Some choreographers like Prabhudeva turned successful directors too. But some people like Ahmed Khan are still struggling to score one as a director. And this choreographer says this will be his last attempt at direction.

Choreographer Ahmed Khan took direction long back and directed Lakeer (2004) and Fool & Final (2007) years ago. As the films misfired big time, he didn’t touch direction again. But he’s directing some music videos and choreographed for some blockbusters. From Rangeela to Taal to Kick, he has so many hits as a dance master.

Cut to present, he has now directed “Baaghi 2”, which happens to be an action-oriented remake of Telugu hit “Kshanam”. He says, “This is my last attempt at direction. If the film clicks, then I’ll continue, otherwise, I take it as a final call. But Baaghi 2 has come out well in terms of action and emotion. It’s an action movie for which we shot rigorously in Bangkok and Goa. Still, we managed to finish the shoot in 69 days”.

Also, the film should give a break to heroine Disha Patani whose glamour show at the promotions of this film became a talk of the town. Featuring Tiger Shroff in the lead, the film is hitting cinemas today (March 30th).

Seen in this recently captured candid photograph is Rana Daggubati, sporting a thick, long beard. Rana will be donning this stylish look in his upcoming Tamil-Telugu-Hindi trilingual, titled Haathi Mere Saathi in Hindi and Adavi Ramudu in Telugu.

Rana will be seen as an environmental activist in Adavi Ramudu. The actor had underwent intense training with elephants for his role of Bandev. The film’s shooting will take place in Thailand and India. National award winning Tamil filmmaker Prabhu Solomon is directing Haathi Mere Saathi.

To bring authenticity to his work, composer Devi Sri Prasad searched for a Clarinet (Musical instrument) that is almost 80 years old such that he will get some rustic sounding. He brought folk singers to render few songs. All this is the effort he poured in to create Rangasthalam album.

All that hard work is heard in the songs and that is the reason the album became a chartbuster in no time. While some critics unabashedly nailed few songs like Rangamma Mangamma and Jigelu Rani, they became most popular songs in no time. And guess what, DSP got appreciations from many biggies.

“Allu Arjun called me to appreciate the kind of folk music I’ve given for the film. He spoke at length for hours to discuss Rangasthalam music. Then I’ve got an SMS from Minister KTR regarding the beauty of these songs. His appreciation is unforgettable. Also, Surya called me and appreciated the work though he doesn’t understand the language much” revealed DSP, about the best comments he got for his work.

Meanwhile, cinephiles are expecting DSP to showcase his mettle with background score as well as the rustic 80s backdrop needs such special care for sure.

Not even a single premiere show has begun, but Ram Charan’s Rangasthalam has already turned out to be the highest opener in the US for the actor. Until 2:00 PM EST, Rangasthalam grossed USD387,221 from 136 screens from the advance sales in the USA.

Rangastalam has already beat Ram Charan’s previous best overseas premiere (Bruce Lee’s USD 277K) by miles. The film now stands at number 14 among all time highest grossing Telugu movies from the US premieres.

Going by the early trends, Rangasthalam will surely zoom past the half a million dollar club without a sweat. If the film manages to attain a positive talk from the premieres, then sky will be the limit for the film’s box office collections over the weekend.

The big thing many discuss at the moment is how will “Rangasthalam” going to fare at the box office with almost 3 hours run time. But director Sukumar says, that length credit should go to Megastar Chiranjeevi not him.

Without any Censor ads and Rahul Dravid’s tobacco treats, the runtime of Rangasthalam is 2 hours 50 minutes. Sukumar stated that he has first shown the preview of the film to Megastar and then this runtime is locked.

“After watching the preview, Chiranjeevi garu felt very emotional. Then he asked me about runtime. I’m already prepared to chop almost 20-30 minutes to bring it down to 2 hours 20 minutes. When I said it is three hours, Chiranjeevi garu said that the film is quite engaging and there is no need to remove at least one single frame. That way, he gave us the energy to go ahead with such runtime. You’ll also feel happy about it” said Sukumar.

Directed by Sukumar, Rangasthalam has Sukumar and Samantha playing the roles of villagers for the first time in their career. We have to see how the film fares at box office.

“My dad is also upset with some websites that are writing wrong about me. While I told him that I won’t care about them, he stressed on me to question the false writings” says Lakshmi Manchu, as she poured her heart out reacting on how a journalist called some heroines as ‘whores’. Taking to this occasion, she spoke about the ‘websites’ that are bothering her.

