Ram Charan's flick in brisk progress

Shooting of Ram Charan Teja’s second film, directed by S.S. Rajamouli and produced by Allu Aravind in association with B.V.S.N. Prasad under Gita Arts banner is progressing well in and around Hyderabad. It is learnt that some action and chase scenes are being shot now.

The director has decided to choreograph a remix song, 'Bangaru Kodipetta…' of Chiranjeevi's blockbuster Gharana Mogudu in this movie. The original song was choreographed at Visakhapatnam Port; the same is going to be the venue for the latest song as well, involving Ram Charan and Mumaith Khan. The film unit would leave for Visakhapatnam very soon.

Story is by Vijayendra Prasad, camera is by Senthil Kumar, music is by M.M. Keeravani.

Bhumika dubs her voice, Ilayaraja sings song

Samudra is directing and producing Mallepuvvu with Bhumika in the lead for Samudra Silver Screen banner. Murali Krishna is making debut as hero in this film. Production of the film is almost done except for one song. Ramesh Varma prepared the story for the film and an NRI Mohan Vadlapatla is also producing the film.

We wanted to make this film with a new hero and hence we started the search. Finally, we zeroed on Muralikrishna. When we approached Bhumika for the role, she asked for the Hindi rights of the film. Also, music director Ilayaraja wanted to do this in Tamil. Ilayaraja put his heart in this film. He is very impressed with the story. He even sang a song in this film. Also, another interesting fact is that Bhumika is dubbing her own voice for this film. Audio of this film will release on either 18th or 22nd of this month. Aditya audio company grabbed the audio rights of the film. Movie will release in August or September.

Dedicating it to Sobhan Babu
Samudra announced that his film Mallepuvvu will be dedicated to late Sobhan Babu. Old hit film Mallepuvvu had Sobhan Babu in the lead role. 'In fact, Sobhan Babu garu called me when he came to know of the title. He said that he was curious to know who and what was this film about. He said he would attend the premiere of Mallepuvvu. Unfortunately he is not with us to attend the show. Hence I am dedicating the film to Sobhan Babu', said Sobhan Babu.

Cast and crew of the old Mallepuvvu film will attend the audio release of this film.

Shriya´s ´Exposure´ hitting top!!!

The sizzling beauty Shriya who was seen as the girl next door in films like ´Santosham´, ´Chatrapathi´, ´Arjun´ and others has gone in for a complete transformation as soon as she has entered north. Apparently, she has been coming out with some of the most revealing outfits and her pictures are being devoured like hot cakes. Sources say that Shriya wants to grab more attention on the international forum, hence the ´Exposure´ move. Meanwhile, folks here are not too pleased seeing the beauty going over the board with her bare outfits.

Kathanayakudu music is hot!

Kathanayakudu’s music has been declared a chart-buster within a day of its release. Though the music companies dread piracy in form of pirated CDs, ‘free’ internet downloads and other means of avoiding the legitimate route, Kathanayakudu has beaten the baddies in true Rajni style and has rocketed to the top of the charts.

The latest figures for the legit audio sales hovers around 2 lakh CDs for two days in the city alone. The music of Kathanayakudu/ Kuselan was launched on June 30, 2008 evening. But the sales of the audio CDs and cassettes began only on July 1.

G.V. Prakash has composed 5 heart-thumping songs for the movie which is gearing up for a grand release on July 25, 2008.

Chiranjeevi to contest from Tirupathi?

The rumour doing the rounds all over Andhra is that megastar Chiranjeevi is likely to contest from Tirupathi. Chiranjeevi hails from Mogalthur in West Godavari district. But the chances of him contesting from there are slim. He is expected to nominate his brother Nagababu from there.

The TDP is likely to field former actress and now Telugu Mahila chief Roja from Tirupathi. She contested the election last time but lost. Even Mohan Babu is keen to contest from Tirupathi. He is now moving closely with the Congress and as such, he could be fielded by the Congress party.

