Senior Telugu filmmaker Suresh Babu has said that the film fraternity may stop media from publishing reviews but none can stop the propagation of people’s opinions on social media.

Tamil actor Vishal has recently appealed media to publish reviews only after the opening weekend. He cited that film’s collections are getting affecting because of early reviews. Superstar Rajinikanth also supported this demand of Vishal. Of course, several filmmakers batted in support of this demand but there are some who didn’t agree with this.

Suresh Babu said that a film’s performance at box office depends only on its merits but not on external factors like reviews. ‘Nobody watches a bad film even if it gets good reviews. Likewise, a good film will surely emerge victorious even it receives negative reviews. We have seen examples where small films like Pelli Choopulu, Ghazi etc. have benefited because of the early positive reviews,’ he said.

“No one has the right to curb media freedom. Even if we manage to stop reviews for a few days, how can we stop the new generation audiences who share everything including their opinions on movies right after watching them on social media?” he questioned.

In a shocking development, most popular news anchor and former editor-in-chief of a popular national news channel, Arnab Goswami has lashed out at his former channel. The anchor said to have received a letter from the media group which asked him not to use the phrase ‘Nation Wants to know’ and threatened to take legal action if it’s used.

In a voice message Arnab confirmed receiving the letter and stated that the six-page legal notice he got from a media group has threatened him with ‘imprisonment’ if he ever use the phrase ‘Nation Wants to Know’. Arnab said that the media group claimed ‘owning’ the phrase.

Stating that he has been watching the ‘nervous antics’ of the media group with ‘amusement’ and ‘horror’ for the last few months, Arnab said he decided to reply them in public. He said, “The threat of imprisonment will not deter me. Bring your moneybags and your lawyers, file the criminal case against me for using the phrase ‘Nation Wants to Know’. Do everything you can, spend all the money you have and arrest me. I’m waiting right now in my studio floor. Come, enforce your threat.”

In emotional appeal, Arnab said that the phrase ‘Nation Wants to Know’ belongs to you (viewers), to him (Arnab) and to all of us, every citizen of this country. Expounding on it further, Arnab said the phrase symbolizes what we do, pick up issues for the people, ask, question and seek accountability where it is due. Arnab added that he has used the phrase with ‘pride’ in his reporting and on debates for the last 20 years. The popular TV anchor, who is all set to launch his own international news channel Republic, said that he is deeply indebted to all of us who have found his journalism worthy of representing public interest. He alleged that ‘every dirty trick’ and ‘every attempt at intimidation’ had been carried out against him and his team by the media group for the last few months. He further alleged that his team members had been ‘harassed’ and even ‘threatened’ with “untoward action”.

This is not all. Arnab has alleged that the media group’s “aim” is to somehow “stall” and “delay” the launch of Republic TV. As per Arnab, the media group is ‘somehow trying and making sure that a group of journalists determined to pursue the truth on behalf of the people are held back’. Arnab said that team Republic is unstoppable.

Arnab has also asked people whether he should ‘stop using’ the phrase because the media group threatened to imprison him.

On concluding note, Arnab said that every Indian has a right to use that phrase. And the phrase comes straight from the heart. Daring the media group, Arnab asked it to ‘bring it on’.

Given the fact that ‘Snap Chat’ and ‘Snap deal’ share the common word ‘snap’ in their titles, some of the Indian netizens who’ve decided to boycott photo-sharing app ‘Snap Chat’ are uninstalling the e-commerce app out of confusion.

The Delhi-headquartered Snap deal is one of the fast grown e-commerce site in India with fundings from eBay, Soft Bank, Alibaba group and others. While Snap Chat photo sharing and Instant messaging mobile application with global popularity.

Denied to make a statement in this regard, the CEO of Snap Deal Kunal Bahl said in one his tweets: ‘Ppl asking us to make a statement that @snapdeal is not @snapchat was possibly the last thing I thought I would ever need to do.’ Damage has occurred at the other end – as the number of app downloads and ratings have gone down by huge numbers in last two days.

Amidst this fiasco, few social media users made an attempt to explain that Snapdeal is different from Snap Chat, whose CEO is receiving a lot a flak for saying – ‘the app is only for rich people and not for poor countries like India and Spain.’

A similar kind of confusion has put noted actor Sonu Sood at the receiving end of criticism after Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam complained about the forced religiousness in India via his Twitter page. On top of it, enthusiasts on Twitter trolled Sonu Sood instead of singer Nigam.

Top filmmaker Dil Raju, who has recently won the National Film award for his Sankranthi blockbuster Sathamanam Bhavathi (SB), has divulged that his planning to escape ‘Baahubali 2’, helped his film win the honor.

SB was released in January 2017 but the film won national award for 2016. How did it happen? Dil Raju completed the film’s censor formalities in 2016 itself and sent the film to awards committee. In a recent interview, he revealed that he had done so keeping in mind that Baahubali 2 will release in 2017.

‘I wasn’t expecting national honor but I was sure that SB will become a classic and win Nandi awards. However, if Baahubali 2 was in contention, my film’s chances of winning awards will become less. So, we completed the censor in December 2016 itself to escape Baahubali 2 year, which is 2017,’ divulged Dil Raju.

This is another fine example of his acute judgmental skills and planning.

‘After watching SB, my brother had tears in his eyes. He predicted that the film will surely win national award and his words came true,’ recollected Dil Raju.

