series would talk about his childhood days to the current times. Phase 3 - This month long celebrations will culminate with a mega event in Chennai in the 2nd week of September when the film stars of Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industry come together on one stage to salute Kamal Haasan who would also address the gathering.

Chiranjeevi's son's film Magadheera in trouble

Telugu star Chiranjeevi's [ Images ] son Ram Charan Teja's new film Magadheera may be creating box office records in India and abroad but the film has been a target for some people in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In Andhra Pradesh, Magadheera has been banned in the Vijayanagaram district because it saw death of five film enthusiasts due to a short circuit in the Lakshmi Srilakshmi theatre in Sulur. Earlier many Chiru fans had succumbed to a stampede in theatres because of the heavy rush.

Magadheera producers have announced a compensation of Rs 11 lakh for the victims.

The deaths in Srilakshmi theatre were enough to provoke the ruling Congress party's Panchayat Minister Botsa Sathyanarayana to order to ban the film. Since Sathyanarayana cannot legally address the issue, his extreme step has been severely criticized by the Praja Rajyam party cadres.

"This is nothing but a political conspiracy to restrict Chiranjeevi's growing popularity and his son who has become a star in the Telugu film industry," says Praja Rajyam's office bearer Gymnassium Ravi.

However, the Congress party defends the minister's actions.

Sathyanarayana says that since theatres in the district are not fully equipped to screen big films like Magadheera, he has decided to ban the film in the district of which he is the in-charge.

Magadheera's problem in Karnataka is totally different, however. It relates to the disgruntlement among the Kannada film producers, who are worried that big films like Magadheera will expand the screening opportunities of non-Kannada films, much to the detriment of Kannada cinema. They allege that Kannada films are getting a raw deal from theatres around the state.

On Tuesday, nearly 40 Kannada film producers staged a dharna in front of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce in Bangalore, protesting against the injustice meted to Kannada films by theatre owners and distributors who were violating the regulatory rules of the film chamber. They charged that the distributors of non-Kannada films were using oppressive tactics to expand their film screening opportunities.

"Big budget Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films are being released in more number of theatres than what has been prescribed by the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. This has resulted in more revenue for non-Kannada films at the expense of Kannada films. While many Kannada films are not getting good theatres in the major centres, non-Kannada films are getting creamy opportunities to screen their films," says K C N Chandrashekhar, president of the Kannada film producers association.

The KFCC is permitting non-Kannada films to be screened simultaneously in 14 single screen theatres and three multiplexes in Bangalore, and four centres outside Bangalore. But Magadheera has been released in about 30 theatres in the state. The film's distributor has now released the film in more theatres outside Bangalore and that has affected the collections of Kannada films, according to Joe Simon, secretary of the Kannada film producers association.

Incidentally, Magadheera is being distributed by Vijayakumar, who is also the secretary of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. The film is expected to rake in more than Rs 3 crores in just two weeks of its release in Karnataka and has the potential to cross Rs 5 crores.

Bowing under the pressure of the Kannada film producers, the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce has now suspended Vijayakumar, charging him with violating the norms of release of non-Kannada films.

Tamanna again romancing with ‘Happy Days’ Hero

The super combination of Tamanna and Varun Sandhesh after their first film ‘Happy days’ is once again pairing up for a new film, to be directed by Sukumar. Right now, Sukumar is busy with directing Allu Arjun’s ‘Arya-2’ (Working Title only), which is being made as a sequel of film super hit film Arya.

Once he finishes the present one, he will take up the new project of Producer Allu Aravind who is planning to make this film under his Geeta Arts banner.

Currently, Varun Sandhesh is doing in two films. The first one is Dil Raju’s ‘Maro Charitra,’ and the second one is film ‘Kurradu’ a Tamil remake film.

‘Magadheera’ touches hearts of All NRI’s

Out of the many Telugu films that release in the US, Magadheera is one of the only few to do well there. It has set a new record at the box office with a collection of Rs.1.75 crore in the first week, surpassing the Pawan Kalyan starrer Jalsa, which collected Rs.1.5 crore in the first week.

The overseas rights of Magadheera have been bought by Supreme Raju and it has released with 25 overseas prints in 40 locations. The film is getting a positive response from all over the US. In India, the film grossed Rs.8 crores in the first four days, creating a new record.

However, a controversy has come up over Magadheera for using a few lines of folk singer and balladeer Vangapandu Prasada Rao in a song without his permission.

According to Vangapandu, the lines from ‘Yem pillado eldaam vasthava’ are being shown with vulgar scenes and they are actually part of a song “Paita naligithey ma amma oppukuntadeti’, written for Ardharathri Swatantram, directed by T.Krishna. Vangapandu has demanded for removing the lyrics from the song. But as of now, there hasn’t been any response from Magadheera’s director Rajamouli and producer Allu Aravind.