Gautham Karthik gets emotional

 Tamil actor Gautham Karthik, who will be seen in Mani Ratnam's romantic-drama "Kadal", is happy that viewers have accepted him and sends them a heartfelt thanks.

"You all are so kind to have accepted me. I don't think I can begin to express how happy I feel. Thank you all for making this special," tweeted Gautham, son of Tamil actor Karthik.

Gautham is paired opposite Thulasi Nair, another debutant and daughter of Tamil actress Radha, in the film, which is written, directed and produced by Ratnam.

"Kadal", set against the lives of Christian fishermen, is coming out Feb 1. It also features Arvind Swamy, Arjun, Lakshmi Manchu and Thambi Ramaiah in important roles.

A.R. Rahman has composed the music for the film, which has cinematography by Rajiv Menon and editing by Sreekar Prasad.

The cast and crew are currently in Kerala giving finishing touches to the film.

"Off to Kerala for 'Kadal' patch work! Yay I get to shoot for 'Kadal' again," tweeted Thulasi.

Vijay's new Tamil film titled 'Thalaiva'

Tamil actor Vijay's upcoming romantic-thriller finally has a title. It is called "Thalaiva" and its tag line reads - "Time to Lead".

"Vijay's new Tamil film has been titled 'Thalaiva'. Director A.L Vijay, Vijay and the producer have unanimously zeroed in on the title," said a statement from the production house.

The first leg of shooting was completed recently. The second schedule will start March onwards in Spain.

"The cast and crew will travel to Spain after 50 days non-stop shoot in Mumbai, where two songs and three fight sequences have already been filmed," added the statement.

Amala Paul is paired opposite Vijay in the film, which went on floors in December 2012. It also stars Sathyaraj, Santhanam, Suresh, Mano Bala and Abhimanyu in important roles.

The title song "Thalaivaa Thalaivaa" was recently shot in Mumbai in the presence of 500 junior artists.

Chandra Prakash Jain has produced the film, which is likely to hit theatres in May. It has music by G.V Prakash Kumar, cinematography Nirav Shah and editing by Anthony.

Madhan Karky is all praises for A.R. Rahman

Tamil lyricist Madhan Karky credits Oscar-winning music composer A.R. Rahman for his love for music.

"I fell in love with music because of Rahman's compositions that I've been hearing over the years. He is the kind of composer who supersedes his own work with every new soundtrack. Penning songs for him is always a delightful experience," Karky told reporters here.

He was speaking at the promotional event of "Kadal", written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. Rahman has composed the music for the film.

Madhan, who has written two songs in "Kadal", said that the best part about working with Ratnam is "I was given the freedom by Mani sir to be creative with my lyrics".

Talking about one of the songs he penned, Karky said: "I'm very happy that 'Elay Keechaan' is a runaway hit. The song brings forth the celebration of fishermen after a big catch".

Coming out Feb 1, "Kadal" stars newcomers Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nair in the lead. Other cast members include Arvind Swamy, Arjun, Lakshmi Manchu and Thambi Ramaiah. The film's cinematography is by Rajiv Menon and editing by Sreekar Prasad.

Posani's role gets good response in Naayak

Telugu actor-filmmaker Posani Krishna Murali, who was recently seen in Telugu action-thriller "Naayak", feels comedy is the safest genre of all and guarantees a high success rate.

"Even though audiences loved 'Naayak' for its full length commercial presentation, they also loved it for the comedy, which was an integral part of the film. Comedy is a very safe genre as it helps the audience to enjoy despite the quality of the film," Krishna said.

"Not all commercial films have been successful but seldom do you see audience ignoring a full length comedy film," he said and added that the success of Telugu comedies "Sudigadu" and "Seema Shastry" proves his theory.

Murali essayed Sultan Bhai in "Naayak", which had a host of comedians, including Brahmanadam, M.S. Narayana, Jayaprakash Reddy and Raghu Babu.

