Gopichand Malineni to direct Naga Chaitanya!!!!

Naga Chaitanya seems to have signed up a bunch of projects and the actor is offering his dates for the couple of films simultaneously. His 100 % Love and Dream Lover are in the final leg of preparation. He also has Bejawada Rowdilu and Autonagar Surya that will start rolling its camera soon.

On the other hand, there is a buzz that he has signed up a new film with director Gopichand Malineni of  Don Seenu fame. Venkat of R.R.Movie Makers who produced Malineni’s Don Seenu will produce this film too. If everything goes well, the film will start rolling its camera from the month of May. Gopichand Malineni is currently involved in the script work of his next directorial Body Guard with Venkatesh in the lead.

Siddharth, Dil Raju’s O My Friend on sets

Siddharth, Shruti Haasan’s tentatively titled film O My Friend has kicked-off its shoot from today. Hansika and Navdeep will also be seen in vital roles in the movie. Debutant Venu Sriram will handle the megaphone for the film and Dil Raju is producing it on Sri Venkateshwara Creations banner. Venu Sriram has earlier worked in direction department in Dil Raju’s films.

O My Friend is Siddharth’s second film with Dil Raju after the mega hit Bommarillu and also his second flick with Shruti Haasan after the recently released film Anaganaga O Dheerudu. As the title says, the movie is said to be based on the value of friendship.

Prabhas Mr.Perfect song

Hansika joins O My Friend team

Hansika, who has been currently busy with the shooting of Kandireega has signed up a new film, but this time the actress has given her nod for the second female lead role. It is known that Siddharth and Shruti Haasan are playing the lead roles in Dil Raju’s next flick tentatively titled as O My Friend. Now, Hansika has become the part of the film to play the second fiddle to Shruti.

Apart from her Kandireega, Hansika also has a couple of films in Kollywood. O My Friend will be directed by a debutant Venu Sriram and produced by Dil Raju. The pre-production works for the movie have already begun and O My Friend will soon start rolling its camera.

Shruti Haasan in Nitya Menon Out!

It is known that Dil Raju has planned a film with Siddharth in the lead role with a title O My Friend. Initially, Amrita Rao has been roped in as the female lead role in the film but the lady walked away as she was not satisfied with the new cost-cutting measures and rules suggested by the Tollywood producers council.

Later, Nitya Menon has been considered for the role. However, the actress has been now replaced by Shruti Haasan. Siddharth and Shruti have already paired up for Anaganaga O Dheerudu. Though the film failed to score success at the Box-Office, the chemistry between the lead pair was appreciated. O My Friend will be directed by a debutant Venu Sriram.

Nitya Menon to cast opposite Siddharth

A hit with a debut film is what every actor and actress dreams off, while stepping into the film industry and Nitya Menon is one such actress, who has struck gold with her debut flick Ala Modalaindi. Nitya has been appreciated for her acting skills and talent.

As per the sources, Nitya Menon is being flooded with offers in tollywood after her debut film release. The latest buzz is Nitya Menon has signed for Siddharth, Dil Raju’s tentatively titled flick O My Friend, which was launched yesterday. O MY Friend is her second film with Siddharth first being 180, which is currently in its filming.

On the other hand, there is also a buzz that Nitya is being considered for the female lead role in Autonagar Surya with Naga Chaitanya.

Gaganam - Movie Review

Film: Gaganam
Cast: Nagarjuna, Prakash Raj, Bharat Reddy, Brahmanandam, Ravi, Poonam Kaur, Sana Khan, Talaivasal Vijay, Melkote and others
Dialogue: Umarjee Anuradha
Cinematography: K V Guhan
Produced by: Dil Raju
Banner: Matinee Entertainments
Story, screenplay and direction: Radha Mohan

What’s it about!

A terrorist group hijacks a star-jet airplane from Chennai.  The plane, with 75 passengers and crew, is brought to Tirupati airport on an emergency landing. A minister, a leading actor, a doctor, a father, a small kid and her family from Pakistan and a father are among its passengers. The terrorists demand their important leader Yosuf Khan be released from the prison. Home secretary Vishwanath (Prakash Raju), National Security adviser and other top bosses also come down to Tirupati to negotiate with the terrorists. National Security Guards officer Ravi (Nagarjuna) is also brought in. But government refuses to take commando operation immediately although Ravi insists on doing. Succumbing to terrorists’ demands, the government releases Yousuf Khan but he gets killed in a road accident when he is being brought. Now the drama starts, how do Ravi and his team accomplish their mission and frees the passengers from hijackers?

