Praveen Sattaru’s film with Ram which was supposed to take off has been shelved. Although rumours have it that budget restraints are the issue from producers’ point and the script needed such budget from director’s end, the project finally seems to have moved to Tamil star Dhanush.

Reportedly, Praveen is toying with the idea of pitching the film’s story to Dhanush who has good base in Tamil and moderate market in Telugu (after Raghuvaran BTech).

While it’s not clear Dhanush given his go ahead or not since his directorial venture with Nagarjuna is also due, one has to wait and see whether the National-Award winning filmmaker would persuade Dhanush to do this film for him. If Praveen succeeds, certainly, it will be the first victory.

Praveen’s last film Garuda Vega got critical acclaim, but the film couldn’t earn the profits as expected due to its high budget and long delay before its release. Praveen this time is quite confident of overcoming it by roping in big star and handy production house. Let’s see.

When it comes to biopics, our heroes are little late than their Bollywood counterparts. While Bollywood has churned so many biopics already, Tollywood is just in the preliminary stage with Mahanti being their first, followed by NTR and Yaatra that will be released soon.

Apparently, Rana Daggubati was supposed to star in a couple of biopics, one of them deals with the life and times of a dreaded robber, while other one is about a famous wrestler. Yes, Rana is supposed to be the lead man of both the biopics, Stuartpuram based robber Tiger Nageswara Rao and wrestler Kodi Ramamurthy Naidu. But it looks like the actor will take up only one.

Though reasons are not known, Rana is said to have backed out from Tiger Nageswara Rao’s biopic that will be directed by Vamsi Krishna of Kittu Unnadu Jagratha fame. And latest reports suggest that hero Nani agreed to play the role as he feels that biopics will bring the best out of him.

For the uninitiated, Tiger Nageswara Rao happens to be a robber hailing from Stuartpuram village in the 70s and has broken into banks and houses in various cities of the then Andhra Pradesh. He was shot dead in 1987 after a massive encounter.

All eyes are on Rajamouli’s RRR, a multistarrer featuring NTR and Ram Charan as the main leads. This 200 crore action entertainer is going to commence from October later this year. Meanwhile, here’s the latest buzz on the movie.

Apparently, Senthil Kumar, the acclaimed cinematographer who was the eye behind Rajamouli’s biggest visual wonders like Magadheera, Eega and the Baahubali franchise, is rumored to be not part of RRR. Senthil has been Rajamouli’s right-hand ever since their association began more than a decade ago and naturally, Senthil not working on a huge project like RRR is a big surprise.

But here’s a much bigger surprise. It is being said that Rajamouli has roped in a popular cinematographer who has a decent experience of working in Indian and foreign movies. Speculations are rife that Mahanati’s DOP Dani is going to shoot RRR. However, all these rumours will be laid to rest once an official announcement is made sometime in July.

From the last couple of weeks, actually hour glass siren Ileana D’Cruz is touring the Fiji islands once again to promote that country as their tourism ambassador in India. And then, if it is islands, who want to miss to go underwater and search for fish?

Snorkelling into the ocean waters, a bikini-clad Ileana is seen trying to find fish. She says, “Fiji has over 1,200 species of fish. I’m trying to find Nemo’s Fijian cousins” while sharing a photograph shot at the bottom of the ocean. This is the second time Ileana went to Fiji and spent a happy time there.

Earlier she has come up with a promotional tourism film of her tour and that was aired on different lifestyle channels. It looks like despite having no big film offers in hand in Bollywood, Ileana is keeping herself busy with these other works. Cut to her Tollywood career, she is going to restart it very soon through Raviteja’s upcoming film Amar Akbar Antony being directed by Sreenu Vaitla.

The response to the Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala, releasing in over 1,800 screens worldwide today, has been lukewarm, leading to doubts about how much of a factor he will be in Tamil Nadu politics. Kaala is Rajinikanth’s first film after he jumped into the political arena. The release of Superstar Rajinikanth’s movie is akin to a festival in Chennai. The pomp and hype can be felt a week before the release.