Prabhas, who is currently busy promoting his upcoming magnum opus Baahubali 2 in India, will reportedly leave for the US next week to promote the film there.

In this week, the actor will visit Kerala and Karnataka and interact with media there. Next week, he, most probably accompanied by Rajamouli SS, will land in the US and participate in extensive promotional events. The duo will tour a few key cities in the US and interact with fans.

Realizing how crucial USA market is for him, Prabhas has taken this decision. Except Baahubali, Prabhas has no credible film in the US record books.

It is known that Baahubali 2 is releasing in more than 900 screens in North America, which is a record for any Indian film.

Sreenu Vaitla was one of the top and successful filmmakers until his Aagadu hit the marquee. The film had overturned his fate and he hit the rock bottom of career. Vaitla not just tasted a dud with it, but the film also caused a huge damage to Vaitla’s image as well as it put the film’s protagonist Mahesh’s stardom in spot. While Mahesh quickly recovered with Srimanthudu – thanks to Koratala, Vaitla further declined in the career graph with Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lee hasn’t just tarnished Charan’s image but it had also pushed Chiranjeevi (seen in a cameo in Bruce Lee) into dilemma who was then contemplating for a full-fledged comeback. However, Chiru made a splashy return with Khaidi No.150 (Telugu remake of Kaththi) after a lot of dilly dallying. Even Charan is back with Dhruva (Telugu remake of Thani Oruvan). It’s Vaitla who was at the receiving end.

Huge Drop in Remuneration

Aagadu     –  10 to 12 Crore

Bruce Lee  –   7 Crore

Mister     –   2 to 2.4 Crore

Vaitla said to had charged a whopping remuneration of Rs 10 Crore to 12 Crore for Aagadu which was a crazy collaboration of Mahesh and Vaitla after their previous blockbuster Dookudu. Even Sreenu’s previous film before Aagadu was Baadshah that was a decent hit though it’s remarked as cost-failure.

After Agadu, Vaitla managed to team up with Ram Charan and DVV Danayya for Bruce Lee. The director hadn’t changed a bit and the result is utter disappointment. Sreenu said to had charged Rs 7 Crore fee for the film which is less than Rs 3 to 5 Crore from Aagadu.

Even before the release of Bruce Lee, Sreenu Vaitla has managed to convince Varun Tej, Naga Babu and producers Bujji, Madhu for Mister. Though Bruce Lee bombed, the team decided to go ahead. And Mister received mixed reviews and the film is struggling to pull in crowds. It’s rumoured that Vaitla was paid around Rs 2.4 Crore and distribution rights for a few areas. As the film poured cold water on hopes, looks like, going gets very tough for Vaitla. Certainly once a good & entertaining filmmaker has now fallen to the rock bottom.

1) Mister: Sreenu Vaitla failed to put an end to his disastrous streak with Mister. The film is a total misfire in all aspects and heading for flop at the box office. This is third straight flop for Sreenu Vaitla and Varun Tej is yet to register a hit.

Mister opened to low turnouts across all centers and failed to capitalize on the vacuum at the box office.

2) Sivalinga: Lawrence’s horror comedy Sivalinga did decent business in its first weekend considering the low costs involved.

The film managed to register housefuls in single screens over the weekend. Word of mouth is fairly decent as it appealed to the masses. It remains to be seen whether Sivalinga holds during the week days.

3) Fast and Furious 8: The high budget Hollywood actioner has taken Indian box office by storm. The film is on top in Book My Show sales all through the weekend.

Last film from this franchise was a big hit in India and the latest edition has struck a chord with the fans of the franchise.

4) Guru: Guru is still raking in the moolah during the week days. It is doing well in A centers in particular. It is the only hit of summer as yet.

Venkatesh’s confidence in the script paid off as the film has not only won accolades but also a box office victory.

5) Cheliya: Mani Ratnam’s Cheliya is a huge flop in Telugu. The film failed to register decent collections and couldn’t collect the nominal amount it was brought for.

It is a rare setback for Dil Raju who has been in red hot form lately.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu roped in movie director S S Rajamouli to be the chief consultant for the designing of capital city of Amaravathi.

Impressed by Rajamouli’s creation of Mahishmathi sets in “Baahubali”, Chandrababu Naidu requested Rajamouli to give his creative inputs in finalising the designs of various government buildings in the proposed capital city.

Rajamouli who is currently busy with the promotions of “Baahubali 2” will be meeting Norman Foster in London in the month of May to provide his vision.

London based renowned architect Norman Foster is designing the complete master plan for the city and his company has already presented the basic master plan to Chandrababu Naidu but Naidu wanted Rajamouli to be on board to give his inputs.

Rajamouli will be giving a touch of Indianness to the designs created by Norman Foster and his team.

Naidu is planning to unveil the final master plan of Amaravathi on 8th June (the new Andhra Pradesh government took office on this day in 2014).

Brazilian model-turned-actress Bruna Abdullah, who is best known for her super hot item songs, has shared this monochromatic picture on her social media account to satiate the raunchy imaginations of her fans.

In the pic, the bold lady is seen exposing her ample cleavage in a low cut black floral dress. Her envy-inducing figure will surely give her fans sleepless nights. The Brazilian bombshell has been sharing similar raunchy pics on Instagram over the past few weeks.