Comedy king Brahmanandam is one of the most prolific actors the Telugu film industry has ever seen. In a career spanning 32 years, he has acted in more than one thousand films and also holds a Guinness record.

So, its naturally surprising to know that an actor of such illustrious film career didn’t watch a single film in the past 25-odd years. Brahmanandam himself divulged this surprising aspect in a candid interview.

‘People may not believe but I haven’t seen a film in theatre in the past 25 years. I don’t watch films, not even the ones in which I played key roles,’ Brahmi reportedly said.

Elaborating further on why he doesn’t like to watch films, Brahmi said, ‘I enjoy acting because this is my profession, but watching a full length movie is very difficult for me. I feel films are very ‘unnatural’ as I know that everything that happens is dramatized’.

The senior comedian said that he instead watches theatrical plays whenever he gets time.

Its an open secret that Rockstar Devi Sri Prasad is the highest paid music director in Tollywood. Even though he is expensive, producers don’t bargain much as they know what he can deliver. Besides his usual remuneration, Devi is rumored to have found another way to charge producers.

According to inside reports, Devi charges exorbitant amount, excluding his remuneration, to perform live at the audio launch events of the films for which he scores music. The latest buzz is that DSP has asked the makers of ‘Rangasthalam’ to pay him Rs 25 lakhs for performing live at the audio function.

Reports add that makers of Rangasthalam haven’t yet taken a call regarding whether to pay DSP or drop the idea of his live performance.

Of course Devi has to invest time in rehearsing and pay singers who perform live on stage, but his asking fee is still too much, say insiders, who are aware of plight of producers.

We have been seeing many heroes coming out from the mega compound. Usually, they enter the industry with mega family tag and try to establish their career by scoring hits. And some outside heroes also bank on the mega tag for obvious reasons in order to grab the attention of one section of fans.

Seems like young hero Naga Shourya is on the same path now. His latest movie Chalo got released other day and opened to a good talk all over. While the movie is a hilarious ride, some movie lovers felt that the young hero got his Mega Bhajana heard even in the film after he gave full at the pre-release event.

In a scene, the hero actually watches Arya movie scenes in order to prepare himself. (Also he watches a scene from Nitin’s Dil movie too). In another scene between the leads, they reprised Khushi’s scene where hero glares at heroine’s waist. Later, Posani says in a scene that Chiru’s upcoming movie Sye Raa will become a bigger hit than his comeback movie Khaidi No 150.

Chalo movie has been receiving positive reception from the audience but one wonders why these mega references all over apart from the Rajnikanth references they used. While some say that Shourya completely took advantage of mega references, some say he just balanced the Telugu-Tamil theme of the film by using Megastar and Rajnikanth’s names.

Whatever it may be, other day also Shourya thanked Chiranjeevi for coming to the pre-release event of the film and giving his film a huge push. All this ‘mega bhajana’, or say, mega love, is working quite positively for the film, some say. We have to say what sorts of numbers the film will post at the box office.

Music director Mani Sharma, fondly called by music lovers as ‘Melody Brahma’, has been roped in to score music for the upcoming multistarrer featuring Nagarjuna Akkineni and Nani in lead roles.

Interestingly, Mani is scoring music for a Nag-starrer after 18 years. The last Nag-starrer Mani composed for is ‘Azad’, which released in 2000. This mutistarrer is Mani Sharma’s second film with Nani after ‘Gentleman’ (2016).

To be directed by Sriram Aditya of ‘Bhale Manchi Roju’ and ‘Samanthakamani’ fame, the multistarrer will be bankrolled by Ashwini Dutt. The official launch will be on February 24. Bollywood actress Kiara Advani, who will be seen in Bharat Ane Nenu and Charan-Boyapati film, has been approached to play the romantic interest of Nani, but she is yet to take a call.

Gossip had it that Chiranjeevi had requested director Boyapati Sreenu to ‘include’ comedy and ‘decrease’ high-voltage action scenes in Boyapati and Charan’s ongoing film which wrapped up 10 days of shoot.

However, we learnt that there is no truth in those rumours. Chiranjeevi said to have evinced complete trust on Boyapati and gave him full freedom to Boyapati. After Sarrainodu, Boyapati is the most sought after director for mega compound. Boyapati has struck a chord with masses and he knows the pulse of masses better than any mass director in the industry at the moment. His films have strong connect to families with good sentiment. Having faith in him, Charan and Chiru agreed to do films with him.

In fact, Chiru also has a commitment with Boyapati which he will honour after Charan-Boyapati film and his ongoing commitment Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy.

So, Chiru giving ‘suggestions’ to have more comedy and less action in Boyapati-Charan film is quashed as baseless gossip. Inside sources say that Charan is busy with the pending works of Rangasthalam and he would return to Boyapati film as soon as he wraps up them.

Ever since its inception and the announcement of star cast, the only movie that caught the attention of so many movie lovers and immersed in neck-deep controversies in the recent times is undoubtedly Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmaavat.

