30th January 2004

Sumanth in Sravanthi Movies
Sumant -fresh with his resounding blockbuster 'Satyam' - has signed a hot project. This project is the remake of Tamil blockbuster 'Tirumalai' starring Vijay. Sravanthi Ravi Kishore would be producing it. Sumanth would be doing one film at a time and he won't be committing any project till this film is completed. More details about director and other crew would be available on idlebrain very shortly.

Abbas Tyrewala -script consultant for Pawan Kalyan
Abbas Tyrewala - who wrote the song 'Ye Mera Jahan' for Kushi film - is acting as script consultant for one of the Pawan Kalyan's future projects. Abbas Tyrewala has recently penned dialogues for bollywood blockbuster 'Munnabhai MBBS'. Pawan Kalyan who is known for his 'out of box thinking' and Abbas Tyrewala complimented Pawan Kalyan that he is more energetic than Shahrukh Khan in his involvement in script.

Asian Film distributors turn producer
Narayana Das - the man behind the most popular Nizam distribution agency 'Asian Film Distributors - is going to produce a film soon on 'Asian Entertainments' banner. Nitin - the blue eyed boy of Telugu film industry - would be acting in this film that has college backdrop. This film would go to floors on 22nd February 2004. Anoop provides music. Kula Sekhar pens lyrics. Tanikella Bharani, Venu Madhav and Dharmaravapu Subramanyam includes the other cast in the film. Teja directs this film.

27th January 2004

Tapana on 13th Feb
Tapana - Applause Entertainment's debut film in Telugu - is all set for Valentines day release on 13th February 2004. This film sports Siddardha, Maahi, Prabhudeva & Seema in the lead roles. Tejas directs this film. Maruthi Movies has grabbed the Nizam distribution rights. Applause Entertainment is designing a grandeur plan to promote this film in a big way.

Smita DVD soon
Smita - who brought a revolutionary change in the pop scene of Andhra Pradesh - made a niche herself as the pop singer who also performs on stage while singing. Her good looks made her a pop star to watch out for. After the release of 'Masaka Masaka' album, there is been repeated requests on availability of Smita song DVDs. It is reliably learnt that a DVD manufacturer is planning to bundle all videos of Smita (Hai Rabba, Hai Rama, Koilamma & Masaka Masaka) in one DVD and make it available to pop music lovers.

KRR's new project details
K Raghavendra Rao is going to direct a film soon. This film would be produced jointly by Sunkara Madhu Murali and Valluripally Ramesh Babu. Krr sunkara & valluripally. The story sittings are over and story is finalized. The process is on for selecting right cast and crew. This film would go to floors in a couple of months.

26th January 2004

Uday Kiran in Soldier role
Aithe director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti is directing his second film with Uday Kiran as hero. Pratyusha business group - that announced a film each with VN Aditya, Puri Jagan and Vamsy in a grand style by organizing a function at Grand Kakatiya hotel last year - has decided to do away with all these 3 directors to fix on the director of new generation Chandra Sekhar Yeleti. Uday Kiran is playing the role of a soldier. Meera Vasudevan is making her debut in Telugu through this film. The opening of this film was held at Annapurna studios today. K Raghavendra Rao, D Rama Naidu and Venkatesh did the honors. This film is expected to release in the month of May 2004.

Corporate houses promote Siddardh
Siddardh is making his debut as hero with Tapana - an Aditya Birla's production wing 'Applause Entertainment'. The speculation is that ABSL (Amitab Bachchan Corporate Limited) is planning to resume its movie production in Telugu again very soon. And Siddardha might act as hero in that project as well. For the starters, Siddardha is none but a close relative of heroine Jaya Prada.

Chronic Bachelor turns Kushi Kushiga
The Telugu remake of Malayalam blockbuster 'Chronic Bachelor' is recently titled as 'Kushi Kushigaa'. This film sports Jagapati Babu, Venu, Ramya Krishna and Nikita in the main leads. G Ram Prasad of Chirunavvuto fame is directing this film. Aditya Ram who produced Sandade Sandadi is producing this venture. 80% of the shooting is complete so far.

