Watch Murali Krishna Encounter with APCC Chief Raghuveera Reddy
Jnanpith Awardee C Narayana Reddy Passed Away
Jnanpith awardee Dr C Narayana Reddy passed away here on Monday. The litterateur was rushed to the hospital this morning when he developed health complications but was pronounced dead. The death of the 85-year-old poet-author-writer-lyricist and former Rajya Sabha member was condoled by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Born in Hanumanjipet, in Rajanna Sircilla district on July 29, 1931, Dr C Narayana Reddy was also well-versed in Urdu. He also served as vice-chancellor of Telugu University.
Narayana Reddy’s meaningful lyrics for a large number of songs that he penned for Telugu films songs have been a huge hit. For the last few years, he was away from the film industry due to his health condition. Narayana Reddy, who graduated from Osmania University, went to earn honorary doctorates also. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan also. He was given the Jnanpith in 1988 for his much lauded work “Vishwambara”.
The Telugu film industry has condoled his death.
‘DJ Dialogue Inspired from Pawan Kalyan’
Director Harish Shankar is a self-proclaimed fan of Pawan Kalyan. He is first a PK fan and then a filmmaker. Raining praises on Pawan, the Gabbar Singh director has shared an interesting and short memoir which he had with Pawan Kalyan.
“This is after the super success of Gabbar Singh. I’ve met Pawan Kalyan garu and asked him to give an interview or promote the film by doing a success event to make the film bigger success. Kalyan garu had told me then, ‘Success doesn’t leave you calm. It makes you pride and it wants you to show it off to the world. It may make you do mistakes. When you get a big success, you need to be more responsible’,” Harish Shankar shared.
He added it further. “Even then I wasn’t convinced with Kalyan gari words and I was trying to persuade him. I was asking him to give a joint interview with me. He asked me then, ‘Is the film successful?’ I had told him, ‘Yes, it’s a big success.’ Then he had told me again, ‘If it is successful, why do we have to be seen? If my film is successful, I’ll just walk away as if it’s not my own.”
Harish said that Pawan Kalyan’s words have inspired him to keep the dialogue in DJ : ‘Manam Chese Panilo Manchi Kanipinchali Thappa, Manishi Kanipinchakkarledu’.
Harish showed his gratitude to hero Ravi Teja who had given him the first opportunity as director. Harish even recalled his first tryst with Bunny when he had watched Arya in Rajahmundry while working on the film Naa Autograph. He said he hadn’t slept that night thinking whether he would able to work with the hero (Allu Arjun), producer (Dil Raju) and music director (Devi Sri Prasad).
“Today, I’m working with all the three people. If you have a strong will, you’ll definitely make it happen,” Harish concluded. He said he would wait for a call from Pawan Kalyan to direct him again.
Celebs Speech @ DJ – Duvvada Jagannadham Audio Launch
Pawan’s Silence on Land Scams
Back in 2014, while extending his support to TDP-BJP combine, Pawan Kalyan had raised his voice against the illegalities occurred in the land dealings during YSR’s regime. Strongly condemning those acts, Pawan asked people to vote for TDP and BJP. Many people have connected to what Pawan had said then since there have been several instances where irregularities in land dealings had been rampant.
Now of late, allegations have it that the political leaders of the ruling parties in the Telugu states are involving in the land scams. First there was accusations of crores of scam in Vizag lands recently and now AP’s MLC and JC Prabhakar Reddy’s son-in-law G Deepak Reddy had been arrested by Telangana police on charges of hatching a ploy to grab land in Banjara Hills whose worth is over hundreds of crores. And the country’s most shocking land scam that was unearthed near Miyapur. Even though there have been such instances and a slew of media reports of political involvement, Pawan Kalyan and Janasena has been maintaining a stoic silence.
It’s speculated that Pawan’s growing closeness to the ruling parties (both in AP & Telangana) is allegedly the reason behind him tight-lipped. Though Pawan had rough weather with the TRS initially, now everything has been sorted. Even KTR had recently watched Pawan’s Katamarayudu and both have complimented each other.
Pawan’s silence on the land scams is now inviting criticism. Given that Pawan had vowed to question the governments when irregularities take place, he now not seen anywhere has become debate point. Will Pawan come out now and question the ruling parties? Or will he stay mum now and raise the issue later when it’s forgotten by people? Political analysts say that the silence of a good man is more dangerous than bad act.
KK Cornered In Miyapur Land Scam
Another land scam was unearthed. This time TRS senior leader and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s close aide K Keshava Rao landed in big trouble. His family members allegedly bought 50 acres of government land from Goldstone company at Dandumilaram village in Hyderabad outskirts.
The land has been registered in the name of KK’s daughter Vijayalaxmi, his daughter in law and grandson. Officials said the land bought by the KK Family was part of government land near Ibrahimpatnam in Ranga Reddy district.
The TRS leader maintained that his family bought the lands only with the consent of the High Court. They purchased lands only after verifying the documents possessed by the seller Goldstone company. When Sub Registrar rejected to register the property, his daughter approached the court and got registration of the lands.
Keshava Rao has been second in command in TRS. Before joining TRS, KK was the senior most leader in Congress in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
GST Revised : Big Relief To Regional Cinema
The much-awaited Goods and Services Tax which will come into force on July 1st has been revised by the Union Government, a key decision taken after the 16th GST Council meet concluded on Sunday. Out of the 133 items on which the representations were received from the industries and the State governments, the GST council reduced the tax level for 66 items.
Especially, film industry has been vocal about the initial proposal of 28pc tax of the GST. While Bollywood was convinced with it, the regional film industries have been raising voice with the high-tax structure levied on the film tickets stating that it would be a death knell to regional and small-films.
