Ram Charan’s ‘Rangasthalam’ is still having superb run thanks to new films not living up to the expectations.First it was Nithin’s film that tanked. Now, Nani’s ‘Krishnarjuna Yudham’ is faring so average.

All in all, the film will have further good run till Mahesh Babu’s ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’ hits the screens next week.In its first two weeks, the film has touched share of Rs 100 Cr worldwide. This is fastest Telugu film to have scored this mark after ‘Baahubali 2’.

The film now ranks at fourth position in all-time hits after ‘Baahubali 2’, ‘Baahubali 1’ and ‘Khaidi No 150’.It is likely to cross the collections of Chiranjeevi’s biggest hit ‘Khaidi No 150’ next week.

Two Weeks Share – AP & TS

Nizam- 21.65 Cr
Ceeded- 14.10 Cr
Nellore- 2.69 Cr
Guntur- 7.10 Cr
Krishna- 5.80 Cr
West Godavari – 5.01 Cr
East Godavari – 6.33 Cr
UA- 10.55 Cr

Total AP & Nizam 2 Week Collections – Rs 73.18 Cr

The much delayed and highly expected NTR-Trivikram combo film finally went on floors today in Ramoji Film City. Whereas a lean and fit NTR Jr and bushy bearded Trivikram were the center of attraction, the one other actor who hogged significant attention on the sets is, Mega brother Naga Babu.

Trivikram roped in Naga Babu to play a crucial role in the NTR-starrer. Scenes involving NTR and the Mega brother were canned today. It may be noted that #NTR28 is the first NTR-starrer in which Naga Babu plays a substantial role.

Coincidentally, Pawan Kalyan attended as chief guest for the Puja ceremony of NTR28 and Naga Babu took part in the shoot on the day the film actually rolled. Quite a ‘Mega’ touch! and also a proof of the healthy relation NTR shares with ‘Mega’ family.

Sample this: An elderly guy who earlier worked as a Federal Agent in USA’s most esteemed national agency now retired and working as a security head of a pop star. His daughter gets kidnapped in Paris and trafficked into the prostitution ring. He has 48 hours to trace her or she will not be found again. Yes, this is the story of “Taken” movie. But for others, this is the story of “Krishna Arjuna Yuddham” second half too.

Other than the fact that here there are two heroes and their girlfriends are kidnapped by one such notorious gang, there is nothing new. But why did such a terrific screenplay like “Taken” failed to make any impact on Telugu audiences even though director Merlapaka and hero Nani copied it well? There is something called nativity, backstory and logical sense that is missing.

If a former federal agent goes all the way to Paris from New York and acts quite heroic it is logical. But if a Chittoor village guy who doesn’t even know spellings and general stuff comes to Hyderabad, tracks a trafficking gang, goes all the way to international waters to rescue girls, it sounds as stupid as it could be. While copying the total framework of “Taken”, Gandhi sent logics for a toss.

Coming to the other Europe pop star Krishna role, a guy who is of Indian origin and raised in Europe, cannot drive cars and other vehicles so comfortably in India. (the left-drive and right-drive thing). At the same time, it is not that easy to transfer 15 crores from Europe to India in 5-minutes as banks don’t even process such requests without the client meeting them in person (unless in the case of NRI accounts).

You may ask, who cares for logic in a movie, but without logic these days people are not receiving films well. With world cinema getting closer, people watching hell lot of international shows on Netflix and Amazon, a copy should be seriously done and if it is not ”taken’ well, then it will end up a damp squib. Simply saying, poor copies don’t work.

All the three films that Koratala Siva had directed so far became big hits. But, all of them had one problem, Weak Climax. Even the admirers of Koratala feel that he needs to write better climaxes. Did he correct his weakness in the case of ‘Bharat Ane Nenu’?

It is heard that Superstar Mahesh Babu, who is wary of the criticism the climax portion in ‘Srimanthudu’ received, politely asked Koratala to rewrite and reshoot the climax of BAN. He allegedly had an apprehension about audience reception of the already filmed climax.

Taking the suggestion of Mahesh very sportively, Koratala reportedly reworked on the climax and reshot it. Both Mahesh and Koratala are confident of impressing audience with the new climax and thus make sure the flaw in ‘Srimanthudu’ doesn’t repeat in BAN.

Carrying massive expectations, BAN is slated to hit screens on April 20.

In the last 1-2 years, it has become a routine to see piracy prints of new films getting shared on Facebook and the makers of those films crying foul on the pirates. Probably for the first time, a director himself has shared the piracy of his new film on Facebook.

The director is Merlapaka Gandhi and the film is Nani-starrer, Krishnarjuna Yuddham. Gandhi shared a half minute video of the film, which was apparently shot in a movie screening theatre. The cheers and whistles from audience can also be heard in the video.

Gandhi might be very excited at audience cheering for his film and hence shared the video. Its a small bit from a song so the video might not harm much. But, it can set a dangerous precedent and give further wings to pirates.

Leave alone pirates, what if regular movie goers also start sharing such piracy videos on a platform as popular as Facebook? Wouldn’t it kills the film’s prospects at box office?