Posani, also a well-known writer, has written and directed Telugu films such as "Mental Krishna" and "Operation Duryodhana".

Asked does he personally prefer comedy over other genres, he said: "I strongly believe comedy gives audience a strong reason to come to cinemas because any viewer would love to get entertained. All my films have good amount of comedy and audience have loved it".

Mahesh not interested in Bollywood

Superstar Mahesh Babu Tuesday said he has no plans to act in Bollywood films.

Talking to reporters during an event here, he said he would like to focus only on Telugu cinema. "I have already said that my contribution will be only for Telugu films," he said and added: "I don't have any plans to work in Bollywood."

The superstar said though he was getting many offers from Bollywood, he would like to concentrate only on southern cinema.

"I want to do great Telugu films and I am focusing only on that," he said and thanked audience huge response to "Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu" (SVSC), also starring Venkatesh in the lead.

"Every time I am excited but this time I am also satisfied," he said about the movie released last week.

Srikanth Addala directed family drama has bagged good reviews from the critics and also received tremendous response across the state and also in theatres abroad. The film has reportedly netted global collection of Rs.25 crore in four days.

'Baadshah' final schedule begins today

The final leg of shooting of Telugu action-romantic "Baadshah", starring Junior Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), will begin Wednesday, says producer Bandla Ganesh. If all goes well, the film is likely to hit screens April 5.

"We don't want to delay the release of the film any longer and hence are wrapping up as quickly as possible. We will start shooting our last schedule from Jan 16 and wrap up shoot at the earliest," Ganesh said.

"We have zeroed in on April 5 as our release date and if everything goes as planned, then we will release the film in august fashion on that day," he added.

Srinu Vaitla has directed the film, which also features Kajal Agarwal. Navdeep, Prakash Raj, Ritu Varma, Ajay, Supreet and Brahmanadam play important roles in the film.

Most part of the film's shooting happened in places such as Italy, Switzerland, Bangkok and Hyderabad.

Queried about working with Vaitla, the producer said: "He is known for churning highly entertaining commercial films and 'Baadshah' is also an out-and-out commercial project with lots of comedy. It has been made keeping in mind the image of Jr. NTR."

S.S. Thaman has composed the music of the film, the audio launch of which will take place March 10.

Gopi Mohan and Kona Venkat have jointly penned the movie's story of the film.

Mirchi post-production works begins

Young Rebel Star Prabhas forthcoming movie Mirchi slated for a February release is currently in its post-production works. The shooting works of Mirchi have been done and the makers are making full-fledged plans in releasing it in February

Prabhas paired up with Anushka and Richa Gangopadhyay in the film directed by Koratala Shiva and produced by Pramod and Vamsi on the banner of UV Creations. Devi Sri Prasad composed the musical scores for the film and the audio has already been grand success.

Mirchi is touted to be a family entertainer that has good action elements made with a huge budget.

Ongole Githa audio launch today

Energetic Star Ram’s ‘Ongole Githa’ audio is scheduled for a launch on January 16th on a grand scale at Annapoorna 7 Acres complex.

Ram has informed the news, “OngoleGitha "SUDDEN" AUDIO RELEASE tomorrow.. Just decided by the producer..on the Song Set in Annapurna Studios 7acres..” The commercial mass entertainer is being produced by BVSN Prasad on Sri Venkateswara Cine Chitra Pvt Ltd banner.

Bommarillu Bhaskar is the director of the film casting Kriti Kharbandha as the female lead and Prakash Raj, Brahmanandam, Abhimanyu Singh, Ahuti Prasad in prominent roles. GV Prakash is the music director of the movie.

Sai Dharam Tej, Regina pairs up

 Dharam Tej, who is set to debut in Tollywood with Rey has signed up his second film in A S Ravi Kumar Chowdhary’s direction and the latest news is Regina Cassandra is roped in for the female lead role in the movie.

