Actor Allu Sirish, who hasn’t had a film release in over a year, says he has invested a lot of time on his next project, which is currently on the floors. He believes it will be a game changer for his career. “This gap gave me an opportunity to learn a lot and understand what I want to do with my career. It opened some new doors and helped me to see things from a different perspective,” Sirish told IANS, adding that the time taken for his next project is totally worth it. The yet-untitled film, which is currently on floors, is being directed by Parasuram. “This is a big film. I’m sure that it will be a game changer for my career. This is the kind of film that will bring scores of families to the cinemas again. I’ve worked so far only in love stories but this is a family drama,” he said. Explaining about his character in detail, Sirish said: “I couldn’t get the pulse of all the characters that I’ve played so far. However, the character in this film is very close to my inner self and that got me excited. I could easily relate to it. “I like to do films that help me get in touch with some part of me.” While Sirish is spending ample time on a project, his brother Allu Arjun has had four releases in the last two years. “If I really push myself, I can easily do two films a year.

But I don’t see the need to hurry and end up doing bad projects. I don’t like to ape my brother and do things exactly the way he does. Each film is like raising a child and this process can’t be rushed,” he said. Before the project went on floors, Sirish spent quality time in the gym. He says it wasn’t in preparation for his role in the film. “I had to undergo a knee surgery after the release of my last film. In order to get back in shape, I started working out and I loved the transformation. Fitness has now become a way of life,” he said. Also starring Lavanya Tripathi, nearly 50 percent of the film has already been completed. “We are planning to release it in February or March next year. Even if it gets delayed, we’re fine because we don’t want to hurry,” Sirish, who is still keen to explore opportunities in Tamil. He made his acting debut in 2013 Tamil-Telugu bilingual “Gouravam”.

Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan is busily promoting his upcoming movie Dilwale that is due for December 18th release. He came to Hyderabad to promote Dilwale and the Telugu media asked if he would like to do a multi-starrer with a Telugu star. “Why not?” he said and added that he would love to team up with Tollywood stars Mahesh Babu or Ram Charan! Interestingly it was Kajol who has brought up Ram Charan’s name immediately after the question was posed at Shahrukh Khan.

Seems like Ram Charan has very good relations with most of the Bollywood stars. He is also a very good friend of Salman Khan for whom he has dubbed in the recently released Prema Leela. SRK recently visited the sets of Mahesh Babu’s Brahmotsavam and also spent a lot of time on Bruce Lee sets. It would be a great sight to see our Tollywood superstars teaming up with King Khan. This may not turn true forever but it would be a true sensation if it happens for real, what say?

Defying all odds, and even less-than-flattering reviews from critics, director Vishal Pandya’s Hate Story 3 is minting money at the box office.In the first three days since its release on Friday, the film collected Rs 26.82 crore.

Made at an approximate budget of Rs 13 crore, analysts say that if the film continues its impressive streak on the ticket windows, it may well cross the Rs 50 crore mark in the first 10 days.Hate Story 3 is the story of two rival businessmen who have vowed to destroy each other’s empire. The tussle gets nastier when one of them makes an ‘indecent proposal’ involving the other’s wife.

Before the release of his latest release Shankarabharanam, young hero Nikhil was hailed as a hat-trick hero and a bankable star. However, Shankarabharanam caused a minor dent to his success streak as the film failed to impress the critics and audiences just like his previous films did.

Soon after the film’s release, many noted critics gave the film 2 to 3 ratings on an average and panned the film for its incoherent script. Even though Nikhil succeeded in impressing his fans with his stylish makeover and performance, the film on the whole failed to get a unanimous thumbs up.

In his latest talk show, Nikhil clarified about the critics’ ratings in his style. Accepting that the film meted out to some mixed response, Nikhil said that the film is also impressing several other sections of audiences just like some people like Pizza, many others like Idli.

The young star also said that Shankarabharanam was rated high by certain national media houses and then  expressed happiness over the film’s box-office performance.

For the last couple of months, India was in a boiling pot with the intolerance debate. Things got intense with the brutal murders of a few people, which led to many concerned film stars, intellectuals, writers and other celebs from all across the country to open up on the intolerance issue.

In the process, India’s most loved stars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan faced an ugly public fury for voicing their opinions about the growing intolerance in the country. However, popular porn film star turned Bollywood bombshell Sunny Leone won many hearts with her comments on intolerance in India.