Analysis

This is the first time that a Telugu movie is completely focused on a Hijack drama from first frame to the end. Not just that, Gaganam is different in many ways and moreover a very racy movie. Although the movie stars Nagarjuna, it doesn’t have songs, nor does it have physical fights for the star. It is content driven, screenplay based movie. Genre specific movie.

Director Radha Mohan (who won appreciation for his earlier movie, Akashamantha) puts together a tight narrative and does not give in to the temptation of stuffing the film with either songs, or separate comedy track. At the run time of about 2 hours, the movie doesn’t slack at anytime. Though it starts off rather unenthusiastically but it hooks you to the story as the movie progresses. Second half is riveting.

The movie takes inspiration from Kandhar hijack episode, and several Hindi movies including Zameen (2003), yet the director has presented in novel way. The interval twist, the drama in the second half, climax sequences and a satire on our ‘shining stars’ are best segments of the movie.

On the down side, it has unnecessary track between Sana Khan and a newcomer, and some superficial dialogues.
 
Performances

Nagarjuna in the role of a NSG commando is pillar to the movie. His stellar performance and dignified looks have brought authenticity to the role. He also looks lean and charming.

Prakash Raj has not much lengthy role but he brings his experience to the character.  Bharat Reddy as assistant to Nag, Ravi as pilot, Poonam Kaur as air hostess and Harsha Vardhan as reporter are good and perfect to their characters. Vijay as Colonel plays vital role. Sana Khan has little to do in the movie. Scenes involving Brahmanandam as film director evoke some laughs. Pridhvi as film actor okay but his character is best satire on our real life film stars.

K V Guhan should be showered praises for imaginatively putting the camera as the story revolves either in interiors of plane or an office room. Shot on digital Red Camera, Guhan has come up with some innovative angles. Most part of the story runs in the inside environs of a plane or in the office of airport. So it is tough job for a cameraman to show variation. Guhan comes as winner. The other technician who should be commended for his work is art director. The set of airplane (erected at Ramoji Film City) is almost like real. Background score is alright. Dialogues by Anuradha are okay.

Director Radha Mohan scores in direction and screenplay. He handles the dramatic sequences with ease and maintains the curiosity throughout the movie, not sidestepping from the main plot. Production values are on superior range although it is low budgeted movie.

Bottom-line

Gaganam is different movie and is racy hijack drama. Nagarjuna’s charming performance, director’s narration in the second half, and short run time are its strength. It may cater to niche audiences, but all those who crave for good cinema would definitely appreciate it. 
 
Rating: 3.5/5

Big Producer staring at heavens for money

The release of Gaganam on February 11th brought a cheerful smile on Nagarjuna. Despite having a Star Hero, Big Producer and Talented Director, the release of the film got delayed 6 times. While the drawback in Gaganam is that, it was not made from a beaten formula story but from an experimental hijack concept. 

Despite Dil Raju’s bad failures in recent times including the break even 'Brindavanam', insiders sense low confidence of this man on success of 'Gaganam'. This could be the possible reason golden spoon producer is apprehensive running the mathematics on laptop staring at heaven to find the horizons. Calculations have gone awkward many times in history and all of sudden some failure concept movies also won the gold at Box Office. Need less to say, the efficient casting and hi-fi Hollywood range of direction with solidly cut trailers, we need to wait for February 10th till the premier shows in four cities of Andhra Pradesh.

Siddharth’s new film to be launched tomorrow

Siddharth’s new film with producer Dil Raju is all set to see its launch tomorrow. This is the second film in the combination of Dil Raju and Siddharth after the mega hit Bommarillu. Venu Sreeram will mark his debut in Tollywood with this film. He has earlier worked in direction department in Dil Raju’s films.

The movie will be launched with a Pooja ceremony tomorrow while the regular shoot of the film commences from 21^st February. There has been a buzz that the film has been titled as O My Friend. However, Siddharth says the film hasn’t been titled yet.

