Jr Aishwarya Affected Badly With Sambar

Sneha Ullal turned many heads with her good looks and a svelte figure. She was so gorgeous that she was named as Jr. Aisjwarya Rai.

She also has some uncanny resemblance to Aishwarya. She bagged some roles in films based purely on her looks.

Sneha is now acting in the Telugu film 'Ullasamga… Uthsahanga'. She is now spending a lot of time in the south in connection with her film assignments. She loves food and has taken a big liking for south Indian delicacies like sambar. She is gorging on oodles and oodles of sambar with rice, dosa, vada etc. everyday.

The result is that she has put on a lot of weight in a very short span of time. She now looks plump and a bit too heavy to play heroine roles in films.

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Rs. 60 Cr Budget For Pokiri-Part2

Superstar Rajnikanth's daughter Soundarya is now running her own studio, Ocher Studios. She is making an animation film based on her father Rajnikanth. The film titled 'Sulthan the Warrior' is now in an advanced stage.

Soundarya is now keen to make regular films in Kollywood as well as Tollywood. She has signed up Ajit for a Tamil film. She has now entered into an agreement with Warner Brothers to produce a series of films in Telugu.

Soundarya will make her debut in Tollywood with a film starring Mahesh Babu as hero. Puri Jagannath will direct this film. The film will be a sequel to the blockbuster movie Pokiri. It is a known news and the reports say that the budget for this tri-lingual film will be around 60 crore. That shows it's more expensive than Rajni Kanth's 'Sivaji' and 'Dasavataram'.

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Smitha Interview

Why did you take a break? And what did you do between 2004 and 2008?
I am not here to make money. I am passionate about singing and performing on the stage. My last album 'Club Mix' was released in the end of 2004. Later on I did stage shows in 2005 and 2006. I went to the USA in October 2006 and got trained for three months in western vocals, gymnastics, martial arts, voice modulation and dances. My USA training opened my mind and expanded my horizons. I got trained by Hollywood technician Bob Cooff in voice modulation. He trained the Friends actors and Salma Hayak. I learnt Jazz/Ballet from Maria. Alicia Silverstone was my classmate during that time. Tim taught me martial arts. After training in USA I could see the bigger picture.

You have become slim. What did you do?
It was all natural and I don’t have an obsession for zero size. There is no needle mark on my body. I gained a few pounds in my USA trip. I have taken weight reduction serious and lost over 13 kilos in a span of a year. I could have lost weight in months if I had used artificial way. I used to workout 3-4 hours day for the last one year. Now my weight is 50 kgs.

How did Smita album happen?
Bosco (of Bosco Caesar) is a good friend of mine. We roped in Vishal Sekhar to compose music for my album around 3 years back. He composed a couple of songs for me. Then he was flooded with Bollywood offers and he used to give priority to films. The 'Na Lada' tune of Tashan film was scored for my music album first. He could score only 2 songs in eight months. I got frustrated and aborted the project. Overnight, I made a decision to go to USA and got trained.

After returning from the USA, Bosco introduced me to Sajid – Wajid. There were the schoolmates of Bosco. We hit off well. I asked for 3 bollywood kind of songs, one western, one folk song etc. They did a great job composing for Smita album. We decided to promote this album aggressively with music videos. Mahive and Aaja Nachle were the popular choices and we made videos on these two songs. We will be making videos on Zara Zara and Ouch soon.

How did you rope in Sony BMG?
We had known them for a few years. We approached them with the video song and they got excited. They are also looking for performing singers in India and my profile interested them. We hardly see any music album where singer is performing these days. Sony BMG said that they would not only promote my album. But they will take me to the next level and plan my career internationally.

Who are your favorite performers?
I would like to take the best from each and every singer and yet retain my own identity. I love the looks and presentation of Beyoncé. I love the energy of Madonna. I like the belly dance aspect of Shakira.

Tell us about the support of your family members?
If I did not have the support of them, I would have remained as just another girl from Vijayawada.

