TeLuGu HaNgOuT

Popular hit films like ‘Dollar Dreams’, ‘Anand’, ‘Godavari’ and ‘Happy Days’ reminds of filmmaker Shekhar Kammula famous for his feel good entertainers.

Prestigious production house AVM Productions is making Shekhar Kammula’s next that debuts Rana, grandson of notable producer D. Rama Naidu in the male lead.

Touted to be made on an offbeat subject, the film shooting is under progress since sometime now but ‘Ssshh’ as it’s not been publicized so far. Scenes featuring the lead cast Rana and Rukmini in being canned in this schedule which is being done at Film Nagar

The shooting schedules of ‘Kalavaramaye Madilo’ starring Kamal Kamaraju of ‘Avakai Biryani’ fame and Swathi of ‘Ashta Chamma’ fame in the lead cast is nearing completion. Director of ‘Hope’, Satish has made the film produced by Mohan Vadlapatla on Mohan Media Creations banner.

For now, the crew is busy filming the last thirty percent of the schedules which will end on 2nd of April. The makers are planning to release the film on May 15th once the post production work gets over.

Notable artist of Marathi theatre association and Hindi films, Vikram Gokhale plays a prominent role in this film. With a famed lead cast, the story is a youthful subject with music as a major attraction.

Svelte actress Shriya Saran started off her career in Bollywood but came to limelight in the Telugu film industry. Ramoji Rao’s production ‘Ishtam’ on Usha Kiran Movies was Shriya’s maiden venture in Tollywood and she became one of the popular heroines sharing screen space with megastars of the industry.

Her career graph sore to unimaginable heights, thanks to Rajinikanth’s ‘Shivaji’, she became a well known actress all over the country. As good luck would have it, she re-entered Bollywood and also did roles in Hollywood movies. In 2008, Shriya didn’t had a release in the South and this year ‘Mallanna’ starring Vikram will be her comeback wagon into Telugu and Tamil, the same time.

Shriya’s attention is now back to where she started (Telugu cinema) and wishes to get character roles in good scripts so that she could regain her fame. Let’s hope the damsel’s wish come true.

Meher Ramesh’s ‘Billa’ starring Prabhas, Anushka and Namitha in the cast will hit screens on March 20th.

Meher Ramesh’s earlier hit ‘Kanthri’ bought him fame and ‘Billa’ will be his upcoming stylish, action flick. Senior star Krishnam Raju will be seen in a meaty role of a police officer. The crew camped in Malaysia to film spectacular stunt scenes and talkie portions. Meher has also beckoned glamour girl Hansika for a song in the film.

‘Billa’ is a remake of the Tamil film and the script is being made on global standards to Hollywood films. Excluding three songs, the shooting is complete and the release date is expected to be as planned

AVM Production’s ‘Veedokkade’ starring Surya and Tamanna in the lead cast, is directed by cinematographer-director KV Anand which is a bilingual film made in Telugu and Tamil (titled ‘Ayan’). The film will be the 174th production venture of AVM banner by producers M. Saravanan, MS Guhan, Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan.

Both the lead stars Surya and Tamanna are acclaimed artists in Telugu and Tamil. This action packed romantic entertainer is the first time this pair shares screen space under the direction of KV Anand, director of cinematography of Rajinikanth’s ‘Shivaji’.

The crew went aboard to Africa and shot some of the songs including a song ‘Nene Nene’ with lyrics composed by Bhuvana Chandra and tunes by Harris Jayaraj. It was canned with Surya and Tamanna choreographed by Dinesh.

For spectacular visualization, stunt scenes were shot in a small island called Zanzibar in Tanzania under the supervision of stunt director Kanal Kannan. After Surya’s ‘Surya S/O Krishna’ and Tamanna’s ‘Konchem Ishtam Konchem Ishtam’, film goers is in for a treat as they will get to see their favorite stars together on screen.

Srikanth is now acting in his 100th film ‘Mahatma’ which began during the mid of February. Unique director Krishna Vamsi is making the film after ‘Sasirekha Parinayam’ starring Tarun and Genelia.