“Muhurat of my new film with Dil Raj, Venu Sriram and my brother Vijay Chakravarthi is  launching tomorrow. It’s not titled yet! Don't believe the rumors,” twitted Siddharth.

Nag's Gaganam Cencor Report Clean U, Premiere Show Details

Nagarjuna's ‘Gaganam’ under Dil Raju’s production acquired clean ‘U’ certificate and is all set to hit screens on February 11th. It is an experimental film directed by ‘Aakasamantha’ fame Radha Mohan. The story is based on the hijacking of an Indian Airlines Plane to Kandhahar in December 1999. The major part of the film was shot in the special designed plane sets. Some important scenes were also canned in Himachal Pradesh. ‘Gaganam’ is a bilingual film and the Tamil version is titled as ‘Payanam’. Besides playing an important role, Prakash Raj is also producing the Tamil version. Other prominent stars are Brahmanandam, Poonam Kaur, Sana Khan, Harshavardhan, Ravi Prakash, etc.

Premiere Show

premiere of Nagarjuna’s Gaganam three days before the release. He is going to arrange a special premiere to the press and media on the night of 8 February. There will be premieres for industry people on the night of 9 Feb. Then the unit (Nagarjuna, Dil Raju, Prakash Raj and others) will travel in a chartered flight to Sangam theater in Vizag at 10:30 am for morning show. Then they will visit Geeta Apsara theater in Rajahmundry for 1:30 pm. The unit will go to Annapurna theater in Vijayawada at 4:30 pm. Then they will return to Hyderabad to attend a 4-screens premiere in Prasads multiplex during the time of first show. The second show premiere in Hyderabad will take place in Cinemax. it cost almost 10 lacs to hire a chartered flight for a day for the promotion of Gaganam film.

Mr Perfect In Post production Works

Prabhas and Kajal Agarwal starring movie Mr Perfect completed its shooting and under going post production works . Dil Raju is producing the movie under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner ,while ‘Santhosham’ fame director Dasarath is directing the movie. Dil Raju pin pointed that MR.Perfect audio will be released soon.

While briefing about the story he said "‘Mr Perfect’ was developed from a point while he was in a casual chat with his friends.This is a family cum youth entertainer. We have tried a new look on Prabhas”.

Devisri Prasad is composing music for MR.Perfect movie.Taapsee is playing female lead role in this movie. Prakash Raj, Dr K Vishwanath, Murali Mohan, Dr Brahmanandam, Kasi Vishwanath, Nazar, Master Bharat, Raghu Babu, Raja Ravindra, Benerjee, Duvvasi Mohan, Tulasi, Rajitha, Pragathi are other cast of the movie.

Amrita Rao walks out of O My Friend

Dil Raju has roped in Athidi fame Amrita Rao for his new film titled O MY Friend opposite Siddharth. However, the actress who gave her initial nod for the film has now walked out of the project.

The reason behind this is, the new measures taken by the producer’s council. As per the new cost-cutting measures, actresses will not be provided either 5 Star hotel accommodation or any other luxuries. Though Amrita has liked the storyline and concept of O My Friend, the actress declined the offer saying she couldn’t work without such luxury facilities. Dil Raju is again, in search of a new lady for the film.

Siddharth's O MY Friend Kicks off from Feb

Siddharth has signed a new film with Dil Raju, which is tentatively titled as O My Friend. The latest news is that the movie is all set to commence its shoot from the third week of February. O My Friend will be directed by a debutant Venu Sriram and Amrita Rao of Athidi fame might play the female lead in the film.

As of now, Siddharth is currently busy with the shooting of his forthcoming film, titled 180 with Priya Anand and Nitya Menon as female leads. On the other hand, Dil Raju is busy with the promotion of Nagarjuna starrer Gaganam, which is slated for a release on 11^th February.

Brindavanam box office collections

Young Tiger NTR starrer film Brindavanam has opened with a positive talk. Regardless of the talk the film is running great at the box office. The fans of Jr.NTR were very much impressed with the new look of the hero and are keen in watching the film for the second time. The film later on picked up at the cash counters. The film has managed to rake in whopping collections at the box office.