25th January 2004

NTR-B Gopal film details
The songs recording of NTR-B Gopal film is starting on 26th January at SP Kodandapani Recording Theater in Chennai. This film is being produced by Chengala Venkat Rao (of Samarasimha Reddy fame). Incidentally the film Samarasimha Reddy was also kicked off with its songs recording of at SP Kodandapani Recording theater. This film would go to floors very soon. Amisha Patel is paired up with NTR in this flick.

Varsham function at Tirupati
According to MS Raju - producer of Varsham film - Varsham audio created sensation in audio market by selling 6.25 lakhs of cassettes so far. To celebrate this occasion, MS Raju is planning a huge public function at Tirupati on 31st of this month. In a pressmeet held yesterday, MS Raju and other unit members of Varsham shared their happiness with press over the success of Varsham film.

Devi Sri Prasad's projects
With the super success of Varsham audio, Devi Sri Prasad is joined the top league of music director in demand for big heroes. He is currently accepted two offers. One each with Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna. He would be providing music for 'Shankar Dada MBBS' (Chiranjeevi's film) that's starting in February 2004. He is also giving music for 'Mass .. Dammunte Kasko' - a mass flick of Nagarjuna that is going to be directed by choreographer Lawrence.

21st January 2004

Sonali with Chiru in 'Shankar Dada'
Sonali Bendre is being signed in as the female lead for Chiranjeevi's next venture 'Shankar Dada MBBS' - a remake of Hindi blockbuster Munnabhai MBBS. Jayant C Paranji - who directed hilarious comedy 'Bavagaru Bagunnara' with Chiranjeevi as hero - is directing this film. Ravi Teja is expected to play 'circuit' role. The two titles under consideration for this film are - Sankar Anna MBBS and Shankar Dada MBBS. It may be known to movie lovers that Chiranjeevi's real name is 'Shiva Sankara Vara Prasad'. And the title of this film match's the Chiranjeevi's real name as well. Script work is currently going on.

LNS success function in Guntur
Producer Bellamkonda Suresh is planning to hold the success function of Balayya's 'Lakshmi Narasimha' on 9th February 2004. Bellamkonda would like to show his gratitude to the Telugu film lovers for making LNS a hit. A huge rally is being planned from Sathenapally to Guntur on that day. It may be learnt that Medikonda held a success function of 'Narasimha Naidu' on Tankbund in January 2001. Bellamkonda Suresh is planning something similar to celebrate the success.

Malliswary audio on 27th January
Audio of Venkatesh's latest film 'Malliswari' (The Princess) is going to release on 27th of January 2004. Shooting of the film is complete except for a song. The unit is planning to shoot the remaining song in Bangkok. Venkatesh and Katrina Kaif are doing main roles. D Suresh Babu produces this film on Suresh Productions banner. Gajala is doing a special song in this film.

13th January 2004

Mahesh again in Vyjayanthi
Mahesh Babu is going to act in Vyjayanthi banner, which introduced him as full fledged hero with Raja Kumarudu. This film is going to be directed by Guna Sekhar who directed Mahesh's Okkadu and is currently directing 'Arjun' is going to direct this venture. This film is expected to start in the month of November 2004.

Big heroes prefer Munnabhai in South
We reported in the past that Anandi Arts has bought the South Indian remake rights of Munnabhai MBBS for a staggering amount of 1.75 crores. Chiranjeevi is expected to play the Telugu version. Kamal Hassan is going to do Tamil Version. Mohan Lal is doing Malayalam version. As per the unconfirmed reports, Telugu version might be directed either by Jayant C Paranji or Vijaya Bhaskar.

Asin with Venkatesh
Asin is going to play the female lead in the Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster 'Kakha Kakha'. Venkatesh would play the main role. Venkatesh is playing the role of a powerful cop. Venkat Raju and Siva Raju would be producing this film on Geetachitra banner. This film would go to floors on 18th January 2004.

