Banner: Nimbus Motion Pictures
Cast: Sai Balaji, Swetha Agarwal, Manoj Bidvai, Kanchi Kaul
Music: Anand Milind
Lyrics: Veturi
Writer: Posani Krishna Murali
Producer: Akash Khurana, Harisha Thawani
Screenplay - Direction: Suresh Krissna
Probable release date: January 2003

Synopsis:

Idhi... Ma Ashokgadi Love Story (This is Our Friend Ashok's Love Story) is a story of friendship, fun, nostalgia, romance, and traditional values.

It is the story of Ashok and his friends who take a light-hearted view of life, until Ashok meets Gauri unexpectedly and falls in love. They decide to take their relationship to its logical end. However, fate wills otherwise and the two go their own separate ways. As long as the two lovers were left to themselves, life was a bed of roses. However, the moment parents, career and societal differences became part of the picture, reality took over.

Ashok and Gauri meet once again. Their feelings for each other are the same, but circumstances have changed. A lot of water has flown under the bridge. Gauri is now engaged to Vinod. Ashok has a fledgling musical career in place. Suchitra, a choreographer who lives next door, has made her impression in Ashok's life.

The complex web of emotions that affects these relationships leads to the climax of the film.

Cast:

Siva Balaji:
Siva Balaji plays Ashok, the film's central character. Ashok is obsessed with music. Initially this obsession does not hamper him too much, bus as he meets and quickly falls in love with Gauri, his ambition comes in the way of his love. Until his friends catch up with him again…

Balaji has literally had no acting experience prior to his role in "Idhi... Ma Ashokgadi Love Story". In fact, he stumbled onto the role a little by accident. During the casting, Balaji was known to one of the screenplay writers who referred him to the director. Balaji impressed the director and the producers with his confidence and attitude and the rest, as they say, is history.

Prior to this, Balaji was a successful businessman with a gas cylinder monopoly in Chennai. But he was bitten by the film bug and was encouraged into it by his mother Aparna, who has been an actress as well. Balaji was helped by the fact that he is a brilliant dancer, having formally learnt dancing for some years

He now embarks upon an acting career and believes fully that he has the perfect launch platform in this film, which he believes will be a big success both with the critics and at the box office.

Kanchi Kaul
Kanchi Kaul plays Gauri, a simple girl with a strong sense of priorities in her life. She falls in love with Ashok but fate forces her to choose between the boy she loves and her family commitments. Abandoned by Ashok, she shows the strength of will to start re-building her life with her friend and confidante Vinod. Just when things hit an even keel again, Ashok re-enters her life…

Kanchi did not always want to be an actress. Following her convent school education, she took up microbiology in one of Mumbai's most prestigious institutions with an aim to enter the field of biotechnology. Before she finished her studies though, another interesting career option, in the form of modelling came her way.

She has modelled for products like Breeze soap, Ponds cream, Expression greeting cards, Pantene shampoo, Oyzterbay jewellery and Tata coffee. After this, she quickly graduated to movie roles as a flood of offers came her way..

Her first film, "Sampangi", directed by Sana Yadi Reddy was a commercial success and brought her critical acclaim as well. Since then, she has worked opposite the leading stars of the Telugu industry including Jagapathi Babu in "Family Circus", Navin in "Cheppalanni Undi" and her most recent release was "Shiva Rama Raju". Her first Tamil film is "Columbus".

She has a lot to look forward to with "Idhi... Ma Ashokgadi Love Story".

Manoj Bidvai
Manoj Bidvai plays Vinod in the film. Vinod is a talented music video director who helps Ashok get his music career back on track. He also becomes a perfect friend to Gauri at a point when she needs one the most. He soon falls in love with her and proposes marriage…

Manoj has been a successful fashion model, having worked with all the leading designers in the country over the past four years. He has also done a number of shows internationally including shows for Gianfrancco Ferre in Italy.

He has also modelled for a number of successful TV commercials and advertising campaigns with strong brands such as Haywards 5000, Proline, Aptech and Colours.

His acting career began on stage in theatre workshops and plays with K.K. Raina's Surnai Group and Satyader Dubey. He then went on to do an English play called 'Oh God' which ran recently on the Mumbai stage.

He has done a host of television serials with prestigious banners such as Balaji Telefilms and UTV. His credits include "Kutumb", "Kahin Kisse Roz", "Kuch Jhuki Palkein" and "Kalaash" amongst others.

Manoj has also recently completed "Valentine Days" for Ablaze Entertainment under the direction of Sameer Sabharwal.

"Idhi... Ma Ashokgadi Love Story" will be his first release.

Shwetha Agarwal
Shweta Agarwal plays Suchitra, a bubbly and vivacious choreographer who helps Ashok rebuild his shattered career by helping create magical music videos for his melodic songs. At first Suchitra and Ashok cant stand the sight of each other but gradually friendship blooms into trust and slowly Suchitra finds herself falling in love with Ashok…

Shweta started out being part of music videos. Her first video was for "Mehndi", a song by Vibha. She quickly followed up with videos for hit artists like Harbhajan Maan ("La La La"), Jazzy B ("Naag") and Phalguni Pathak ("Savariya").

