Watch Hyderabad – Vijayawada Orange Bus Roll Over At Kothagudem
First Look: Anasuya’s Kathanam
TV presenter Anasuya enthralled audience with her performance in Kshanam and Rangasthalam recently. The actress is back again but this time, she has taken up the lead role!
The first look of her new film ‘Kathanam’ is released by her on Instagram and Twitter. Anasuya appears to be a serious writer and her narration seems to be the story of this suspense thriller. Avasarala Srinivas and Dhanraj will be appearing in important roles. Rajesh Nadendla is directing the film.
US Move To Abolish H-4 Visa Work Permits To Impact 70,000 Indians
Abandoning the Obama-era rule of granting work permits to H-4 visa holders – who are spouses of professionals holding H-1B visas, mostly Indians – will benefit some US workers, the Department of Homeland Security believes.
The Trump administration is planning to revoke a rule that makes spouses of thousands of immigrant workers eligible to work while in the US, a move that could impact tens of thousands of Indians.
H-4 visa is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India. They had obtained work permits under a special order issued by the previous Obama administration in 2015.
The move to end the rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in its Unified Fall Agenda released on Wednesday said it believed that abandoning the current practice of granting employment authorisation to H-4 dependent spouses would benefit some US workers.
The DHS said the proposed rule would no longer allow H-4 workers to enter the labour market early.
The DHS, which has already delayed three times this year issuing of the necessary notification, said in its agenda that it was on its way to remove H-4 dependent spouses from getting work authorisation.
In its agenda, the DHS said it anticipated that there would be two primary impacts that it can estimate and quantify.
First, the cost-savings accruing to forgone future filings by certain H-4 dependent spouses, and labour turnover costs that employers of H-4 workers could incur when their employees’ employment authorisations are terminated.
“Some US workers would benefit from this proposed rule by having a better chance at obtaining jobs that some of the population of the H-4 workers currently hold, as the proposed rule would no longer allow H-4 workers to enter the labour market early,” it said.
As of December 25, 2017, US Citizenship and Immigration Services had approved 126,853 applications for employment authorisation for H-4 visa holders.
These count all approvals since May 2015 when the rule was implemented. This number includes 90,946 initial approvals, 35,219 renewals, and 688 replacements for lost cards.
Last month, two powerful Democratic women Senators – Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand – had urged the Trump administration not to go ahead with its decision to revoke authorisation to immigrants those on H-4 visas as such a move would have an impact on about 100,000 women.
“Preventing women from engaging in employment can lead to isolation, depression, anxiety, feelings of guilt, and a loss of self-worth. Revoking a wife’s ability to work leaves her and her children entirely dependent on her spouse.
“Increased isolation – coupled with complete financial dependence – can make leaving an abusive relationship dangerous and, in some cases, impossible,” they wrote.
However, the release of the Unified Fall Agenda shows that the Trump administration is on track to undo the H-4 spouse work authorisation decision taken by the previous Obama administration.
India continues to engage with US on H-1B visa issue
India is continuing to engage with the US over the H-1B visa, largely availed of by Indian IT companies, after the Trump administration proposed changes to the programme, a senior official said on Thursday.
“It is a very important topic for us and that is the reason why we have time and again at various levels we have taken up this matter with the US side,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries by journalists here.
Kumar said that most recently, the issue was raised during the first ever India-US 2+2 Ministerial Meeting held here last month that was attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.
On Wednesday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to come out with its new proposal by January 2019.
The DHS said it was also proposing to remove from its regulations certain H-4 spouses of H-1B non-immigrants as a class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation.
The move to end the rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders, who have work permits.
The H-4 visas are issued by the USCIS to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the holders of H-1B visa.
The DHS said it will propose to revise the definition of specialty occupation to increase focus on obtaining the best and the brightest foreign nationals via the H-1B programme.
It will also “revise the definition” of employment and employer-employee relationship to “better protect” US workers and wages, the DHS said.
In his remarks on Thursday, Kumar said that India is closely engaged with the US administration as well as the US Congress on this matter.
