SS Rajamouli is very happy that the Trailer of ‘Baahubali-2’ has shattered all past and future records for years to come.  It has completed 10 Crore views and is still counting.  It was only on March 16 that it was released.

The 100 Million view count is for 4 languages, namely, Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam, with Telugu topping the list in terms of its contribution.  “Never ever thought of these numbers.  For all those who made it, (namaskaram emoticon),” he has tweeted

Two days from now, that is, on March 26, a grand pre-release event will be held at Ramoji Film City.  Rajamouli has said that the audio will be available in the market right on that day itself.

rajamouli ss ✔ @ssrajamouli
100 million !!!
Never ever thought of these numbers… For all those who made it possible???

Producer-distributor Daggubati Suresh Babu’s business acumen and analytical skills in interpolating a Telugu film’s business stamina rarely go wrong. Enormous success of ‘Pelli Choopulu’ is one standard example shows on how he updated himself to new age trend and dynamic public pulse.

Reports say, Suresh Babu sprung into action couple of days back and is making all the arrangements for Venkatesh’s ‘Guru’ release in Telugu states. Director Sudha Kongara and hero Venkatesh left it on Suresh’s discretion to lock a release date, though 31st is the most probable date reported unofficially.

With ‘Katama Rayudu’ occupied in majority of theaters in both AP and TS, where will Suresh Babu accommodate ‘Guru’ from 31st is a trillion dollar question.

A buzz says, Suresh Babu is presuming a drastic drop in ‘Katama Rayudu’ revenues from Monday or Tuesday and by next Friday a big chunk of theaters will be looking for replacement. Despite this prediction may go right or wrong, Suresh Babu and Asian Cinemas jointly has a wide theater network in Telugu states which makes it easy for ‘Guru’ to get its due share of cinema halls, no matter ‘Katama Rayudu’ drops down or picks up.

Megastar Chiranjeevi’s 151st film ‘Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy’ is one of the hot topics of Telugu audience at present.  Script work of the movie has already been completed and Surender Reddy team is busy finalizing the cast and crew.  There is an interesting update doing rounds regarding the leading ladies of the film at this juncture.

We all know that Uyyalavada was one of the great Telugu legends who fought for freedom even before the freedom fight started.  He followed guerilla warfare to achieve his goal.  When it comes to his personal life, he reportedly had three wives.  So, it has become interesting to see how Surender Reddy shows aspect on the silver screen.

If he chooses to show three wives of the freedom fighter, the film makers have to scout for three leading ladies.. which is going to be a daunting task for them. Because.. we have already seen choosing a single leading lady for Chiru in his ‘Khaidi No.150’ became a troublesome affair.  In such a scenario, finalizing three leading ladies.. that too three star heroines is a tough task.

But there is no clarity on whether they are going to show his three wives in the movie or not.  If they choose to ignore the personal life and focus more on the freedom fight then they will have to face criticism for distorting facts.

Tollywood audiences are especially known for their unparalleled devotion towards their favorite heroes. Their love also ties the stars in a circle of ‘Image’ and forces them to stay away from certain scenes and dialogues even though script demands.

Despite enjoying huge fan base, senior hero Venkatesh however is not bound to any image related limitations. He never minds to crack satires on himself in films if the situation demands. The actor has revealed one such memorable incident from his classic film ‘Nuvvu Naku Nachchav’.

‘Even my director and crew didn’t want me to say ‘Already Arekaram poyindi (Half acre is already gone), a dialogue that was a self-satire on my baldness. I however wanted to keep that dialogue as it was in sync with the situaiton in the film. I never wanted to hide my age,’ he recollected.

This is probably the reason why Venky has got no haters. He will next be seen in ‘Guru’, which is slated for next month release.

After Ram Charan remade the super hit Tamil film ‘Thani Oruvan’ starring Jayam Ravi and Arvind Swamy, Ravi Teja is all poised to remake the second collaboration of the two Tamil actors, ‘Bogan’.

Released last month, Bogan became a profitable venture at box office despite mixed reviews. The film not just brought back the combo of Jayam Ravi and Swamy after ‘Thani Oruvan’, but also reunited Hansika with Ravi.