‘Mahatma’ is being produced on Golden Lion Productions banner and the actor who had rendered more than forty 100 day hits is keen to make this film a blockbuster. Under the direction of art director Srinivas Raju, grand extravagant sets are being erected at Ramoji Film Citry. Once the crew is through with the talkie scenes, they will move to these sets to continue regular shooting.

In the film’s script, the set plays a prominent part and it will be occupied for a month’s time to complete the planned portions.

The hit film ‘Allari’ was Ravi Babu’s maiden venture that bought wide fame for Naresh. He followed with hits like ‘Ammayilu Abbailu’, ‘Anasuya’ and the latest being ‘Nachchavule’ starring a debutant lead cast.

The film with its distinct style of promos garnered the attention of the crowd and became a hit at the box office. He is now set to director two films which are uniquely titled as ‘Amaravathi’ and ‘Agent Gopi’. Script for both these flicks is ready and the production work will commence shortly.

Ravi Babu is known for his clean entertainers and with two films in the line we can expect him to enthrall us once again with his style of direction.

Maker of big time hits like ‘Bala Ramayanam’, ‘Sogasu Chuda Tharama’, ‘Manoharam’, ‘Okkadu’ and ‘Arjun’, Guna Sekhar is now set to start his upcoming venture starring Allu Arjun in the lead cast.

Allu Arjun has a considerable number of hits under his belt including ‘Desamuduru’, ‘Happy’, ‘Arya’ and ‘Parugu’ with a famous title as style star. With both of them coming together, the movie should have a tight script to justify the amalgamation.

DVV Danayya produces the film on Universal Media banner. Sources have revealed that the film will start shooting from March 21st.

The annual award presented for outstanding performance in different categories of cinema, Vamsee International Film Awards will be held this year on 15th March in Vishakapatnam.

Similar to the popular Filmfare awards, this prestigious award is equally lauded in the film industry. Prince Mahesh Babu is the hat-trick star this time by winning the Best Actor award for three consecutive years, for ‘Athadu’ (2005), ‘Pokiri’ (2006) and ‘Athidi’ (2007). Apart from these, all these three films have been adjudged as the Best Films. The Best Director awards will also be presented to Trivikram Srinivas, Puri Jagannath and Surender Reddy for these films.

Actress Bhumika has been awarded the Best Actress for the films ‘Jai Chiranjeeva’ (2005), ‘Anasuya’ (2006) and ‘Sathyabhama’(2007).

Banner:	Sivani Sivathmika Movies
Cast:	Rajasekhar, Sanjana and others
Direction:	Jeevitha Rajasekhar
Production:	Sivani Sivathmika
Music:	S Chinna

olice stories have been fascinating Telugu audience since a long time. For Dr. Rajasekhar, ‘Ankusham’ was a milestone in his career which paved for many more films with a similar theme in the industry. In the line of films like 'Evadaithe Nakenti', 'Gorintaku', ‘Sathyameva Jayathe’ is the latest addition in Rajasekhar’s police films list.

Directed by Jeevitha Rajasekhar and produced on Sivani Sivathmika Movies banner, 'Sathyameva Jayathe' is all about the power and selfless thinking of a sincere police officer who wipes out the lawlessness in civil establishment. Here goes a concise review on the pros and cons of the film.

Story

An orphan boy from a compassionate orphanage grows with good deeds into a respectable and sincere police officer Satya DCP (Rajasekhar). Known for his merciless encounters in the department, he stands as proof for wiping out criminals and establishing peace in the society. Happily married to his love Sanjana, Satya continues his duty until he concurs against the assassination aimed at Chief Minister (M. Satyanarayana Rao) by a group of militants led by Ran Dev (Milind Soman).

He rescues the Chief Minister and sends Ran behind bars. In turn, Ran’s men murder Satya’s pregnant wife and his relatives. The enraged terrorists also execute a blast in the premises as a vengeance act to hide their bad ordeals. Terming Dr. Irfan Ansari (Athul Kulkarni) as the man behind the attack, he gets shifted to Vizag Jail. CM calls for Satya and entrusts him with the job to bring in Irfan from Vizag and produce him in the court.