Stating that there are certain bills which have been introduced, he, however, said that “it is important to note that none of these bills have been passed so far”.
“When we have engaged with the US, we have emphasised that our partnership which we have in the digital sphere have been mutually beneficial,” the spokesperson said.
“We have highlighted the role which has been played by the highly skilled Indian professionals who have actually contributed to the growth and development of the US economy,” he stated.
“And also they have helped the US to maintain a competitive edge in the world towards innovation and science and technology.”
First Look: Nandamuri Harikrishna With NTR
Director Krish and the makeup artists working on NTR biopic have been doing a phenomenal job in nailing the getups of various actors that are donning legendary characters in the film.
Here is the first look of Kalyan Ram as Nandamuri Harikrishna from the biopic. Harikrishna played a vital role in the political journey of his father.
He was the driver for NTR’s Chaitanya Ratham.
Son playing his father role on screen is a rarity. Both Balakrishna and Kalyan Ram are doing that feat in NTR biopic!
Collections: Aravinda Has a Decent First Week
Aravinda Sametha, film in Trivikram-NTR’s first ever combination, completes one week. Setting aside its world-wide collections, the film has managed to take home Rs 50 crore share in the two Telugu states during the first weekend.
To be exact, the film collected Rs 52 crore 66 lakh in 7 days, making it a decent figure for a NTR film. However, the film was sold at Rs 70 crore in both Telugu states. But the film is another 25 to 30 per cent away from the magic figure.
This week saw the release of Hello Guru Prema Kosame and Pandem Kodi 2. Since Pandem Kodi might attract audiences in C centres mostly, it may not impact Aravinda directly. On the other hand, Hello Guru could snatch away some collections in A centres.
Having said that, the film will have no big competition between 2nd and 4th weeks. Still, the makers have cut down on the theatres drastically and retained the film in big theatres.
This will help them manage to cover the remaining share, though there is a likelihood of it losing out at least 10 per cent in the bargain.
First week collections:
Nizam — 15.80 cr
Ceded — 10.10 cr
Uttarandhra — 5.95 cr
East — 4.65 cr
West — 3.65 cr
Krishna — 3.60 cr
Guntur — 6.75 cr
Nellore — 2.16 cr
Karnataka, Tamil, Rest of India — Rs 8 cr
USA – 8 Cr
Rest Of World – 3 Cr
Total World Wide Collection: 71.66 Cr
Hello Guru Prema Kosame : Movie Review
Director Trinadha Rao Nakkina has been rehashing ‘mama-alludu’ theme in all of his movies. Cinema Chupistha Mama and Nenu Local turned out to be crowd pleasing entertainers. He has followed the same template with another twist for Hello Guru Prema Kosame.
Story
Sanju (Ram) teases his co-passenger Anupama (Anupama) in a train. But he comes to her house as a guest. Anupama’s father Viswanath (Prakash Raj) shares a good bond with Sanju. Meanwhile, Sanju falls in love with Anupama. When Anupama’s marriage is fixed with some otherguy, Sanju confesses his love to Viswanath and pleads him to give it a chance.
Performances:
Ram is very good as a casual youth. He has done similar roles before which made it a cakewalk for him. Anupama looks cute, but there is not much for her to do. Prakash Raj is aptly cast in a key role. He brings life to the character. Pranitha does a brief role as Ram’s crush. Rest of the star cast did well within their limitations.
Technicalities:
Director Trinadha Rao has a habit of picking simple storylines and lacing it with fun and enjoyable scenes. He repeats the same here and succeeds until a point. However, second half loses steam because of predictability and repetitive screenplay.
Prasanna Kumar does a fine job as a dialogue writer. There are some hilarious scenes in the first half. Music by Devi Sri Prasad is a disappointment. None of the songs are catchy. Even the background score is lackluster. Cinematography and editing are okay. Production values are very average.
Thumbs Up:
Ram
Comedy scenes
Thumbs Down:
Dull second half
Poor music
Routine script
Analysis:
Hello Guru Prema Kosame takes a while to get going. Initial scenes set in Kakinada aren’t impressive. However, the film turns enjoyable with Ram stepping into the software office. His first day at office followed by coffee shop scene is very funny. The best scene of the film comes right away where Ram and Praneetha go to each other’s houses. But the fun keeps waning as the story moves forward.
