Allu Arjun's Sangeet Ceremony Pics : Exclusive

Some fun moments between Rana, Priya Anand, Navdeep & Madhu Shalini during the skit.

Skit : Ram Charan recommending Rana (Bunny) to Shekar Reddy garu (Sunil).
(Shekar Reddy - Sneha Reddy's father).

Rana Gives Nod to an International English film

Rana Daggubati is currently looking forward for his two releases Nenu Naa Rakashasi and his debut Bollywood film Dum Maro Dum, which are slated for release in the month of April. Meanwhile, the tall and handsome hunk has signed up an International English film.

Rana says, “It's an English film. I shot the promo for Aditya Bhattacharya's ("Rakh" fame) film. The process is quite different from here as first the promos are made and then they go to the studios. By this year end or early next year I might start shooting the film."

Rana says he is currently busy in finalizing the scripts of a couple of Tamil-Telugu bilingual films. Well, Glue to this space for more details.

RaNa ileana in Nenu Na Rakshasi Stills

Rana on South Scope Cover Page : Exclusive

Ileana threw Rana into trash bin

He was desperate for her. He spent crores of rupees to impress her. He even helped her financially opening the boutique in one of the costly areas of Hyderabad. No more clues needed as 'He' implies to Rana and 'Her' implies to Ileana in the context. Though it may not be a surprise that Rana has done more than needful for Ileana fostering their relation, final result is that she is no more the tall man's girl.

It is heard that once Ileana managed to launch the outlet, she went out of reach from the coverage area of Rana. It was 'Nenu Naa Rakshasi' that brought them close to each other and dismal result for Rana is neither the movie released nor Ileana fell into his net. Strong gossip in film circles is that Ileana for now is worried more about reconstructing her career with 'Shakti' because hopes of her comeback with 'Nenu Naa Rakshasi' are almost crashed.

Instead of getting more into the bad books of gossip mongers by remaining close to Rana, Ileana appears to have preferred to stay close to 'Shakti' for a while. Forget about catching the Ileana personally outside, it has become a big task for Rana even to get her on mobile or SMS. Daggubati hero’s plan to find the first girl friend backfired and Ileana literally has thrown him into trash bin after using him for personal benefits.

Rana Going Crazy After Ileana!

Rana desperate for Ileana? The answer seems to be yes and that too from the mouth of Ileana herself. Having wrapped up her bit in ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’ and proceeding to Ooty to be part of Shankar’s ‘3 Idiots’, Ileana posted like this in her twitter.

“Rana..working with you was loads of fun. Gonna miss the madness”. Saying this, she has revealed Rana has fallen for her. After getting the opportunity to pair up with Ileana in ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’, Rana has been floating in air and news was making rounds on how he spent lakhs and lakhs of rupees trying to fulfil all wishes of Ileana and impress her.

Finally, the expenditure of Rana started working. We don’t know whether she is missing Rana or the costly gifts he gave her but Ileana has openly admitted that she is missing the madness he had for her.

Gautham’s next film with Rana and Samantha

Samantha is bagging some of the most prestigious projects one after the other. Currently she is working in Dhookudu with Mahesh Babu and her next project is with Pawan Kalyan in V.V Vinayak direction.

Latest of these is she is pairing up with Rana Daggubati. Her debut director Gautham Menon is directing the film which will be romantic one. The film will take its clap soon.

Now the discussions in progress are the pair will not be that apt because there is rarity in the height.Rana who is 6 feet and Samantha with a medium stature will not be that attract when seen together.

Seems like Samantha is the favorite heroine of the director as she is working in another project with Gautham in Tamil.

Clash between tall hero and sexy heroine

It is not often that one sees clashes between hero and heroine in the Telugu film industry. Even if they do happen, they are kept under wraps for obvious reasons. Now, a grapevine is making rounds that Daggubati Rana may be having few issues with his co-star Ileana. While some are saying that it has to do with discipline and professionalism, others are saying that it is having an element of ego clash as well. Both are working for the film 'Nenu Naa Rakshasi' under the direction of Puri Jagannadh. But then, unit members are saying that all this is just a rumor and everything is going just fine. As for the skirmishes, that is part and parcel of any film shooting.

Rana's ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’ back from Venice

The team of the film ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’ is back from Venice after finishing a 10-day overseas schedule on October 20.

The crew comprising of Rana Daggubati, Ileana, Ali and Mumait Khan were present for the schedule in abroad. Two songs and few scenes were shot in the beautiful locations of Venice.

The producer of the film says “Puri Jagannath always maintains unique titles for his films, and same happened with this film too. The title seems very strange and rare.The title itself creates lots of enthusiasm for every viewer to watch the film. The scenes shot in foreign locations were quite good although we spent a short schedule abroad. The movie comprises of commercial standards and at same time will be excellent entertainer”

The film is directed by Puri Jagannath and produced by Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji) under the banner of Lakshmi Narasimha Productions.Viswa is contributing the tunes for this flick, while art direction is done by Chinna and cinematography by Amol Rathod.

