TELUGU CINEMASS: August 2008

Aug 31, 2008

Telugu Movie 'Gunde Jhallumandi ' Trailers

Aug 29, 2008

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NAGARJUNA who is celebrating his birthday Gallery

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Mohanlal Says Rajnikant cannot be accepted in guest role In.'Kuselan'

Rajnikant may have drawn flak from critics for his cameo in box office dud Kuselan, but Malayalam star Mohanlal says that the Tamil superstar's stature is "beyond success and failure".

"Actors like Kamal Haasan and Rajnikant are larger than life. They cannot be accepted in guest roles. I can get away with small cameos, off-beat roles, walk-on parts, anything. I'm playing a 90-year-old man in a new film," said Mohanlal.

"There're some actors in this country like Amitabh Bachchan, Chiranjeevi, Kamal Haasan and Rajnikant who are above success and failure. They're blessed people. If you say I'm one of them, then I too am blessed," he added.

The Malayalam moviedom maverick is currently busy with his Japanese film Nair San. After learning Japanese for his role, now he is gearing up to do a full-on action scene with Hollywood star Jackie Chan.

"Jackie Chan appears in a major action sequence with me. I'm trying to physically prepare for the role. I've already shot for about 150 days for Nair San in Japan and Mongolia," he said.

"I'm the first actor from Malayalam cinema to feature in a Japanese film. I've to speak not only in Japanese but also in Chinese and Mongolian," he added.

The action scene with Jackie Chan will be shot in Mongolia.

Nair San, which is being made at a whopping cost of Rs 2 billion, will be subtitled in English and released all over the world.

Directed by Albert, the film is about Aiyappan Pillai Madhavan Nair, who left Kerala at the age of 18 and settled in Japan. He fought against the British from Japan. Later, the Japanese government presented him with the title San.

"Nair was an Indian freedom fighter. I've met the man. He owns a chain of restaurants. I've been to his restaurant in Tokyo. And he has been to my home in Kerala. He passed away at the age of 85-86. I feel very privileged to be playing Nair. The film will definitely get wide release in Japan," said the actor who has received rave reviews for his performance in Aakashagopuram.

Aakashagopuram is based on renowned Norwegian playwright Henrik Johan Ibsen's play The Master Builder.

"Ibsen's The Master Builder is a complicated play. I've done stage plays including a play in Sanskrit. But Ibsen is tough. However, I treated the film like any other. I play an architect. Changes were made. For example, my character's Norwegian name was changed for the Indian audience."

Mohanlal has also finished a war movie, Kuruskshetra, based on the Kargil war. "It's a major film," he says.

Mohanlal, who has worked in a couple of Hindi films too, says he doesn't regret doing Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag.

"People just pounced on Ramu. They forgot how much he has achieved in the past. Such things happen. In fact, Priyadarshan has just offered me a role in a Hindi film to be done in the middle of next year. I get a lot of Hindi films. But they don't interest me.

"But I'll do Priyan's film. It's a 12-13 day film. It isn't a conventional Hindi film. It has a message on AIDS. Priyan is returning to his roots. He recently did a fantastic Malayalam film called Kanjeevaram. I was supposed to do it. But I couldn't. Now I'm looking forward to working with him and to doing a Hindi film."

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Telugu Movie 'BLACK AND WHITE' Review

'BLACK AND WHITE'
Cast:
Rajiv Kanakala
Sindhu Tolani
Jackie Shroff
Uttej
Ali
Raghu
Raj Bharat
Jeeva
Sandesh
Melkote
CVL Narasimha Rao
Jenny
Arthi
Soumya
Surekhavani
Ayesha Jaleel and others

Music – Vijay Kurakula
Lyrics – Vanamali
Camera – Joshi
Editing – Marthand K Venkatesh
Presents– Maithri Films Pvt Ltd
Producer – P Udaykiran
Story, screenplay, dialogues and direction – Srikanth Vemulapalli,
Banner: UK Avenues
Released on: August 22, 2008

Several films have come with treason by extremists as the backdrop. In most of the cases, the extremists made use of religion, politics as the source to show extremism. Director Srikanth, went a step ahead, and tried family system too as a source in this regard. Once again the Telugu film industry tries to highlight how the innocent are getting caught in the cobweb, despite the high-level patriotism they have in mind. He was able to maintain a good amount of suspicion to certain extent, but he lost grip on the subject frequently which has caused a bumpy movement of the film.

