Shashi Kapoor, the veteran Bollywood actor who is very popular for his dialogues and stardom, passed away around 5:20 PM this evening at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.

The 79-year old thespian, shot to craze with films like Dewar and Namak Halaal, was suffering with severe illness from last few years. His loss was grieved by Indian President Ramnath Kovind, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, noted director & producer Karan Johar and many Bollywood actors across the nation.

Although Shashi Kapoor appeared in 148 films and told many dialogues, his most-powerful dialogue ‘Mere Paas Maa Hai’ has reached every nook and corner of this nation. Two years ago, the senior actor was awarded with ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Award’ and he also has Padma Bhushan to his credit.

Shashi Kapoor, who married an English actress Jennifer Kendel, is survived by his son’s Karan, Kunal & Sanjana Kapoor.

If a hero’s face is made known to audiences with one film, then automatically even other flops of that hero from another language will make way to theatres. That’s how we see a lot of flop films of Danush and Vishal releasing here in Tollywood.

And now, even though Mahesh Babu’s much-hyped Tamil debut “Spyder” didn’t do well at box office, some Tamil producers want more of his films to release there. In that process, they are busy releasing “Brahmotsavam” dubbed version in sambarland now.

Titled Anirudh, the Tamil version of Brahmotsavam will see a release soon, says the distributors. But what is so surprising is that when a super hit film like “Srimanthudu” that was released in Tamil as Selvanandan failed to click, how come a disastrous movie like Brahmotsavam will make an impact?

Will this movie give complete shocker to fans by clicking there and impressing Tamil audiences? Because there are instances some Tamil films clicked big time at Telugu box office, while failing in their native state. Let’s see.

Jolly LLB is a content based film. Although it has some fun quotient, it is more of a serious film that throws light on our judiciary system by pointing out at the loopholes in the system. How an ordinary lawyer takes up an interesting case and stands for it against all the odds is what the film is all about.

When Saptagiri has decided to do its Telugu remake, many have thought it as a good choice. However, post the release of trailer, it is visible that the entire film has been filled with unwanted comedy and too much of mass elements. In his attempt to appease masses, Saptagiri & team seems to have changed the treatment of the film.

As the film is all set for release this week, one has to wait and see how it would fare at the ticket windows.

Sample this: Some media houses published the First Look of Varun Tej’s latest film “Tholiprema” at 3.45 pm today. And the official First Look was released by Varun Tej through his twitter account at 3.53 pm. Is anything to read between these lines?

Ever since the breezy first look of this film is out, there have been rumours that the makers actually fixed another muhurat for the release, but it was leaked before. It happened because, before releasing the poster, they shared it with some media folks as well, hoping that media houses will publish it after the official release. But it took an ugly turn there.

As many happening websites and other media folks are sent this picture, some media folks felt that others may cheat them and post it well in advance. Fearing such happening, they have intentionally overtaken the ‘official’ muhurat and published Tholiprema poster.

Upon knowing these greedy acts of media folks, the makers of the film are shell-shocked and left with no option than releasing the First Look poster. Though the difference between the actual muhurat and leaked time is very less, a muhurat is a muhurat, ins’t it?

Well, Varun Tej took a big risk by opting for ‘Tholiprema’ title and looks like the efforts of the makers got paid off as the title trended worldwide on Twitter. Let’s wait and see if this Tholiprema can recreate the magic of Pawan Kalyan’s Cult Classic or not!

After considering various titles, finally Mega hero Varun Tej has decided to make the best use of Baabai Pawan Kalyan. He’s now coming up with the latest version of “Toli rema” under the direction of newcomer Venky Atluri.

Featuring a cute Varun sitting on the bench in what we could see by the side of gunny bags and staircase, maybe a railway station platform, the first look poster is colourful and intriguing too. Simple Telugu text, with a caption, ‘a journey of love’, has added more shine to the whole poster.

While clean shaven is busy looking at his mobile, maybe checking a message, excited mega fans are busy sharing this poster all over the internet. Directed by Venky Atluri, the film has George C Williams cranking the camera and Thaman scoring the music.

Featuring Raashi Khanna as the lead girl, Tholiprema is set to hit cinemas on February 9th, a week before Valentines Day, as a treat for lovers.

If buzz is anything to go by, Sai Pallavi has turned down another film proposal by Dil Raju. While she is already doing her next MCA (Middle Class Abbayi) with Nani and Dil Raju, the actress apparently said no to Raju’s next film Srinivasa Kalyanam featuring Nithiin in the lead.

Not withstanding that it is Dil Raju who has given her break in Tollywood with Fidaa, Pallavi rejected the role in Srinivasa Kalyanam. It is rumoured that Pallavi wasn’t convinced with the role. With this, Raju has offered the same role to DJ beauty Pooja Hegde who readily agreed to do.

