With each passing year, the craze of Halloween is growing in India and elsewhere. It’s time to throw some light on Halloween. Celebrated on October 31, the Halloween is quite popular in the United States. It’s a family friendly holiday and has become a 7 billion dollar industry only next to Christmas. It’s estimated that an average American spends 75 dollars in costumes, home decor and candy.

So, what exactly Halloween means? And where did it come from? Well, it dates back to thousands of years and connected to several religions, agrarian rituals. Predominantly, Halloween belongs to 2000-yr-old Celtic festival of Samhain (sou-win).

The Celts, who lived in Ireland, the UK and France, believed October 31st as end of the harvest and the death of the year. On this day, they believed the earthly and spiritual worlds connected, created passage to spirits, ghosts to earth.

They believed that ghosts, spirits are kept below ground burdened by the weight of crops on fields that were now barren. Fearing of these ghosts, Celts began wearing spooky masks, disguises to confuse and ward them off. That’s how the tradition of wearing costumes came from.

Over the years, this festival was influenced by other cultures. When Romans conquered the Celts around 49AD, the Samhain Celtic festival merged with two Roman festivals that celebrated death. Thus it took several shapes, forms and finally evolved as it’s today.

In early September, a small-time model cum actress named Arshi Khan who also acted in low budget Telugu film made headlines when she tweeted, “Yes, I had sex with Shahid Afridi. Do I need Indian media’s permission to sleep with someone? It’s my personal life. For me it was love.”

Naturally, Arshi’s shocking tweet created a lot of ripples across India and Pakistan. Upset with Arshi’s revelations, a Pakistani clergy issued a Fatwa against Arshi Khan for portraying Pakistan and Islam in a bad light. Furious, Arshi lambasted the religious leaders who issued the Fatwa. She also expressed her disappointment over no support even from Indians.

In a tweet, Arshi said, “Very disappointed with Pakistan. Not a word of support for me from anyone against d fatwa. Wake up Pakistan @SAfridiOfficial.” Not stopping with this, the actress even posted a video in which she said, “Anybody wants to kill me or throw ink on me. Most welcome – Shiv Sena & Maulanas. Pathan ki beti hoon mein, aur Allah mere saath hein.”

Until a few months ago, there used to be an agreement between Tollywood producers and video rights buyers that the film DVDs should not be released at least within 100 days of the film’s release. However, certain buyers often broke the agreement and released the DVDs well in advance.

Almost a similar understanding was in vogue between the producers and the TV channels who buy the satellite rights of the films. But, with heavy competition among the satellite channels to grab the market leader position and score the highest TRPs, most TV channels have started airing the premieres of the films even within just 50 days of their releases.

The latest film that falls in this list is Ram’s Shivam. The film was released on 2nd October and was declared a huge disaster. However, a popular entertainment channel will telecast Shivam as a Diwali treat, within just 40 days of its theatrical release. There is a reason behind this premature telecast.

Audiences usually skip watching flop films like Shivam in the theaters thinking that the film will anyway be premiered soon on TV. On the other hand, TV channels buy the satellite rights of these films at astronomical rates and they all want to cash in on the little alive craze for these films after they flopped big time.

And if the films premiere is delayed by more than a couple of months, even family audiences forget about those films with new films being aired. Luke they say, strike the iron while it’s hot, the TV channels are following this principle to earn decent revenues before the viewers lose their interest.

The makers of Varun Tej’s Kanche are in talks with a German distributor to dub their film in to German and release the movie there. Since the movie is based on the second world war and it happens in the backdrop of the German occupied territory, dubbing and releasing it in German would fetch a good response.

However the deal is not struck yet and if it is done, it will be quite an achievement for a Telugu film. Kanche is doing decently well even in its second week despite being a different genre film. Kanche is India’s first film in World War-II back drop.

The movie particularly did well in the Overseas. The movie had collected half a million dollars gross in USA alone by the end of its second weekend and is already a break-even venture there. If it manages to become break-even back home too, more such different films will come up in Telugu as well.

Amala Akkineni who started her second innings with Life is Beautiful couple of years, had signed one more film. She will be pairing up with Kamal Hassan in his next directed by TK Rajeev Kumar. Zarina Wahab is one more heroine in the film.

The untitled film will start rolling in America after the release of Cheekati Rajyam. This is the second back to back bilingual film of Kamal after Cheekati Rajyam. Thoonga Vanam is releasing on 10th in Tamil while Cheekati Rajyam will releasing on 20th.

Kamal Hassan himself revealed the details of this new bilingual project in the audio launch event of Cheekati Rajyam in Hyderabad this morning. He also clarified that delaying Cheekati Rajyam is not a problem for him as he is very confident of the movie.

Here’s a strikingly new image makeover of star Tamil comedian Santhanam which had been trending on social media after the actor clicked this selfie and posted it on his Twitter profile. The photograph shows a manly Santhanam looking stylish in a neatly shaped beard and that twirled moustache. Apparently, this new look is for Santhanam’s upcoming horror-comedy film as a lead hero under his friend Rambala’s direction.

