Young Tiger NTR’s Nannaku Prematho is shooting at a brisk pace in Hyderabad. The Spain schedule of the movie is getting delayed repeatedly and that is causing worry in fans if the movie releases for Sankranthi. However they have perfect planning to complete the movie in time.

Hyderabad schedule of the movie will be completed by 22nd of this month. Spain schedule will begin from 24th and will go on till December 10th. The final item song in the film will be completed in Hyderabad. The entire shoot will be completed latest by December third week.

Nannaku Prematho is all ready for Sankranthi the next year release. Rakul Preet Singh is romancing NTR for the first time in this film directed by Sukumar. Rajendra Prasad and Jagapathi Babu are playing important role in the movie directed by Sukumar.

Mass Maharaja Raviteja is bogged down by the failure of his recent film, Kick-2, he is gearing up to begin the regular shooting of his next, Yevado Okadu from 25th of this month. The makers are planning to shoot the film continuously until it is complete.

The makers are planning to release the movie in Summer-2016. Yevado Okadu will have Shyam playing the main villain. Shyam and Raviteja’s combination is a big hit back then in Kick and now this new combination will excite the audience.

Premam fame Anupama Parameshwaran is signed opposite Raviteja in this film. There is one more heroine in the film who is to be confirmed. Devi Sri Prasad will be composing music for Raviteja after several years. Dil Raju will be producing the movie under his Sri Venkateswara Creations banner.

Mega Prince Varun Tej’s latest film under the direction of Puri Jagannadh is officially confirmed as Loafer. Even though they hinted about a change in the film title, they struck to Loafer finally. They have released four posters of the film as First Look.

These four posters reveal all the ingredients in the film – mass, romance and sentiment. This may be to avoid being misled by a mass title like Loafer.

Latest update is that the makers are thinking on the lines of releasing the movie in Sankranthi season. Posani Krishna Murali and Revathi are playing the parents of Varun Tej in the film. The actor will be seen as a robber who reforms later.

Ankita, who made her Tollywood debut with the film Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo, directed by Y.V.S. Chaudhary, is all set to tie the knot. Ankita, who had shot to fame as the Rasna girl of the 1980s, will marry NRI Vishal, a vice-president of J.P. Morgan in New Jersey.

Since her big screen debut, Ankita has acted in nearly 20 Telugu films with the biggest one being Simhadri, opposite Jr NTR. The song Cheema Cheema from the film had become very popular at that time.The actress is currently settled in the US, where she has undertaken a course in direction at Universal Studios and has also worked as an assistant to a few Hollywood directors.

The groom, Vishal, was selected through a Swayamvaram on a reality television show in the US. The engagement took place in Mumbai on Friday evening.

Among the ‘accha telugu’ heroines in Tollywood, Colors Swathi ranks the best and is highly talented but lady luck seems to be not in her favour. Her latest film is not helping much.She had put on all her hopes on Tripura in which she played the title role but the reviews and the word-of-mouth is not encouraging for her. One good solace is the movie could garner good openings on Day 1.

Since this is the season of horror-comedies, and the trailer generated interest, the film got pretty decent openings but would it sustain the momentum is doubtful, say analysts. Hence her hopes of scoring a big hit with this heroine-centric movie dashed off.

Although she has won good fan following and couple of hits to her credit, she is struggling to reach the top league of actresses. Unfortunately, Tripura too is not furthering her dreams.

Debutant Akhil, the third generation actor from the prestigious Akkineni clan, is all set to make a big splash with his forthcoming Telugu film “Akhil”. He’s playing it safe with an out-and-out commercial debut as he feels it’s not yet time to take bigger risks.”It’s important that people accept me first, like the way they’ve accepted others in my family. In Telugu filmdom, audiences like to see their hero dance, fight and play a larger-than-life character. It’s precisely why most of our commercial films do extremely well and get remade too,” Akhil told IANS in an exclusive interview. “I want to give fans what’s expected of me and once I’ve made my mark, I can experiment and do the kind of films I’d like to do,” he said. Akhil is confident about testing himself as an actor but not immediately.

“I’m playing it safe because I’m not yet ready to take risks, or work with a new director and guide him through a project. I need to gain experience before I could even think of doing anything like that,” he said, adding that “Akhil” as a project has a lot of soul. “It’s been made on a very large canvas by director V.V. Vinayak, who’s known for giving audiences what they exactly expect from a star,” he said. The film releases worldwide on November 11 and Akhil admits he’s nervous. “I’m nervous because of high expectations. No matter how much buzz you create for a film, it’s the content that finally gets judged,” he said.