Plot

Bharat (Rajiv Kanakala) is an orphan and brought up in a orphanage. Sreenu (Uttej) is his close friend. Bharat studies hard and becomes a software professional. Being an orphan, he loves children very much. Once some extremists plan to attack the police and gain entry into his car and forcibly take him with them to the outskirts of the city. By the time, they were about to blast the police jeep and van, Bharat drives his car to block the movement of the police and saves them. As a result, the government announces Best Citizen Award and he is expected to take the award from the President of India on Republic Day.

At this juncture, he comes across Sameera (Sindhu Tulani), who is doing fashion designing. Their friendship grows and turns into love. With the acceptance of Sameera's parents (CVL Narasimha Rao and Ayesha Jaleel), they get married. However, Sameera keeps a condition that their first night should be only after completion of her studies. Meanwhile, there is an attack on Bharat and somehow he survives from it. Again there is another attack in the form of electric shock and accidentally Sreenu gets it, and he too survives from it. Just before the Republic Day, i.e., on January 15, Bharat tries to surprise Sameera and wish her happy birthday at midnight and she hits him with a flower vase causing grievous injury. So, left with no option, Bharat tells Sameera to go to Delhi and receive the award. At this juncture, a bomb blast occurs in Hyderabad in which two persons get killed. The case is handed over to CBI. The CBI officer Khan (Jackie Shroff), who is very shrewd, notices a car in a video footage and finds that it belongs to Bharat. He questions Bharat, but could not find any conclusive evidence.

On investigation, the CBI sleuths notice that Sameera's parents were Muslims. Then they arrest Sameera's father, who reveals the entire story. Sameera is a Muslim girl and her fiancee, who masterminds blasts in Mumbai gets killed just before their engagement. So, she had decided to avenge the killing. As per a plan, she cornered Bharat and married him. On learning this, Khan and Bharat go to the function, but could not stop her from going to the dais due to some security reasons. However, Bharat to prevent a disaster, snatches Khan's revolver and kills Sameera.

PLUS: The director has maintained suspense all through the film and the storyline though not predictable appears to be somewhat interesting. Rajiv Kanakala gave an impressive performance. Sindhu Tulani is at her best. She not only filled the glamour slot, but also appeared romantic in some scenes and got good opportunity to prove her acting capabilities. Jackie Shroff, though appeared a little old, did justice to his role. Uttej is good as hero's buddy. However, Rajiv Kanakala's performance is the only highlight and plus point for the movie.

MINUS: Though the storyline is average, the director gave a good twist to it. Though it was he who penned the story, screenplay and dialogues, the director due to inexperience remained butter-fingered. He lost grip while running the subject many times. Music by Vijay Kurakula though not very impressive in songs, with no foot-tapping numbers, his background score is good and has elevated the mood of the film in some scenes.

Camera work by Joshi is not bad and Marthand K Venkatesh did a neat job. Production values of UK Avenues are okay. The film is good for serious viewing, and the entertainment values are very less. Placement of songs is also improper and spoiled the tempo of the film. Srikanth Vemulapalli, however, appeared a promising director, and hopes he could deliver a good film in his next project by learning from the drawbacks he faced in this film.

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Nagarjuna's Hit Songs

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Yuvasamrat' Nagarjuna's birthday today (August 29).

Aug 28, 2008

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Trivikram has penned two songs in PULI

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Rumours About Rambha’s “Attempted Suicide”

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Rambha’s suicidal attempt is just a rumour?

Aug 27, 2008

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Shriya's water therapy!

