Hyderabad: Tollywood produced fewer films in 2015 than 2014 but made more money. According to official statistics, 258 celluloid films were certified by the Central Board of Film Certification in 2015. In 2014 it was 280. The number of short films including trailers and advertisements was 767 in 2015 as against 792 in 2014, and video films were 97 in 2015 as against 158 in 2014. Industry experts say that there were also many films that did not reach the censor stage and those that were censored but not released. Veteran filmmaker Thammareddy Bharadwaja said, “Out of films that are censored, around 15 to 20 per cent are not released. For quality films there are always buyers. The filmmakers should know for what purpose they are making the films.”

When it is about business, buyers will only go for good ones, which can get collections. Non-entity films like Rajugari Gadhi, Jatha Kalise and Cinema Chupista Mama did well. We can’t blame the theatres as how many films in 365 days can they screen?,” he asked. He added, “Shooting started and stopped midway for around 40 per cent of films whose titles were registered with the chamber. Films like Baahubali definitely brought about changes in the making style but at the same time buyers bought other films for high prices and they are now in the doldrums.” He also said that the number of dubbed films had gone down in Tollywood.Out of 258 films censored, 175 Telugu films released in 2015 and the industry saw approximately `2,000 crore gross business, with a good success rate.

The good thing was that apart from the big films like Baahubali and Srimanthudu, small films also became big grossers. In 2014, nearly 200 films released with a budget of `2,000 crore. But in the end only eight per cent of the films did business at the box-office and the industry lost nearly `1,500 crore. Allu Arjun’s Race Gurram, Balakrishna’s Legend and Nagarjuna’s Manam had crossed the `50 crore mark in 2014. The theatres are mostly managed by a few people in Telangana like Dil Raju, Chiranjeevi’s family and Asian Cinema.

Recently even actor Nagarjuna had to work very hard to get his new film Soggade Chinni Nayana screened in theatres.

Mumbai: Sidharth Malhotra and his rumoured girlfriend Alia Bhatt, snuck out of the city and are enjoying a quiet holiday in New York. The rumoured lovers flew to the US to join their designer friend Prabal Gurung for the holiday season. Alia, Sid and Prabal, all bundled up in winter coats, were spotted posing for pictures on the streets of New York. The two actors recently wrapped up work on their family drama ‘Kapoor and Sons’ before jetting off for this quiet escapade.

Prabal took to his social networking handle to share pictures with his fans and followers, that he captioned: Ladies and gentlemen, meet the present and the definite future, Miss @aliaabhatt My favourite actor across the globe. First Monday of the year just got off to a good start. Interestingly, director Karan Johar, who was also on a break after a jam packed ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ schedule, was in the city. During his weeklong stay in New York, Karan went around sightseeing and dropping by Broadway shows.

Weather the director, who plays mentor to the two young star planned their timely visit is still unknown. What we do know is that the three have a common friend in Prabal. Karan, who flew back to the city yesterday, rang in the New Year with the famed designer and his friends.

Mumbai: A long line up of Bollywood biopics are gearing up to hit the big screen this year. Once such highly anticipated film is about Bollywood bad boy Sanjay Dutt. The film directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, will star Ranbir Kapoor in the leading role. While there have been several talks about the film, new reports on Wednesday, state that the actor’s personal life (his three marriages, kids and relationships) might not make the cut.

According to a leading daily, certain portions of his life that the director thinks is ‘irrelevant’, will not be included in the film. Raju feels that it is impossible to include all aspects of his life within the 2-hour time frame. The director does promise fans that ‘relevant’ parts of his life will be included. With his personal life out of the picture, could this mean that the film will only include his court cases and his time in jail?

According to a source, here’s what happened when Sanjay was out on parole during Ganesh Chaturti, “Raju and Sanjay were in touch through letters. All the while that Sanjay was in jail, Hirani was working on a script for the film, based on the information that Sanjay had himself given him about his life. So this time when he was out, the director visited Sanjay’s residence and narrated the first draft for the script. Sanjay had some feedback, which Hirani has promised to incorporate. Apart from a few alterations, Sanjay isn’t too worried because he knows that the film is in safe hands.”

Sanjay and Raju have worked together on the ‘Munnabhai’ series and the star also featured in 2014 blockbuster ‘PK’. The film is expected to go on floors later this year.

Comedian turned Hero, Sunil was completely missing in 2015. He encountered with some back to back flops and gone missing totally from the scene last year. However he is all set to stage a comeback. Two films of the actor – Krishnashtami and Anucharudu have completed their shooting. Krishnashtami is all set for a grand release on February 5th.

Anucharudu will release in March/April. On the other side, Sunil began the shooting of his next film, Eedu Gold Ehe under the direction of Veeru Potla the other day. The makers are planning to release the film in last Summer. So we will get to see a minimum three films of Sunil in this year.

Earlier last month, we have seen Young Tiger NTR making his Kannada Singing debut by rendering a song for his good friend and Kannada Powerstar Puneeth Rajkumar in his next film, Chakravyuha. Now Kajal Aggarwal will make her singing debut as well with the same film.

Kajal will record her song for the movie later this week in Bengaluru. Needless to say, the actress is quite thrilled about the first song rendering of her career. Chakravyuha is being planning for January end release.

The movie is being directed by Tamil director Saravanan, who earlier directed Journey. NTR’s close friend Lohith is producing the film.

