We have reached the halfway mark of the year and it is time to look at how our Telugu cinema performed at the US box office.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has created history by turning out to be India’s highest grosser in America with nearly $ 20 Million (including all languages).

Chiranjeevi made a stunning comeback with Khaidi No. 150 grossing nearly $ 2.5 Million in US.Another veteran Balakrishna’s 100th film turned out to be a smashing hit at the US box office with over $ 1.6 Million gross collections.

Pawan Kalyan’s Katamarayudu collected over a Million but ended up a huge flop with over Rs. 8 crore losses.Nani’s Nenu Local is the other film that made into the Million Dollar club.

Last week’s release DJ will also make it to the Million Dollar club but is likely to end up a big loser in overseas market due to the high price it was bought for.

Shatamanam Bhavati and Ghazi also performed pretty well by grossing nearly $ 800K.

Baahubali 2 – The Conclusion – $1,99,12,808 (128.44 crores)
Khaidi No. 150 – $24,46,098 (16.33 crores)
Gautamiputra Satakarni – $16,63,041 (Rs 11.1 crores)
Katamarayudu – $11,45,481 (Rs 7.39 crores)
Nenu Local – $10,74,000 (Rs 6.87 Cr)
Duvvada Jagannatham – $9,66,000 (Rs 6.18 Cr) (Still Running)
Shatamanam Bhavati – $7,96,483 (rs 5.32 crores)
The Ghazi Attack-  $7,66,469 (Rs 4.99 crores)
Rarandoi Veduka Chudham – $5,55,068 (Rs 3.59 crores)
Keshava – $2,58,017 (Rs 1.67 crores)

Much before his latest movie SPYder got a release, Superstar Mahesh has decided to move to his next project, Bharat Anu Nenu, which is being directed by Koratala Siva. And the day he joined the shooting of this movie, his on location pictures started surfacing on social media.

With a smart phone in hand, most people find it irresistible to click something and post it on social media. That’s how Mahesh’s look from the Koratala directorial got leaked. But the look once again proves that old theory in the discussion about Mahesh not interested in changing his looks. Like Vijay in Kollywood, Mahesh is not a game to experiment his looks often. Like the way he looked in Spyder, he’s looking the same in Bharat Anu Nenu too if those leaked pics are anything to go by.

In this Koratala Siva film that is coming in their combination after Srimanthudu, Mahesh will be seen as a politician and then as a Chief Minister too. Many expected that the star hero will change his look and present himself in a completely new avatar.

Meanwhile, AR Muruguados directorial SPYder is getting ready for September 27th release as the movie’s team has other day condemned reports of postponing the film to Diwali season.

“Avatar (2009)” was the epic scale Hollywood film that revolutionized the 3D film making. Ever since movie lovers have been flooded with 3D films.

Director James Cameron, the innovative filmmaker who has made path breaking movies such as ‘Terminator’, ‘Alien’ and ‘Titanic’ besides ‘Avatar’, is planning to take technology to incredible heights with the four sequels to ‘Avatar’. The director has reportedly confirmed about offering unmatched 3D experience with ‘Avatar 2’, without having to put on the cumbersome 3D glasses.

‘Avatar 2’ and all the other three future sequels of ‘Avatar’ will employ a new RGB laser projection technology. This new system has the ability to use 60,000 lumens to provide bright images at high frame rates. And, the result will be clearer images than ever before, eliminating the need for using 3D glasses. This technology is currently being developed to provide first-of-its-kind experience for fans.

The four sequels to ‘Avatar’ are planned for release in the Decembers of 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. Those who had been complaining about the consistent delay in making these sequels, will now understand the reason for delay. 3D experience without 3D glasses will surely breach new technological boundaries in film making.

Mega family hero Sai Dharam Tej, who is down with two back to back disasters, looks to have cleverly averted a huge clash which could have hampered the prospects of his new film.

Tej’s upcoming film, Jawaan’s release date has been announced as September 1. This is the same date when the biggest commercial hit of last year, ‘Janatha Garage’ was released. Despite being a self-claimed admirer of NTR, Tej may not have JG connection in mind while finalizing Sep 1 to release ‘Jawaan’, but an intimidating clash.

Jawaan was earlier slated for a release on August 11, to take advantage of the Independence Day weekend. The theme – ‘Family or Nation’ and the title – ‘Jawaan’, indicate that this film has elements of ‘Patriotism’ at its core. Hence, it would have been befitting if Jawaan was released during Independence Day time. But, the release date has now been pushed to Sep 1 in view of averting clash with two biggies.

Nithin’s upcoming romantic entertainer ‘Lie’, a film directed by the very promising Hanu Raghavapudi, and Boyapati’s ‘Jaya Janaki Nayaka’ have both booked August 11 berth, so makers of Tej’s film may have backed out on a fortuitous release date.

Directed by BVS Ravi, Jawaan has Mehreen playing the female lead.

Navya Naveli Nanda, the 19-year-old granddaughter of Amitabh Bachchan, has taken backseat when compared to the effervescence duo – Jhanvi Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan, but Navya still has substantial amount of media following.