Later, she graduated into doing TV serials, first by playing Aarti on Star Plus' "Shagun" and then playing Preeti in "Babul Ki Duaiya Leti Ja".

Her film career began with "Allari", a Telugu film directed by Ravi Babu. "Idhi... Ma Ashokgadi Love Story" will be her second release. Currently she is working on another film for director Suresh Krissna, which is as yet untitled and she is doing her first Tamil film called "Kiccha".

Crew

AKASH KHURANA - Producer
Dr. Akash Khurana is an Engineering Graduate from R.E.C. Rourkela with an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, and an M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His qualifications prepared him for a management career, which in fact he embarked upon, as an executive with TELCO. He took up a full time career in the media and entertainment industry in the late 1980s. He has acted in over 50 films, playing character roles in films such as Kalyug, Naam, Sarfarosh, and Company. He won the Nandi Award for playing the lead in the Telugu film Dr. Ambedkar. As a screenwriter he has written over 20 scripts, his best known works being 'Aashiqui' and 'Baazigar' (for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay). He is the Chief Operating Officer, Motion Pictures & Music, at Nimbus Communications Ltd. and is the Chief Creative Officer of the company.

HARISH THAWANI - Producer
Harish Thawani. an Economics Graduate from Bombay University, has over 20 years of experience in the media & entertainment industry. He has been associated with leading advertising agencies such as Lintas and Chaitra Leo Burnett and has also had substantive experience in the areas of marketing research and communication strategy. He is one of the eminent media & entertainment industry professionals and has in depth experience and abilities on all 3 sides of the business, i.e. creative, financial & marketing, and technology.

Mr. Thawani has received industry level recognition and he is an elected Director on the Board of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, the chairman of the FICCI sub committee for 'television content' and a member/co-ordinator of the IBF subcommittee for 'internet' regulatory recommendations.

At Nimbus, apart from heading the management team, he has been involved in the ideation, conceptualisation and execution of some of their most successful television projects.

He has been invited to speak at several global conferences and has addressed the AIC Global Television conferences twice as well as been one of the very few Indians to have addressed the NATPE Conference in the USA. He has also been invited to speak at FICCI conferences.

SURESH KRISSNA - Director and Screenplay writer
Suresh Krissna is today reckoned to be one of the most successful directors in South India. A Mumbaikar, he moved to Chennai in 1980 and has not looked back since then.

'Sathya' starring Kamal Hassan was one of Suresh Krissna's earliest hits. This was soon followed by a string of hits with the two superstars of Tamil cinema, Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan. The success of 'Annamalai', 'Badshah' and 'Veera' consolidated his position as a hit director. His impressive filmography in Telugu comprises movies such as 'Prema' and 'Dharmachakram' with Venkatesh, and 'Daddy' and 'Master' with Chiranjeevi. He made his foray into Hindi with the Salman Khan starrer 'Love' in 1991. This was followed in 1992 by 'Jagruti' starring Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor. His last was Rajnikanth's 'Baba'. He has had experience of working with newcomers before, as demonstrated in the highly successful 'Ahaa'.

Mr. G.V.G. Raju-Line Producer
Mr. G.V.G. Raju, of S.S.C. Arts, is the Line Producer of the film, controlling its entire production. He has a formidable track record in the Telugu film industry, having himself, under his banner, produced films that have received audience and critical acclaim, such as, 'Gokulamlo Seetha', 'Tholi Prema' (National and State Award Winner), 'Chirujallu', 'Preethsu Thapenilla' (in Kannada), and 'Ananda Mazhai' (in Tamil). He was also a Jury Member in the year 2000 for the National Awards, representing the State of Andhra Pradesh.

PRAVESH SIPPY - Executive Producer
Pravesh has been a producer on 8 Indian and International feature films, including the box-office smash 'Aaj ka Goonda Raaj' with mega-star Chiranjeevi. His credits include 'The Square Circle' (1997), a national award winner that was nominated by Time magazine as one of their Top-10 films for that year. Pravesh also enjoys the distinction of having guest -lectured at two of America's finest schools - Yale University, New Haven and University of Texas, Austin.

ANAND - MILIND - Music Directors
Anand Milind are composing for a Telugu film for the first time. One of the most prolific music director duos of today, Anand-Milind first came into the limelight for their soundtrack of 'Jalwa' in 1986. In 1988 Aamir Khan's launch vehicle 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' catapulted them into the top slot. The movie's soundtrack was a rage and it won them a Filmfare award for best music direction. This was followed by a slew of hits in the early 90s such as 'Dil', 'Beta', 'Bol Radha Bol', 'Anjaam', 'Laadla', 'Raja Babu', 'Coolie No.1', and 'Hero No 1'. Their more recent releases include 'Jaani Dushman' and 'Akhiyon Se Goli Mare'. 'Khullam Khulla Pyar Karen' is the next release. They have to date given music for over 125 films.

content courtesy: Nimbus Motion Pictures