The film has already been launched and a couple of schedules have been shot. Bunny Vasu and Harshid are producers of the film making it jointly under Geeta Arts banner and Sree Venkateshwara Creations banner. Regina who shot to fame with SMS and Routine Love Story will play Sai Dharam Tej love interest in the new movie.

The yet-to-be titled movie is touted to be a romantic family entertainer. Anup Rubens is the music director of the film. Other details of the film are yet to be revealed and meanwhile, the actor’s Rey is gearing up to hit the screens this summer.

Venkatesh shifts to Shadow sets

                                                                                     


With Seetamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu earning good success at the Box-Office, Venkatesh is shifting his focus towards his stylish action entertainer Shadow.

Venkatesh will be seen as mafia don while Tapsee is playing the leading lady in the film. Venky is looking quite different in look from his earlier films and he says that he is playing a quite distinct role in this action entertainer but Shadow will have all the elements for family audiences.

Meher Ramesh is the director of the film and the film is being produced by Parucuri Kireeti on United Movies banner. Shadow is gearing up for a release in April.

Nagarjuna, Dasaradh film reaches final leg

 

new film in the direction of Dasaradh has reached the final leg of shooting schedules.

Touted to be a classy love story, Nagarjuna will be seen as NRI in the film who comes to India on an assignment and meets Nayanthara, a pediatrician. D Sivaprasad Reddy is producing the film on Sri Kamakshi Kala Movies banner. Meera Chopra is playing an important role in the movie.

The final schedule of the film will commence its shooting from January 21 and except for 2 weeks talkie part and a song shoot, the rest is wrapped up. S S Thaman is composing the musical scores. Meanwhile, the title is yet to be announced by the makers.

Aryan Music Recording Launched

Aryan Movie Launch

The song composition work of  director D.Rajendra Babu directed film "Aryan' was held on the auspicious day of  Sankranthi at Prasad Recording Studios. The film is produced by Kamar and Jesie Gift is the music director. Janardhana Maharshi has helped in scripting the film in which Shivaraj Kumar plays the role of an athletic coach.
Rajendra Babu said that the story line of the film was discussed with Shivaraj Kumar nearly twelve years ago, but the time has only come now to start this film.  Fortunately the essence of the subject has not touched by any maker of Kannada and other films so far.  In that way the film has retained the same level of freshness when we started discussing the subject.
Rajendra Babu maintained that the heroine has not yet been selected to the project yet and they are still weighing pros and cons of the subject. 'We need a sports minded energetic girl to play the role of the runner.  Shivaraj Kumar is an energetic coach in the film.  The love angle is incorporated in teh story' said Rajendra Babu.
Speculations in media  about  Ramya's selection in the film is not a fact and we are searching for a new girl or an established actress who would fill in the role, said Rajendra Babu. Rajendra Babu said that they will shoot the film abroad for 35 days and are working about modallities and economics of  the shooting in abroad.
Shivaraj Kumar said that he had heard the story a decade ago from Babu uncle and he was impressed with the story line. He said that he is looking forward to work in this film which has a different backdrop of sports in the story.  'A person should be equally good in other sports disciplines other than the one in which he is engaged as a coach' he said while answering as to how he was playing football and riding a cycle when he was an athletic coach. He also said that he has seen the videos of several sprinters to gain some more knowledge about athletics. "I was myself an athlete during my college days' said Shivanna.
Music Director Jessie Gift said that there are five songs in the film besides one theme song.

Meghana Gaonkar's Trouble To Charminar

Director R Chandru, Meghana Gaonkar

The hugely expected film "Charminar' directed by R.Chandru is hitting the theatres shortly. While the expectation barometer of the film is showing an upward trend, there has been a controversy about which the film's heroine Meghana Goankar is quite upset, though every thing has gone perfectly legal and according to norms of practice seen in the industry.   
The issue relates to R.Chandru's decision to get Deepu to dub her voice after  he found the film's heroine Meghana Goankar's creeky voice not suitable for making an impact. Though Meghana had dubbed her voice, a run over of the film seen by many people connected to the film thought that dubbing work by a better artist will enhance the impact. Any director may get the dubbing work done by any other artist which is considered perfectly alright in the film industry.  