Intermission scene comes in a hurried fashion, but raises enough curiosity on the proceedings in second half. A conflict is established between Ram and Prakash Raj to keep the story moving. It seems alright at the beginning but soon gets tedious as the director keeps repeating same scenes over and over. Bad music worsens the prospects and the writer didn’t make an effort to write any comedy scenes.
HGPK loses steam after a passable first half and heavily banks upon the chemistry between Ram and Prakash Raj in the second half. Climax is very predictable and emotions didn’t work out as expected. The actors did their best to keep it alive but the lackluster script lets them down. On the whole, Hello Guru turns out to be an average film that offers some fun moments. Dil Raju should stop depending too much on formulaic films and look to offer novelty.
Verdict: Comedy Kosam!
Samantha’s Bold Comment On 96 Remake
Like we revealed it already, ace producer Dil Raju has acquired the rights of super hit Tamil film “96”, which has Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha in the lead roles. The film’s sad ending and realistic portrayal of matured love have clicked well with all.
Coming to the lead actors who would reprise those roles, actually there are rumours that Samantha and Nani are going to do that, but Dil Raju has earlier denied it. And now, rather confirming that she is not actually part of the film, queen bee Samantha has a special advice.
When quizzed about if she is doing that film’s Telugu version, Samantha said, “Shouldn’t be remade”. And that gives a direct advice to Dil Raju to not mess up with the original. Will he agree with Samantha on that?
Actually, remaking depends a lot on the director who is doing it. For example, Naga Chaitanya himself has done a remake of a cult classic like Premam and succeeded. So, Dil Raju should find right director while gossip mills already indicated that Harish Shankar is doing that.
Original U-Turn Beauty Gets Third Telugu Film
You might wonder about this, but the talented lady has so far done two Telugu films and one wonders when will they see light. Ever since Samantha’s Telugu ‘U-Turn’ released, many wondered what happened to original U Turn girl Shraddha Srinath. Here is an interesting update.
Apparently, Shraddha Srinath became a sensation after U-Turn became superhit at Kannada box office. And she was immediately approached by many Telugu makers. She has signed Saikumar’s son Aadi’s film being directed by a newcomer and then she’s part of Kshanam director Ravikanth’s next venture. Both are rolling from a year, but nothing about them is coming out.
But it looks like luck is on Shraddha’s side, as she got her third film now, maybe the first releasing film too, as none other than Nani took her aboard. She will be playing the lead role in Nani’s upcoming film “Jersey”, which is being directed by “Malli Rava” fame Gowtham Tinnanuri.
Cinema lovers are feeling that her energy and enthusiastic acting give a perfect combination to Nani, and hope their chemistry will entice audiences.
Inside Report : Pawan’s Response After Kavathu
After Kavathu, Janasena and Pawan Kalyan are said to be on cloud nine. Team Pawan is said to be elated with the huge response for Kavathu, a marathon rally, he had conducted at Dhawaleswaram of East Godavari district on 15th Oct. As per Janasena’s estimation, over 1 million (10 lakh) people have attended Kavathu which is considered as a huge number given that all have come ‘voluntarily’ without being lured with liquor or biryani.
Pawan and Janasena are on high with the success of Kavathu and is of the opinion that Janasena would bag at least 20 MLA seats in the coming elections. They say many more strong leaders from various political parties are looking towards Janasena and they may join the party shortly in the presence of Pawan. Party’s senior leaders are estimating that this may even increase their tally of winning seats in the coming general elections and this would help them to emerge as the ‘King Maker’ and perhaps could even become ‘King’ like Kumaraswamy in Karnataka.
Pawan’s desperation to become ‘CM’ is clearly visible at Kavathu as well as he himself as asked fans to chant – ‘CM’, ‘CM’, ‘CM’. Looks like, PK too fallen in this trap of ‘power’. Let’s see what’s in store for Janasena.