Young Tiger NTR’s Brindavanam two weeks collections breakup as per the region wise:

Nizam      8,02,54,067

Ceded      5,47,60,905

Nellore    1,02,94,521

Guntur     2,03,06,074

Vizag    2,15,04940

Krishna   1,36,10,705

East    1,25,00,000

West    1,20,00,000

Karnataka      3,67,04,074

Overseas    4,96,98,000

Orrisa,North India   69,00,000

TamilNadu     31,85,33,286

Area wise Collections

Vizag City    90,64,511

Vijayawada City   64,00,000

Ongole      26,37,000

Bangalore Movieland    16,50,000

Guntur   32,54,000

Nellore    26,94,570

Kadapa   34,50,000

Ananthapur  38,00,000

Kurnool   31,51,872

Kakinada    25,79,494

Rajahmundry    27,27,414

Eluru    23,54,670

Madanapalli   27,29,104

Guntakal    11,60,000

Adhoni     17,80,094

Mr.Perfect schedule in Ooty from Nov 18

Handsome Hunk Prabhas is currently on his upcoming flick Mr. Perfect. Kajal and Tapsee are the female leads for Mr.Perfect.The film has completed the latest schedule in Hyderabad and is all set to move to Ooty for its next schedule.

The shoot in Ooty will start from November 18 and will continue till the end of the month. Earlier to this schedule the movie has completed its overseas schedule in the beautiful locations of Australia, Malaysia, Kerala and Ahobilam.

The team is making all the efforts to screen the film for Pongal. Dil Raju is the producer for the film and Dasarath is directing the film.

Nagarjuna’s 'Gaganam' Releases in Nov

 

Nagarjuna’s upcoming film ‘Gaganam’ is going to hit the screens only in the 3rd week or end of Nov.The producer of the film Dil Raju earlier said that the film will be releasing on Nov 5th as Diwali gift but made a sudden change in the release date.

If he is making a release right away he needs to face competition from the big films like Robo, Brindavanam and ‘Rakta Charitra’ in which one movie is his own production.

Nagarjuna is playing the role of a commando in this film. Nag considered as a romantic hero in Tollywood doesn’t have heroine in this film, which sounds very interesting.

The film is releasing in both Telugu and Tamil. The Telugu version is produced by Dil Raju in Telugu and Tamil version by Prakash Raj. The film is directed by ‘Aakasamantha’ fame Radha Mohan.

Prabhas On screens for Pongal

Young Rebel star Prabhas who made a lover boy appearance in Darling, is busy in shooting of his next project. Right now the flim is scheduled in Nanakramguda.

According to the sources the team will be traveling to Ooty on Nov 7th for the next schedule which is for 20 days. The flick is making all its efforts to hit the screens on January 14th as Pongal gift.

The director of the film is Dasaradh and Dil Raju is producing the movie under Sri Venkateswara banner.

Prabhas’s ‘Mr Perfect’ to be released as Pongal gift

It is well known that young rebel star Prabhas is busy shooting for Mr Perfect, which is directed by Dasarath and produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner. Two beautiful actresses Kajal and Tapsee are playing the lady loves of Prabhas in this film.

The shooting of the film is almost completed and the post-productions works will began soon. Dil Raju is planning to release the movie as a Ponal gift. Earlier Prabhas’s blockbuster hit Varsham was also released as a Pongal gift, keeping this sentiment in mind the producer is planning to release ‘Mr Perfect’ on the eve of Pongal again and repeat the same magic.

After the completion of this project, Prabhas is expected to take part in shooting of ‘Rebel’, which is going to be directed by Raghava Lawrence.

Brindavanam Movie Review

Movie: Brindavanam
My Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Sri Venkateswara Creations
Music: S Thaman
Cinematography: Chota K Naidu
Art: AS Prakash
Fights: Ram - Lakshman
Producers: Dil Raju
Story,Screenplay & Direction: Vamsi Paidipally
Cast: NTR, Kajal Agarwal, Samantha, Prakash Raj, Srihari, Kota Sreenivasa Rao, Brahmanandam, Venu Madhav, Ajay, Tanikella Bharani, Praneet Reddy, Raghu Babu, Ahuti Prasad etc
Release Date: 14th Oct 2010

Review

Story

Krish (NTR) is the only son of a multi-millionaire industrialist and his girlfriend is Indu (Samantha). Indu’s friend is Bhoomi (Kajal Agarwal). Bhoomi’s father (Prakash Raj) forces her to get into wedlock but she wants to continue her studies. Hence she lies to her father that she is already in love with a guy and her father wants to meet her boy friend. Indu asks Krish to act as boyfriend of Bhoomi. The rest of the story is all about what happens in Brindavanam (Prakash Raj’s house).