But Meghana has found R.Chandru's action objectionable. She has taken the networking route to record her unhappiness about this development.  Her friends have been equally critical and said that directors like Chandru have failed to use the voice of Kannada artists properly.  Meghana has said that  she has lot of confidence on her and such things will not affect her career.
What is surprising is that Meghana Gaonkar is now not showing active interest in promoting the film after this incident.  Recently director R.Chandru had organised a promotional programme of the film in Sahakarinagar in Bengaluru, but the heroine did not make her presence.
Quite  naturally director Chandru became upset with the attitude of the heroine, but has not been able to understand the reasons for the changed attitude.  May be Meghana Gaonkar is too young in the industry to understand that such things happen in the industry and voice dubbing is the prerogative of the director.   Director Shashank did not record Radhika Pandit's voice in  "Krishnan Love Story' though the actress had delivered a mind blowing performance in the film.   But Radhika did not take the matter quite seriously, though she was hurt that  her voice was not used for the film.  The fact was that Radhika was not even called to dub for the film.  But the actress participated in all the promotional programmes of the film.
R.Chandru has made his ambitious film "Charminar' by his sweat and blood.  He has borrowed money to realise the dream of making a touching romantic film.  At this juncture he needs support from all including all the artists who have helped him during the shoot.  Minor skirmishes should be forgotten as to see that "Charminar' will have a smooth release.

You will see RGV of Shiva - Kiccha

Ram Gopal Varma, Sudeep

Abhinaya Chakravarthy Kiccha Sudeep, will complete his work for forthcoming film Bachchan shortly.  He is presently lending his voice for the dubbing work and will start shooting two songs of the film to be shot in Dubai and in Bengaluru.   Kiccha has  taken up N.Kumar's project which is to be directed by Ram Gopal Varma and has already competed two rounds of talks with the maverick director  known for his work  in films like "Shiva', "Sarkar', Sathya', Company and many other films.  Kiccha had worked with Ram Gopal Varma in Hindi films such as "Phoonk', "Phoonk-2", "Rann" and "Raktha Charitra" ( made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) , is happy to collaborate with the filmmaker again.
"Had a meeting with RGV and I'm happy the bilingual project is on. It may start around April. You'll see the RGV you once saw in 'Shiva' (Telugu)," tweeted Sudeep. This untitled project will be helmed by Varma, who is currently busy wrapping work on his upcoming crime-drama "Attacks of 26/11", based on the 2008 Mumbai terror strike.

Varadanayaka Will Not Look Like a Remake - Aiyappa Sharma

Sameera Reddy, Sudeep

The release of  Kiccha Sudeep and Chiranjeevi Sarja starrer "Varadanayaka' on 25th January, a week after the release of  Shivaraj Kumar- Priyamani starrer "Lakshmi' looks almost certain with the film being watched by Censor Board on Wednesday evening.  Since the film will be viewed in the digital format, the film will be screened in Rockline Cinemas, sources told Chiktraloka.
As the expectation barometre for "Varadanayaka' is also on raise with the promotional activities beginning in right earnest, the Portal chose to speak to Aiyappa Sharma, the director of the film about his much awaited venture. The film is in a way a combination of  celebrities attached to the CCL cricket competition.  While  Kiccha and Chiru  and producer Shankare Gowda are associated with Karnataka Bulldozers team, the film's heroine Sameera Reddy is the brand ambassador for the Kollywood team while director Aiyappa Sharma plays for the Tollywood team. "But there were not rivalries and competition while we were doing the film.  I just did my duty and Kiccha and Chiru excelled in their acting. Shankar was there to provide us all the support we needed. Arjun Janya once again delivered the best tunes.  His back ground score was just fantastic.  The film's editor Gautham Raju is an well experienced technician.  He said that the film can be ranked easily in well made category and complimented about the  contribution of artists and technicians in the film' said Aiyappa Sharma.