10th January 2004

Good publicity for Lakshmi Narasimha
Producer Bellamkonda Suresh is leaving no stone turned for the release of his latest film 'Lakshmi Narasimha' with Bala Krishna as hero. He is printing the biggest size ever photo cards (publicity material that is kept in showcases of cinema halls) and he is also giving a huge laminated photo frame of Bala Krishna standing in police attire as compliment for each print. In Sudarshan 35mm (Hyderabad), a huge cutout of Balayya is erected 4 days before release of this film (click here to see that cutout).

100 trailers for '6guru Pativratalu'
EVV is planning to 100 trailers for his songless film 'Aaruguru Pativratalu' that introduces 42 new faces. Production is complete for this film. Dubbing and Mixing is going on. Aaruguru Pativratalu is going to be released in the first week of February. This film would be a message oriented film in the lines of 'Aame'.

Ex Mr. India in PK's film
AV Rao - a 7 times ex-Mr. India- is acting in an important role in Pawan Kalyan's latest film (Gudumba Shankar). This bodybuilder is basically from Bangalore and he made screen debut with Chiranjeevi's Kannada film 'Sipai'. He acted with Nagababu in Kannada hit film 'Habba'. Now he is acting with Pawan Kalyan in his latest film.

8th January 2004

Saami director's Telugu film
Hari - who shot to limelight with the stupendous hit of Saami in Tamil - is going to direct a Telugu film soon. Bellamkonda Suresh who is currently producing the remake of Saami as Lakshmi Narasimha in Telugu is going to produce this film on Sai Ganesh banner. Hari is currently doing to a film in Tamil titled 'Arul' with Vikram as hero.

Sumudra impresses Ramoji Rao
Samudra is given an offer by Ramoji Rao to do a film on Usha Kiron Movies banner. It is learnt that Ramoji Rao spent 45 minutes of his time over telephone to listen to Samudra's narration. This film is going to be an out and out mass film. Polur Ghatika Chalam is providing story. Prabhas is being considered as hero for this film.

Kamal's Pothuraju Cheppinattu
Telugu version of Kamal's latest film is titled as 'Pothuraju Cheppinattu…' Kamal Hasan is directing this film with himself and Abhirami in main leads. Ilayaraja provides music. It's a rural story and an ox play an important role in this film. A few fights canned for 'Maruda Nayagam' are used for this film.

7th January 2004

Tagore function postponed
The 100 days function of Chiranjeevi's Tagore which is expected to be held on 11th Jan amidst glamour and gracious presence of Rajnikanth and Big B is postponed due to BJP's meet. This BJP's meet would be attended by Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Chief Ministers of 7 states and 26 Union Ministers. The entire police force of Hyderabad is supervising this meeting. Hence the police expressed their helplessness in providing security of 100 days function of Tagore. Chiranjeevi wanted to make sure that the fans are protected well while the function take place. Hence he gave a green signal to postponement of Tagore's 100 days function. This function would be held either on 18th January or on 25th January.

Mahesh Babu's Naani in last week of February
While speaking to press today at Arjun's temple set, prince Mahesh Babu said that recording of 5 songs is completed for Naani so far. AR Rehman would be completing the composition of remaining two songs in a couple of days. Mahesh said that its been his dream to work for a film composed by AR Rehman and he is extremely happy with the output. The audio of Naani is expected in the month end of January and the film would be releasing in the month end of February.

Uday Kiran in dual role
Uday Kiran is currently playing the dual role in the film produced Visalkshmi Films. This film is tentatively titled as 'Brothers'. Ankita is playing the female lead in this film. Ravi, who manages dates of Uday Kiran, is making his debut as director. Vakada Anjan is producing it.

6th January 2004

Chantigadu complete 50 in 32 centers
BA Raju's film Chantigadu has become a big hit among the small films. It is all set to complete 50 days in 32 centers. BA Raju is arranging the 50 days function on the festive day of 14th January 2004 by inviting the bigwigs of Telugu film industry.

Rakshita charges 10 lakhs for special song
Heroine Rakshita seems to be becoming the item number heroine. We have already reported that she is currently doing an item song in Lakshmi Narasimha and would be doing another item song in Anji with Chiranjeevi. When approached by Bellamkonda Suresh, it is reliably learnt that she asked for 10 lakhs for a 4-days callsheet that is meant for a song shoot in Vijayawada. The producer paid that amount and the shooting is on now!

