It is very rare to see senior hero Venkatesh making a public appearance along with his wife, Neeraja. So, the couple naturally hogs limelight and leaves a memorable moment for the actor’s fans whenever they walk side by side.

Venkatesh has recently attended a family function with his wife, who doesn’t appear except in family functions. The lovely picture also has Venkatesh’s brother, Daggubati Suresh and his wife posing for the camera. The dashing Venky and his graceful wife look adorable together, giving fans a frame-worthy picture.

On work front, Venky is getting ready to start the shooting of his new film in the direction of Teja.

There was much ado about Venkatesh’s cameo in Agnyaathavaasi. Since Pawan and Venky had a good personal rapport as well as on-screen chemistry, many thought that the duo’s presence together would bring cheers from fans of both worlds. But Venky is missing in Agnyaathavaasi. People who have caught up the early shows of PK’s 25th film were shocked to observe Venky’s absence.

Whereas, Trivikram has smartly kept Venky’s footage under the wraps. It is learnt that some 3-minute-odd Venky’s guest appearance is going to thrill Daggubati fans that is yet to be attached to film.

If all goes well, Trivikram may add this in a couple of days. But it also depends on the initial talk for the film. So, let’s wait and see.

With the success of ‘MCA’, Natural Star Nani has proved that he is now bigger than a mid-range hero, and is aiming for the Top league. In the aftermath of his success streak, Top actresses are also showing interest to work with him now. The latest we hear is that the consistent hero, who hasn’t romanced a top actress in his career yet, might pair up with a top leading lady in his next film.

We have learnt from our reliable sources that Rakul Preet Singh has given her consent to pair with Nani in his new film, a multistarrer also starring Nagarjuna Akkineni. Rakul, who is a good friend of Nani, reportedly agreed to do the film both because of the good role in offering and also her trust in Nani that he can give her the much needed hit. Nani’s film could be Rakul’s first Telugu release after SPYder last year.

From Nani’s point of view, Rakul is the first top actress that he will be romancing. He has earlier paired with Samantha but she wasn’t a top actress by then. Rakul’s addition will also add brand value to his multistarrer and help him in aiming at a much bigger market.

To be directed by Sriram Aditya of ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’ fame, the Nag-Nani multistarrer will go on floors from March.

Pawan Kalyan, wife Anna Lezhneva, newborn baby boy Mark Shankar Pawanovich, son Akira Nandan, director Trivikram Srinivas, Pawan’s close aide Narra Srinivas have attended the special show of Agnyaathavaasi.

The special show was screened exclusively for Pawan’s family at Shabdalaya studio. Pawan along with Trivikram have watched the film.

Apparently, this is the first-ever film for Mark Shankar Pawanovich. It is learnt that Pawan’s wife and his elder son Akira too enjoyed the film a lot.

Dil Raju, who has acquired the Nizam’s theatrical rights of Agnyaathavaasi for a staggering amount and is releasing the film in Nizam, has planned for a slew of premieres across Hyderabad on Jan 9th.

But surprisingly, producers have opposed Raju’s idea and has requested him to not to screen the film in advance.

Even for films such as Baahubali : The Conclusion and Janatha Garage, the late-night shows have garnered mixed talk initially. Since then, all big-budget films have got alert and not taking any chances since this may further affect the Box Office collections of first day and first weekend.

Joining the same tradition, the producers of Agnyaathavaasi have asked Dil Raju not to host premieres. This has disrupted the plans of Dil Raju who planned to rake in huge moolah with the premieres. But trade analysts say that producers are right as even little mixed talk from premieres would cost more. Dil Raju too agreed to producer’s request.

Overall, this is considered as a good move.

Strongly hurt with the song ‘Kodaka Koteswara Rao’ , one advocate Koteswara Rao has lodged complaint in Machavaram police station against Kodaka Koteswara Rao song in Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi. Alleging that he was deeply hurt with the song, he demanded the producer, director and the film’s protagonist to remove the song from the film immediately.

“If any road-side guy had sung the song, I’d not have bothered. But an influential star like Pawan Kalyan sings such a song insulting people with the name Koteswara Rao, many others take inspiration from him and insult us regularly,” said advocate Koteswara Rao speaking to media.

The advocate further added that public are insulting him by chanting the lyrics of the song. Koteswara Rao stated that the name is named after Lord Shiva and popular IAS officers, judges, advocates and severla other people have the name.

He went onto allege that the whole lyrics of the song are quite demeaning and gross insult to guys with the name Koteswara Rao. He felt besides him, several others bearing with the same name are with him and said all of them are depressed with the insult.

“Why only Koteswara Rao? Why not Chiranjeevi? or Naga Babu? or Allu Aravind? Or Trivikram? instead of Koteswara Rao,” asked the complainant.

The song contains ‘Orey neecha nikrushta koteshwara Rao’ and says ‘Chuttai Pothavu Ro’, ‘Chetha Buthai Pothavu Ro’, ‘Motham Manishe Pothavu Ro’. These are raising objections from the people bearing the name Koteswara Rao.

