Watch Lokeswari and Ramakrishna speak on Balakrishna’s NTR Kathanayakudu
Even more excited about NTR part 2: Nara Brahmani
Hero Nandamuri Balakrishna’s daughter Nara Brahmani said she immensely liked ‘NTR – Kathanayakudu’ and is even more excited about the second part ‘NTR – Mahanayakudu.’
Balakrishna has hosted a special screening of ‘NTR’ for all the Nandamuri family members and few celebrities at AMB Cinemas multiplex in Hyderabad.
Speaking first Lokeswari said, “It was like watching my father on the screen again after many years. Credit should go to Balakrishna and director Krish.”
Nara Brahmani spoke to the media and said, “Each and every actor in the film performed to the best of their abilities. I did not spend much time with my grandfather during my childhood as he used to be busy every day. My dad (NBK) lived in the character of NTR.”
Nandamuri Suhasini also attending the screening of ‘NTR’ and said, “Even I don’t know much about my grandfather personally. But with this film, I learned many things about him. Balayya Babai as NTR and Kalyanram as my father Harikrishna performed extraordinarily.”
Prabhas, A College Going Guy?
For any star hero, to find out the acceptable characters they could play on silver screen is very important. Otherwise, they end up meeting their biggest flops after the release of the film.
Recently when Aamir Khan did Thugs Of Hindostan, many didn’t find it connection. Same is the case with Shahrukh Khan’s dwarf character in ZERO movies. And now, Prabhas is playing one such different character in director Radha Krishna’s upcoming film.
After Saaho, where he will be seen as a special branch officer performing those larger than life stunts, Prabhas will be playing the role of a college-going student in Radhakrishna’s movie. As Prabhas enjoys that superior stardom post Baahubali success, one wonders if a college-going student role will suit him.
Maybe if the director is carving it like a Nagarjuna’s Siva, it will be fine, otherwise, the role should have super depth and heroics to satisfy fans.
F2: Two Seniors Charged Higher Than Juniors
Set for a release in a couple of days, Venkatesh and Varun Tej’s “F2: Fun And Frustration” is a big film everyone is looking forward to. After looking at the comedy this film’s trailer promised, many families are eagerly waiting for its release to enjoy this festival season.
Cut to the film, we hear that the seniors in the film have charged more than their juniors unlike a usual belief that youngsters often get paid more than their predecessors. In the film, we have Venky and Varun, while the senior hero pocketed 5 crores, Varun is said to have taken home 3.5 crores.
At the same time, despite the fact that she doesn’t have many films in hand, milky siren Tamanna is said to have bagged more chips than her younger competitor Mehreen Pirzada. And Dil Raju has banked heavily on these four stars along with Director Anil Ravipudi to make the most of it.
For now, the Seniors and Juniors are likely to enthrall Tollywood big time. Let’s see what happens.
Ram Charan’s Next: Not In Konidela Productions
Ever since Ram Charan floated Konidela Productions banner, many are eagerly waiting to see how many films and with which heroes other than his father Megastar Chiranjeevi he will be producing films. And the major talk is that his next will be done in his own firm only.
After the release of Vinaya Vidheya Rama at the box office, Ram Charan will be moving to #RRR shoot which is being produced by DVV Danayya. And his super-next film will also not be done in Konidela Productions banner. Apparently, the mega hero will be working with his good friends UV Creations for that.
Currently, UV Creations are said to be busy setting up a story for Ram Charan such that their venture will kick-start from October once the mega hero gets freed from #RRR by Rajamouli. So Charan’s film in Konidela Productions will not be any sooner.
But we have Konidela Productions likely to roll Chiranjeevi and Koratala Siva’s film once they wrap #SyeRaa.
Kollywood Love Couple to get Married Soon?
While working on a film, it is not uncommon for the actors who pull off a great chemistry to land in ‘relationship’ rumors and certainly, they tend to either stay tight-lipped or reject them. We usually get to read about such dating and love rumors on any successful lead pair and it has become a routine thing these days. In the recent past, many South film actors like Hansika, Simbu, Tamannah, Prabhas, Rana, Anushka and several others landed in such rumors.
Now, a Mumbai-born heroine who shot to name with Tollywood and Kollywood movies, is said to have fallen for a leading Tamil actor who is almost 17 years elder than her. Yes, if the latest set of speculations are anything to go by, the 38-year old Kollywood actor Arya is likely to marry his Ghajinikanth co-star Sayyeshaa, who’s just 21. The rumormills are churning out a serious gossip that the lovestruck couple are very serious about their relationship and may tie the know later in this year.
With Kaappan, which is currently in production, the rumoured love couple will be sharing screen space for the second time. According to some Kollywood reports, the actor enjoyed a warm and great hospitality from Sayyeshaa’s mother during the filming of Kaappan and he’s being treated as their family member. Also, the Instagram picture posted by Sayyeshaa on the actor’s birthday, where the couple were having gala time, has gone all viral on the social media.
An official announcement about their wedding is expected to arrive in the weeks to come, as per a source from Kollywood. But, definitely, the love couple would make our hearts skip a beat whenever they make their love public.
