However good the films are made, making the audiences of this generation sit for three hours in theatres has become a monumental task for filmmakers. This has been proved by the failure of several good yet lengthy films at box office.

In order not to take such risk, makers of highly awaited upcoming bollywood film ‘Rangoon’, have reportedly re-edited the film and cut it short by close to 40 minutes. The original runtime during the censor certification was 2 hours and 47 minutes and it is reduced to just over 2 hours now.

The decision to trim the film just a few days ahead of its release was voluntarily taken by film’s producers, director Vishal Bharadwaj and his creative team. ‘Although the film turned out to be an extremely well-packaged product, we had to cut some good scenes in order to make the film more engaging for today’s generation,’ a member from the unit reportedly said.

The film starring Kangana Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor is all set to hit screens on February 24.

The obsession of some ardent fans for their favorite heroes sometimes leads to unwanted troubles. We have seen it time and again, in fact SRK made a movie on the same subject with the title ‘Fan’. Here is another such case where a fan threatened his favorite hero of taking up indefinite fast unless his demand is met.

It is known that energetic young hero Ram is yet to make an announcement about his new film post the debacle of ‘Hyper’, needless to say that his fans are disappointed.

Taking fanism to new heights, a fan of Ram has sent a twitter message to Ram conveying that he would be taking up indefinite fast until the actor announces his new film. He stressed that he was serious and even started the count mentioning it was Day 1.

A cautious Ram soon replied to him, promising that the discussions for his new film were on and that an announcement would soon be made. He conveyed his love and asked fans to be patient.

After the success of ‘Nenu Sailaja’, Ram was confident of scoring another super hit with ‘Hyper’ but the film disappointed him to an extent that he could not decide upon his new project even after six months.

Tamil music composer turned actor Vijay Antony, who rose to stardom in Telugu and Tamil film industries with ‘Bichagadu’, admitted that he was not a good actor and that the good scripts make him look like one.

Antony has carved a niche for himself, a reliable hero for commercial yet different cinema, with the kind of scripts he chooses. The ‘Bethaludu’ actor said that he takes extra care during post-production stage of his films to compensate for his limited acting skills.

“There are born actors and there are learned actors, I am neither. Hence I do the right work during post-production stage. I believe that a film can be saved during the editing,” said a candid Antony in an interview.

He divulged that that his new film Yaman, a political thriller, is the story of a village underdog turned powerful politician. He added that his character has both positive and negative shades. The film is slated for February 24 release.

Post debacle of Thikka, Sai Dharam Tej is prepping up with his next Winner. As the film is all set for release, he is cool, composed. Ahead of Winner, Sai gets talking to Gulte for a candid interview.

Pawan Kalyan, Chiranjeevi & Naga Babu

Like my all other uncles, am pretty close with Pawan Mama too. He’s so caring. He’s there whenever I need him. In fact, I was supposed to be launched under his home banner Pawan Kalyan Creative Works, but somehow it didn’t materialise. We’ve been thinking to do a film on his banner, but will have to see when it’s going to happen. Even am very excited to work under his production. Who don’t want to be right?

No, he didn’t watch none of my films yet. Chiranjeevi garu have watched a few of my films like Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham and he appreciated me. Naga Babu garu too so close and very supporting. Am blessed to be having them as my uncles.

Rumours

It’s been over two years since my debut. I got used to rumours, gossips. I’ve developed thick skin towards them as I don’t have any other option. Especially, rumours on my affairs had no truth. But I didn’t take them seriously as it’s part and parcel of an actor’s life. Also a few are surviving by spreading such. So I left it to them.

But when am really in love with a girl and she too accepts my proposal, I’ll not be calm and will announce to the whole world. It’s 2017, I don’t think there’s no point in hiding love. Being in love is best thing to happen. When it does, what’s the point to keep it as a secret.

Rakul is good friend of mine. We all started at one time. Rakul, me, Sundeep, Regina. So we’re very close. And acting with your friend is really makes your work comfortable.

Marriage

I’m happy being single. I’m enjoying this phase of my life. So far, have been living the way parents like. Let me live my way before I get married. After all, after marriage we have no option but to live the way wife likes. After marriage, we have to listen to wife and no other option. (Giggles).

Winner

I have been planning to work with Gopi anna. He had narrated me a story during Supreme or Thikka and we were thinking. In between, Veligonda Sreenivas has come up with this interesting story. Gopi Anna and I liked and we went ahead. I’ve acted with Jagapathi Babu garu in my first film. Since then, I share special bond with him. I’m glad am acting with him again in Winner.