With Bhansali’s muse Deepika Padukone playing the titular role, the film got huge popularity in no time. However, there are some other thoughts that are haunting few audiences as they feel that more than Deepika another actress would have justified the role well. Even though the screen time is very less, the actress who immensely pleased the viewers with her outstanding performance in Padmaavat is Aditi Rao Hydari who played the wife (Mallika Jahan) role of Alauddin Khilji in the film.

The stunning performance of the Aditi came out as a surprise for the fans as her royal and elegant appearance coupled with expressive eyes just flattered everyone. She portrayed even delicate emotions extremely well, unlike Deepika who just applied glycerine all the time into her eyes to give that wet stare, they say. Especially her acting when she got to know that her husband (Alauddin Khilji) killed her father (King Jalaluddin) is top notch. Perhaps that is the reason fans are commenting that Aditi Rao could have outdone Deepika in the titular role.

On the other hand, more than the film’s hero played by Deepika Padukone and the side-character portrayed by Shahid Kapoor, it is villain Ranveer Singh who is winning all the applause.

Anushka’s horror thriller Bhaagamathie has hit theatres putting an end to the long wait of movie lovers. The film went beyond the expectations and is running successfully in the theatres bringing fortunes to the buyers. To show their gratitude for the tremendous success of the movie makers are planning special shows only for ladies to which Anushka will attend.

“As a thank you for blessing Bhaagamathie movie and making it a big success, Bhaagamathie herself is coming to visit the women world. A chance to watch the film in your city and your theatre with Bhaagamathie. Only for Ladies” read the poster unveiled by the makers. Anushka herself is going to the people and is getting ready to watch the film with her lady fans.

However, the poster also created some speculations regarding this. Why is the special show only for ladies? Some are claiming that it might be because of security reasons. As Anushka has a massive male fan base, her visit to the theatres might trigger unwanted issues like stampedes.

Some are stating that it is the strategy of makers to grab the attention of more audiences. As it is a special show only for women, more families will come to watch the film which will increase the collections. However, for the reasons best known for the makers, Bhaagamathie is going to thank her female fans personally, boys not allowed!

Mass Maharaja Ravi Teja has took two years long break from the industry and made a grand comeback with Raja the Great movie. Ever since his comeback, the actor has increased the pace of his films and has released his movie Touch Chesi Chudu within three months.

Even though this latest release is not sounding fruitful, he has already two movies in his hand right now. One of them is with Soggade Chinni Nayana fame Kalyan Krishna Kurasala which has a newcomer Malvika Sharma in the lead. The other is being directed by Srinu Vytla, in which Ravi Teja is likely playing a triple role.

Buzz has that Srinu Vytla has roped in Kajal Agarwal and Nivetha Thomas as two heroines, while a third heroine is yet to be decided. However, the news of Kajal playing the lead has disappointed fans. Because past two movies featuring Ravi Teja and Kajal together are flops. Both Veera and Sarocharu became disasters at the box office. Will Vytla break this flop sentiment with his film’s success? We have to see.

Mythri Movie Makers is bankrolling this project and they are considering the title Amar Akbar Anthony. Not just a first hit together for Ravi and Kajal, but the film also needs to revive Vytla’s career. Let’s see.

Definitely, these days emails and WhatsApp messages took centre stage in anyone’s life when it comes to communication. But there are those people who still prefer writing on hard paper or signing the text printed on letterheads. A similar thing happened with a schoolgirl named Neha Sanampudi who wrote a letter all the way from the USA to Superstar Mahesh.

Apparently, she admires Mahesh a lot and a huge fan of Srimanthudu movie. All the way from the USA, she posted a letter from her school to “Mahesh Babu, Film Nagar” and it reached its destination directly. Stunned by such a written letter, Mahesh reciprocated to her on his social media page and also added that he will respond to her via a letter too.

All these latest moves of Mahesh when it comes to interacting with fans are really interesting to see because a superstar of such stature will always be busy and finds no time for all these. Some say Namratha is taking care of all these stuff, but anyway, Mahesh is getting dear to audiences of all ages these days.

Mahesh Babu’s message for the fan’s letter:

Dearest Neha,
In a world of internet and mails, was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter sent to me by post. Makes me very happy to know you enjoy my movies. Sitara and gautam also liked Srimanthudu as much as you did. Happy to be your inspiration and will try to do movies which you will like 🙂 It was an absolute pleasure reading your letter and I wish you all the best for your schooling.

Lots of love, God bless. 🙂
Mahesh Babu.

Bhanupriya’s former husband Adarsh Kaushal has breathed his last in the US. Adarsh had been suffering from heart-related ailments. He finally died recently in the US and it came to the light (media) late. He reportedly suffered a severe cardiac arrest and died. Hearing the news, Bhanupriya rushed to the US.

Bhanupriya and Adarsh had tied the knot in 1998 in the US. Adarsh, who studied fine arts, was a video editor. He worked with NBC Studios, MTV network in Los Angeles. He was a technical editor having expertise in Avid. The couple has a daughter Abhinaya. Later, the couple parted ways in 2005 due to some differences.

Bhanupriya along with Abhinaya had returned to Chennai. Bhanupriya has become active in films.