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No Politics Please, Says Brahmani
It is now official. Nara Brahmani, wife of Telugu Desam Party general secretary and Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh, has declared that she has no intention of coming into politics.
“I have absolutely no interest, whatsoever, in politics. I am happy to be the Executive Director of Heritage Foods. And my objective is to see that Heritage would be one of the big business houses in the country with a turnover of over Rs 6,000 crore by 2022,” Brahmani said to media, at the rebranding of the Heritage on the completion of its 25 years of incorporation.
She said Heritage will now be more into value added products. She said the company wants to saturate in the core markets of the 15 states before they enter into any new states.
Brahmani’s statement must be a big relief for leaders like Kesineni Nani or Lagadapati Rajagopal, who are apprehensive that she might pitch in for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat.
In fact, Brahmani hinted at the recent National Womens’ Parliament itself that she was not interested in politics for now and so, there was no question of entering politics.
She said she was at present extremely busy in developing the family business venture Heritage. However, she would take part in the social service activities on behalf of NTR Memorial Trust.
There were reports that Brahmani was evincing interest in politics some time ago. In fact, Naidu was surprised when Brahmani commissioned a survey on the prospects of the TDP in the next elections and came to the conclusion that the wind is blowing against the ruling party.
It had raised the doubt as to whether she was evincing interest in politics. But after Lokesh started playing key role in the TDP, Brahmani might have thought there was no point in growing into another power centre in the TDP!
'Infosys, TCS accounted only 8.8% H-1B visas'
New Delhi: IT industry body Nasscom on Monday came out in defence of its members TCS and Infosys, saying the two accounted for only 7,504 — 8.8 per cent — of the approved H-1B visas in 2014-15.
The US has accused top Indian IT firms TCS and Infosys of “unfairly” cornering the lion’s share of the H-1B work visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system.
Indian technology firms use H-1B visas to send their employees to work at customer sites in the US, which is the largest market for the over $110 billion Indian IT export industry.
Over the past few weeks, there is a growing sentiment of protectionism across various markets, including the US, that are seeking to safeguard jobs for locals and raise the bar for foreign workers.
“Nasscom would like to clarify on the statements made by the White House on Indian companies getting the lion’s share of H-1B visas and highlight that in 2014-15, only six of the top 20 H-1B recipients were Indian companies,” it said in a statement.
TCS and Infosys together received 7,504 approved H-1B visas in 2014-15, which is only 8.8 per cent of the total approved H-1B visas, it added.
While the two software exporters have not issued a formal statement on the issue, they have stated that they ensure compliance with norms in the markets that they operate in.
Every year, the US grants 65,000 H-1B visas while another 20,000 are set aside for those with US advanced degrees.
In the US, the Trump administration wants to replace the current lottery system with a more merit-based immigration policy.
Any change in visa norms can affect the movement of labour as well as spike operational costs for IT players.
Nasscom highlighted that “every reputable data source” in the US has documented a growing shortfall between the supply and demand for computer science majors in the US workforce.
This is especially true in advanced fields like cloud, big data and mobile computing, it said.
“All Indian IT companies cumulatively account for less than 20 per cent of the total approved H-1B visas although Indian nationals get about 71 per cent of the H-1B visas,” Nasscom said.
It added that this is a testimony to the high skill levels of India-origin professionals.
The annual number of Indian IT specialists working on temporary visas for Indian IT service companies is about 0.009 per cent of the 158-million-member US workforce, it said.
Critics believe that the prevailing visa regime allows companies to bring in “cheap” labour from countries like India, which adversely impacts local employment opportunities.
Nasscom contended that the average wage for visa holders is over $82,000, apart from a fixed cost of about $15,000 incurred for each visa issued (including visa cost and related expenses).
This is over 35 per cent higher than the minimum prescribed exempt wage of $60,000, Nasscom said.
The industry body said companies tend to bridge the skills gap by bringing in highly skilled professionals to temporarily work in the US on H-1B and other visas.