Accompanied by Prathap (Shivaji), Pandu (Sai Kiran), Basara Papa (Neethu Chandra), Satthi (Sivareddy), Satya begins his mission to nab the real culprits. While bringing in the framed criminal Dr. Irfan, police commissioner (Ahuti Prasad) in association with Home Minister (Shayaji Shinder), the think tank people behind the terrorist Ran make plans to execute Satya and Irfran at one go.

How Satya breaks the plans and remove the masked illegal people behind the plot forms the crux.

Performance of Cast

Rajasekhar's performance eventhough clichéd it good as it was in his earlier super hits 'Ankusham', 'Agraham' and 'Magadu'. As his role in family dramas and romantic plots didn’t work out, he has reverted back to what he does best. He fits perfectly into the role of an honest police officer fighting for justice. However, if some changes were made in the story and characterization it would have been a better watch.

Neethu Chandra who performed neatly in 'Godavari' as a native Telugu girl, is limited here as a glamour girl just as a glam prop. Even the dialogues designed for her character are not up to the mark with an average scope.

This is the second film for Sanjana after 'Bujjigadu'. She appears for a very short time on screen and doesn’t have enough space to perform.

Sheril Pinto who had come from Tamil to Telugu industry is in a similar position although she goes a step ahead of Neethu Chandra in her riveting costumes. Both Neethu and Sheril are in tough contention to put up a skin show but not for acting at any cost.

The real life congress leader M.Satyanarayana Rao performed naturally well as the Chief Minister. SivaReddy's dubbing did not synchronize at certain instances. Milind Soman as RanDev, Athul kulkarni as Ansari, Sayaji Shinde as Home Minister AnandaRao, Brahmanandam as Thyagaraju and Ali's performance are plus points for the film.

Shivaji, Saikiran, SivaReddy, Ahuthi Prasad have done their portions well with in the scope of their roles.

Work of the Crew

The re-recording and music composed by Chinna is neither outstanding nor bad. Songs are placed at wrong instances with some average tunes. Mani Vasagan's cinematography lacks quality and presentation. Rajasekhar has done a good screenplay which carries the script forward. Nandamuri Hari's editing is neat and doesn’t lag much. Writer Mohan has rendered most of the dialogues which conveys double meanings and makes us feel uneasy. Horseman Babu's work is one of the important additions, who have lent his part by blasting some of the cars and choreographing some good fight scenes.

Director’s Portrayal

Jeevitha Rajasekhar cannot bargain complete credit for making ‘Satyameva Jayathe’ as it is bits and pieces of her but the story was borrowed from the Bollywood ‘Khakee’ starring Amitabh Bachchan. She did a good work in her directorial venture ‘Seshu’, a remake of Bala’s ‘Sethu’ with Vikram. This time around she has altered the scenes and script a bit to suit Telugu nativity. Rajasekhar in his screenplay and Jeevitha in direction have targeted the movie towards the mass crowd without divulging to satisfy the family audience. On the whole, her work is fine and directorial part of the film is good if not excellent.

Criticism

‘Satyameva Jayathe’ is a comeback for Rajasekhar’s clichéd style of efficient and honest policemen. Family drama is not his piece of cake, so as a safe bet he came back to his role of an angry young man. But, still he didn’t have a complete makeover. At certain instance, he tried to pull in romantic and sentimental emotions which pass off meagerly. Film goers with an expectation of Rajasekhar’s old angry man style will feel rejected; so will be the family crowd too. In an attempt to appease both the mass and class crowd, Jeevitha made ‘Satyameva Jayathe’ as a mass commercial action entertainer which might turn as an average grosser at the box office.

Verdict: A balancing act to appease everyone which succeeds partially

Released on: 13th February

‘Mallanna’, the high profile project starring Vikram and Shreya is directed by Susi Ganesan. Kalapuli S. Thanu is producing the film which is being simultaneously made in Tamil titled ‘Kanthasamy’.