What is your next project?
Right now I am busy with promoting Smita album nationally. My untimate dream is to go international. I want to bring musical theater here one day.

You are producing your own music. Are you not looking at the commercial aspects?
I am a long term player. I can't grow if I compromise now. Money will follow once I become hugely successful.

Do you have any social service orientation?
Yes. I am sponsoring 10 mentally and physically challenged kids in Khammam. I will devote my entire life to social service once I retire. I want to start a foundation and do social service. Richard Gere influenced me a lot with his 'Heroes Project'. I realized how much one could do to the human kind once you become powerful.

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Bujjigadu Movie Review | Bujji Gadu Cinema Review

Jeevi rating: 3/5
Punchline: bujjigadi love story
Genre: Love/Action
Type: Straight
Banner: Creative Commercials

Cast: Prabhas, Mohan Babu, Trisha, Sanjana, Sunil, Kota, Subbaraju, MS Narayana, Ali, Satyam Rajesh, Hema, Jeeva, Kadambari Kiran, Srilatha, Brahmaji etc

Music: Sandeep Chowta
Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu
Editing: Varma
Stunts: Vijayan
Producer: KS Rama Rao
Story, Screenplay, Dialogues & Direction: Puri Jagan
Release date: 22 May 2008

Review

Story

Bujji (Prabhas) and Chitti (Trisha) are best buddies during their childhood. At the age of 11, Chitti develops some differences with Bujji and says that she will not meet him for the next 12 years. Bujji packs his bags and runaways to Chennai. He returns to AP after 12 years in search of Chitti. The rest of the story is all about how they meet each other.

Artists Performance

Prabhas: Prabhas is excellent in the role of Bujjigadu. The complete credit of Prabhas should go to Puri Jagan for weaving around his character to suit the strengths of Prabhas. Prabhas was little weak of his dialogue delivery in his earlier films. Puri Jagan used Godavari districts slang to write his dialogues for Prabhas and he uttered in an entertaining way. He also developed six-pack and looks stunning on the screen. The Bujjigadu character elevates the mass qualities of Prabhas and makes him go closer to the masses with this film.

Others: Mohan Babu is very good in the role of heroine's brother. But a man of his stature need not do such supporting roles as his role in this film does not have much weight. Trisha is cute and she looks very beautiful. Sanjana is alright as the sister of heroine. Sunil scores high in the comedy department. MS Narayana entertains in the drunkard role. The separate comedy thread written for Ali is not up to the mark. Kota is good as villain. Subbaraju is impressive though he keeps repeating such roles. Jayaprakash Reddy, Brahmaji and Raja Ravindra are adequate. The artists who did the role of kids in the beginning of the film are pretty good. Mumaith Khan did an item song.

Technical Departments:

Story - screenplay - direction: The story of the film is simple. The screenplay is adequate though there are dragging moments in the second half. The heroine will not come to know that Prabhas is her Bujjigadu till the end of film. It is difficult to write screenplay for such scripts. Puri Jagan gets lots of credits for his writing in this film. The characterization of Prabhas is excellent and dialogues written to him are witty. Though it is a love story, the director has given the look of action film to it. Hence, people may find it little shocking to see Prabhas and Mohan Babu becoming friends instead of waging a war. Puri Jagan simplified certain things like hero escaping from a jail.

Other departments: Puri Jagan steals the show as a dialogue writer. His punches and one-liners written for Prabhas are worth commending. Cinematography by Shyam K Naidu is an asset. Music by Sandeep Chowta appears good on the screen. The picturization of the songs are good. The ways he edited the second song with split screens is very impressive. The style of showing various animals in a song of second half is also creative. There are some glitches in editing of scenes as some scenes end abruptly. Fights are pretty good. Making standards by Creative Commercials are excellent.


