It is known that makers of Pawan Kalyan’s upcoming film have locked January 10 as the release date. The latest buzz in film circles however suggest that this highly anticipated entertainer might strike a day in advance itself.

For the last few Tollywood biggies, the makers couldn’t procure permission from the Telugu state governments for early morning benefit shows or fans shows. In order to leverage the craze among movie lovers and also to compensate for the lack of benefit shows, filmmakers have come up with the idea of screening paid premiers a day in advance. Baahubali 2 was the first Telugu film to introduce the idea of paid premiers and it worked really well.

According to the latest buzz, PK25 may emulate the tactic employed earlier by Baahubali 2, and screen paid premiers on the night of January 9, 2018. An official confirmation in this regard is awaited from makers. Meanwhile, fans are very excited at the opportunity of watching their favorite hero’s film one day in advance.

PK25 has huge expectations riding on it since it is the proven and lethal combination of Pawan Kalyan and Trivikram. The advance ticket booking will predictably be euphoric, and if the manages to get positive talk from the night paid premieres, then sky will be the limit for the film’s box office prospects

If an actor plays similar kind of characters or wears similar attires in a spate of films, it understandably vexes them. Beautiful actress Lavanya Tripathi claims that she got bored of wearing lehengas in all her earlier films.

Ever since her debut film, ‘Andala Rakshasi’, Lavanya has been playing only traditional, demure and girl-next-door characters, needless to say her outfits go in sync with her characters. In a recent interview, the actress reportedly claimed that she got bored of wearing mostly lehengas and occasionally casuals in all her previous films. She however is excited about playing an uber cool character in her upcoming film, Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi (VOZ).

“Thankfully, I will be seen sporting Western wear in this film, and I am pretty excited to find out how audience receive my new look. So far, I have played mostly serious roles, but my role in VOZ comes like a breath of fresh air. I play an ambitious girl, who is full of energy. The character is close to my real life, and it gave me the opportunity to be myself,” she said.

Lavanya had three releases this year – Radha, Mister and Yuddham Sharanam, and all were huge debacles. She has pinned very high hopes on VOZ, a Ram-starrer and Kishore Tirumala directorial, which is scheduled to hit screens this Friday.

Ravi Teja’s “Raja The Great” has performed really well, better than the expectations, in its extended opening weekend (5 days). By minting a distributor share of Rs 3 Cr on its Day 5, Sunday, the film took its cumulative first weekend share from the Telugu states to Rs 18.8 Cr, with a gross of 29 Cr. This is the highest opening weekend in the actor’s career.

At worldwide box office, the film raked in 36 Cr and thus recovered a distributor share of nearly 22 Cr.

Area-wise break-up of share:

Nizam – 7,75,00,000
Ceded – 3,05,00,000
Nellore – 63,00,000
Guntur – 1,32,73,029
Krishna – 1,25,32,928
West – 1,10,02,200
East – 1,39,51,942
Uttharandhra – 2,27,00,000

Total 5 days AP & TS share – 18.78 Cr (Gross – 29 Cr)

Karnataka – 1,45,00,000
Rest of India – 25,00,000
Overseas – 1,20,00,000

Total 5 days Worldwide share – 21.68 Cr (Gross – 36 Cr) 

Moving on from the exceptional weekend, the film has to sustain at box office for a few more days as Rs 10 Cr more share needs to be recovered.

In US, the Ravi Teja-starrer is reportedly likely to incur 50 percent losses to buyers.

Going by the pictures from #NTR28 muhurat event today, many cinema lovers are feeling completely excited about this combination. As kurta-clad Pawan Kalyan hugged his fellow-hero Jr NTR today, it erupted into huge euphoria at the event. And then, there are few thoughts that did rounds in minds of onlookers.

Both Pawan and NTR shared this lovely camaraderie at the launch of this new film which will be directed by Trivikram. The two are spotted laughing to jokes, sharing those appreciations and holding nice banter. While NTR tried to put Pawan in the spotlight all the time, the Janasena president also tried to give more space to Junior than him. Their modest and humble behavior with each other generated huge positive vibes at the venue. Everyone resisted blinking their eyes, to catch these two in the same frame for such long time.