The movie has a lot to offer for the crowd with the star appearing in 12 different get-ups and Shreya for the glamour quotient. News in the recent past stated that Vikram has sung four of the songs for the Tamil version ‘Kanthaswamy’ and we were not sure whether he would reiterate the same for Telugu.

Inside sources have confirmed that he will sing the songs for ‘Mallana’ and also dub for the movie in Telugu.

On Tuesday, some of the songs were recorded and later speaking to the press, Vikram said, “It was a wonderful experience working with music director Devi Sri Prasad. Lyricist Sahithi and the composer encouraged my efforts. Sharing screen space with popular star Krishna was a memorable experience and I am happy to have rendered by voice for both the languages.”

Devi heaped laurels on the actor and complimented that he will make a good singer in the future. Based on a fantasy plot, ‘Mallana’ will get released this summer along with Tamil, Italian and Spanish versions.

The new version of ‘Maro Charitra’ starring Varun Sandesh and Anita in the lead was launched on 19th February at producer ‘Dil’ Raju’s office premises. Presented by Sri Venkateswara Creations Pvt Ltd, ‘Dil’ Raju produces the film on Matinee Entertainments banner. The film will be directed by debutant Ravi Yadav, an erstwhile cinematographer in Bollywood.

K. Balachander made ‘Maro Charitra’ in 1979 starring Kamal Haasan and Saritha in the lead cast. The romantic love story had a massive impact on the audience of those times and was later remade in Hindi titled ‘Ek Duje Keliye’.

The newer version will be made simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil. First schedule of the shooting will be carried out in the U.S. while the second will be done at Hyderabad and Vizag. Mickey J Mayer of ‘Kotha Bangaru Lokam’ is once again composing music for Varun Sandesh’s movie. He has completed four of the proposed six songs for the film. The super hit tracks of yesteryear ‘Maro Charitra’, composed by MS Viswanathan for the lyrics penned by Athreya still lingers in the mind of the audiences and it’s a challenging task for the new composer to do justice for the tunes.

Other important cast includes Yami Gautam, Pratap Pothen, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Oorvashi, Naresh, Thalaivasal Vijay, Sandhya Janak, Adarsh.

Priyamani’s bikini act in the forthcoming Nithin’s ‘Drona’ is the hottest topic in tinsel town. The heroine debuted to Tollywood with ‘Evare Athadu’ sharing screen space with Vallabhaneni, son of KS Rama Rao, directed by Bhanu Shankar.

The Tamil girl had a bad opening with the dud and again made a comeback with Madan’s ‘Pellaina Kothalo’ starring Jagapathi Babu. The movie gave her a big break in Telugu cinema followed by the super hit ‘Yamadonga’ (NTR) directed by SS Rajamouli.

‘Drona’ is the latest which will hit screens tomorrow on 20th February. Nithin is near starvation for a hit and is troubled by his previous duds. Even though, the movie has a good script, screenplay and action stunts, the film makers seem to be betting high on the glamour part. Riveting stills of Priyamani’s rain dance was a trail for her main bikini act in the movie.

Will Priyamani’s bikini drive Nithin towards the road to ‘El Dorado’? Just wait for a day and watch out for the review on ‘Drona’ to see if Priyamani saved Nithin!

Balakrishna’s ongoing film has been titled ‘Mitrudu’ which the makers say is the best one that suits the script. Priyamani plays heroine in this film directed by Mahadev, a previous associate of SS Rajamouli.

Sivalenka Krishna Prasad of 'Adithya 369' and 'Vamshanikokkadu' produces the film on Vaishnavi Cinema banner. The shooting of the film is near completion with the songs to be canned in abroad locations. Priyamani has done her fair share of glamour to enrich the hype quotient. Balakrishna resumed the film’s shooting after completing the TDP works and the crew is working in a rapid pace to complete it in time.

The movie is slated for an April release.