Thanks to the star family status, Akhil’s entry has been smooth but there’s constant pressure to perform better. “As I represent the next generation of the Akkineni clan, I’m expected to do much more. It’s the only fear that makes me realize how hard I have to work to survive,” he said. Contrary to the usual perception, Akhil says even as a star scion one has to prove on their own. “The star family status can easily get you opportunities, but the offers dry up after a point when you don’t prove yourself. If people don’t accept you, it really doesn’t matter where you come from,” he said.

“Audiences are brutally honest nowadays. If they don’t like an actor, they have all the right to write him off. Irrespective of my father’s support, if people don’t like me there’s nothing my family status can do about it. It boils down to this – if I don’t perform, I’m not going to make it,” he added. Unlike his contemporaries, Akhil has been prepping himself to be an actor for a while now. “Acting was always on my mind and once I reached a certain age, I knew I was going to act soon, so I decided to work on my skills. When you come from a star family in the south, you’re expected to be really good in dance and fights. It’s really important that you open up as an actor in front of the camera,” he said. He’s been training since he was 15. “I learnt martial arts in Thailand; acting from Los Angeles and spent the last four to five years of my life training rigorously. As southern stars, the benchmark is to be able to do everything to entertain the masses and I realized this very early, which helped in preparing myself accordingly,” said the 21-year old.

Akhil, son of Telugu star Nagarjuna and brother of Naga Chaitanya, deeply misses his late legendary actor-grandfather Nageswara Rao, but is grateful for the legacy he’s left behind. “I was so lucky to share the screen with him in ‘Manam’. It’d be selfish on my part to wish that he was still around. He had a great life and left us one too,” he said.

Just like our MAA elections, there was lots of high-voltage drama and loads of melodrama like in movies during the recent Nadigar association elections in Tamil Nadu.While one panel was headed by Sarath Kumar, another panel was being headed by Vishal Reddy. And just like our actors, during elections, their Tamil counterparts too exchanged lot of words and had heated arguments.

In fact, Vishal’s panel was criticised vehemently by Sarath Kumar, Radhika, Simbu among others. They even went to the extent of lashing out at Kamal Haasan who supported Vishal. But now elections are over and Vishal’s panel has won the elections. In the past, Vishal and Radhika worked together in Vishal’s productions and they share a good rapport.

But during elections, they were in true sense of the term, two rival groups out to get each other’s neck. Then, elections happened and Sarath Kumar lost out and most of his panel members also lost. And days after elections, things are back to normal. Actors are back to working together and there are barely any signs of politics. In fact, Radha Ravi who happens to be Radhika’s brother and who was against Vishal, is now acting with Vishal. This has sent out a strong indication that elections are elections and work is work. Well, while they have patched up, wonder how others who had some nasty things to say about each other will sort out their differences.

Producer Allu Aravind, Chiranjeevi’s brother-in-law who is also the man behind the megastar’s success, is a smooth operator. He exactly knows what works in the industry. For example, Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy was supposed to be made by another producer but Aravind got the project at the last minute. “Maruthi had narrated the story to producer Danayya first and it was almost confirmed. Meanwhile, Maruthi had also casually told the story to a person from Aravind’s camp. He smelt a hit and told Aravind that it was a good subject. Finally, Aravind grabbed the project,” says a source.

Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy was made with a budget of under Rs 10 crore and it collected nearly Rs 30 crore. Aravind has now seen another opportunity. At the promotions of Bruce Lee, Ram Charan had announced that his next film would be a remake of Thani Oruvan to be produced by Danayya, who was also the producer of Bruce Lee.

We now hear that this project too is going to Aravind. “The film is a remake and will not take years to complete. Because the subject is ready, only the dialogues and the script have to be written in Telugu. When a big film is completed in four months, you start with a `10 crore profit as there’s no need to pay interests,” adds the source.With Arvind pulling the strings, Charan reportedly told Danayya to make another film with him after this. Meanwhile, Allu Aravind is making another big-budget film with his son Allu Arjun titled Sarainodu, directed by Boyapati Srinu.

Early this week, Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti joined 23 other luminaries in the continuing protests against the alleged atmosphere of intolerance in the country. Cinematographer and scriptwriter Yakkanti is the winner of a Special Jury prize (for the short film, Ek Aakash) and he insists the latest “award waapsi” action is not politically motivated at all. And oh, he’s a former student of the protest-hit Film and Television Institute of India.

“We are keen on resolving the FTII issue because ever since the issue has come up the government has not taken any stand. So we are a couple of members from the film industry, who belong to FTII, and who are hoping the government takes a positive stand,” Yakkanti said in an email interview to Deccan Chronicle. FTII students have been protesting the appointment of television actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman. Yakkanti adds there is no individual leading this group of 24 — including veteran filmmakers Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah and writer Arundhati Roy — who lodged their official protests at a press conference on Thursday.