Aiyappa has already directed a few Kannada films for producer N.Kumar and Ramu. He did not want to direct remakes and he denied when the offer was first made by Shankar.  'But  Kiccha Sudeep spoke to me and convinced that with my style of film making I can always try to provide the film a different look.  He also said enough freedom will be given to me to narrate the film in my own way.  Therefore now I can confidently proclaim that Varadanayaka does not look like a remake, though we have been faithful to the story line of  "Lakshyam' says Aiyappa Sharma.
Elaborating on the changes made in the film, Aiyappa Sharma who is one among the triumvirate of  three most talented brothers to work in the Kannada film industry  which includes Dialogue King Sai Kumar and  Mesmerising actor Ravi Shankar, says that the whole technical team has done a completely independent work in the film which does not have a trace of content of the original film. "The music, visuals, styling, presentation, action and dances will look completely original in this film.   Even my artists have developed their own style.  It may be futile exercise to describe how effectively Kiccha has portrayed, but I can underline clearly that Chirru will move several steap ahead in his career through this film. He has done a brilliant job.  All the other artists have given their best.  My film looks perfectly like a family oriented revenge drama than a mere action film' says Aiyappa Sharma.
 Aiyappa says that Kiccha fans will certainly have loads of satisfaction after watching the film.  "His role is little bit expanded.  We have added one song to his role and the song "Baite Baite' has already become a big hit. The song picturisation is rich.  Kiccha's action, dialogues and dancing in this film is enough to provide full meals for the fans' says Aiyappa.
Incidentally Aiyappa Sharma's another directorial venture "Veera' produced by Ramu Enterprises and  featuring Malashri in the lead role will also hit the screens shortly.  He is also carrying very good expectations about the film.

Priyamani in Full Length Action Movie

Priyamani

National award winning actress Priyamani is all set to work in a full length action oriented film to be directed by Anand P Raj. The film is being produced by K.Manju and is all set to roll  shortly.  Since Priyamani is too well known in other South Indian language films, the film which is to be made in Kannada will be later dubbed in other three south indian languages.
Anand P Raj confirmed this news in a chat with Chitraloka Portal and added that the film has a curious title which will be finalised in a few days.  Anand Raj said that he has yet to complete an item song of actress Raagini for the film "Raagini I.P.S." which will be completed this month.   Most the post production work related to the film is over and the remaining pending work is to be finished by mid February.  "I am sure K.Manju sir will find out the best theatres for Raagini which has come out very well' said Anand Raj.

Mynaa for Valentine's Day

Chethan, Nithya, Nagashekar, Sathya Hegde, Vajreshwari Kumar

Nagashekhar directed Mynaa produced by N.S.Rajakumar with Chethan and Nithya Menon in the lead  is now slated for release on the eve of Valentine's day. This information was given by Nagashekhar in a chat with Chitraloka Mega Portal.
"Yes, we were thinking of hitting the screens on January 25.  Our post production work is perfectly on track, but the problem is the type of theatres that we want to select and screen the film.  Thankfully Mynaa is a film that can run well both in multiplex and single screens and I want it to be screened in the best available theatres which can showcase the level of hard work in making this film.  Since the film is more focused on its technical strength like visuals, sounds we have been more careful in getting right combination of theatres' says Nagashekhar.
Nagashekhar says that the film will be a triumph for the hard work of the excellent technicians who had worked for the film.  Even the artists have excelled in competition and I think we have made right choices about Nithya Menon, Chethan, Sharat Kumar. The music of the film has already got huge thumbs up and I am sure the film will capitalise on the strength of the music also' says Nagashekhar.
Nagashekhar thanks producer Raj Kumar to provide what was all needed for the film and hoped the dubbing version of the film will also become hugely popular in respective territories.