Anasuya

We’re very happy that she’s part of our film. She’s so beautiful and lively. Like I said in pre-release function, she even inspired Chota garu. Her beauty made his work more interesting.

Upcoming films

I’m doing a brief role in Nakshatram. It’s a 15 minute role. Am very happy to work in Krishna Vamsi sir film at so early part of my life. Every character in his film has an importance and it shines. Upnext is Jawaan where I team up with BVS Ravi. I don’t play a soldier but I play a common man who has to choose between his family and nation.

Telugu Cinema

Yes, Telugu Cinema is going through great change of late. Happy to be witnessing the change and being part of it. Am looking forward to do interesting stuff in days to come. Films like Ghazi, Kshanam, Pelli Choopulu are welcome change. We’re slowly transforming.

Will do whatever entertains audiences. I don’t mind doing commercial films too as long as I entertain. I’m open to multistarrers. Especially looking forward to share screen space with Chiranjeevi garu and Pawan Kalyan garu together.

Bold beauty Anushka Sharma looks to have redefined hotness for the latest edition of GQ magazine. Wearing black lingerie and exposing her cleavage with a bindaas attitude, Anushka looks a million bucks in this pic.

The talented actress will next be seen in her second production venture ‘Phillauri’, which is due for March 24 release. She is playing a ghost in the movie.

While keeping a huge set of brand endorsements under once arm will not be a status of stardom, surely they help taking stardom to next level.

That’s what happened with Mahesh Babu as well in Tollywood. During his Khaleja times, despite having no film releases for years, he rose to stardom, thanks to a dozen of brand endorsements that are in his kitty.

Now, Bollywood star Ranveer Singh is also exerting similar supremacy on his peers, by grabbing the endorsements that once had top stars. After making Mahesh Babu as their Thoofani ambassador for the whole of India, Thumbs Up has again roped in Salman Khan for North-Indian version.

Now, all the ads of Thumbs Up for the upcoming cricketing season are grabbed by new guy Ranvir Singh. He’s promoted as a New Thoofani.

If not stealing Salman Khan’s ad, Ranvir also took over Allu Arjun as Colgate’s front face even for the South TV commercials. And when Ranbir Kapoor is  likely to feature in Roopa Banian’s ad, now Ranveer took over them as well. Many in the film industry are asking, how many advertisements the Bajirao Mastani star will steal this way?

Royal Stag, Ching’s Secret, Make My Trip, Head and Shoulders, Vivo Phones, Set Wet styling, Durex condoms, Myntra, Maruthi and Jack & Jones are some of the other brands in Ranveer Singh’s kitty right now.

Gone are the days when celebrities used to feel shy when asked about the dark secrets of their lives. The young celebs of this age however are openly revealing everything from their first sex experiences to favorite sex positions.

Sri Lankan sex bomb Jacqueline Fernandez, who stole the hearts of Indian youth with her raunchy act opposite Emraan Hashmi in ‘Murder 2’ is the latest actress to reveal her most private secrets probably in her bid to prove how ‘Cool’ she is.

Jacqueline said that she had her first lip-lock experience at 14 and that she had love affair with a boy for three years during her school days. She added that many boys took advantage of her reserved nature in the past and that she still regrets kissing some boys then.

Jacqueline’s bold revelations have joined the leadue of elite revelations by the likes of Sonam Kapoor, she revealed that someone inappropriately touched her breasts in school, Alia Bhatt, revealed her favorite sex position and other things, Ranveer Singh, the ‘Befikre’ actor stunned all by revealing he lost his virginity at 12 etc.

When Pawan Kalyan was confined only to movies, the world had a good picture about his disinterest to meet people and fans. Since he’s now entered political arena, it shouldn’t be the case offcouse. But, things seems to have unchanged – yes! Read on…

From a while, a word has it that it’s quite a herculean task to meet Powerstar Pawan Kalyan. In what can be called as a support statement to that, the Krishna district buyer of Sardaar Gabbar Singh yesterday alleged, ‘it is very tough to meet Pawan Kalyan and a coterie surrounding him is literally barricading everyone. Eventually, I cannot meet him and seek help for the losses I incurred with Sardaar.’

Adding to it, Industry folks also carry a report that it is really a daunting task to approach Pawan Kalyan, as he doesn’t devote time to meet visitors or frequently engage with fans like other movie actors. Even the personal mobile number of Pawan Kalyan is not known to many, except to his very close group of friends, family.