Some felt that both Pawan and NTR should take this affection between them to next level by coming up with some multi-starrer movies. Both are new generation’s biggest superstars and if they feature in a film together, say under Trivikram’s direction, it not only turns to become the biggest project but also paves way for many other multi-starrer movies in Tollywood.

Like a Salman-Akshay and other big Bollywood heroes who frequently collaborate with other big stars, even Tollywood will see some interesting combinations with stars coming out. Hope Pawan and NTR will open doors for such happenings.

At the office of Haarika and Haasini Creations, one could see the name of Trivikram etched in copper as ‘director’ and that led to many doubts that if this banner is joint-venture of the director with producer China Babu (S Radhakrishna). And now, another doubt is here.

Whether it is an audio function, muhurat event or any other happening related to this production house, somehow Pawan Kalyan’s name is also getting associated. Also today the Powerstar is likely to grace the launch of Jr NTR’s latest movie to be directed by Trivikram. That led to a doubt if Pawan is also a secret investor in this group.

Actually, to quit films and pursue full-time politics, Pawan wants some recurring income that would fill his pocket every month such that he need not worry about financial difficulties. He has earlier revealed that there was a time where he suffered to pay salaries of his staff. For that reason, it looks like Pawan invested in Haarika & Haasini, and he’s likely to get a lion share through this act.

Some, however, say that Pawan hasn’t invested directly into this production house, but it is Trivikram who is taking care of the Janasena President’s investments. Whatever it may be, as some star heroes lost both stardom and money after venturing into politics (read Vijaykanth and also Amitabh Bachan at one time), Pawan is said to be making his moves carefully.

Whenever there is something that goes against their political outfit, generally these parties don’t even worry about the sanctity of the accusation they make. Ruling BJP which is called a Hindu party for its views and supports Hindus took a dig on Tamil hero Vijay in the same way.

Inside Mersal, there are, some dialogues about GST comparing it with Singapore that has less GST and doing more health benefits to people. This did not go well with the ruling party and Tamilnadu BJP demanded the makers to remove the scenes. Also, there is a dialogue where Vijay says, Temples are not needed now, but hospitals are needed. BJP, for this reason, started asking if Vijay would tell the same about churches.

Pointing the same, Vijay’s full name has been highlighted by the BJP leaders which created a huge stir. They are calling him as Joseph Vijay and attacking him with figures that more churches and mosques are built in last decade but not temples in Tamilnadu. However, this accusation doesn’t seem any sensible.

In fact, in that film, Vijay acted as a devout Lord Shiva disciple and takes a vow to build a temple for a village. But when a fire mishap kills many people, he decides to build a hospital there rather a temple. In that context, there is nothing called insulting religion but only he fought for a cause, says his fans, asking BJP to make sensible comments.

Recently, a well-known jewelry brand has shattered Hyderabad market. All thanks to its massive publicity and marketing strategy, in no time, the brand has attracted from common people to middle class to upper middle class and even the affluent section is making a beeline to this jewelry brand store in the city.

While the brand & its owner himself said to be promoting it quite aggressively, inside story is said to be quite shocking, startling. The brand initially said to have approached a top Telugu star to be its brand ambassador. Quite shocked with the star’s demand, the owner said to have decided to move on and invest the same amount on promotions instead of handing over hefty pay cheque to the star.

This is resulted in the over-the-top promotion of the brand. From hoardings to TVCs to print, the brand has done an all-round publicity. Naturally, this attracted the eyes of common man who thronged to the store. It is heard that these days the store is witnessing a great crowd even on week days. In fact, traffic snarls have become common practice near the store.

The brand’s owner’s last-minute decision to divert the money to promotions from a star’s brand ambassador remuneration is said to be the interesting story that is doing the rounds in film circuits.