“I became numb for the kind of gossip being written on me. It became fun for those writers. They keep sensational headings, but inside there will be nothing. Just to get those clicks. And those clicks give you only a paisa, I know about monetisation. Are our lives that cheap that you earn a paisa through us by cheap stuff? Can you write about your families in a similar fashion?” she suggested, emotionally.

But she’s not asking anyone to stop writing on her. “With our faces, you’re earning money and still we’ll support you by giving interviews. Thousands are living on us. Only due to our production ventures, 100 people live a day by taking battas and eat our food. And we want websites also to live, but don’t live by writing faulty stuff. We also have feelings and similar blood flows in our veins too” she urges.

“If press folks are treated a little harsh, they collectively agitate and showcase their dissent. But why are you not asking your fellow journalist anything? Why that media house didn’t sack him yet?” she asked, straight to the press. “You are talking about our films in your channels only after taking money. You’re not doing for free. Whether it is a cyclone or some disaster, we always put our foot forward to collect donations and do charity events. When we’re living our life, why are you harassing us this way?” she added. “Don’t you have a moral responsibility to ban that journalist?” she said on a concluding note.

In the end, Lakshmi Manchu remembered Dasari Narayan Rao. “Had Dasari uncle is here, today this press meet wouldn’t have happened. He would have got the justice done already” she felt.

Saaho star Prabhas has been waiting for the ambitious two month long Dubai schedule to commence soon this summer. Meanwhile, the actor is utilising the free time to meet a large number of his fans. Recently, a few photographs where Prabhas was seen posing with his fans in a personal interaction went viral on the internet.

Now, we has exclusively learned from its sources that Prabhas will be meeting his fans once again in a grand manner, starting from April 2nd. The meeting will last for 3 to 4 days in Hyderabad. Apart from the personal interaction, there will also be a photoshoot where fans will get to pose with the Young Rebel Star.

As per the source in the know, hundreds of fans from all corners of both the Telugu speaking states will take part in the meet. Prabhas’ personal team is currently coordinating with Prabhas fans associations’ presidents from all the districts in AP and Telangana to organize the meet.

Ram Charan has some sizable hits to his credit, but he hasn’t scored a blockbuster besides Magadheera.Fans expected him to take over the Tollywood throne from his father, but Cherry couldn’t live up their expectations as yet. In fact he has been lagging behind his cousin Allu Arjun in the race towards the number one spot.

Although Dhruva was a successful film, its full run collections are nowhere near to big hits of Tollywood. He should score a bit hit with Rangasthalam to reclaim his position.Also it is a litmus test for Sukumar who has not lived up to expectations post Aarya. Despite working with big stars, Sukumar is repeatedly failing to deliver a massive blockbuster.

Everything has fallen in place for Rangasthalam that is releasing today. Hype and buzz around the film is huge as it has grabbed full attention of film buffs with an intriguing setup.The film has the potential to take Charan and Sukumar to top if it generates positive word of mouth with this pre release buzz.

We brings to you the Rangasthalam experience and all the excitement of this gripping fare live via tweet review.

Rangasthalam. Run time 179 min. U/A.

Homage to Sridevi.

1980. Story begins with Prakash Raj meeting with an accident and Ram Charan trying to save him. Prakash Raj is admitted in hospital and Charan begs doctors to save him. No relationship between them is established yet.

Story moves to flashback…some months ago….

Ram Charan is now introduced as Chitti Babu, a rural guy with hearing deficiency. He can hear some sounds, some can’t.

Rangamma attha (Anasuya) is introduced.

Jagapathi Babu as village president is inroduced. And title song “Ranga Ranga Rangasthalana” comes.

Kumar Babu {Aadhi), Chitti Baby’s elder brother, comes down to Rangasthalam from Dubai.

Movie is going slow.

Chitti Babu accidentally sees Ramalaxmi (Samantha) while she is bathing. She uses choice of swearwords at him but for him it is love at first sight.

Here comes the popular song “Yentha Sakkagunnave…”. The song is shot beautifully in Papikondalu area.

Scenes between Chitti Babu and Rama Lakshmi are going on.

No story, only atmospheric sequences are going on.

Now comes popular “Rangamma Mangamma” song.

When Kumar Babu questions irregularities in cooperative society run by village president …. drama intensifies.

First major fight sequence.

When police put Chitti Babu in jail for two days for beating up president’s men, Kumar Babu decides to contest as president.

President’s name is revealed now – Phanindra Babu Bhupathi.

Now Prakash Raju as the MLA is introduced.

Intermission

Interval: Ram Charan dominates the show. His performance is highlight. Director Sukumar didn’t deviate from the main plot. So far good but is too rustic.

Second half begins with Charan staying in hospital taking care of Prakash Raj who is in coma.

Story moves back to Rangasthalam.