Now that Pawan is into politics, the similar style of rule sheet and group of the inner circle could hinder his chances of meeting diverse people and listen to them. Because spending more time with people of different class is the prime role for a politico. Unlike other actors, Pawan doesn’t maintain a office to deal movie affairs. He only holds an office to deal the activities of Jana Sena.

Since Pawan is making concerted efforts to steer his political image in a different way, he should also rework or rebuild his current coterie to achieve his political goal otherwise he will be remain as Kondarivadu.

Rumours are doing the rounds in Tollywood circuit that actress Rakul Preet Singh is even paid for the promotion. Talk has it that Rakul is apparently paid to take part in the promotions of her ready-for-release film Winner. Producers of Winner said to have taken two days of Rakul’s dates and using those dates during the publicity activities of film.

Going into details, Rakul’s dates were blocked much in advance by the producers. As per the initial plan, a song was supposed to be shot on both Rakul and Sai Dharam Tej. However, the makers said to have dropped to shoot the song since the film’s release date – Feb 24 – is announced already and don’t want to miss the date as it also coincides with Maha Shivratri festival.

This isn’t all. Even the film’s budget said to have shot up already and taking note of all these, director, producers and the team in unison decided to call off the shoot of the song.

This resulted in the two days dates of Rakul and producers decided to use it for the promotions of Winner. So, if one is wondering how come Rakul is aggressively promoting Winner and giving a spree of interviews to TV channels, print media, this is the story.

The last week’s bilingual release Ghazi, starring Rana Daggubati and Taapsee in lead, has kicked off with a superb mouth talk right from day-1 of its release. By end of first weekend, the first Indian under-sea war film has made good profits for the production company PVP Cinema. Directed by a debutant Sankalp Reddy, the Hindi version of Ghazi was presented by Bollywood producer-director Karan Johar.

Check out the break up of region wise collections:

Nizam – 180 lakhs
Ceded – 28 lakhs
Nellore – 12.3 lakhs
Guntur – 33.55 lakhs
Krishna – 40.15 lakhs
West – 16 lakhs
East – 25 lakhs
Uttharandhra – 55 lakhs

Total 3 days AP & TG share 3.9 Crore
Karnataka – 55 lacs
USA -170 lacs
Other regions – 35 lacs

Total 3 days Worldwide share 6.5 crore

With exceptionally positive reviews and critical acclaim, the film certainly is turning out to be big threat for Rana’s villain roles in future. Featuring some finest performances by Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni, Ghazi is likely to make big at box-office in the coming days.

As Sai Dharam Tej’s Winner is coming this week, it remains to be seen how it’s going to face it.

Raju Gari Gadhi was a sensational hit and made stars like Nagarjuna and Samantha sign in for its sequel. The star cast of Raju Gari Gadhi 2 seems to be on regular sittings and here is a selfie from them.

Nagarjuna joined with Seerat Kapoor for a selfie, and let us wait to see who is who in the horror sequel. For now it is a non-horror selfie from Raju Gari Gadhi 2 stars.

Global OTT leader in South-Asian content, YuppTV has entered an exclusive partnership with ETV Telugu in the United States.

As part of the association, users will now be able to enjoy the entertainment content from ETV Telugu, while the brand is also introducing ETV Life, ETV Plus, ETV Cinema and ETV Abhiruchi for the first time in the US Market.

Viewers can watch all the popular ETV Telugu shows like Padutha Teeyaga, Jabardasth, Extra Jabadasth and Manasu Mamatha exclusively on YuppTV. The association would help ETV Telugu extend its offerings globally.

Commenting on the association, Mr. Uday Reddy, Founder & CEO, YuppTV, said, ‘We are overwhelmed to enter into an exclusive partnership with ETV Telugu. Its entertainment content has been successful in striking the right chord with the users and we are happy to make the same available in the US markets, henceforth exclusively. It is also exciting for us to introduce in the US Market other channels like ETV Life, ETV Plus, ETV Cinema and ETV Abhiruchi. We further look forward to a long term association with channels and would always strive to surprise our users with further such engaging and entertaining associations.’

Sharing the thoughts on the partnership, K Bapineedu, CEO, ETV Network, added, ‘We have enjoyed our association with YuppTV for a while now. The decision to go exclusive on our partnership with the platform was taken due to the positive response, especially in the US market. Our entertainment shows have become popular over the time in the Indian expat community settled in the US. We further look forward to enhancing the reach of our entertainment content via the incredible penetration and popularity of YuppTV.’

As part of the association, fans of ETV shall be able to access their favorite content on YuppTV app available on 6 screens including Smart TVs/blu-ray players, Smart Media Players, PC, Smart Phones, Tablets and Gaming Consoles.