Kamal Haasan has openly opposed and stated that he would quit films if it’s not revised. Telangana government under KTR’s leadership has met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and explained the situation and asked for less tax level for films. Finally, FM Arjun Jaitley has considered the woes of the film industry and announced two-bracket tax structure for cinema tickets. According to the latest revision, the cinema tickets below Rs 100 will be charged a GST tax of 18 per cent while cinema tickets above Rs 100 will be charged a GST tax of 28 per cent. With this, the cinema tickets of single screens below Rs 100 will be charged at Rs 18 whereas the cinema tickets of multiplexes (above Rs 100) would have a tax at 28 per cent.
Presently, entertainment tax is levied by individual states. The states levy a different rate, ranging from 28-110pc, and the weighted average for the entire country is about 30pc. However, several state governments give an exemption to cinema of the particular language of that state. Under GST, there will now be no centralised exemption. Talking about it, FM Arjun Jaitley said, “If states want, through the DBT (Direct Benifit Transfer), the state can refund the GST of regional cinema.”
The next meeting for the GST Council will be on June 18th.
Below are few other revised Tax Items:
Cashew revised from 12pc to 5pc
Packaged food, including some fruits and vegetables, pickles, toppings, instant food, sauces revised from 18pc to 12pc
Agarbatti revised from 12pc to 5pc
Dental wax revised from 28pc to 8pc
Insulin revised from 12pc to 5pc
Plastic beads revised from 28pc to 18pc
Plastic turpolin revised from 28pc to 18pc
School bags revised from 28pc to 18pc
Exercise books revised from 18pc to 12pc
Coloring books revised from 12pc to nil
Pre-cast concrete pipes revised from 28pc to 18pc
Cutlery revised from 18pc to 12pc
Tractor components revised from 28pc to 18pc
Computer printers revised from 28pc to 18pc
For workers in industries like textile, diamond processing etc, where the workers take the work home, 18pc tax that is now being charged will be fixed at 5pc because the GST for these sectors have gone down as well.
DJ Audio Event: All Eyes on Pawan Fans vs Bunny
The audio launch event of Allu Arjun’s DJ will be held this evening in Hyderabad. As much as everyone is waiting to see the unveiling of a kickass album in the combo of Bunny and Devi Sri Prasad, there is curiosity over how the star hero deals with fans of Pawan Kalyan.
Ever since Bunny uttered the infamous ‘Cheppanu Brother’ dialogue when fans of Pawan demanded him to acknowledge their demigod during a success meet of Sarrainodu, a sort of cold war has been in progress between him and Pawan’s fans. The audio release event of DJ is the next big event related to a Bunny starrer after that function in Vizag where this alleged feud started. So, what will happen today?
A change has been observed in Pawan fans over the last one year. Now, they are not creating as much ruckus at Mega family events as they used to do earlier, just to hear the name of Pawan from the celebs on stage. Another thing is, Pawan fans who allegedly made DJ teaser the ‘Most disliked teaser’, didn’t show as much brutal response when the promo and lyrical songs of the film were released, indicating that the issue is slowly getting buried. On the other hand, Bunny’s stardom has steadily rose over last one year. He has now started breaking records in North too.
We also heard that limited passes were issued for DJ audio release event and most anti-Bunny fans were allegedly restrained. Considering all these factors, common fans hope that nothing unwanted happens.
My brother planned to kill Jayalalithaa: Deepa
Deepa Jayakumar, niece of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, has made some sensational comments against her brother Deepak in regard to Jaya’s death. Deepa and her supporters, who attempted to enter Poes Garden on Sunday morning, was denied entry by Chennai police. While the authorities barred them from entering Poes Garden, Jaya’s niece and followers retaliated and began to protest.
Reacting to it, Deepa demanded a police enquiry on her brother Deepak’s role in Jayalalitha’s demise as she went on to allege that, ‘Deepak has joined hands with Sasikala, her close family members and attempted to assassinate Jayalalitha while she was in hospital.’ She further added, ‘I, being the real successor to Jayalalitha, have the complete eligibility to enter Poes and pay tribute to Jaya.’
Even in the past, Deepa accused Sasikala of killing her aunt and claimed herself as real heir to Jayalalitha’s political legacy and her assets. Now that court is yet to decide on Jayalalitha’s descendant, all her assets including Poes Garden are under the maintenance of state government.
In February this year, Karnataka high court delivered 3 years of jail sentence to Sasikala in disproportionate assets case and she’s currently serving jail term at Parapanna Agrahara prison in Bengaluru.
Lokesh CM, Chandrababu President!
As the President of India Pranab Mukherjee’s term is nearing completion, there has been a great debate on who’s going to be in fray for the next President. With the likes of Advani, Venkaiah from BJP have ruled out their chances for the country’s top post, naturally all eyes are on who’s going to be the next President. Given BJP and NDA’s landslide majority and even many of Opposition parties expressed their support to NDA, it turned out to be more interesting that who’ll be PM Modi’s choice.
Interestingly, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu’s name has been propped up. Although it’s far from reality and Naidu won’t evince interest, none other than his own party senior leaders expressing the elevation of Chandrababu for the President post. Sr TDP leader TG Venkatesh opined that CM Chandrababu Naidu should be made the President and IT Minister Nara Lokesh be made the AP CM.
Looks like, Venkatesh has made these remarks to gain marks from junior boss and future leader Nara Lokesh in order to be in the good books of both Naidu, Lokesh. Given that Naidu himself had given up PM post when he had got a chance, vouching for him for the President is certainly laugh evoking. Probably, TG should find other ways to impress his party leaders instead of making such statements.
