Actor R. Madhavan says it’s a misconception that people with six-pack abs can deliver hit films.

Asked what’s his take on six-pack and eight-pack abs in Bollywood, Madhavan told IANS: “Making six-pack abs for no reason doesn’t make sense. When you are young, it is possible.

“I feel you have to be fit and look attractive. People have this misconception that people with six-pack abs can deliver hits, but that’s not the case. Had I built six-pack abs for ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’, I wouldn’t have been able to justify myself.”

Talking about the film, he said: “It was very difficult for me to justify the role in the film. I also know there is a lot of expectations from this film. But considering the fact that Anand L. Rai is the director, no actor can act bad in his film. He will see to it that actors give their 100 percent.”

“Tanu Weds Manu Returns”, a sequel to “Tanu Weds Manu”, also features Kangana Ranaut.

Director turned Choreographer Raghava Lawrence is currently on a high with the grand success of his latest release Ganga [Telugu] or Kanchana II [Tamil]. He is busy in figuring out his next project that might have a big hero in the lead. On the other hand, Lawrence is busy with a temple construction too.

The renowned dance director is planning to build a temple for his loving mother Kanmani from a long time and his wish is being fulfilled now. Srimathi Kanmani will be laying the foundation stone for her own temple tomorrow on the eve of Mother’s Day at Ambattur town in Tamil Nadu. Raghava has already built a huge temple for his favorite god Raghavendra Swami in Ambattur and this new shrine will be constructed besides the old one.

With this, Lawrence might get into the records for being the first person to construct a temple for a living mother. When asked about the same, Lawrence has termed it as a token of his endless love for his mother. “I always wanted to build a temple for my mother while she’s is alive. My mother is the reason behind my existence and I want to dedicate this temple to all the self-sacrificing mothers in this world,” said Lawrence.

Forget about producers, but what if a film turns dud at box office because of bad promotions though the lead hero giving a stellar performance? Surely that hero is going to get bad name as the flick gets registered as flop. That’s what happening with Siddharth right now.

Recently Siddhu scored a brownie with Tamil remake of Kannada hit “Lucie”. Titled “Enakkul Oruvan” the film performed decently at box office while critics and audiences showered praises on our hero’s acting prowess. This film is now dubbed into Telugu and got released the other day as “Naalo Okadu” the other day. Well, how many have seen it? Sorry, how many know that the film got released? Many B centre theatres reported that the number of ticket sold per each show are below 20- yes it is twenty.

Critics do say that if Siddharth has prompted the flick like anything rather than a single press meet, surely there would have been openings. Profit and Loss account goes to producers, but flop falls in hero’s account. Is it not the way trade mechanism works? Looking at the collections of this movie, we have to say, Siddu killed it.

Pretty excited by the result her “Dongata” has fetched at box office, producer-director Lakshmi Manchu says that she is feeling the true power of happiness now. Sharing her thoughts in a  TV channel’s live show, she credited her director Vamsi Krishna for the success of this film, and also her team of writers.

“While reading the scenes during script stages, I can’t get through them because I can’t control my laughs. I didn’t expected Dongata to become such a big hit, but the response from various quarters proved that it’s going to be biggest”, said Lakshmi. She informed that her dad’s fans from all areas called her to congratulate. Also distributors have expressed their happiness that they will be able to safely recover investment and amass profits, she says.

Probably the post-release promotions need to pepped up for “Dongata” such that the graph goes up. Being holiday season, an ‘average’ mouth-talk is enough to make any small film a big hit. Give some time, numbers will talk for Lakshmi.

Puri Jagannadh is once again ready with his latest film, Jyothi Lakshmi. Starring Charmme in the main lead, the film deals with the hardships faced by a young girl who dreams of becoming a film star. The film’s first look poster has been launched yesterday and Charmme’s mass avatar has become a talk of the town.

Speaking to the media, Jagan said that Jyothi Lakshmi’s main plot has been inspired from famous Telugu novel Mrs. Parankusam written by erstwhile legendary writer Malladi Venkata Krishnamurthy. Interestingly, this is the second straight film in which Jagan has not penned his own story after his previous film Temper in which Jagan roped in star writer Vakkantham Vamsi to pen the story.

Even though Jagan dabbled with the screenplay department for Temper, the main writing credit was given to Vamsi. Not stopping here, Jagan has once again teamed up with yet another popular writer BVS Ravi for the much discussed Megastar’s 150th film, making it a hat-trick film in which the story is not written by him.

This paved way for an interesting talk about Puri Jagannadh being happy with losing the extra responsibilities of writing the story and screenplay by himself. This can set the director free from the burden of scripting and he can freely concentrate on directing. Let’s hope that this new strategy work out for Puri Jagannadh in his upcoming films.

Nara Rohit is on a signing spree of late. After proving his mettle as an action hero in Rowdy Fellow, Rohit has signed another action film on the dotted line. Titled as Appatlo Okadundevadu, the movie is set against in the period of 1992-1996. Billed to be an action entertainer, the film is weaved based on the real-life incidents in the lives of two youths and made to appeal to the present audiences.

Director Sagar K. Chandra, of Ayyare fame, will be wielding the megaphone. Given that Sagar did justice to Ayyare, which was also based on a real-life incident, Rohit believed in Sagar and given his go ahead. Sri Vishnu will be seen as another lead actor alongside Rohit in the film. Young producers Sunny Raju and Hari are jointly producing the film under Vasishth Movies banner. Rohit will join the shooting of the film in the first week of June.

Meanwhile, Nara Rohit’s three films are awaiting release. His upcoming films include Asura, Pandagala Vachadu and Sankara.