Artists Performance:

NTR: NTR who is known as huge mass hero came out of his image to do a character that doesn’t have his usual roughness to it. He is very good as a lover boy and a lovable son. He has also made sure that there are ample fights and a few mass dialogues for his fan-base to enjoy. NTR should be appreciated for doing the pre-climax scene. He again proves to be one of the best dancers in the industry.

Kajal Agarwal is nice. Samantha who played prim, proper and individualistic Jessie in YMC played a glamorous role in this film by wearing western outfits. She is cool. Prakash Raj does his usual father role with panache. Srihari is very good in an important role. Brahmanandam is hilarious as dupe father of NTR. Ajay looks dashing as villain, Tanikella Bharani and Kota Sreenivasa Rao are excellent. Venu madhav, Mukesh Rushi, Raghu Babu & Ahuti Prasad are adequate.

Director Vamsy Paidipalli did enough home work this time. His efforts can be fructified. To say something trivial, Vamsy Paidipalli proved that he has good taste for women. Not just the heroines, even the side dancers looked beautiful in dances (especially in village song). Glamour quotient is maintained through out the film even with female character artistes.

Highlights:
Dialogues by Koratala Shiva
Art work by Anand Sai
Fights by Ram-Laxman

Technical Departments:

The story of the movie resembles a few similar themed films like Bavagaru Bagunnara and Allugugaru Vacharu. There also traces of Bommarillu in Prakash Raj’s characterization. Vamsi Paidipalli has proved his calibre as a director who knows how to make stylish, action films with his debut Munna. The action sequences in this movie are also well conceived. Vamsi has also did well in entertainment department in the second half of brindavanam. However, he couldn’t get it right when it comes to emotional/sentiment scenes. He tried using typical Karan Johar kind of sentiment where each and every character in the movie has moisturized eyes either due to happiness or sadness. The senti/emotional scenes are artificial in the movie. But the screenplay is properly formatted to cater to all sections of audiences.

Music by Thaman is good on screen when combined with the visuals. Background music is nice. Dialogues by Koratala Siva are neat. Cinematography by Chota K Naidu is excellent. I liked the way he has shown the vehicles with a clear sky behind. Editing is smooth. Art direction by Anand Sai is good. Ram - Laxman’s fights are enjoyable. Production values by Dil Raju are good very good.

Final Analysis:

First half of the movie is adequate. Major part of the second half is entertaining. Climax of the movie is debatable. The plus points are NTR and entertainment in second half (from interval to the 5th song of the movie). On the flip side, the story of the movie gives us deja vu feeling in many aspects and the emotional part should have been natural (instead of appearing forced). Brindavanam is a decent and clean movie with enough ingredients to make it work at box office. It is up to NTR to get a range for the movie.

N.T.R is under pressure due to ‘Brindaavanam’ release

‘Brindaavanam’ is ready for release tomorrow; Jr.NTR chose to express his feelings on his twitter account.  The star actor wrote, “God I have never been so nervous. ‘Brindaavanam’ releases tomorrow.”

The reasons behind his nervousness are that the actor had only one release earlier in 2010, ‘Adurs’ in which Jr.NTR’s played a dual role. Although Jr N.T.R performance appreciated, the film failed at the box office. So he is eager to score a hit this year, other reason for being nervous could be the way Rajnikanth’s ‘Robo’ has been running successfully across Andhra Pradesh.

‘Brindaavanam’ will have to compete with this futuristic film. One thinks the biggest reason why Jr.NTR could be so nervous is because he has gone for a complete image make over with ‘Brindaavanam’. He plays a soft urban character unlike his previous dare devil roles. It will be interesting how the audiences might receive their star in such a role.