On the work front, Arya is presently busy with two movies – Santhana Devan and Magamuni. The actor, who also runs a production house ‘The Show People’, has bankrolled more than 10 projects in last five years under his banner. Sayyesha, grandniece of yesteryear Bollywood actors Saira Bhanu and Dilip Kumar, made her acting debut with Akhil Akkineni in ‘Akhil’. After that, she went on to work with Bollywood star hero Ajay Devgan for ‘Shivaay’.
TRS Continues To Target Revanth Reddy!
The shocking defeat of Congress firebrand leader A Revanth Reddy in recent Telangana Assembly polls seems to have not satisfied the ego of TRS leadership.Revanth Reddy almost took ‘political sanyas’ after his humiliating defeat at the hands of TRS in Kodangal.
Neither he is seen anywhere nor making any criticism against KCR, KTR, Kavitha and Harish since then. Revanth announced that he will not speak to media for two years.
Despite all this, the TRS seems to be after him.
With the gram panchayat elections being conducted in Telangana this month, the TRS is targetting Revanth’s supporters in Kodangal.
On Tuesday night, Revanth’s supporter Vishwanath, who was supposed to file nomination for Nituru gram panchayat election was kidnapped from his house.While the last date to file nomination is today (Wednesday), he could not be traced so far.
Viswanath’s family members alleged that some TRS leaders kidnapped him from his house.
Revanth Reddy rushed to the spot and complained to Vikarabad SP on the incident.Supporters of Revanth in Kodangal constituency are being warned by TRS leaders against filing nominations for panchayat polls.
Thousands join Jagan as 14-month walkathon concludes
Ichchapuram (Andhra Pradesh): Thousands of YSR Congress Party workers poured into this town in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district on Wednesday for the culmination of a 14-month-long ‘padyatra’ or walkathon by party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
After covering 3,648 km, the Leader of Opposition is concluding his foot-march, claimed to be the longest by a politician in India.
Jagan, as the leader is popularly known, will unveil a pylon to mark the event and address a massive public meeting later in the day.He started the last day from Kojjiria village walking along with top party leaders including MPs and MLAs.
Youth raised slogans like ‘Raavali Jagan’ as the young leader continued walking, occasionally greeting the people with folded hands and stopping to meet a few.The party hopes the 429-day-long ‘padyatra’ will help it to storm to power in the elections to be held in April-May.Party leaders have claimed that Jagan reached out to two crore people during the ‘padyatra’, which covered over 134 out of 175 Assembly constituencies.
He had set out on the ‘padyatra’ on November 6, 2017, from his home town Idupulapya in Kadapa district.Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor was said to be behind Jagan’s decision to go on a ‘padayatra’.This mass outreach programme was to conclude in six months but Jagan continued it in view of the elections.”‘Ravali Jagan’ was a hallmark slogan in the padayatra. People have taken this slogan to their hearts and we witnessed it throughout the State,” said YSRCP MP Vijayasai Reddy.A
Looking to wrest power from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Jagan hopes to repeat the feat of his father and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who undertook a similar ‘padyatra’ and came to power in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
YSR, as Rajasekhara Reddy was popularly known, had covered 1,450 km under his foot-march, which brought him to power. Interestingly, it was Chandrababu Naidu whom he unseated from power.YSR died in a helicopter crash in 2009, a few months after he led the Congress party to power for a second consecutive term.
Jagan later quit the Congress party and floated YSR Congress.In 2014, YSR Congress bagged 67 out of the 175 Assembly seats.
Fact Sheet: A True Test Of Its Strength
Looking at the results of the 2018 Telangana Assembly elections, one cannot help but feel sorry for Uttam Kumar Reddy.The Congress led by Uttam managed to win only 19 seats out of 119 whereas the TRS emerged victorious in 88 constituencies.As for the BJP, it won a single seat thanks to Raja Singh whereas the TDP secured two constituencies.
Naturally, there is a loud clamour within the Congress for Uttam Kumar’s blood after this crushing defeat.Coming to the reasons for the Mahakutami’s defeat, many Congressmen opine that the alliance with the TDP ruined the Congress Party’s prospects.“Had the Congress contested the polls alone, we would have fared a lot better. People voted for KCR again only because they believed his threat of Andhras ruling from Amaravati if Mahakutami wins the election and this affected our Party,” they say.
So, is it a case of Uttam Kumar Reddy being in the right position at the wrong time?What ails the Congress in a region where people do not take it seriously even though it gave Telangana?It is now time for the Lok Sabha elections and this is the perfect opportunity for the Congress to find out if it has any real support among the people.
If as they say, the alliance with the TDP ruined the Congress’ prospects in the Assembly elections, then the Congress should contest the Lok Sabha polls on its own. This should earn the trust of its cadre and supporters.But even after going it alone, if the Congress does not put up a decent performance in the Lok Sabha polls, then it has major issues that need to be addressed.
It’s a final opportunity for Uttam Kumar to rake in some numbers.