In such an eventuality, Tirupathi could well become the most keenly watched Assembly segment during the polls.

more about Kathanayakudu

After the blockbuster Sivaji, when the whole industry was abuzz with talks about the film's impressive theme and the treatment, Superstar Rajinikanth accepted his friend Sreenivasan's invitation and attended a special screening of the Malayalam movie Katha Parayumbol. Absolutely impressed with the theme, Rajni wanted to take up the Tamil remake and was willing to act in the role of the Mammootty in the original. Without further delay, he called Sreenivasan and from that moment, the project began to take shape. Titled Kuselan in Tamil and Kucheludu in Telugu, later renamed Kathanayakudu, Rajni chose the experienced and wise P. Vasu as the director of the remake. K. Balachander's Kavithalaya took over the production. Needless to say, Rajinikanth's presence in the project galvanized the whole team into swift activity.

Though a remake, the plot has been modified suitably to suit the tastes of the Tamil and Telugu audiences. It is also understood changes have been made to amplify and expand the role of the Superstar; as a result, Rajni appears in over 50% of the film, though he is not the hero.

The theme of the film is simple: Balan (Pasupathy) is a barber who lives a hand-to-mouth existence in his village with his wife Sreedevi (Meena) and three children. A secret love affair, elopement, subsequent marriage, fatherhood and poverty have pushed the barber to the brink and he is absolutely vanquished by the crushing weight of his failure to fulfil his responsibilities. And Balan is a man who just cannot dupe, lie, or commit fraud. So without knowing any means to make extra money, Balan struggles to cope with life and demands of the family. Each and every day poses a mighty challenge to him; there is no money to pay the children's school fees, absolutely no money for everyday expenses, food and clothing. As if all these are not sufficient to stir trouble, his business also goes through a dull period. Deprived of caring friends and relatives on whom he can rely for help and support, Balan struggles through life daily, getting on with the business of living, trying to make sense of life, trying to do his job, to keep his wife and children fed and clothed.

At this critical juncture, Balan comes to know that Superstar Ashokraj (Rajinikanth) is visiting the village in connection with the shoot of his latest film. As soon as he receives news about the shooting, an enthusiastic Balan reveals the precious piece of information that - Ashok is his childhood friend. Coming to know about the connection, Balan's wife and children yell with joy as if they have won the lottery overnight. Also, armed with the foresight and thoughtfulness of a dutiful mother, Sreedevi urges her husband to extract maximum advantage of the connection. Balan, a man of great self-esteem and individuality, is taken aback by the shrewd suggestion. Though he and Ashok had enjoyed a good friendship, he does not want to temper the purity of the first meeting after all these years by asking for a personal favour. Needless to say, Balan is also awed by Ashok's Superstar airs and is not sure whether he would even recognize the poor barber. So what happens next? Do Ashok and Balan meet? Does Ashok agree to help them out? Does he fulfil Sreedevi's expectations, showering fortune on them? Or is he the cool, reserved star who considers himself several notches above the poor barber's social status? Does he feel ashamed to acknowledge his friendship? Kuselan/Kathanayakudu has captured an emotional explosion at this point in the narrative. Wait and watch!

It is a Superstar film, one he has happily accepted! So obviously, the whole industry is curious to enjoy news and information regarding the production. Based on those snippets, it appears there are going to be interesting star-cameos (Sneha, Kamal Haasan and so on) and Vadivelu is going to appear<

Hot Trisha Looted Many Hearts

The stars shone bright when Chennai's top models walked the ramp for designer Sidney's uber cool collection. While the models turned on the heat, the scorcher who set the ramp on fire was Kollywood diva Trisha who walked the talk after six and a half years. Looking every inch the style icon that she is, Trisha had the crowd clapping and cheering loudly as she set the ramp ablaze in an emerald green gown.When asked how it felt to walk the ramp after a hiatus, Trisha said that she found acting easier as she had the privilege of retakes. A starry starry night it was indeed, but we have to hand it to Trisha, who was the cynosure of all eyes in her chic gown, which had everybody green with envy!