“Indian IT Industry is a ‘net creator’ of jobs in the US and supports nearly half a million jobs directly and indirectly,” it pointed out.
Also, domestic companies are beginning to tweak their business models to reduce their dependence on visas by hiring more locals. (PTI)
Sharat Marar Upset With Pawan Kalyan?
The initial plan about ‘Katamarayudu’ was to make the movie on a shoe-string budget and gross an excellent table-profit.
Although the film bombed at the box-office, the plan worked like a peach and Pawan Kalyan and Sharat Marar made good money.
However, the latest gossip in the industry is that Sharat Marar is an upset man. Reason?
Pawan Kalyan was initially supposed to pocket Rs 25 crore from the proceeds of the film but ultimately ended up taking around Rs 35 crore.
Naturally, this ate into the profits of Sharat Marar. Hence the reason for the bad mood.
Well, he shouldn’t really be complaining because at the end of the day, in Tollywood, it is better to end up with some kind of profits for a disaster like ‘Katamarayudu’ instead of suffering losses like the foolish buyers.
Dusky Beauty Preparing For Space Travel
Other day upon returning from New York to Mumbai, dusky beauty Priyanka Chopra enjoyed a huge warm welcome at the airport though fans have mobbed her. And then here is a big news about her impending space travel.
Though Priyanka is here to promote her latest movie Baywatch, where she got a minuscular role as an antagonist, here’s the stunning update. Couple of years ago, a debutante director Priya Mishra, who has headed an entertainment channel earlier, has offered a chance to Priyanka to star in the biopic being made on India’s first woman astronaut in space, Kalpana Chawla. There seems to be some movement on this project now.
It’s heard that our hottie is preparing for the role as the pre-production of the biopic is going on at a full swing. Probably after acting as Mary Kom in one biopic, this will be second such thing for Priyanka. Kalpana Chawla hails from Haryana and flew into space shuttle Columbia in 1997. She died on her second expedition along with six other crew members in 2003, in a space shuttle disaster.
Priyanka’s biopic on Kalpana will feature the life and times of the astronaut including her journey all the was to NASA, USA and her final hours in the space shuttle.
26 Jawans Killed & 7 Missing, PM Serious
A deadly ambush by Naxals has claimed the lives of as many as 26 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Jawans. The gruesome attack took place on Monday in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district. Another seven CRPF personnel are still missing while four are injured. The CRPF Jawans belong to the 74 battalion. According to reports, Maoists ambushed the CRPF patrol on Monday afternoon and killed them. This is the worst Maoist attack in years.
As per the reports, the CRPF Jawans were around 150 while the Naxals were close to 300.
The killed CRPF Jawans were deployed on patrol between Chintagufa and Burkapal to provide security to the road building projects. Confirming the tragedy, CRPF headquarters in New Delhi said that the attack took place at 12:30pm at Kala Pathar near Chintagufa. The assault took place when Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh was in Delhi to attend the NITI Aayog governing body meet, and he flew back immediately after learning about the attack. He is expected to meet the CRPF officers and assess the ground situation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sharply reacted to the incident. He called it as cowardly and deplorable and said that the government is closely monitoring the situation.
Prosthetic Magic on Shraddha
Remember Shah Rukh Khan’s unbelievable look in ‘Fan’? Prosthetic makeup, which is predominantly used in Hollywood films, was used to make SRK look unrecognizable. Here is another such immaculate transformation created with prosthetic technology.
After playing girl-next-door and chirpy characters in most of her films, Bollywood actress Shraddha Kapoor is all set to essay the character of Haseena Parkar, the sister of underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim in her upcoming film ‘Haseena’.
Shraddha has now shared a pic of the younger and older looks of her character from Haseena and social media can’t help but go gaga over the goofy poster. While she looks adorable as the younger Haseena, she looks menacing and hefty in the middle-aged look. The makeup team must be applauded for this remarkable transformation.