LNS censoring on 8th January
Bala Krishna's Lakshmi Narasimha is all set to go for censoring on 8th January 2004. This film would be censored without one song that is being picturised on Bala Krishna and Rakshita now. This song would be censored seperately. Jayant is currently supervising the editing work of 'Lakshmi Narasimha' at Sabdalaya studios.

Varsham to be remade in Tamil
S Gopal Reddy - famous cinematographer - has bought the Tamil remake rights of MS Raju's Varsham. He would be remaking after the release of Telugu Varsham. He would be producing a period film with NTR as hero on Durga Arts banner very soon. The story of this film would be based on the events happened in 1947.

5th January 2004

Venky in New Zealand
New Zealand seems to have become the hottest spot for canning Telugu film songs. The tourism board of New Zealand has given a beautiful presentation to Telugu film producers about the facilities offered by their government to the filmmakers. Looks like its working. We have seen the Bala Krishna and Asin returning from NZ on 4th Jan after canning a couple of songs. Recently Venkatesh and Katrina Kaif went to NZ to participate in the song-shoot of Vijaya Bhaskar directed 'Malliswari'.

Chiru impressed with Sathyam film
Chiranjeevi has recently seen Sumanth's latest hit film 'Sathyam'. He has got very much impressed by the film and with the performance of Sumanth. He personally congratulated Sumanth for fabulous display of histrionics. Chiranjeevi also went on to share his happiness over Sumanth's performance and Sathyam's success by airing an interview on a private Telugu TV channel.

Ravi Teja as 'Teja'
Ravi Teja is going to be unveiled in a film titled 'Teja'. This film would be directed by a debutant director Mehar Ramesh, who worked with Puri Jagan in the past. He also directed 'Veera Kannadiga', the Tamil version of Andhrawala. Kishore - son of producer KC Sekhara Babu - produces this film. This film would go to floors on 15th of February 2004.

4th January 2004

Megastars for Tagore function
Chiranjeevi's Tagore created unbreakable record by running for 100 days in 192 centers. The Mega Stars of Tamil and Hindi film industries - Rajnikanth and Amitab Bachchan - would be gracing the 100 days function of sensational hit 'Tagore' by Mega Star of Telugu 'Chiranjeevi' on the evening of 11th of January 2004 at 5 pm. This program would be aired live on MAA TV. The heroines who perform at this event include Rekha, Charmi, Nikita and Neha. Mani Sharma would organize the musical night as Shankar Mahadevan lends his vocal chords. Dance master Lawrence would also perform sizzling dances. Rhythm Media that successfully held lots of filmy events in the past is organizing this event.

Rakshita in LNS?
As per the unconfirmed reports, Rakshita is signed in for a special song in Bala Krishna's Lakshmi Narasimha which is expected to be shot amidst crowds in Vijayawada from 6th of this month to 10th. With the shooting of this song, the film would be completed. Lakshmi Narasimha is all set for the release on 14th January 2004.

Anji release confirmed on 9th January
Anji film is set for a simultaneous international release on 9th January 2004. This film Has Namrata Sirodkar pairing with Chiru. Reema Sen, Rajya Lakshmi and Ramya Krishna did a special song each. This film sports 44 sets. And it deals with the concept of Shivalingam and Akasa Ganga. It has a backdrop of forest. Chiranjeevi is said to have given 400 days as callsheets for this film that involves 3-D animation and heavy visual effects. Chiranjeevi has a gang of kids around him while he makes adventures to protect Akasa Ganga from villains. Shyam Prasad Reddy produces this film and Kodi Rama Krishna directs this venture.

90% of ADD completed
90% of shooting of 'Andaru Dongale Dorikithe' (ADD) is completed. The film is currently being shot in Kerala for a special episode. Nidhi Prasad is directing this film which sports Rajendra Prasad, Prabhudeva, Kiran Rathod, Ankita, Naga Babu. Harsha Reddy is producing this film on Geo Media banner. Audio of this film is expected in the 1st week of February and the film would be releasing either in last week of Feb or first week of March.

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