“It’s just that we are using our freedom to speech and expression. No solution has been found for the FTII problem. The students themselves have tried discussions with the government — but these meets have not been fruitful. “The smooth running of the institute is what we care about. We are part of the film fraternity and it’s just a fight against the prevailing injustice — it’s not that we are dishonouring anyone by returning our Award. This Award is important for each one of us.”

Yakkanti was born in Guntur, in AP. “I’m living with my family in Mumbai now. Having passed out from FTII, after I directed Ek Aakash, there has been no looking back for me. I was the cinematographer for the Telugu film, Madhumasam. I have been the cinematographer for a couple of Hindi and Marathi films as well and I’m also doing a Marathi film currently. “But I keep going to Pune for shoots and have met the students at FTII. All I hope is that our action prompts a permanent solution.”

Star comedian Ali is never worried or stepped back in making nasty and unhealthy comments against heroines. Not just on TV reAlity shows or comedy shows, even at cinema functions stages before the presence of celebrities and dignified guests, Ali continues with his smooth flow of cutting filthy jokes exploiting on heroines sexiness. We can still remind those remarks made by Ali on Hamsa Nandini or Rashi Khanna or Samanta or recently on Anushka during ‘Size Zero’ audio launch.

Well, reactions from respective victim celebrities may not be important here because social media slammed him left and right. Without learning the lessons from harsh comments posted on Facebook and Twitter against Ali, the popular comedian says that everyone is misinterpreting his comedy. ‘I do pass such remarks only to generate laughs but not to hurt anyone,’ Ali justifies his action.

Thank gods because Ali’s wife is also supporting him. However, Ali promises to tone down his comments in future and we hope, this would be the full stop for controversies surrounding him in recent times.

As we reported in the past, Mahesh Babu’s next movie is turning out to be one of the costliest movies in South India. The final budget for the movie has been locked.Director A R Murugadoss who has narrated a script to Mahesh four months ago has given the final budget to the producers which is said to be at Rs 110 Cr.

A staggering amount indeed for a Mahesh Babu movie as no film of his was made with such amount in the past. The costliest movie he did was 1 Nenokkadine which was made with Rs 60 Cr.

Murugadoss is confident of its recovery as he is making it in Telugu and Tamil and Hindi (dubbed version). Alia Bhatt is being considered as heroine opposite Mahesh Babu in the movie which will be produced by Mega Supergoodfilms and Tagore Madhu.

No title has been chosen as yet but the regular shooting schedules have already been planned. The movie is expected to begin from April 2nd week in Hyderabad.

Yester-generation’s glamorous diva Sreedevi made a strong come back to South Indian films with villainess character in recently released Tamil film ‘Puli.’ This socio fantasy project directed by Chimbu Devan and starred by Vijay was compared on par with SS Rajamouli magnum opus ‘Bahubali.’ Drowned away by tremendous hype, dubbing versions of ‘Puli’ were also sold in different states at unbelievable prices.

However, producers PT Selva Kumar and Simbu Thameens have burnt their hands with heavy losses incurred as ‘Puli’ opened to very weak reviews and disastrous mouth talk thus killing the movie in no time. If we remember, ‘Puli’ was also fixated in Income Tax Raids which postponed the release by at least five to eight shows late.

Latest buzz says that, Sreedevi approached Mumbai Producers Council filing a case against ‘Puli’ producers for not paying her remaining remuneration balance of nearly Rs. 50 Lakhs. After repeated attempts to meet the producers, Sreedevi could not. So, she finally took help of big heads in Mumbai to build the pressure and we also learnt that the case has been moved to Nadigar Sangham. All in all, Sreedevi appears to have lost 50 Lakhs for acting in ‘Puli’ and profited at least Rs.3.5 Crores because 4 Crores is the actual fee demanded by her.

Looks like Akkinenis camp is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure the biggest hit of the debut film of ‘Akhil’s ‘Akhil’ In this process, they strongly believe in sentiments and muhurthams of the release of ‘Akhil’.

As per the schedule, ‘Akhil’ was supposed to be released on the day of Diwali on November 11. But this is not a good day as per Hindus almonac. Since November 6 was said to be an auspicious day for the release of the film, a special screening of the film on Friday was held secretly for few selected people who include director VV Vinayak, producer Sudhakar Reddy, Nikhitha Reddy, Amala Akkineni, Kona Venkat, Naga Suseela and a few others.

On the request of the makers, Naga Susheela bought the ticket for Rs.1000. The makers showed exactly two reels of the movie and the screening was started exactly at 10:45 am. Meanwhile, the movie will be releasing across the globe on November 11 in record number of screens. Sayesha Saigal has paired up with Akhil in this VV Vinayak’s directorial venture.