A die-hard Rajnikanth fan, 25-year-old Karthik, finds it hard to reconcile with the quiet atmosphere in the theatres.

Recalling the buzz around the release of previous movies like Enthiran and Kabali. He says, “It just doesn’t feel like a Rajini film release. But, I have hope that things will be different on June 7.”The lacklustre response to Kaala can be attributed to a variety of factors – a mid-week Thursday release, minimal promotional activities, recent views of Rajnikanth on the Tuticorin violence and a mediocre performance of Kabali at the box office.

In Hyderabad, there was not much “Rajini money” in the form of posters, cut-outs and sale of merchandise. In Chennai, theatres were booked only for two days which is unusual for a Rajinikanth film.Rajinikanth has largely avoided getting into political controversies earlier. Taking a stand on hot issues this time could have divided fans and cleared the aisles of those who were disappointed with his utterances. This could tell on the Thaliavar’s political acceptance and the impact he could make on the elections next year.

Actress-author Soha Ali Khan says she decided to ditch all chemical-laden products when she got pregnant.Soha, who is married to actor Kunal Kemmu, gave birth to their daughter in September 2017. “Ever since I became pregnant, that’s when I made a change to move from anything that has chemical in it to things that were 100 per cent natural,” Soha told IANS.

“As a new mother, I don’t want to be around toxins because I like the fact that they say that what you eat is what shows on your skin and the other way round that what you put on your skin you should be able to eat. I like that kind of realistic approach especially around Inaaya now,” she added. The actress, who launched Ayurveda skincare brand Shankara Naturals in India on Wednesday, says her beauty routine is cleansing twice a day.

“In the morning when I get up, I cleanse, moisturise and then use a sunscreen. Through the day, I often don’t have time to do anything else but in the evening I make sure to take off my make-up properly.” She says one needs to put in special attention to skin with the ageing process. “The older you get, you don’t take yourself for granted in a way that you do when you were a teenager. So now I make sure that at the end of the day, I want to wash all the impurities off my face that I have accumulated, so I use a cleanser as I have dry skin.”

Founded in the US in 2001, Shankara Naturals has been brought to India by Sri Sri Tatva.On the brand coming to India, Soha said: “I’m very excited that they are launching in India…They have great plans like launching 50 stores in India.”

We had earlier reported to our viewers that Ram’s adventure thriller with Praveen Sattaru has been shelved due to high budget estimates.Ram and producer Ravi Kishore wanted to go ahead with the project despite the high budget quoted by Praveen Sattaru.

However, Ravi Kishore realized that the film would cost more than the estimates, which is not viable for Ram’s market. Therefore, he backed off even after spending so much money on the script and pre production until that point.Ravi Kishore had reportedly spent Rs. 2 crore on story sittings and other pre production works before pulling out.

Ravi Kishore also convinced Ram that it would be a loss venture irrespective of the public response.After initial hesitation, Ram was convinced with his uncle’s argument and let go of it. Praveen is now looking for a bigger star with big market to make the film possible.

The director’s previous film Garuda Vega was a huge cost failure in spite of positive word of mouth and glowing reviews.

‘Swarabhishekam to NTR’ in Atlanta – A Fitting Birthday Tribute to the Legend!

In a very unique way of paying a tribute to ‘Anna Garu’, the one and only legendary figure Nataratna, Nata Sarvabhowma Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, on the occasion of his 96th Birthday, Atlanta’s well-known Singer Ram Durvasula and team have organized ‘Swarabhishekam to NTR’, a three-hour non-stop concert by singing hits from the movies NTR played for over a century. The event was held at Sexton Hall Cumming (Atlanta) on Sunday, June 3.