With a staggering paycheck of Rs 6-7 lakhs per call sheet, Santhanam is the highest paid comedian down south and he is hugely popular for his rib-tickling comedy in films like Robo, Lingaa, Naan Ee and I etc. Santhanam turned soli hero and gave huge hits with Kanna Laddu Thinna Aasaya, Maryada Ramanna’s Tamil version Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham and Inimey Ippadithan etc.

One of the most prominent crowd pulling factors in Tollywood films is undoubtedly the comedy quotient.  For decades, several noted comedians tickled the funny bones of Tollywood humor lovers and made a lasting impression among their fans. It is no exaggeration that even some so star heroes’ films became huge hits solely because of some comedians.

But for the past couple of years, Tollywood seems to be severely cursed with all the popular and senior comedians passing away suddenly. Most of the departed comedy legends like AVS, Dharmavarapu Subramanyam, Ahuti Prasad succumbed to the deadly cancer disease after a long battle all within one and a half years.

In January this year, Tollywood was shaken with the passing away of star comedian MS Narayana, who died after suffering from malaria which then led to multiple organ failure. In October alone, two popular yesteryear comedian’s, Mada and Kallu Chidambaram passed away after prolonged illness.

Last night, noted comedian Kondavalasa too breathed his last after suffering from a chronic disease. This tragic passing away of comedy stars who had spread many smiles and laughs in hundreds of films has left the Telugu film industry and comedy lovers in tears.

Always known for his strikingly funny speeches and crazy antics, one of the leading educationalists in the Telugu states and TDP MP from Malkajgiri, Mallareddy crossed all the borders of public decency and common sense when he gave a controversial suggestion to his students at an event recently .

Advising the students on their love and marriage, Mallareddy suggested the students not to fall in a trap of candyfloss campus love and advised them against getting married before they turn 25. Mallareddy said that students should wait until 30 years and ‘trap’ well established people for a secure future.

Not stopping here, Mallareddy further said that students should learn from the likes of successful people like Ram Charan who got married Apollo Group Chairman’s granddaughter Upasna, Aishwarya Rai who married the country’s biggest star Amitabh’s son Abhishek and and Sonia Gandhi who married to the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv Gandhi respectively.

The MP’s cheap comments have already become a talking point on social media, with a majority of the people criticizing his loose talks.

Mass Maharaja Raviteja’s 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. The film shooting will start rolling from 25th of this month.

The shooting will go non-stop till completion. Summer release is planned for the movie. 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. Swamy Ra Ra fame Richard Prasad will be cranking the camera.

After a break of 5 long years, former beauty queen and one of the most beautiful actresses in India, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made her Bollywood comeback with a gripping kidnap drama titled Jazbaa. Jazbaa hit the screens worldwide on 9th October and was declared an average venture at the box-office.

Now, Jazbaa will be releasing in Telugu as Advocate Anuradha Varma on 6th November in more than 130 screens. Aishwarya has a huge following even in Telugu and the makers are hoping to cash in on the craze for her comeback film. Couple of days ago, there were reports about how Aish was duped for more than 3 crores of her remuneration when the makers offered her no paycheck but a share in the profits.

Already, the Bachchan family is in neck-deep anger on the film’s director and producer Sanjay Gupta for his cunning deceit. Aish refused to promote the film while Amitabh Bachchan didn’t even attend the film’s premiere. With the film bombing at the box-office, Aish went back home with just the 1 crore signing amount which was given before the film’s launch. Will Aishwarya get the balance remuneration through Telugu version’s rights?

After making a lasting impression on humor lovers through the superhit comedy show Jabardasth on the small screen, rising comedian Shakalaka Shankar graduated to films within no time. Shankar is currently basking in the glory of his latest film Raju Gari Gadhi.

To celebrate this success, Shankar participated in a talk show with overseas audiences. Shankar, a fan of Powerstar Pawan Kalyan, was wished by a Pawan fan from the US saying that he will surely act along with Pawan Kalyan someday soon.

When the anchor asked Shankar about his admiration for Pawan, Shankar touched everyone as he simply said that he will earn a lot of money someday and that he will build a temple for Pawan Kalyan in his village.

Incidentally, Shakalaka Shankar made his debut in Jabardasth with a skit on Pawan Kalyan. It was Shankar’s final skit before quitting Jabardasth and again on Pawan Kalyan that got him a huge acclaim. While Pawan may not encourage a temple for him, let’s wish that he will surely give his ardent fan Shankar an  opportunity to act beside him.

With the mammoth success of Baahubali, Rana is in high demand not just in Tollywood but also in Kollywood and Bollywood. The macho actor is busy with a handful of films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. Now, latest buzz reveals that Rana is in talks for yet another Tamil film which also be made in Telugu.

Apparently, Rana has been approached by Pawan Kalyan’s Panjaa director Vishnuvardhan for a historical film. The film is rumored to have Ajith in the main lead. Reports say that Ajith will be reprising the role of the first King of the Chola dynasty, Raja Taka Chola I.

Already, Vishnuvardhan and his script writer are busy touring several UNESCO world heritage ancient temples like the one in Tanjaore and other towns. AM Ratnam is said to be producing this high budget film. Rana already joined hands with Ajith and Vishnuvardhan in Arrambam, which was a huge hit.