The action comedy will now be remade in Telugu. Film’s director Lakshman himself confirmed this news on twitter and announced that he will direct Ravi Teja in the Telugu remake. However, it is not sure if Swamy will be part of the remake or not.

Ravi Teja is currently busy with his two projects – ‘Touch Chesi Chudu’ anbd ‘Raja The Great’. After wrapping up these two films, he is expected to take Bogan remake onto floors, in all probability from August this year.

After years of silence on her breakup with actor Simbhu, Hansika has finally opened up. Yet keeping the cards close to her chest, Hansika said she doesn’t want to talk about it much but said that Simbhu was the reason for their breakup.

Without revealing much, Hansika said that Simbhu’s one word had hurt her so much and she had decided to part away without saying much. “I had just replied with one word and decided to move on. I had thought we both were perfect for each other and we both make good pair. But I didn’t had enough maturity then. I believe whatever had happened was for my good only. That’s all I can say now,” said Hansika.

Hansika also responded to slowing down of her career. She said it was conscious decision to take gap and spend time for herself. She says she doesn’t believe in any number game or races and says she is confident of having her own roles in the industry. However, Hansika admitted losing many offers in Telugu.

“When I had got many offers in Telugu. I couldn’t take up then as I was busy in Tamil and my dates were blocked. I felt bad but I couldn’t do much then. This is reason for slowing down in Telugu. I still feel, Tollywood is like my mother,” shared Hansika who added that she is okay to pair up with a star hero or a medium-hero.

On Suchi Leaks

Talking about the recent controversy of Suchi Leaks, Hansika said she doesn’t want to talk about it right now as she first wants to know who is behind it before responding on it. She added that she neither had a friendship nor enmity with the person who is suspected to have done the leaks.

Last night, NTR was awarded the ‘King of Box Office’ title by Zee Cinema Entertainment TV Channel. The award was given to the Young Tiger for scoring the two blockbusters in 2016 – Nannaku Prematho and Janatha Garage.

Speaking on the occasion, NTR thanked his fans for being a constant support. The explosive performer also thanked his directors of both the movies for staying focused and delivering hits. NTR further vowed to select challenging and entertaining scripts even in the future and continue to entertain his audience.

Remember Flora Saini — best known to the Telugu audience as ‘Lux Papa’ from the Balakrishna-starrer Narasimha Naidu? She will soon be seen along with Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan. In fact, it was her role in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dhanak that helped her bag the much talked about film.

“I play a tribal woman from Gujarat, Maina. We have women from different states in the brothel in the film. Director Srijit Mukherji spotted me in Dhanak during a film festival. It was then that he was planning to remake Rajkahani in Hindi with Vidya. I went for the auditions and then bagged the role,” says Flora.

The shoot was great fun, mainly because people on the sets didn’t miss their family all thanks to Vidya. “Shooting with Vidya was the best. She would take care of us and give us gifts,  because we missed our families,” recalls Flora.

The shoot lasted for 30 days, before which Flora had to undergo a month- long workshop. “We visited brothels and watched movies based on them. Since I acted in Nagesh’s Lakshmi, which also revolves around a brothel, I was already prepared.”  Apart from Begum Jaan, a few web series are keeping Flora busy. She starred in Maid In India and is also doing A.I.SHA — My Virtual Girlfriend.

The actress, who made her debut in T’wood with Prema Kosam 17 years ago, says that she would want to come back, but the offers have stopped. “I love the Telugu film industry because of their punctuality. But, people have forgotten me. I speak Telugu fluently and I am hoping that the filmmakers here will watch Begum Jaan and call me back.”

Actress Nithya Menen has not signed any Telugu film in recent times, as she has been busy with Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada films.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that she is going to direct a Telugu film. When asked, her manager completely denied this. “She is not going to direct any film at present, as she is concentrating on her career as an actress. She is busy in other languages and when she hears the right script in Telugu, she will definitely sign it,” says her manager.

The actress had a big hit with Janata Garage last year, but her role was very limited. “She is looking for challenging roles like Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju right now. That’s why she didn’t sign any Telugu films,” says the source. The actress is now doing a big Tamil project opposite Vijay.

