If anyone is thinking that present generation star heroes are friendlier with each than the past ones, they are wrong. Like senior hero Venkatesh said many times, Chiranjeevi, Balayya and Nag are all positive people and stay close to each other personally.

To prove this point, we have to look at how Chiranjeevi and Balayya spoke at a couple of recent occasions. At Chalo pre-release event, Megastar heaped praises on Naga Shourya for being the handsome actor and also stressed that film industry always needs new blood. Despite have almost six young heroes from his own mega family, the way Chiru encouraged Shourya shows how these senior heroes always believe in hard work.

At the same time, other day when Balayya launched the teaser of Inttelligent movie, he praised Sai Dharam Tej for proving his mettle rather coming from Mega family. Balayya has uttered the word ‘mega’ many times and also, in the end, stated that the film will be watched by not only mega fans but also his fans because he’s associated with the production house through Paisa Vasool.

Both Chiranjeevi and Balayya need not talk about others as they are demi-gods in their own right. But still, they have showcased what it means to be humble and grounded, and what it is like to encourage others. Needless to say, these two are the best and many should learn from them.

Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor’s historical magnum opus, “Padmaavat” has set the box office on fire. After crossing the 50 Cr mark within 2 days, the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial breached into the Rs 100 Cr club in flat 4 days.

According to reliable trade reports, Padmaavat collected – 24 Cr on Thursday (opening day, including 5 Cr from Wed previews), 32 Cr on Friday, 27 Cr on Saturday and 30 Cr on Sunday to take its first weekend (4 days) total at domestic box office to Rs 113 Cr approx.

Padmaavat has also become the fastest heroine-centric film to cross the Rs 100 Cr mark at box office.

Senior Telugu writer and Rajamouli’s father, Vijayendra Prasad has garnered nationwide fame after his ‘Baahubali’ and ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ became worldwide blockbusters. With that success, he has now become one of the most sought after writers for Bollywood superstars as well.

Prasad has in his earlier interviews divulged that he was asked to pen films for Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar. The senior writer has reportedly penned an intense revenge drama for Superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

According to reports, Vijayendra Prasad has recently flown down from Hyderabad to Mumbai to narrate SRK the powerful story he has written. Like his other films, this one is also high on drama and action, and can be mounted on a huge canvas. The DDLJ star was impressed with the script but he hasn’t yet given his nod.

SRK is currently busy shooting for ‘Zero’. Vijayendra Prasad is also penning the highly anticipated NTR-Ram Charan multistarrer to be directed by Rajamouli.

Paruchuri Gopala Krishna is one of the most acclaimed writers in Tollywood and has penned down some chartbuster movies along with his brother Venkateswara Rao in his long film career. From some time, he is actually analysing stories of super hits and how the screenplay is designed and all.

At an event other day, Paruchuri Gopala Krishna remarked that Tollywood has a story crisis. He claimed that good stories are not coming up these days. “Telugu Film Industry is one of the highest grossing film industry in our country but is now in need of some innovative stories. I got saddened that no creative and unique stories are coming out lately. Young writers should come up with concept-based stories” he said.

Recently, TCWA (Telugu Cine Writers Association) launched a three-day workshop on script writing and screenplay. Taking part in the event with acclaimed scriptwriters like Vijayendra Prasad, these comments are made by Paruchuri. His comments are once again reminding us of how Tollywood is churning out only those routing run of the mill films with some new spice. Even happening heroes are also coming up with similar mass projects. So who is going to take Paruchuri’s comments seriously?

“In an industry where many want to make 20 crores profit with 5-10 crores investments, only mass films are the way. If they do concept-oriented films only once in a decade films like Pellichoopulu and Arjun Reddy click. Who would want to dump crores to get some meagre profits?” a small-time producer whose film is getting ready for Summer release commented.

So, we have to see how Paruchuri’s words will be taken seriously and concept films replace commercial movies.

Becoming a star director in the industry is not that easy. Sometimes, despite having the talent and dedication some directors fail to establish their career and can’t bag good offers from the producers. On the other hand, the directors who are not even eligible to be one might end up carving back to back films.

One such talented director who still remained in the background is none other than Sagar Chandra. He marked his directorial debut with Ayyare movie starring Rajendra Prasad. The movie is critically acclaimed as a thought-provoking film. Later, he directed Appatlo Okadundevadu starring Nara Rohit and Sri Vishnu. It got lauded for its gripping story set in the 90s backdrop. However, it took nearly four long years for director Sagar to get this offer after Ayyare.

Recently, he succeeded in convincing hero Ram to star in his upcoming movie with a sensible script. 14 Reels Entertainments banner was supposed to bankroll this project. When everything was going well, Ram suddenly opted out from the project due to reasons unknown. Now the entire team is back to square one as Sagar should start hero hunting again.

One wonders why this young director is struggling that way to get a hero and a film to take off. Let’s hope he will get some good luck.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Padmaavat”, despite protests marring its screening in some states, is set to march past the Rs 100 crore mark in its opening weekend in India, say trade experts.

The Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh starrer opened to mixed reviews on January 25 — a day before the Republic Day holiday — but paid previews on January 24 had given its earnings a jumpstart.

According to Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the film minted Rs 5 crore from paid previews on January 24, followed by Rs 19 crore January 25, Rs 32 crore January 26 and Rs 27 crore on January 27, taking the cumulative total to Rs 83 crore.

Ranveer is all “smiles”, while Deepika described the box office figures as “absolutely unbelievable” and Shahid celebrated the response by tweeting “balle balle”.

Trade analysts are confident that the movie will cross the Rs 100 crore mark with Sunday’s collections, giving the magnum opus a promising opening weekend figure.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan tweeted on Sunday: “‘Padmaavat’ had a big Saturday with Rs 27 crore, which brings its total to Rs 83 crore. Will march past Rs 100 crore today.”

Mohan is confident the movie’s first week collections will amount to Rs 180 crore to Rs 210 crore.

Another trade expert Taran Adarsh said “Padmaavat” has continued to “sparkle” at the box office.

“Business on Saturday (after a big holiday on Friday) was exceptional. Will comfortably cross Rs 100 crore mark today,” he said.

Ranveer, who essays Alauddin Khilji in the film, tweeted a photograph in which he looks visibly happy with all the praise coming his way.

“All smiles,” he captioned it.

“Padmaavat”, based on 16th century poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi’s poem “Padmavat”, was caught in a row after protests from Shri Rajput Karni Sena which contended that it distorts historical facts and dents the pride of the Rajput community.

As a result of the violence that ensued, the movie did not release in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.