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CHIRU 's Exlusive Interview With NTV...Videos

Aug 26, 2008

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Highlights In Chiranjeevi's Speech

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Chiranjeevi political party speech from tirupathi..Videos

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Watch Live Coverage of Chiranjeevi Tirupathi Party Meeting

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Chiranjeevi... Praja Rajyam live updates

Chiranjeevi... Praja Rajyam Meeting Success

7:23 pm
Parting slogan
Mana Rajyam Surajyam. Swarajyam. Prajala Rajyam. Praja Rajyam!! Jai Hind!!!!

7:20 pm
All are soldiers in our party including me
All are soldiers in the war against social problems. There are no leaders in our party. All are soldiers including us. We don’t have selfishness and we don’t have fear. Hence we will win. Let us work hard to build a beautiful future. We want change. We will eliminate the poverty and bring smile among all the people of AP. Bravery and honesty are our weapons. Do not bother about people who sling mud on us. Let them discourage us. The more they discourage, the great our determination we will be.

People penned my role
Lot of writers penned many roles for me in the past for films. This new role is written by you people. And this role is going to be the one which I will live my lifetime. My life is dedicated to you people. Thank you very much. Jai Hind.

7:15 pm
The party anthem being played
After explaining about the party flag, Chiranjeevi played the anthem of Praja Rajyam party. It is accompanied by the cool visuals that support the agenda of Chiranjeevi and the concept of various ingredients embedded in the party flag.

7:10 pm
Flag is inspired by nature
Sun rise is our symbol. There are 24 rays to the sun in the flag which denotes that we spread the energy and light of sun throughout 24 hours. Red color of sun is symbol of change. White background is the mixture of vibgyor which represents people from all castes. The green streak indicates farmers. The yellow line around sun represents the smile that we will bring on the faces of every citizen. Red, White and Green represent Hindu, Christian and Muslims. Hence we are equally good for all the religions.

7 pm
The symbol is Sun
Just now the flag of Chiranjeevi Party is hoisted. The symbol is sun colored in red. The background color of flag is white. There is a streak of green symbolizing the farmers. The image of flag is something like this. There are some rays of sun in this flag. .

flag.

6:57 pm
I am for the sentiment of Telangana
Telanga has lot of cultural and historical heritage. It has natural resources and a great history. People have opinion that injustice is done to Telangana. That is because of the biased nature of the earlier governments. Telangana has ‘athma gourava samasya’. I will respect the sentiment. If we have to separate Andhra from Telangana, I am willing to cooperate.

6:55 pm
Justice to economically backward class
All the castes have people who are economically backward. There is no caste to the poor. We will recognize such people as EBC (economically backward class) and my party will support them.

6:50 pm
I am against Government selling lands
Selling lands like doing injustice to our future generations. I am completely against. Government is misusing farmer lands by grabbing from them and giving it to SEZ. I am against giving farming land to SEZ. But I am not against globalization. I want industries to come to AP. But I will give them only those lands that are not used for farming.

6:47 pm
Naxalism is a social problem
Naxalism is erupted from poor. Poor is the deep cause of youth becoming naxals. I am not looking at naxalism as a law and order issue. I look at it as social problem. I would scientifically look at the problem and debate it with intellectuals and come up with a solution.

6:45 pm
Discourage selling of alcohol
Alcohol destroys several homes in AP. The government is giving them money with schemes and taking money from them by selling liquor at the same time. We will make strong commitment towards discouraging selling of liquor.

6:40 pm
Organized corruption should go
People generally take bribes to do things that are illegal and illegitimate. But here in India, most of the officers take bribes to do their duty. I want to cleanse corruption from the top level starting from political system. Hunger, necessity and greediness are three things that drive corruption. One can cure people who are corrupt because of hunger and necessity. But we should eliminate people who do corruption because of greediness.

6:35 pm
There are people who cant get Rs.2 kg rice and who can’s afford Rs. 25 per kg
There are people who are above the social condition of availing 2/- per kg rice and who also can’t afford 25/- for a kg of rice. There are many labors and lower middle class people who are in this segment. I would bring justice to them.