The other day, Navya was spotted going on a movie date with an unidentified male friend. While the star kid looked to have no problem whatsoever with the unexpected arrival of shutterbugs, her friend seemed reluctant to show his face. He was seen covering his face with the shirt he was wearing.

Was he shy or wasn’t he ready to let his secret date with Navya revealed? The mystery man wouldn’t have gauged the media coverage of being the ‘companion’ of a star kid, especially when she is the granddaughter of a star as big as Bachchan. Navya on the other hand was giggling, smirking and seemingly enjoying the attention.

Buzz is that Navya has plans of becoming an actor but her mother is unwilling to let her do so.

The leaked teaser of NTR’s “Jai Lava Kusa” is not at all impressive. While the team was quick to nab the culprit Ganesh for leaking the work-in-progress teaser output, the damage has already been done.

Even after multiple incidents of leakage from editing table, why the filmmakers are not taking extra security measures? Repenting after the damage has been done has become norm in Tollywood.

The concept of the teaser is nice. Revealing NTR’s villainous side in the film seems to be the idea of the teaser. NTR plays three roles in Bobby directed ‘Jai Lava Kusa’.

There are a lot of grey shades to one of NTR’s character in this triple role act. But the teaser hints that the work lacks finesse and the team is rushing in wrapping the work than focussing on quality.

“Jai Lava Kusa” is produced by Kalyan Ram. It is a very important film for producer Kalyan Ram as his recent “Kick 2” put him in heavy losses.

He may be the badshah of popularity charts but Shah Rukh Khan says that he has never been ‘desperate’ to maintain his stardom, adding that he never came to films with the aim of becoming a superstar.

“I wake up and I go and act…Sometimes well, sometimes badly. I feel bad if my film doesn’t do well, I feel good if it does well but all these things last just for about six hours and I move on,” King Khan aserted recently.

We would aspire to greatness too if we could practice such restraint.

The 51-year-old superstar completed the 25-year milestone on June 25, a date which saw the release of his debut film Deewana back in 1992.

Shah Rukh is now gearing up for his upcoming film Jab Harry Met Sejal, which is directed by Imtiaz Ali. The romantic film is extensively shot in Lisbon, Prague, Budapest and Punjab.

The film also stars Shah Rukh’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi co-star Anushka Sharma. This is the third time the two will be seen sharing screen space together.

Ever since Duvvada Jagannadham hit the screens, Pooja Hedge’s glamour has been the talking point. Not that she is beautiful before, but the way – ravishingly beautiful – she is shown in DJ has instantly won hearts. While Pooja’s looks have struck a chord with the youths her talent also got noticed with the film. And this in turn is getting her raining offers. Cashing in on her latest success, Pooja has signed her next Telugu film without further delay.

Pooja will be cast opposite Bellamkonda Sreenivas in director Sriwass’ film. The yet-to-be-titled film is being produced by Abhishek Nama. The film’s first schedule has been shot in the outskirts of Hyderabad in a massive set erected in a private studio. Pooja is expected to join the film’s shoot shortly.

Pooja isn’t a new face in Telugu. She did couple of films (Mask, Mukunda). Even her Bollywood stint Mohenjo Daro opposite Hrithik has failed to meet the expectations. However, it’s Duvvada Jagannadham that overturn her fortunes and brought her to limelight. Besides Bellamkonda, Pooja, the film’s ensemble cast includes Jagapathi Babu, Ravi Kishan and other prominent cast.

Be the cast or crew, the film’s makers are not leaving a single leaf unturned to bring hype to the project. While Sai Madhav Burra is penning dialogues, most-successful Devi Sri Prasad has been roped in to score music. Baahubali fame Peter Hein is going to direct the action sequences. Senior cinematographer Arthur Wilson is the director of photography.

It’s learnt that the film’s first schedule saw shoot of some scenes on Jagapathi Babu and the second schedule will see Bellamkonda and Pooja participating in the shoot.

Is NTR pressuring director Bobby to wrap ‘Jai Lava Kusa’ in a hurry in order to cash in on Dussehra holidays? Buzz in film circles says so. In such case, Bobby will be facing the pressure that he had borne in the case of ‘Sardaar Gabbar Singh’.

It may be recalled that lion’s share of the shoot of Sardaar was completed in around a month’s time as Pawan was then adamant on the release date deadline. Even though Bobby became fortunate to have signed NTR despite that disaster, he is reportedly looking at similar frustrating situation in the case of ‘Jai Lava Kusa’ too.

Reportedly, NTR has issued an ultimatum to Bobby to finish the shooting of Jai Lava Kusa by the end of August so that the film can be released on the announced date, September 21. The actor is hell bent on taking advantage of the Dussehra holidays, and he doesn’t want to miss the season. On the other hand, Bobby has a highly difficult task at his hands since he has yet to shoot about forty percent of the film.

It may be recalled that in the case of ‘Janatha Garage’, the film was originally planned for Independence Day weekend release but it was pushed to September 1 in order not to compromise on the quality. Fans wonder why NTR is ready to put quality at stake this time just to have a festival release.

Fans hope Bobby doesn’t produce ‘Sardaar’ kind of output.