Crazy engulfing Pawan Kalyan’s Agnyaathavaasi is so big that first-day first show tickets of many theatres in Hyderabad are sold out nearly a week in advance. Though online booking was opened for tickets, most of the tickets are sold out much in advance and only a row of tickets are kept for online buyers.

Buzz has that many Corporate companies have made some bulk bookings when it comes to the first-day shows. And the marketing persons involved in selling these tickets actually got those tickets sold for more than the regular price. Guess what, reports are coming that even Upasana Konidela is one such prominent buyer.

According to the grapevine, Upasana has purchased nearly 500 tickets of Agnyaathavaasi for the First Day shows from different theatres in Hyderabad together. These tickets will be distributed to various employees of Apollo Group, the rumour says.

Not just Upasana, many business people with an establishment where 1000s of employees work are offering tickets to some of their top-level employees. The authenticity of this news cannot be verified, but it looks like we cannot deny it.

Marking the reunion of blockbuster combination of Pawan Kalyan and Trivikram Srinivas who had earlier delivered Attarintiki Daredi and Jalsa, the duo’s Agnyaathavaasi is hitting the screens amidst mammoth expectations. The film has to make 4 Million USD for its break-even in the US.

Agnyaathavaasi US premieres gross has crossed 1 Million USD mark. This is a welcome feat. Going by the initial trends, the premieres are expected to clock in above 1.5 Million USD gross.

Box Office Live Report : US Premieres of Agnyaathavaasi

02:30 pm EST $1,093,773

02:00 PM EST 1,089,740 USD

01:30 PM EST 1,064,700 USD

1:15 PM EST 1,057,230 USD

1.00 PM EST 9,91,598 USD

12.30 PM EST 9,75,000 USD

12.00 PM EST 9,10,000 USD

11.45 AM EST 9,07,331 USD

11.30 AM EST 9,06,000 USD

11.00 AM EST 8,72,137 USD

10.45 AM EST 8,60,000 USD

10.30 AM EST 730,286 USD

10:00 AM EST 707,000 USD

9:30 AM EST 607,000 USD

9.00 AM EST 3,60,000 USD

8:30 AM EST 292,454 USD

8:00 AM EST 216,774 USD

7:00 AM EST 140,000 USD

The most eagerly awaited day has finally arrived. Power Star Pawan Kalyan’s landmark 25th film, Agnyaathavaasi, was premiered in the US and across Andhra Pradesh last night. The film was expected to wipe off several box-office records with the premieres.

As expected, Agnyaathavaasi has erased all the existing records and became all-time second highest opener for Telugu movies in the US. Until 8:45 pm, Agnyaathavaasi grossed $1.42M from 478 locations across the US, surpassing Baahubali 1 ($1.36M) and standing next only to Baahubali 2 ($2.46M).

As we reported yesterday, Agnyaathavaasi will break into the $1.5 million club without a sweat, but it will be interesting to see if the movie will manage to enter the $2 million club. Stay tuned for further updates.

Actor Mohan Babu filmed a thrilling action sequence for “Gayatri”. He shot it at the Ramoji Film City.”It was an absolute happiness to direct an obsessive artist like him and see him perform,” Kanal Kannan, the film’s action director, said in a statement.Mohan Babu performed the stunt rig action sequence with style, and a lot of planning and practice was involved in order to minimise the risks, Kannan said.

Nero Motion control rig is being used for adding visual effects in “Gayatri”, in which Mohan Babu plays the hero as well as the villain. This rig is used to capture the fight sequence between the two of them.According to the statement, the film’s makers had especially flown in a stunt rig from Australia, coupled with a well-planned stunt design and stunt co-ordinators, to create a unique visual spectacle for a fight scene.

The fight sequence is being shot for the last eight days and will continue for another three days. The shooting was halted for four days because of the birth of Mohan Babu’s son Vishnu Manchu’s baby.Vishnu Manchu also features in “Gayatri” as a romantic character opposite Shriya Saran. The film will release on February 9.

Finally, the production team of Agnyathavasi, starring power star Pawan Kalyan, managed to get permission to run one special show of the film for a week in Telangana as well, after intense lobbying with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government.

The Telangana police issued orders on Tuesday evening that after careful consideration of the request of the producers of the film, it was decided to accord permissions to the managements of theatres and multiplexes to screen one special show of Agnyathavasi on the eve of Sankranti festival from January 10 to 17 at 8 am.

Which means, the film, slated for release on Wednesday, would run for five shows in Telangana.

In Andhra Pradesh, however, the film was given permission to run three special shows, in addition to four regular shows, from midnight 1 am to 10 am.Apparently, a team of representatives from Haarika and Hassini met Telangana cinematography minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav on Tuesday morning and tried to convince him for granting permission for three special shows.They said since the Nizam area including Hyderabad is the biggest revenue earner for any film, it would be a heavy loss to the producers if the openings are not good for Agnyathavasi.