Not in the recent years, Atlanta music lovers have witnessed such a crisp, well-planned and well-organized event. From the selection of songs to line up the whole programme was steered with ease by the MC Neelima Gaddamanugu with her unique style and relevant narration she collected from the archives.All the singers have given their extreme best. The hardcore NTR fans have truly enjoyed every song and responded with applause and of course whistles for a few peppy numbers.

The event started precisely on time as announced at 3 pm with lighting of the lamp by Sri Subramanyam Durvasula Garu while the invocation song was presented by Rajyalaxmi Vudathu Garu, a Senior Citizen and member of Maitri along with Shilpa Uppuluri.As many as 30 songs were presented by Ram Durvasula, Bhanusri Vavilakolanu, Venkat Chennubhotla, Phani Dokka, Shanti Medicherla, Lakshmi Vedala, Usha Mocherla, Srivalli Sridhar, Harini Yanamandala, Sireesha Durvasula, Shilpa Uppuluri, Neelima Gaddamanugu and Meghana Potukuchi.

Most of them were duets of NTR with various heroines like B. Saroja Devi, Anjali Devi, Krishna Kumari, Jamuna, Savitri, etc. Information about these songs was displayed on the screen while the MC was announcing the song and the actual videos were played when the songs were presented.This was really unique the audience were able to connect the song with the movie. A real refresher indeed!Another unique presentation was few poems (padyalu) presented by Ram Durvasula and Shanti Medicherla from Lava Kusha and other movies. This item received a great applause on and off stage. Both have recited the poems with accuracy and true devotion.

Jonnavithula, the well-known lyricist, poet and writer, was invited as chief guest to grace the occasion. While speaking he said he was a great fan of NTR and used to watch his movies on the very first day with excitement.Jonnavithula Garu has recited a few poems and talked about the greatness of NTR as an actor and as an Administrator. Many other prominent community persons attended the event as well.Towards the end of the event, the fans of NTR have gathered and cut a cake to celebrate NTR’s Birthday.

Ram Durvasula while recognizing the singers, sponsors and volunteers has talked about each person and they played a very important in his life as an artist.Jonnavithula, the Guest of Honor, was recognized with a Plaque and a Shawl. He in turn presented mementoes to the Singers, Sponsors and Volunteers.Audio by Jogy while photography was handled by G.V. Rao. Videos projection was handled by Radhakanth Swayampakula. Media Coverage by Ravi Ponangi.Viju Chiluveru, also a co-organizer of the event, extended his support with graphic designing and backend support. Neelima Gaddamanugu, another co-organizer, took care of decoration, song line up, recognition and publicity.

The organizers have announced that they will present a Swarabhishekam to Ilayaraja sometime during December this year.

Mega Powerstar Ram Charan has watched ‘Mahanati’ and is awestruck by the film. He took it on his official Facebook page and expressed his views on the movie.Being an actor, the film has struck me emotionally and credits to the director, Nag Ashwin for bringing this epic to the audience, said Ram Charan.

The mega hero is all praise of actress Keerthy Suresh who played the title role. He added that Keerthy in the role of Savitri was amazing and no one could have done it better than her.Ram Charan then congratulated the producers, Swapna and Priyanka Dutt, also the rest of the cast and crew of the film for an outstanding work.

‘Mahanati’ has entered its fifth week run at the box office and is still going strong.

Mega Powerstar Ram Charan has watched ‘Mahanati’ and is awestruck by the film. He took it on his official Facebook page and expressed his views on the movie.

Being an actor, the film has struck me emotionally and credits to the director, Nag Ashwin for bringing this epic to the audience, said Ram Charan.

The mega hero is all praise of actress Keerthy Suresh who played the title role. He added that Keerthy in the role of Savitri was amazing and no one could have done it better than her.

Ram Charan then congratulated the producers, Swapna and Priyanka Dutt, also the rest of the cast and crew of the film for an outstanding work.

‘Mahanati’ has entered its fifth week run at the box office and is still going strong.