6:30 pm
Farmers get top priority
Chiranjeevi spelt out Sri Sri’s poem “Kammali kolimi, Kummari chakram..” first and explained it. The farmer bachelors are not getting married because of their profession. Farmers will get the top priority.

Education is second priority
Only wealthy people are getting in to good educational institutes. Education has become business, but not the service. The economically backward people do not have money for the higher education.

Health is third priority
Poor pregnant women are giving birth to baby in the verandah of Gandhi hospital because hospital did not have bed. It is such a pathetic situation in general hospitals. Most of the people can’t office corporate hospital. The hospitals are in bad shape in villages.

6:20 pm
Party name is Praja Rajyam
People belonging to various sections of society jointly announced the name of the part in the presence of Chiranjeevi. And the party name is "Praja Rajyam". Tagline of the party is “Preme Lakshyam – Seve Margam”

We have great resources in India
I am impressed by the development and infrastructure in west countries.But we have tremendous natural and human resources. We work hard in India. But we d not have enough guidance and implementing capabilities at the organizational level. I am confident that people Andhra will help me to get me the opportunity to guide and implement the human and natural resources of us in a better way.

6:10 pm
Social justice is the party motto
The motto of our party is to have social justice. Some part of society is getting ample opportunity. Most part of the society is getting very little opportunity. My party motto is to balance the social imbalance.

6:07 pm
I represented lower strata of society
I acted as Dalit youth in my debut film Pranam Khareedu. I acted as cobbler in award winning Swayam Krushi. I did the role of Dalit IAS officer in Kondaveeti Donga. I represented Dalits in Rudraveena. I always associated with lower strata of the society because of the struggles I had gone through.

6:05 pm
I had single meal a day in beginning days of career
In my beginning days of my career I used to have single meal every day as I could not afford food for twice everyday. I need 300 rupees per month as expenses during my stay at Chennai. But I asked my parents to send only 150 rupees. I used to have meals only once and used to have water and tea during the remaining part of the day.

6:00 pm
I wore knickers in intermediate
I studied my intermediate in Sharma college of Ongole. As we could not afford pants, I had to wear knickers even in my intermediate. I had to cooperate with parents and wear knickers though I was embarrassed.

5:55 pm
I remember struggling days as kid
I was the elder son in a family of lower middle class family. I used remember the days when I had to get the groceries home by walk as we did not have enough money to travel in a rickshaw. There were times when we did not have money and we used to pool the change so that we could live for the next two days using that change.

5:30 pm
Chiranjeevi arrives at the venue
Chiranjeevi makes sudden appearance at 5:30 pm sharp. Clad in a white full-hands shirt and black pants, he looked very fresh sans any tension. . Waving his hands to the crowds, Chiru gestured them with emotion gripping him. He is taking over the mike now. His first dialogues was "Ee tirumala tirupati venkateswarudi padala chenta koluvai vunna ee asesha jana prabhanjananni choostunte naa janma dhanyam ayindi anipistundi”.

5:25 pm
Old woman injured in stampede
An old woman got injured in the stampede that took place at Avilala. Her condition is said to be serious. The organisers sought the police to take over the public blocks and control the crowds.

5:20 pm
One injured jumping barricades
One person got injured and broke his leg while jumping over the barricades. The volunteers took position and removed him to the near by medical camp.

5:15 pm
Clouds playing truant over Tirupati
With hardly half an hour left for the real countdown to begin, clouds are playing truant over the sprawling venue at Tirupati. Though scorching heat prevailed till 3.00 PM, slowly the weather began to change, with gathering clouds and at the same time dissipating now and then allowing the Sun to shine again. The same weather continues till this time ( 5.00 PM) with 31 degrees Celsius.

5:05 pm
Streets are empty all over AP
The streets all over AP are virtually empty as all the people of Andhra are glued to their TV sets to see the live program of Chiranjeevi’s debut political public meet now. All the TV channels are providing the live of this meet. Most of the employee had gone to their houses by evening to catch the program live.