Reacting to the intolerance debate, Sunny said that the word intolerance was ‘too interesting to be used’. The hot actress further said that she loves India and that she wouldn’t have been safe in India had India been that intolerant.

Well, these words coming from someone who faced countless police cases on charges of obscenity in her erotic films, are indeed an eye-opener.

The film world is silver quick in following hit formulas. Joining the hit formula bandwagon is the in-thing. Even big heroes do it and one such trend is the pick up phrases and lines from hit songs and use them as film’s title. Pawan Kalyan’s smash hit Gabbar Singh’s songs have been used this way. Many phrases became film titles. But, the imitation is not just limited to big stars. It even applies to hit small films. The case in point is Raj Tarun’s Kumari 21 F. Some clever producer has picked up “Love Cheyyala Vadda” from the hit song of the film and made it title of the film.

The title, of course, tells what the film is all about. This song is a smash hit. Picturised on the hero, this song became so popular that it’s breaking records. Within two weeks of the film’s release, some clever wag picked up the phrase and gave it as a title for his film. One must appreciate the spontaneity of the movie maker, who was quick enough to grasp the catch word.

One wrong move and the social media is ever ready to troll you. This is more so with celebrities, particularly those in the business of movies. The Bigger the celebrity, greater the trolling would be. Raking up controversies on the Face Book and Twitter has become the norm for many and the celebrities have no option but to put up with this. Bollywood actress Radhika Apte’s innocent post is now proving to be a big headache for super star Rajnikanth. How did Radhika put Rajni in a fix? Simple she was in Malaysia exactly while Rajni is shooting there for his latest flick Kabali. She met Rajni and took some pics. Rajni has been in Malaysia for quite a few days due to the shooting. Even when Chennai is ravaged by unprecedented floods, he was in Malaysia. On hearing about the devastation, he immediately announced his donation. So far so good.

Radhika, who naturally was excited to meet the super star, posted the pics on the social media.Though there was nothing wrong with the pic, the timing of the posting was awfully bad as Chennai was reeling under floods and most film stars were busy helping the victims. And what is worse, Rajni, Radhika pics went viral exactly during this time. This was enough for some to slam Rajni on the social media, saying that he was busy taking pics with beauties, while Chennai was in trouble. Rajni’s rivals are using this to get back at the super star. Radhika, didn’t however give any details of when was the pic taken. This has become a headache. Poor Rajni can do nothing for now except doing what he is already doing.

Arguments in the hit-and-run case concluded; Bombay HC is slated to deliver its verdict this week The Bombay High Court is slated to deliver its verdict this week on an appeal filed by actor Salman Khan against the five-year sentence awarded to him in the 2002 hit-and-run case. The arguments in the case concluded on Saturday and udge A R Joshi said he would begin dictation of judgment on the appeal from tomorrow. A sessions court had on May 6 convicted the 49-year old actor on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under PC and other offences. An aggrieved Salman filed an appeal in the high court which granted him bail before hearing arguments in the case. It is the case of the prosecution that Salman had consumed liquor at ‘Rain Bar and Restaurant’ at Vile Parle before ramming his Toyota exus car into a shop at suburban Bandra on September 28, 2002. One person died in he mishap and four others were injured. The prosecution has argued that there were three persons in the car, Salman, his singer friend Kamaal Khan and the actor’s police bodyguard Ravindra Patil, who passed away during the trial in 2007. Relying upon the statement of Patil, the prosecution argued that Salman was driving the car. However, it did not examine Kamaal Khan who has since then gone abroad. On the other hand, Salman’s lawyer Amit Desai has argued that Salman was not driving the car and that it was his family driver Ashok Singh who was behind the wheel.

He said the trial court had erred in not accepting the testimony of Ashok Singh, who deposed as defence witness saying that he was driving the car on the ill fated day and not the actor. While the prosecution argued that Ashok Singh was a `got up’ witness and had come before the court after 13 years, Salman denied the charge and said his driver had appeared at the fag end of the trial because he was a defence witness. The prosecution alleged that Salman drove the vehicle throughout from his Galaxy Apartments residence at Bandra to Rain Bar at Vile Parle and from there to J W Marriot Hotel at Juhu and then to the spot of accident at Bandra. Prosecutors S S Shinde and Purnima Kantharia further argued that at Marriot Hotel, the parking attendant had seen Salman occupying the driver’s seat. In his testimony, the parking attendant said the actor had closed the car’s door after giving him tip.

