Watch Vishal and Anisha Alla Reddy wedding called off?
Alia Or Disha? Allu Arjun To Get Whom?
Ever since Alia Bhatt signed Rajamouli, Ram Charan and Jr NTR’s RRR, she has been the most sought-after heroine for other Telugu films as it’s perceived that it is an indication from Alia that she would be open to act in Telugu cinema.
Allu Arjun-Dil Raju-Venu Sriram’s trio who have been trying to increase the potential of their film Icon are thinking to rope in a known Bollywood face as the film’s heroine. Given that the Hindi-dubbed rights and digital rights of Allu Arjun have huge demand and the rates of Bunny’s films have shot up in Hindi belt, naturally, Dil Raju and Venu want to rope in a Bollywood gal opposite Allu Arjun.
Buzz is that Alia has turned down the offer from Icon makers and she said to have cited ‘dates’ issues. But talk is that Alia is not very keen on being a commercial heroine in South and she had accepted RRR purely because of its concept and content and it is from Baahubali maker.
With this shock from Alia, now Raju and Venu are looking out for more options. But with several Hindi heroines being quite busy, the duo also said to be trying for Disha Patani who had earlier sizzled in Loafer alongside Varun Tej. And the shocking rumour is that Disha is demanding a whopping Rs 4 Crore as it is her fee in Hindi cinema and she is expecting the same amount for a Telugu film. This remuneration of the Bharat girl come as a shocker to Icon team.
Bringing Bollywood heroine is the best idea like how Alia Bhatt is aboard for RRR and Shraddha Kapoor for #Saaho, only when the film is also releasing in Hindi. But with ‘Icon’ not yet decided whether it is a bilingual or not, how come they will think of roping a Bollywood starlet by paying 5-plus crores? Although Allu Arjun might have announced his intention to move to Bollywood and so Dil Raju, but is ‘Icon’ has that scope and potential?
Interim, Allu Arjun is yet to wrap up his ongoing film ‘Ala Vaikuntapuram Lo’ with Trivikram that is slated for Jan 2020.
Bigg Boss 3: This Telugu Heroine Is The Wild Card Entry?
There is a discussion going on about the next probable wild card entry into Bigg Boss house as the reality show’s Season 3 is going on at a full swing. After the exit of Hema from the house, many thought that heroine Shraddha Das is going to make an entry inside as the wild card entry, but surprisingly transgender Tamanna Simhadri broke into the den.
And this week, after the exit of one more contestant from the house, which has already seen Jaffer and Rohini leaving it, there is going to be another wildcard entry. Many names like Hebah Patel and others are heard, but it is sounding that Bigg Boss organisers want only a Telugu speaking celebrity to shake up the house.
Some reports are indicating that it is Telugu hottie Eesha Rebba who is going to make an entry into the house. Though she started off as an actress with promising talent, slowly she got sided and later she switched on the glamorous angle to woo filmmakers. But now, it looks like she has bigger plans and hence she wants to turn up on this reality show.
We have to wait and watch if Eesha will comment on this or simply she will also skip Bigg Boss like many others.
Volkswagen scam haunts Botsa after 9 years!
After a gap of nearly nine years, the controversial Volkswagen scam case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation has begun haunting senior YSR Congress party leader and Andhra Pradesh minister for municipal administration Botsa Satyanarayana.
The CBI special court in Hyderabad on Friday served a notice on Botsa asking him to appear in the court for trial into the 2005 Volkswagen car case. The minister is yet to respond to the notices.
The scandal surfaced in 2005 and landed the then Y S Rajasekhar Reddy government in trouble.
There were allegations that the government had paid Rs 11.67 crore kickbacks to Vasishta Wahan, which was supposed to be a front company of Volkswagen, the German car manufacturer, which planned to set up its unit in Andhra Pradesh.
Later, it was alleged that the Vasishta Wahan was a bogus company allegedly floated by Botsa and his brother Muralikrishna.
Following allegations, YSR shifted Botsa from industries department and ordered a CBI inquiry.
In September 2010, the CBI filed a charge sheet in the Rs11.67-crore Volkswagen scandal in Andhra Pradesh.
In the 150-page chargesheet filed in the XIV additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) court, CBI named seven persons as the accused, including Helmuth Schuster, a former official of the German car maker.
The CBI conducted the investigation in India and abroad and during its probe Rs 5 crore out of the Rs 11.67 crores was recovered.
The CBI also carried out probe in Germany and Switzerland by sending Letter Rogatory and claimed to have collected vital evidence showing the complicity of the accused.
Though, the German car maker, subsequently offered to pay back the sum of Rs 11.67 crore to protect its image, the then chief minister refused to take the money till the CBI probe was completed. Subsequently, the German car maker set up its unit in Maharashtra.