5:00 pm
Stage named as ‘Praja Ankita Vedika’
The stage on which Chiranjeevi is going to announce party name and agenda is titled as ‘Praja Ankita Vedika’. Chiranjeevi has chosen this venue to make his life dedicated to the public of Andhra Pradesh. He has bid adieu to films and entering the public life with a huge public gathering over 10 lac of people in Tirupati.

4:55 pm
Travails of physically handicapped
Volunteers and police are making joint efforts to make the physically handicapped persons reach their specified blocks in front of the dais. With traffic jam hitting various centers in the pilgrim town, those intending to reach the venue have started coming by walk. However, some of the physically handicapped are seen wading the long distance with much difficulty.

4:50 pm
25 lacs water packets
The organizers of Chiranjeevi sabha arranged 25 lacs of water packets to be given free of cost to the fans and lovers of Chiranjeevi who came to the venue in the scorching heat of Tirupati. 8 ambulances have been arranged. A few medical camps are being set up to treat the people if anybody gets injured.

4:40 pm
Girl injured, given first aid
A young girl of 14 years was injured when a sharp object hit her in the head, resulting in the bleeding injury. However, the women surrounding her immediately took her to a corner and rendered first aid, sprinkling water on her face and putting bandage with saree cloth.

4:40 pm
Fans frenzy at Mega family members
Chiru family members have arrived at the venue and are put up at a specially arranged enclave. They will be reaching their specified barricades at the frontal area when Chiranjeevi will arrive (at 5.00 Pm). Knowing that Ramcharan Tej arrived at the venue, the crowds from behind started pushing forward resulting in stampede. There are heated arguments between the fans and organisers

4:35 pm
Chiranjeevi starts to Avilala Sabha
Chiranjeevi has started now from the guest house of TSR in Tirumala. He would be coming to the venue now. There is an option of alighting a helicopter if the route of his gets jammed in the process. At the venue, there are two routes chalked out for him to go to stage.

4:25 pm
Unruly scenes at Avilala
Unruly scenes prevailed at the public meeting venue with tussle between organisers and the crowds. The crowds threw whatever object they found in their vicinity - chairs and broken pieces of wood (used for barricading) at the volunteers, who in turn started beating the crowds with lathis. The police are finding it tough to control the surging crowds. The police authorities have dispatched additional forces from Madanapalli and Chittoor to control the crowds by the time Chiru would arrive at the venue.

4:15 pm
Slight injuries in stampede
Some persons got injured in the slight stampede at Chiru's public meeting venue in Tirupati. The volunteers immediately spotted the injured and shifted them to the nearby medical camp for first aid.

4:00 pm
Countdown started with Vandemataram
The much-awaited cultural programs commenced at 4.00 PM with a group of males clad in white dresses displaying tricolors dancing to the song - Vandemataram (from Shankara Dada Zindabad), the girls wearing traditional pattu sarees (orange) started moving amidst them. The crowds started cheered at the performers.

4:00 pm
Nagur Babu & Pragati anchors the event
Popular singer Nagur Babu who rendered his powerful voice to many songs of Chiranjeevi. He started anchoring the program in an entertaining style by appealing to the fans of Chiranjeevi. The cultural programs will start now. Popular TV news reader (MAA TV) Pragati is the female anchor for these cultural programs.

Mano, Pragati as crowd controllers
With hardly an hour left for the mega show to commence, playback singer turned music director Mano (Nagur Babu) has taken the mike, urging the crowds to cooperate. He said that Chiranjeevi is exclusively coming for them. "You should maintain calm and cooperate with us. You all should bless him." Anchor and news reader Pragati too arrived on the dais, urging the crowds to be silent and not to cross the barricades. Nagababu in turn made repeated and fervent appeals to the crowds not to stand on the barricades or cross them. With his cinematic and much-familiar voice, Mano kept the crowds engaged.