A case of stealing was filed against popular Tollywood producer C Kalyan’s son Varun Kumar.

A transport business man B Srinivas came to Film Nagar Club swimming pool accompanying his son.

He kept his wallet near the pool and went to swim with his son. As he returned he found that it was lifted. Purse had credit and debit cards and some important papers. Soon after the theft Srinivas’ mobile got alerts that close to 2 lakh amount got transferred from his Axis bank and other bank cards. Police traced that the amount got credited to C Kalyan’s son’s bank account.

CCTV footage was checked to ascertain that it was Varun’s handy job!! He was arrested!

Actress Hamsa Nandini, most known for her appearances in item songs, has landed a cameo in the upcoming yet-untitled Telugu outing starring Jr. NTR, a source said.

“Hamsa will be seen playing a supporting character. Although it will be a cameo, the role has some weightage. She has already started shooting in Hyderabad and is thrilled to be sharing screen space with NTR for the first time,” a source from the film’s unit told IANS.

Being directed by Bobby, the film features NTR in a triple role for the first time.

Produced by NTR’s brother Kalyanram, the rest of the cast is being finalised.

The project is NTR’s 27th film.

Taapsee Pannu is not one to mince words, so when she opened up about her struggle as a debutant actress, her story posted on Humans of Bombay went viral. But what struck a chord with the women in Tollywood was the part where people labelled her as an ‘iron leg’. A term that most actresses here are well-versed with and sadly, something that they all fear. “Three of the films I worked in didn’t work and I got the label of ‘iron leg’. I was ‘rumoured’ to bring bad luck to films,” read Taapsee’s post, while adding, “These films had huge male co-stars and directors, but the failure of was blamed upon my bad luck.”

While Taapsee didn’t mention the film industry she was talking about, a look into the past will give you ample proof that she was indeed talking about the Telugu film industry.

The term ‘iron leg’ is loosely used for someone who brings bad luck to a film and more often than not, it is the actresses who get blamed when a film flops. While most producers and directors deny this fact, actresses feel otherwise. “Yes, this exists in the film industry! People will not accept this upfront but they believe in branding actresses as ‘iron leg’ if a few of their films flop and a ‘golden leg’ if their films are a hit,” says actress Lavanya Tripathi.

While there are a handful of films that are female-centric, several of them revolve around the male lead, which leaves very little scope of acting for a woman. “There are hardly any roles for women where they can perform well, the roles are not very strong or on par with the lead actor, so when the film flops, how can it be because of the girl? Giving such tags is not just mean, it is unfair as well,” adds Lavanya.

Rakul Preet Singh echoes her thoughts. “I was once branded an ‘iron leg’ when Bruce Lee and Kick didn’t do well. But when Nanaku Prematho became a hit, I magically changed into ‘the golden leg’,” says Rakul adding, “Giving us these names simply means that all our hard work and passion is ignored. People believe that if you’re doing well, it only has to do with your luck and nothing else.”

Up until her film Gabbar Singh with Pawan Kalyan was a hit at the box office, Shruti Haasan too was known as the proverbial ‘iron leg’. People were wary of casting her in films and if they did, they believed that it could flop. While there is no justification about the logic behind this tag, director Teja explains why this happens. “The industry is dominated by men, unlike other industries where the focus is also on the content. So when a film flops, the actress is the easiest to blame and made into a scapegoat. The actor is always the last person to get blamed. It’s sad, but true,” says the director.

Rakul raises an important point. She says, “The success of a film doesn’t depend only on the actress. The script needs to be good too. Several times, an actress is the last person who gets to know about changes in the script and even an assistant director knows more than the actress, so she is really not to be blamed.”

Power Star Pawan Kalyan is basking in the success of his latest flick Katamarayudu. Pawan Kalyan’s Katamarayudu has received a massive response on its opening day and early trends show that the movie will collect over Rs 55 crore gross at the worldwide box office on the first day.

Rumors were doing the rounds that Pawan Kalyan’s Katamarayudu first day box office collections is likely to beat the records of Chiranjeevi’s Khadi No.150. If Pawan movie breaks the records of Khadi No.150 then it would set a new benchmark for upcoming movies.