According to prosecution, witnesses at the accident spot had seen Salman coming out of the driver’s seat. They also said that Salman ran away from the spot after the accident. The prosecution also alleged that the actor was missing from his residence for several hours after the mishap.Later, when Salman was arrested and produced before a doctor at J J Hospital, he smelt of alcohol. At the hospital, his blood samples were collected by doctors and sent to a forensic lab in Mumbai which later confirmed that he had taken alcohol beyond permissible limits, the prosecution submitted.The prosecution also argued that there were no need to examine Kamaal Khan who was travelling with the actor. As per the prosecution, Salman’s car had rammed A-I Bakery-American Laundry because of uncontrollable speed as the actor was under the influence of liquor. It further said that the victim had died because of the impact of the car. Salman’s lawyer had argued that the victim had died because the crane, which was called to tow the vehicle, dropped the car from its hook and the car came crashing down on the victim who was killed because of the impact.

Veteran writer Kona Venkat who has come up with masala film after film that has clicked at the box office for around half a decade is unable to recreate that magic of late. His formula seems dated and the audiences are already fed up of watching the same pattern of comedy in all the films. All the movies that Kona Venkat has associated with have tanked at the box office in the past few months. Bruce Lee triggered the downfall of this ace writer who has failed to weave his magic in Akhil and Tripura. He was confident of bouncing back and shutting the wagging tongues of critics with his Sankarabharanam.

This movie too is receiving lukewarm response from the audience and critics had a field day with Kona Venkat faltering big time. Can Kona Venkat bounce back with Soukhyam and Dictator that are due for release in the next few weeks? Nandamuri Balakrishna fans that have high expectations on Dictator are now worrying about the Kona factor in this film. What if Kona has written the same old screenplay for Dictator too is their biggest worry now.

There is no stopping for 30 years industry Prudhvi. He is here to entertain us with back to back films. While the last week was his solo and standing show inviting ovation as Percentage Parameshwar in ‘Sankarabharanam,’ now this week we are to enjoy him as Future Star Siddhappa in ‘Bengal Tiger’ from director Sampat Nandi. Looks like ‘Bengal Tiger’ poster promotions are following ‘Bahubali’ strategy with each of the character and artist from film revealed each day.

Today is the turn of Siddhappa and Prudhvi is definitely in a promising character. As said by Sampat, ‘this is a lengthy character for Prudhvi sir and he is going to be our major pawn in providing a strong comic quotient.’ From Burning Star Babloo to Future Star Siddhappa, there is also ‘Bahubali’ spoof on the way from Prudhvi. Looks like, 2015 has given us one more talented comedian and it is good Prudhvi is gaining enormous recognition after a long wait of 30 years struck in same industry. He is definitely the Future Star for Telugu comedy.

Mass movies with action backdrops and commercial subjects are rarely clicking at the Box Office these days. Yet, the way ‘Bengal Tiger’ pre release business has made its producer Radha Mohan enter a safe table profit zone signifies the strength in combination of Mass Maharaja Raviteja and mass director Sampath Nandi. After a decent entry with concept based film ‘Yemaindi Ee Vela,’ the transformation of Sampat into a big budget director handling star hero like Raviteja with ‘Rachcha’ can’t be taken as mere luck. It took years time for many directors to enter Mega compound but Sampat’s ground work before reaching Ramcharan and Chiranjeevi has to be recognized.

Why is it, Sampat again trying the luck with same mass genre ‘Bengal Tiger?’ ‘I come from a family with zero cinema back ground and atmosphere. But, from my earlier days I grew watching only mass, action movies with elaborate fights and heavy music. More than off beat or concept oriented subjects; I get easily connected to loud and noisy mass stories. Even during the DTS mixing for my films, I can’t bear the silence or low volumes in story narration. I immediately request my sound engineers to raise the volume and make the mood lively, energetic,’ Sampat explains. That’s a typical psychology applies to Sampat and we hear the same cacophonic sounds in ‘Rachcha’ theme song and now, ‘Bengal Tiger’ theme too.