About YuppTV

YuppTV is one of the world’s largest internet-based TV and On-demand service providers for South Asian content, offering more than 250+ TV channels, 5000+ Movies and 100+ TV Shows in 14 languages. YuppTV recently received funding from Emerald Media, a Pan-Asian platform established by leading global investment firm KKR for investing in the media and entertainment sector, wherein Emerald Media acquired a significant minority stake in the company for US$50mn. YuppTV had earlier raised its Series A round of funding from Poarch Creek Indian Tribe of Alabama.

YuppTV has 25,000 hours of entertainment content catalogued in its library, while nearly 2500 hours of new on-demand content is added to the YuppTV platform every day. YuppTV offers Live TV and Catch-Up TV technology. It has recently launched YuppFlix, a movie on-demand streaming service for the Expat Market, and YuppTV Bazaar, an online marketplace for the premium content curator.

YuppTV is currently ranked #1 Internet Pay TV platform for Indians living abroad and also the largest Internet TV platform from premium content availability in India. YuppTV is the most downloaded Indian SmartTV app and it also boasts of 8 million mobile downloads with 4.0 user rating.

From Chiranjeevi’s Marana Mrudangam to Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri, the hero always appears either as a goonda or a part-time rowdy sheeter. Only in the end, it’s revealed that he’s a police officer, an IPS pass out, topper of the batch and etc. We’ve seen such Pokiri moments in many films as well.

Buzz has that even Allu Arjun is soon going to have this Pokiri moment in his upcoming film. Already the first look poster of “DJ Duvvada Jagannadam” are released and this stylish hero appears in the role of a Brahmin priest in the movie. Well, that reminded every one of Jr NTR’s Adhurs Chary role. Guess what, there is an extension to this role if rumours are right.

Actually, Bunny is said to be playing the role of a serious cop who comes under the disguise of a priest to catch offenders. Whoah!! That’s surely a Pokiri moment for him, isn’t it? From a long time this Allu hero is desiring to be seen in a police officer role and in Racegurram, he had some partial moments as a one-day police. Seems like his dreams will be lived now with this role.

But the problems that arise in that case are this happens to be a tried and tested formula in terms of storyline. So the refreshment factor comes only from different patterned screenplay and scenes. Though Sarrainodu is a huge hit in terms of box office numbers, the film’s routine plot was panned by critics. So Bunny and director Harish Shankar have to make sure that DJ will not go that way.

Rumours are doing the rounds in Tollywood circuit that actress Rakul Preet Singh is even paid for the promotion. Talk has it that Rakul is apparently paid to take part in the promotions of her ready-for-release film Winner. Producers of Winner said to have taken two days of Rakul’s dates and using those dates during the publicity activities of film.

Going into details, Rakul’s dates were blocked much in advance by the producers. As per the initial plan, a song was supposed to be shot on both Rakul and Sai Dharam Tej. However, the makers said to have dropped to shoot the song since the film’s release date – Feb 24 – is announced already and don’t want to miss the date as it also coincides with Maha Shivratri festival.

This isn’t all. Even the film’s budget said to have shot up already and taking note of all these, director, producers and the team in unison decided to call off the shoot of the song.

This resulted in the two days dates of Rakul and producers decided to use it for the promotions of Winner. So, if one is wondering how come Rakul is aggressively promoting Winner and giving a spree of interviews to TV channels, print media, this is the story.

The last week’s bilingual release Ghazi, starring Rana Daggubati and Taapsee in lead, has kicked off with a superb mouth talk right from day-1 of its release. By end of first weekend, the first Indian under-sea war film has made good profits for the production company PVP Cinema. Directed by a debutant Sankalp Reddy, the Hindi version of Ghazi was presented by Bollywood producer-director Karan Johar.

Check out the break up of region wise collections:

Nizam – 180 lakhs
Ceded – 28 lakhs
Nellore – 12.3 lakhs
Guntur – 33.55 lakhs
Krishna – 40.15 lakhs
West – 16 lakhs
East – 25 lakhs
Uttharandhra – 55 lakhs

Total 3 days AP & TG share 3.9 Crore
Karnataka – 55 lacs
USA -170 lacs
Other regions – 35 lacs

Total 3 days Worldwide share 6.5 crore

With exceptionally positive reviews and critical acclaim, the film certainly is turning out to be big threat for Rana’s villain roles in future. Featuring some finest performances by Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni, Ghazi is likely to make big at box-office in the coming days.

As Sai Dharam Tej’s Winner is coming this week, it remains to be seen how it’s going to face it.