Sources informed that content of the movie is not up to the mark but the action sequence and punch dialogues in the movie would grab the audience attention.

The film is directed by Dolly, also stars Shruti Haasan as a lead role along with Siva Balaji, Kamal Kamaraju in pivotal roles

Katamarayudu Movie 1st Day Collections

Andhra Area box office collections: Rs. 9 crores
Nizam Area box office collections: Rs. 8.5 crores
Ceeded Area box office collections: Rs. 5.2 crores
Overseas box office collections: Rs. 8 crore ($1 million USD)

Check out the tweets made by Umair Sandhu on Pawan Kalyan’s Katamarayudu first day box office collections:

Umair Sandhu @sandhumerry
#KatamaRayudu is First Tollywood BLOCKBUSTER of the Year. It collected Fantastic ” 42 cr ” Worldwide on Opening Day. ????

Umair Sandhu @sandhumerry
#KatamaRayudu is BLOCKBUSTER. It collected Share ” 27 cr ” on Opening Day in #India. Night Shows are ROCKING ! Power Star #PawanKalyan Back.

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor didn’t spare the Journalists when they unnecessarily tried to dig his past affair with Kareena Kapoor unnecessarily.

During an interactive session, The ‘Rangoon’ Actor was asked about his ‘Secret Past’ by one of Journalists. In reply, Shahid asked: ‘Do I have a secret past? If so, how do you know about it? Are you spying on me?’.

Immediately, One of the Lady Journos shouted ‘Kareena’. And, Shahid shot back, ‘How did it become a secret when the entire World knew about it. Do you have a question to ask or happy to take someone’s name?’.

Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor were in a live-in relationship from 2004 to 2007. Later, Kareena parted ways with him and dated Saif Ali Khan. While Saif-Kareena married in 2012, Shahid tied knot with Mira Rajput in 2015. Interestingly, The two couples became first time parents in the same year (2016).

The leading distributor Cine Galaxy has followed the Hollywood style in reporting the numbers of the film. Katamarayudu premier gross won’t be reported. Premier box office numbers will be rolled into Friday Box Office number and will be reported on Saturday.

This is the way distributor CineGalaxy have set it up at Rentrak and this is the way Hollywood movies work. There will be no hourly collection updates.

It means till Saturday, there would be no reporting of USA collections of the film.

Samantha loves to express her feelings for Chay on social media, and that makes her fans admire her even more. Samantha once again posted a picture of Naga Chaitanya and herself dancing with joy.

No cuddling or kissing, yet the picture is so romantic and the words written by Sam made it better – “everyday.you save me #holdonforever”

The script work of Megastar’s 151st project is already finished and pre-production work has also commenced. Makers are planning to take this film onto floors towards April end. Here is a curious case about Megastar’s leading ladies in this film.

It is known that Chiru’s 151st film is the biopic on Uyyalavada Narasimha Reddy, who is credited as one of the foremost freedom fighters of India and a Telugu legend. His story has many interesting facets but reportedly the portions involving his freedom fight with British will take the center stage in the biopic.

Keeping the track of freedom fight aside, Uyyalavada reportedly has three wives. However, it is not sure if makers retain all three characters or not. Even if they keep characters of three wives, we can’t expect top heroines to play those roles.

It was a strenuous effort already to rope in one heroine for Khaidi No.150. Now, finding three heroines to pair with megastar would be no less a daunting task for makers. So, as of now there is no firm clarity on how much of Uyyalavada’s marriage life will be shown in the biopic.

The biopic is said to be high on action quotient mainly guerrilla wars and emotions. It is advisable that fans expect as less romance as possible as the film is about a freedom fighter and his sacrifice for freedom of people.

The leading distributor Cine Galaxy has followed the Hollywood style in reporting the numbers of the film. Katamarayudu premier gross won’t be reported. Premier box office numbers will be rolled into Friday Box Office number and will be reported on Saturday.

This is the way distributor CineGalaxy have set it up at Rentrak and this is the way Hollywood movies work. There will be no hourly collection updates.

It means till Saturday, there would be no reporting of USA collections of the film