The charge sheet, however, exonerated Botsa who was at the centre of the controversy. But now, his name surfaced again. The reasons for the re-inclusion of his name are not known yet.
Saaho Digital Rights: Record Deal? Or Rumour?
One of the big-budgeted films that is making the whole of India wait for, is none other than Prabhas’ Saaho. There is huge competition initially to own the theatrical rights of the movie and after those deals got closed, now everyone is looking forward to grabbing the satellite rights and digital streaming rights.
While the Hindi rights of Saaho including that of theatricals, satellite and digital streaming vests with T-Series itself, there is a craze among top TV channels and OTT apps like Amazon, Netflix, Zee5 and HotStar to own the satellite and digital rights of the film respectively. Till other day, the buzz has that the makers received lump sump offers from these companies, but they haven’t okayed any.
A buzz in Film Industry, however, has that Amazon’s Prime Video has grabbed the Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam language rights of Saaho for 40+ crores and the deal was closed other day itself. In case if this is the truth, surely this is going to be a record deal, else it will be just another rumour doing around Saaho.
Saaho opens in theatres on August 30th with possible Premiere Shows on 29th night.
Bigg Boss 3 Contestant Urges For Payment
Be it in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, the reality show Bigg Boss is always the centre of controversies. The Tamil version is hit by a new controversy and it went on till police station. Last weekend one of the contestants, Madhumitha was voted out of the show as she attempted to self-harm in the Bigg Boss house.
Madhumitha is said to have got paid Rs 11,40,000 as advance and she stayed in the Bigg Boss house for 42 days. She did not receive any balance payment from Star Vijay channel which broadcasts the show and she urged the channel and show makers to make the payment. Twist in the tale flashed as Star Vijay lodged a complaint against Madhumitha and claimed that she is threatening to make the payment and if failed so she would commit suicide.
However Madhumitha denied these allegations and said she just requested Star Vijay to make her payment and settle the issue. With Star Vijay approaching the police, Madhumitha has sort Tamil Bigg Boss host Kamal Haasan’s help in this matter.
We have to see whether Kamal will help Madhumitha to get her due payment.
Sharwanand’s Hopes Shattered Again!
Ranarangam has totally crashed at the box office after posting solid numbers on its day 1. Like every young actor Sharwanand also made an attempt to get close to the masses with Ranarangam.
He believed that this gangster flick can help him penetrate into the masses. However, Sudheer Varma’s lacklustre script has let him down.
Ranarangam couldn’t capitalize on its bright start and ended its first week run on a disappointing note.
The film was sold for reasonable prices compared to the actor’s market share, but the buyers of Ranarangam will not be able to recover their investment.
This is second disappointment in a row for Sharwanand whose previous film Padi Padi Leche Manasu also failed to live up to its expectations.
Sharwanand made some smart choices that have made him one of the bankable stars among the younger crop.
With the competition getting fierce in the mid-table, Sharwa needs to up his game to maintain his position.
Luckily, he has the remake of 96 coming up which looks promising with Dil Raju as its producer and in-form Samantha as its female lead.
Sesh the new ‘Minimum Guarantee Hero’
A ‘Minimum Guarantee Hero’ is the one who makes sure the producers, distributors and all others who have worked for the film are safe.
But these days success percent has drastically come down and even at these hard times, one hero has delivered consistent hits and he is Adivi Sesh.
It all started with ‘Kshanam’ and then ‘Goodachari’ and now ‘Evaru.’ All the films have made good profits thus Sesh got the tag of ‘Minimum Guarantee Hero.’
There is a lot of effort and planning behind this. Sesh doesn’t prefer big budget extravaganza. He opts for budget as per the content of the film and makes in strict budget.
When a hero takes care of budget and production, who doesn’t wish to work with him?
Simultaneously Sesh is expanding his market and this is what needs to be done. Bravo Sesh!
Jagan to increase number of TTD members?
If the reports coming from internal sources of the ruling YSR Congress party in Telangana are to be believed, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams is soon going to have a jumbo trust board.
According to these reports, the Jagan government has decided to appoint as many as 25-26 members of the TTD trust board, as against the existing 15-member board.
It has been more than a month since Jagan appointed his uncle Y V Subba Reddy as the TTD trust board chairman. But so far, he did not appoint the other members of the board, as a result of which the TTD is not in a position to take any policy decision.
Only Subba Reddy is taking decisions in consultations with the Executive Officer and other officials on the board.
He has been confined to Tirupati and his attempt to have a camp office near Tadepalli closer to Jagan’s residence was shot down by the chief minister.
Apparently, there has been a lot of pressure on Jagan from various quarters to be included in the trust board. Since he has to fill various nominated posts anyway, he is understood to have thought some of the party leaders be accommodated in the trust board.