Apparently, Pallavi has become very choosy after Fidaa. Even in MCA, she is doing a dominating role alongside Nani.

Even, we heard several rumours about Pallavi’s attitude on the sets. There were reports that Pallavi and Nani had differences during the making of MCA. It’s learnt that Pallavi has also hiked her remuneration which is another concern from many producers. On the other hand, a few others opine that Pallavi deserves it for her performance and hence she is asking the fee.

Giving jitters to young starlets even after crossing her prime, senior hottie Shriya Saran is making sure that her presence will be always felt.

Recently returning from her Bali, Indonesia trip where she flaunted her hotness in a two-piece bikini under the water, Shriya joined the shooting of her upcoming film “Gayathri” where she’s romancing senior hero Mohan Babu. And then, she’s busy teasing netizens as usual.

The latest picture from a photo shoot done for a magazine, actually features Shriya giving an ample view of her sloppy back. Needless to say, she’s super hot as the backless dress displays her hot back like never before. Though these kind of photoshoots are not a new thing from Shriya, somehow she looks intriguing all the time.

Seems like yoga, diet and staying happy are the key factors that make Shriya such a beautiful looking seductress.

Malayalam star Dileep was arrested by police for nearly two months accusing him in the case of Malayalam heroine’s rape attempt case. During that time, one film of this controversial hero got suffocated due to various factors but finally released. And at the box office, it became a super hit.

We are talking about Dileep’s political crime thriller “Ram Leela” where he essayed the role of an expelled MLA who then becomes a prime suspect in another MLA’s murder. Currently, this film has taken Tollywood heroes by a storm with a producer who bought the Telugu remake rights screening them for all.

Reports are coming that Mass Raja Raviteja haven’t got convinced with the movie, but Nandamuri Hero Kalyan Ram has shown immense interest. Also, Rana Daggubati is watching this movie at Ramanaidu studios but for him, this may look like another Nene Raju Nene Mantri kind of subject. Reports are coming that Kalyan Ram is willing to go with this remake if a right director is found.

At a time when general elections are around the corner, the film might help Kalyan Ram big time to promote Telugudesam Party in case if he wants to come up this movie. Let’s see what happens.

Battled with a series of flops, Milky Beauty Tamanna has cut down her remuneration. It’s been longtime since Tamanna has got a solo success. Despite her stint as a spunky siren Avantika (tamboyish role) in Baahubali films, she hardly got noticed. While the film’s major credit went to Rajamouli, Prabhas, Rana and Anushka, Tamanna gained very little from the film.

Straddling across Telugu, Tamil and Hindi, Tamanna is waiting for one big success to bounce back. Since she is not so demanding in her fee depending on the role, director and production house, a few are coming forward to experiment on her. That’s how she recently bagged the Telugu remake of Queen.

The latest is that she has been roped in for Farhan Aktar’s next. This is the Hindi remake of super hit Tamil film Jigardanda. Tamanna will be seen opposite Farhan in the film. Tamanna is now pinning high hopes on this. Since recently, Kajal too bounced back with films such as Khaidi No. 150, Nene Raju Nene Mantri, Tamanna is now hoping similar for her as well.

While Tamanna acted in a handful of Hindi films including Himmatwala, nothing has worked at the Box Office. So, as of now, Tamanna wants to break the jinx tag in Hindi and is hoping on Farhan’s film. Let’s wait and see, what’s in the store for Tam.

Other day we have already seen how Tollywood’s upcoming biggies like Rangasthalam 1985 and Bharat Anu Nenu are making huge money when it comes to audio rights. Both fetched more than 1.5+ crores for the tunes scored by Devi Sri Prasad.

Looking at this, any layman gets a doubt, at a time when selling cassettes, CDs and music-online isn’t a profitable thing (or negligible thing we can say) how come Audio Companies invest so much on a film’s music? Just for the sake of star hero’s image and music director’s brilliance why would a company invest such way? Here is an insight into the business model.

Actually, when an audio company buys the audio rights, they also own the rights of YouTube videos of those songs. You could notice that Lahari Music released lyrical video and final full song video of Ammadu Kummudu (Khaidi No 150) on their own channel. While videos on YouTube brings revenue, there is another main source of income through these songs.

Though people play songs for free on YouTube, they have to pay to mobile service providers for caller tunes. That is one major source of revenue that goes up to nearly a crore for hit albums of big films. At the same time, all the Radio Stations that play these songs to entertain people for free actually pay money to audio companies for using their songs. And people who conduct big music concerts, orchestras that play film songs also need to pay a royalty.

To conclude, Ringtones, FM stations and YouTube videos are the sources of returns for these huge investments. And over a period of 4-5 years, the investment comes back. That’s the business model folks.