3:55 pm
Mild lathi-charge at Avilala
The police resorted to mild lathi charge when the surging crowds started coming to the front of the dais, crossing the barricades. However, the situation was immediately controlled on the arrival of special forces. In view of this, extra forces are kept at the frontal positions of the stage

source:idlebrain.com

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Mohanlal (Interview) I’m learning Japanese, Chinese for a new film

M alayalam movie superstar Mohanlal is learning Japanese and Chinese for his upcoming Japanese movie about an Indian freedom fighter.”I have to dub the film and speak in Japanese and Chinese. I have to learn the languages,” Mohanlal told IANS in an interview here. “It is a Japanese film.”

Mohanlal was here along with fellow actor Mukesh to announce the staging of the hit Malayalam play “Chayamukhy” in the Gulf later this year.

Speaking about the Japanese project “Nair San”, he said that the movie revolved around the true story of an Indian freedom fighter popularly known as Nair San in Japan.

“Maybe he (Nair San) was the first person in the world to conduct a student agitation against the British. This is a thrilling biography of him,” Mohanlal said.

“It is a docudrama. He fought against the British from Japan. Later, the Japanese government presented him with the title ‘San’,” he added.

Ayyapan Pillai Madhavan Nair - or Nair San - had to leave Kerala at the age of 18 as he campaigned among the students and led protests and marches against the social injustices of the British, according to the film’s website.

He rebelled against the education tax imposed by the British. He later settled in Japan, where he struggled hard to root out imperialism from Asian countries.

“His efficiency in Japanese, Chinese and Spanish languages lifted him above all other Indian freedom fighters in Japan such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rashbehari Bose, Pratap Singh and Barkathullah,” the website posting states.

Mohanlal said he personally knew Nair San, who had later opened a restaurant chain by the same name in Japan.

“I know that person. I have met him and I have been to his restaurants in Japan also, long back - I am talking about 23 years back,” the two-time National Award winner said.

He also confirmed that martial arts hero Jackie Chan will be doing a cameo in the film, which will be directed by noted Malayali director Albert.

“He is doing a small role. There is an action sequence he is doing,” he said.

Shooting for the new project, the first Japanese film by an Indian director, starts Sep 3 and locations will be spread across Japan, China and Mongolia.

“It is 160 days of shooting for me. The film will cover the life of Nair San from his age of 35 till his death,” Mohanlal said.

As for his other upcoming projects, he sounded very excited about the Oct 2 release of “Kurukshetra”, based on the Kargil war.

“It is about the Kargil war, how it happened and how it ended… We shot in real locations like Kargil and Drass,” the Padmashri recipient said.

He, however, clarified that the film was not a sequel to the earlier fast paced action thriller “Kirti Chakra” that he had done.

“Only one character, Major Mahadevan in ‘Kirti Chakra’, appears as Colonel Mahadevan here (in Kurukshetra),” he said.

The veteran actor is also looking forward to his multiplex business, which he said would cater basically to small towns in Kerala.

“It will not be in major cities like Kochi or Thiruvananthapuram. We will stay about 40 to 50 km away from such cities. Whatever amenities multiplexes provide will be available but at a lower scale,” he said.

Apart from Mohanalal, others involved in the project are Antony Perumbavoor, industrialist K.C. Babu and Asianet chief K. Madhavan. They have set up a company, Maxlab Entertainments, for this.

According to reports, the first of the multiplexes will be coming up near Chalakudy in Thrissur.

Mohanlal said now people don’t have to come to major cities to watch the latest movies.

“Previously there was a ban (on releasing films all across Kerala). But now we can release films throughout Kerala. People in smaller towns did not have enough theatres. We are aiming at these pockets,” he said.

So, now with Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi announcing his foray into politics, when can one expect Mohanlal to do the same?

“No, no, Kerala state is not like that,” he said shaking his head even before the question could be completed.

“In Kerala, film actors are not needed in politics,” he smiled.

Asserting that he was in no way connected to politics, he said: “I don’t want to get into politics. I know about the state, I know what is happening in the country. But I am not very keen on party and all. I have friends in all parties.”

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