Out of 25-26 members to be appointed on the board, Jagan is learnt to have decided that three members would be from Telangana, two from Chennai, two from Karnataka, eight members under the central quota to be recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.
The remaining members would be either YSRC MLAs or leaders who have been promised to be appointed in various posts in the government.
Amaravathi: Much Ado About Nothing!
Standing outside Park Hyatt in Hyderabad, a rickshaw wallah from Siddipet and an auto wallah from Karimnagar signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly purchase the hotel in future for a certain price and then give jobs to their colleagues.
After that, they went back to their daily lives and eventually, both of them died in Gandhi Hospital of old age. And no, they didn’t purchase the hotel.
But their MoU is strikingly similar to that of hundreds of MoUs signed by the erstwhile Chandrababu Naidu government with corporates.
Dazzling conferences were held, front page ads were given in Andhra Jyothi and Eenadu announcing the summits as historical, agreements were arrived at during the meetings and the numbers announced were nothing short of phenomenal: MoUs worth lakhs and lakhs of crores were inked making the United States government seem like a ‘paan dabba shop’.
The outcome? Not one of them saw the light of day barring Franklin Templeton that set up shop in Vizag to sell pension plans to the local populace.
This precisely has been the modus operandi of the Chandrababu Naidu government: ‘Media Management’ at its best.
Therefore, the criticism of the TDP that shifting the capital from Amaravati to Donakonda or elsewhere will have a ruinous effect on the economy and forestall investments is nothing but humbug.
First of all, there is nothing in Amaravati. It is not the people’s choice but a decision forced on the public.
The Sivaramakrishnan Committee and the National Green Tribunal clearly said that Amaravati was a bad choice.
Temporary structures erected for running the government are so poor in quality that if it rains, the secretariat and Assembly are flooded.
Thank god there were no permanent structures or else the Speaker and all the MLAs would have been drowned. (Jagan and his MLAs were anyways abstaining from the Assembly).
Prior to the elections, the people voting for YSRCP knew that Jagan would not encourage Amaravati if he became the CM. Which brings us to the question: Does AP need a capital?
Definitely, yes, but not one that needs to be built from scratch. For god’s sake, why cannot a city meeting the infrastructure requirements be chosen as the new capital? What’s wrong with Tirupati, Vijayawada or Vizag or any other city meeting the criterion?
Shifting the capital from Amaravati will result in zero damage because Amaravati exists only in name. Yet, Jagan Mohan Reddy should ensure that the choice of a new capital is one that is practical and conducive to the people of the State and does not pander to the interests of the real-estate lobby.
Amaravati had the ignominy of being labeled as a ‘mega real-estate venture’ of Chandrababu Naidu’s community. If Donakonda now turns out to be a similar venture initiated for the Reddys, it will not matter anymore to the people as to which Party is in power.
Maybe, if Pawan Kalyan comes to power in 2024, he will scrap Donakonda and announce Amalapuram as the new capital and in 2029, the BJP will declare Annavaram as the headquarters.
Is it not better to just convert an existing city into the new capital? This way, we will be spared of a new capital every five years.
How reliable are these membership figures?
Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president K T Rama Rao on Thursday made a tall claim that his party had enrolled 60 lakh members in the just concluded membership drive.
Reviewing the party activities at the TRS executive committee meeting held at Telangana Bhavan, KTR said the party had emerged as the largest regional party in the country with a record number of over 60 lakh members when the membership drive ended on Thursday.
He appreciated the efforts put by the party workers in making the public take the membership.
“Gajwel and Wardhannapet are ahead of all the regions across the state in the drive,” said KTR.
One wonders how reliable are these membership figures are. There are 2.82 crore voters in Telangana, which means the TRS alone accounts for more than 21 per cent of voters.
Assuming that 70 per cent of the voters cast their vote in the elections, the TRS would have nearly 30 per cent of votes in its favour.
In the last assembly elections held in December, the TRS got 97 lakh votes. Going by the present membership figures, it already got 60 lakh votes and it requires another 37 lakh votes to retain power with the same number of seats it won – 88 seats.
Assuming that each TRS member can mobilise at least three more votes, the TRS will get 1.80 crore votes, which means it is going to sweep the next elections once again and the opposition will be completely wiped out.
Now, let us come to other parties. The Congress party is also aiming at enrolling at least 40 lakh members, while the BJP which claims to have 12 lakh members already is targeting to enroll another 18 lakh members.
And there are other parties like MIM and Communist parties which have their own dedicated members.
Going by these figures, it gives an impression that every voter in the state should have been a member of one or other political party. It means, there are no non-political voters in Telangana at all!