Mumbai: Over the last few days, there has been lot of rumours about Sonu Nigam’s new association with Y Films (subsidiary company of Yash Raj Films). The singer has sung many hits songs for the banner including Veer Zaara that was directed by late Yash Chopra.

Now the buzz is that he has been roped in by Y Films, which is going to be an interesting collaboration. We have reliably learnt that Y Films has made a very unique song and the voice of it is none other than Sonu Nigam.

An official announcement will be made soon.

Mega Prince Varun Tej and Puri Jagannadh’s recent offering, Loafer has completed its full run at the box office. The film which was made to make sure Varun Tej gets a commercial hit, could not serve the purpose. The movie just managed to collect 11.58 Crore share Worldwide and ended up as a big flop to all the parties involved in the film’s trade.

Here is the breakup of Loafer Final Total Collections: 

Nizam: 3.54 Crore
Ceeded: 1.81 Crore
Uttarandhra: 1.23 Crore
East: 95 Lakhs
West: 68 Lakhs
Krishna: 78 Lakhs
Guntur: 1.04 Crore
Nellore: 40 Lakhs

AP+Nizam: 10.43 Crore
Rest: 45 Lakhs

Total Worldwide Share: 11.58 Crore

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who is serving his five-year sentence in an arms case related to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, will walk out of jail on February 27 as a free man. The actor will be released from Yerwada jail in Pune prior to his official release. According to reports, the actor’s sentence has been cut short on the grounds of good behaviour. The 56-year-old will be released few days ahead of the official end of his prison term. On Tuesday, the minister of state home cleared the proposal to give the actor the benefits of remittance for good conduct.

Minister for State (Home) Ranjit Patil signed the file allowing Dutt’s release, without penalising him for reporting late from his furlough in January 2015. Dutt was sentenced to five-year imprisonment after he was convicted for possessing an illegal weapon, part of the cache meant to be used during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts in which 257 people were killed. Dutt had spent 18 months in jail in 1996 after his arrest.

In May 2013, the actor surrendered after the Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence. The actor has since then been lodged in the Yerwada Central prison at Pune. After he was sent to Yerwada in May 2013, Dutt had been out on furlough number of times. In October 2013, he was out on furlough for 14 days, which was extended by a fortnight. In January 2014, a 30-day parole was extended by another 30 days. In December 2014, he was granted a 14-day furlough. He was recently out on 30-day furlough for her daughter’s nose surgery. The actor is now completing the remaining prison term of 42 months.

Nandamuri Balakrishna’s Prestigious 99th film, Dictator has completed its censor formalities a little while ago. The Regional Censor Board in Hyderabad watched the special screening of the film and awarded it with U/A certificate with minor cuts.

Dictator is now all set for a grand release on 14th as Sankranthi Special. The promotions will begin with the Platinum disk function on 9th of this month in Hyderabad. JRC convention is booked as the event venue.

Loukyam fame Srivas is wielding megaphone for this movie. He is also the co-producer of the film along with Eros International. Anjali and Sonal Chauhan are the heroines. Thaman is the music composer.

New Delhi: Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar is hopeful that the new Shyam Benegal-headed committee will bring positive changes in the controversy-ridden censor board. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has been at the centre of flak for some time now, owing to its decision from cutting scenes in films like ‘NH 10’ and ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’ to shortening a kiss in ‘Spectre’.

The 41-year-old ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ star feels a rating system should be adopted while certifying a film. “Everything is work in progress. A new committee has been set up, headed by Mr Shyam Benegal. I would hope some result will come of it that benefits artists. “In my personal opinion, there needs to be a rating system. We are stuck with the U, U/A and A system, which do not allow that much sensibility. You can’t tell a person above a certain age that you are immature to watch a kiss. We don’t need to be babysit,” Farhan said in an interview here.

There were reports that an intimate scene between Farhan and actress Aditi Rao Hyadri in their upcoming film ‘Wazir’ was chopped off by the board. The ‘Rock On!’ star denied the rumours but expressed his disappointment with the “inconsistency” in the CBFC’s working.

“There has not been consistency in the way the censor board has behaved in the past that can tell you what will be removed. Every single time the people in the committee that come to watch your film, they are not the same people. “Different members come, hence they have different sensibilities and aesthetics. You can’t have a written rule and this is with every art form because context is everything. Snipping has to be done away,” he said.

Mumbai: The Mumbai airport was buzzing with celebs yesterday. Producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari attended a special screening of ‘Wazir’ held for Arvind Kejriwal.

Also seen is Jaya Bachchan, who appears to be busy with her phone call. Kriti Sanon, Chitrangada Singh, Karan Johar and Radhika Apte waved at the shutterbugs and also posed for the paparazzi.

Priyanka Chopra flew down to L.A. to attend the People’s Choice Awards 2016 as a presenter. The 33-year-old star is also nominated in the Favourite Actress in a New TV Series category at the awards, scheduled to take place on January 6.

Mumbai: After wooing the audiences with her mesmerizing performance in ‘Bajirao Mastani’, Deepika Padukone is all set to conquer Hollywood with xXx sequel.

Even though the actress shared a picture with Hollywood star Vin Diesel, she hasn’t yet confirmed the reports. However, Filmmaker DJ Caruso, the director of ‘xXx: The Return of Xander Cage’ has confirmed the reports on Twitter.

While interacting with his fans, the director revealed that the actress will join the film’s team in February and start with the shooting.