Analysis: First half of the film is good and entertaining. The second half tempo is little down. The plus points of the film are Prabhas characterization and Puri Jagan's writing. The negative points are excessive fights, extended climax fight and a few silly scenes (reason behind kids not talking for 12 years and escape from jail). Prabhas's characterization stands out in the film. This film is definitely worth a look for Prabhas's characterization.

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Vikram opts out of Baskar’s next

Just a few weeks ago Tamil actor Vikram had confirmed that he would be working with young director Bhaskar, of Bommarillu and Parugu fame, for his forthcoming Telugu film. The film was to be produced by B.V.S.N.Prasad.

But the latest news from Film Nagar is that Vikram has asked Bhsakar to keep the project on hold as he has two immediate projects in Tamil. The first being a film with director K.S. Ravikumar, that will begin in July and the other with none other than Mani Ratnam, which will likely take of in December this year. So it is almost sure that Bhaskar’s film with Vikram will not take of till mid next year.

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Kamal‘s Dasavatharam in Japanese & Chinese?

Like the music in all Kamal Haasan films, the Dasavatharam audio too has seen a great opening. According to producer Oscar Ravichandran, “The music of the film is a big hit and is selling well in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. And if the music is appreciated, the film will also be a hit." Ravichandran says the film is ready except for the 30-second tsunami shots, which are being processed in Hong Kong and should reach Chennai by Saturday evening. Once the tsunami shots are incorporated, the release date of Dasavatharam will be announced, probably in the first week of June.

Meanwhile Ravi has big plans for the film’s release. He says, “ Dasavatharam will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and may be Bhojpuri. But Jackie Chan after seeing parts of the film asked me — “Why not in Japanese and Chinese, two of the biggest south East Asian languages?” “This has really made me think and in all probability we may even have a Japanese and Chinese version of the film. I think it would be fantastic,” he says.

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Sirivennela Son Raja to test his luck as hero

Writer Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry is well known face to Telugu audiences from the days of K Viswanth‘s Sirivennela film.

Now his son Raja is going to test his luck as hero . Teja will be the director for his first flick. Teja has the enough experience of handling new heroes and making them stars- Uday Kiran, Nithin, Navadeep, Ravi Raja Pinisetty‘s son were all introduced to celluloid by Teja.

Teja is making a film with new artist and he organized talent hunt to select the star cast for this film. But Ram is selected as hero for this film, he didn‘t attend any talent hunt that was conducted by Teja. PC Sree Ram is handling the Camera for this flick.

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2 directors, 2 music directors for Raviteja

Shooting of Raviteja‘s latest flick, produced by D Suresh Babu on the banner of Suresh Productions is progressing smoothly.

It may be mentioned here that the shooting was delayed due to the unfortunate death of a junior artiste due to drowning in Godavari during the film shooting.

The film is being directed by Udayashankar of ‘Kalisundam Raa‘ fame. Like ‘Krishnavamsi‘ assisting in dance direction for some of the films, it is learnt that Ravibabu had come forward to direct some songs in this film.

It may be mentioned here that the songs on Ravibabu‘s films like ‘Allari‘ are distinct from routine.

Likewise, Radhakrishnan scored tunes for the lyrics, while Manisharma is providing the background score.

The film is evoking good expectations, with a massive combination of two directors, to music directors, big banner and successful hero.

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Kantri Movie Review

Story:

Mukesh Rushi is a rich landlord. His son comes from the US to set up a sugar factor in his village and thereby generate employment to every family in the village. He borrows money from the bank and while he is returning home, a trusted family aide Potha Raju (Prakash Raj) kills them all and grabs the money. He runs away from the village along with Ashish Vidyarthi, leaving behind his wife and infant son.

Kranthi (Jr. NTR) is an orphan living in an orphanage along with some children. The orphanage is run by Kota Srinivasa Rao. There is also a paraplegic in the orphanage and NTR takes special care of him and treats him s his brother.