K Viswanath Gets Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Acknowledging his phenomenal contribution to cinema – particularly to Telugu and Tamil cinemas, the Union Government has announced prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award to legendary filmmaker Kasinathuni Viswanath. 87-yr-old veteran filmmaker had started his career as a sound engineer who went onto become a director and proved his mettle.
Viswanath’s Swati Mutyam was India’s official entry to the 59th Academy Awards. The film starring Kamal Haasan and Radhika had received both critical acclaim and commercial success. It was subsequently premiered at Asia Pacific Film Festival. Sagara Sangamam and Sirivennela were also premiered at the Asia Pacific Film Festival.
His directorial works Sankarabharanam and Saptapadi, have garnered the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment and Best Feature Film on National Integration, respectively. Sankarabharanam, was premiered at the 8th International Film Festival of India besides several international film festivals.
His another film Swayam Krushi, starring Chiranjeevi and Vijay Santhi, was premiered to special mention at the Moscow International Film Festival. Sankarabharanam, Sagara Sangamam, Shrutilayalu, Swarnakamalam and Swati Kiranam were premiered in the Indian Panorama section at International Film Festival of India and AISFM Film Festival.
Viswanath is the recipient of prestigious Padma Shri from the Government of India in 1992.
Hero Turns Singer for Sister-in-law's Film
Actor Karthi, who has earlier rendered his voice for his films – Sakuni and Biryani, has now once again sung a song. But, this time he did it for a film starring his sister-in-law Jyothika.
The audio of Jyothika’s new film ‘Magalir Mattum’ is out and it came as a surprise when the name of Karthi was credited as singer for a song titled ‘Gubu Gubu’. This is for the first time that Karthi has lent his voice for a film not starring him. Well, how could he have said no to his sister-in-law?
Young music composer Ghibran has scored songs of Magalir Mattum. He must have used Karthi’s rustic voice for a special song indeed.
Miss India Universe to Debut in Tollywood
Telugu filmmakers has the fascination of importing ravishing bombshells from Mumbai and other parts of modeling world. Now, yet another sexy model, Natasha Assadi, is gearing up to make her Telugu film debut.
Natasha, first runner-up at Miss India Universe 2015 beauty pageant, is making her Tollywood debut with Gopichand’s upcoming film ‘Gautam Nanda’. She is essaying the character of the macho hero’s sexy secretary. The Bengaluru-based Natasha said that she is quite kicked about her debut in Tollywood. Natasha is a big name is modeling world and she is expected to be a major eye candy in this Gopichand starrer.
Starring Hansika and Catherine Tresa as leading ladies, ‘Gautam Nanda’ is being directed by Sampath Nandi. The shooting is in final leg.
Mahesh's Team Waiting For A Revenge
Apparently, Mahesh Babu’s fans are little upset with their heartthrob hero missing a big date for the release of Spyder. And now, it’s heard that the film will also miss out Independence Day weekend as well and might release on August 25th.
While Mahesh fans are waiting for a hit film post the disaster like Brahmotsavam, the team working for the hero is also looking forward to taking a revenge on ‘flop’ at the box office. For example, AR Murugadoss’ straight Telugu film Stalin has become only a below average hit at box office and he needs to score big with Telugu people now. Same is the case with SJ Surya who flopped as director of Mahesh with Nani in 2004 and recently Komaram Puli too. But he’s turned actor this time to play Mahesh’s villain and he has to prove mettle with another talent.
Coming to Harris Jayaraj, he collaborated with Mahesh on 2006 starrer Sainikudu and the film went for a toss at the box office. That’s the reason all these talented technicians are looking forward to scoring a big hit and the delay in the film is only to deliver a quality product without any blemishes.
Meanwhile, VFX work of Spyder is going on at a brisk pace in various studios of Hyderabad and Chennai as they are racing against a deadline. In case if work gets completed early, Spyder may get a new date as well.