Varun Tej Sceptical After Antariksham’s Debacle
Varun Tej is playing his cards carefully after Antariksham ended up a huge disaster. It has come at a wrong time for the actor who was on the rise after scoring back to back hits with Fidaa and Tholi Prema.
The space thriller is definitely a bold attempt from him, but it didn’t yield desired results.
Antariksham’s failure has put the Fidaa actor in a spot that he cannot afford another failure at this juncture. Hence, Varun Tej is being very careful with his next moves.
Varun Tej who was almost convinced to play the negative role in Harish Shankar’s remake of Jigarthanda is being a bit sceptical now.
Varun is yet to give a green signal for Harish Shankar who is yet to launch his next film since DJ.
According to reports, Harish is making changes to Jigarthanda’s script to further elevate Varun’s character. Varun will take a final call once Harish narrates the bound script.
Modi’s Decision Boosts KCR, Naidu!
The decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to provide 10 per cent reservations to economically backward classes (EBC) and lifting the 50 per cent cap on reservations can fetch big political mileage to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his AP counterpart in N Chandrababu Naidu.
While KCR wanted to enhance reservations of Muslims from four per cent to 12 per cent and that of STs from seven to 12 per cent, Naidu sough to provide five per cent quota to Kapus.
They are now demanding that if Modi can lift the cap on reservations by amending the Constitution, he can as well do it for Muslims and Kapus on the basis of their social and economic backwardness.
KCR instructed the TRS MPs to request for the amendments in the Bill of providing 10% reservations to the EBCs which is introduced by the Union Government in the Parliament.
He wanted that the reservations for Muslims and STs be also included in the Constitution amendment bill.
As the union government has decided to take the issue of reservations, KCR asked the MPs to raise the issue of providing reservation to the backward Muslims and STs.
TRS MP Vinod who spoke in Lok Sabha on Tuesday demanded that Centre should approve not only EBC bill, but also minority, ST reservation bill which was sent by Telangana government.
He asked that states should be given powers to decide quota of reservation on their own social equations.
Though Naidu did not give any such instruction, he is said to be consulting his legal experts whether he could bring pressure on the Centre for Kapu quota.
No Congress-TDP alliance in LS polls?
If the Telangana Congress party has its say in the party high command in New Delhi, there will be no alliance with the Telugu Desam Party in the coming Lok Sabha elections in the state.
The Telangana PCC leadership, which reviewed the reasons for the recent drubbing in the assembly elections at the last week’s meeting, reportedly sent a report to the party high command stating that majority of the party leaders do not want an alliance with the TDP to continue in the parliament elections.
The report made it clear that the Congress would better go alone in the LS elections and it could win more seats.
“Now the ball is in the party high command’s court. It will take a call,” a Congress leader said.
According to him, several party leaders felt that the Congress could have bagged more seats in the recent polls had it gone alone and not forged an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The alliance fetched just 21 seats – 19 to Congress and two to the TDP. There is a stiff resistance from the leaders and cadre over any attempt to renew the alliance with the TDP as they feel the alliance with the TDP had done more damage than good for the party.
In fact, senior leader Komatireddy Venkat Reddy pointed out that KCR had exploited the Telangana sentiment strongly following Naidu’s campaign for the grand alliance.
He suggested that the Congress would win seven to eight LS seats, if it contests solo in the LS polls.
Former minister D K Aruna from Gadwal also suggested that the high command should not go in for alliance with the TDP at least in Parliament elections.
She said entering into pre-poll alliances with other parties would not be of much help to the Congress.
Today: Bala and Radha Krishna’s tribute to NTR
The much awaited biopic of NTR is releasing today amid very high expectations. Nandamuri fans are eagerly waiting to witness the legend on screen while filmbuffs are wanting to see another epic biopic like Mahanati.Krish and his team has done a fabulous job in rising expectations on the film with character sketches and recreating iconic moments from NTR’s life.
Balakrishna looks a spitting image of his father especially in the political getup. The film’s biggest surprise however has been Vidya Balan, who is playing NTR’s wife Basava Tarakam.Nobody really knows the bonding that NTR shared with his wife and the biopic focuses more on that aspect. The story of NTR has been told in his wife’s point of view in the biopic.
Although most of the drama in NTR’s life happened during his political stint, the first part NTR Kathanayakudu doesn’t show anything about politics. Second part NTR Mahanayakudu will cover NTR’s rise as a politician.
Ram Charan Gives Clarity On Chiru-Koratala Film
There were speculations in media that Koratala Siva decided to let go of Chiranjeevi’s project as the latter is still busy with Sye Raa.Koratala Siva planned to launch the film with Megastar in January, but Chiru is not done with Sye Raa yet. However, despite Chiru being busy with Sye Raa at the moment, the project with Koratala Siva is very much on.
Ram Charan cleared the air and told to media that the film will be launched in April. Charan is one of the producers for the film. He will produce Chiru-Koratala film along with Niranjan Reddy.Filming part of Sye Raa will be wrapped up by April and Chiru will immediately start shooting for Koratala’s film after.
The film is touted to be a social drama in the lines of Tagore and Stalin. The plan is to complete the film by the year and release it for next Sankranthi.