NTR falls in love with Varalakshmi (Hansika Motwani) at first sight and follows her everywhere. NTR joins the gang of Ashsish Vidyarthi who is working for Prakash Raj. NTR is sent to Hong Kong where Prakash Raj runs his empire. He is involved in manufacturing counterfeit currency, pushing drugs etc. NTR helps Prakash Raj in taking revenge on his rival Mukul Sharma.

The interval bang comes with a big suspense as Prakash Raj learns that NTR is actually his son. But NTR is not ready to accept him as he has deserted him and his mother during his childhood.

With NTR turning out to be the son of the main villain Prakash Raj, the suspense mounts as to what NTR will do next. The rest of the film moves from on end to other and finally all the villain like Prakash Raj, Ashish vidyarthi, Sayaji Shinde, Mukul Sharma ganging up against NTR.

Why do they gang up against NTR, and how he takes them on, forms the remaining part of the story?

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Tarun - Krishna Vamsy‘s Jenda Pai Kapiraju

Hero Vishnu (son of Mohanbabu), after delivering unexpected success Dhee , he made a film Krishnarjunulu with Nag. But that film was disappointed at the box office.

After that theare was news that the director K Vijaya Bhaskar is making Romeo Juliet with Vishnu, but Vijaya Bhaskar made that film with Tarun as Bhale Dongalu.

And then there was news that director Krishna Vamsy is making the film titled ‘Jenda Pai Kapiraju‘ with Vishnu, some how, that project couldn‘t get materialized.

Now Krishna Vamsy is getting ready to start a film with hero Tarun. Is it Jenda Pai Kapiraju?

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Balakrishna‘s ‘Flat - Gift‘ To JK Bharavi

It is now a new ‘in thing‘ in the industry for big heroes to gift expensive things like swanky cars and flats to the select unit members of their hit films.

Balakrishna is now reported to be planning to gift Bharavi, the scriptwriter of Pandurangadu with a big three bedroom deluxe flat. The flat is said to be located in the Film Nagar area as per the grapevine. The gift is in appreciation for his excellent work for the film Pandurangadu. Balayya is very confident of the success of the film. Hence he decided to reward Bharavi in advance.

It may be recalled that Nagarjuna did a similar thing after the success of Sri Ramadasu. He gave a similar gift to JK Bharavi. Bharavi is lucky as he is getting a good name and fame with his work and also getting additional property-gifts.

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Tamanna has five films in hand now

Tamanna of Happy Days‘ fame is the most successful among all the stars in the film now. She is going great guns with film after film. She acted in the film Kalidasu opposite Sushanth. She was noticed for her hot and revealing costumes in the film.

Tamanna now has a few offers in Tollywood and she is also being eyed by some producers and directors in Kollywood. Right now, she has about five films in hand and some more are in the pipeline.

Tamanna has now bagged a big role opposite Siddhartha in a new film. The film is ‘Konchem Istanga Konchem Kastanga‘. She is now the most wanted actress for many producers, heroes and directors. She is also doing very well remuneration wise. Tamanna is now being paid 15 lakhs per film as per inside news. Good going indeed!

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Prabhas has lot of hopes on Bujjigadu

Bujjigadu movie is set to release on 16th May. High expectations are there on this movie because of the combination of director Puri Jagannadh and hero Prabhas. Already Puri Jagannadh gave hat trick hits like ‘Pokiri, Desamuduru and Chirutha‘ and is getting ready to continue his winning streak with ‘Bujjigadu‘, and being produced by KS Rama Rao on the banner of Creative Commercials.

Prabhas has lot of hopes on Bujjigadu. Prabhas‘s last couple films like Yogi, Munna and Pournami were big disappointments at the box office.Now he needs a hit film like his Chatrapathi. Prabhas is very much confident that Poori can deliver that required hit for him. Still Prabhas wants hear the word "Hit" from the public, then only he can take long breath.

Mohanbabu‘s performance is the additional benefit for Prabhas in Bujjigadu. Let us wait and see on 16th May- what will be the fate of Prabhas.

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