Rana under Puri Jagannath’s direction!

We are going to report you the interesting news that action director Puri Jagannath and ‘Leader’ hero Rana are going to join hands for a new film soon.

Though some of the news makes rounds that Rana will be acting under Surender Reddy’s direction, the confirmed news is that he is going to do Puri’s film.

The movie is to be produced by Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji) for Lakshmi Narasimha Productions and the shooting will commence from September. As said before his bi-lingual with Selva Raghavan was put off, this film will be Rana’s second film in Telugu. Stay tuned for more updates on this film.

Rana in Ram out for Surender Reddy’s film!

Some time back it was reported to our viewers that director Surender Reddy’s film which was titled as ‘Oosaravelli’ in the beginning and later changed to ‘Ram and Genny’ with Ram and Genelia in the lead roles was shelved due to some reasons.

Now the latest news is that hero Ram has been replaced by ‘Leader’ fame Rana and the former title ‘Oosaravelli’ has been finalized for this film. This will be second film for Rana. The movie will be producing by Nallamalupu Bujji. The other details will be announced soon.

Leader Movie Review

 

Movie: Leader
My Rating: 3.5/5  
Banner: AVM
Music: Mickey J Mayor
Cinematography: Vijay C Kumar
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Producers: M Saravanan and MS Guhan
Direction: Sekhar Kammula
Cast: Daggubati Rana, Richa Gangopadhyaya, Priya Anand, Subba Raju, Harshavardhan, Kota Sreenivasa Rao, Ahuti Prasad, Tanikella Bharani, Suhasini, Suman etc
Release Date: 19th Feb 2010

Review

Story

Chief Minister Sanjeevayya (Suman) gets killed in a landmine blast. His son Arjun Prasad (Rana) descends as next CM but after a series of political games with his opponents and power greedy Dhanunjay (Subba Raju). Arjun’s paternal uncle (Kota) also moves against Arjun.

Arjun is idealistic in nature and wishes to change the rules of political system in the state. How far is he successful? What is the method he has chosen to make that change? How people react to that? Who helped him in his cause? How enemies try to put an end for him? All that forms the story.


Artists Performance:

Rana deserves right encomiums for his portrayal. He has underplayed the role as per the requirement. His voice and diction are good. If he concentrates better on working out expressions, he will be a promising actor.

Richa Gangopadhyaya is like a sheer poetry in some scenes. The credit goes to costumes department and also cinematographer.

Priya Anand looks good but her role is not fitting into the narration.

Subba Raju, the antagonist, played histrionics very well and up to the mark. Harshavardhan is perfectly in tune in his role as protagonist’s yes-man. Rao Ramesh made his presence felt even with his small role. Kota Sreenivasa Rao is serious. Director would have used him better with some satirical and humorous dialogues, as audience expect in general. Udaya Bhanu arrested the eyes of audience with her item number. Others are ok.

Cinematography is good. Music and RR are marvelous. It’s really the RR (Re-Recording) that brought emotional grip to narration.

Highlights:
Take off with landmine attack on CM
Udayabhanu’s glamour dose in item number
In first song, where Rana visits every slum and every corner to understand the society, is good. A scene where Rana leaves a cloth for a woman through water, reminds a bit from Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’.
Rana’s dialogue about his willingness to die after dealing with Rs 1 Lakh crore scheme brought claps in theaters.
Old man’s dialogue with Chief Minister about his daughter

Memorable Dialogues Those Attracted Claps And Whistles:
Tanikella: “Ivaala nijayiteega pani cheyyadamantene tyagam chesinattu anukuntunnaaru”
Rana with Gollapudi: “Meeku 70-80 yellu undochchu. Meeru gandhini taaki undochchu. Nehruni ee kallatho choosi undochchu. Mee anubhavam, chaduvu antaa avineetiki dhaaraposaaru. Postunaaru….meeru unte entha ..oodithey entha??”
Old Man with Rana: Aadapillaki nyaayam cheyyaleni CM unte entha oodithey entha?

Disappointments:
Priya Anand’s character seemed to be waste. The film would have run better without her character.
DI problems were seen here and there those marred the clarity of picture on screen
Suhasini’s death and funeral scenes are very weak

Final Analysis:

It’s a sincere effort by the director to sketch the present political scenario in independent India. He has chosen the theme of corruption by politicians as main curse to system. Many films have come on corruption. And it’s a different version.

The film also delivers some idealistic ideas of smoking out black money from public to avoid making the state indebted to World Bank et al.

Everything is fine. But in this drama where there are many political technicalities are involved, there are chances that the director may lose mass audience, although he impresses the audiences those think.

The director has taken many cinematic liberties; those make audience look at each other’s face for finding lack of conviction. And some clearly evident mistakes:

When Chief Minister dies, only men come to visit his dead body. When Chief Minister’s wife dies, only women come to visit her funeral!! Howzzat??!! What’s that gender discrimination?

The son of CM walks on roads and no one identifies him in today’s world where media is so rampant. Can anyone imagine YS Jagan or Lokesh walking on roads and none identifying them? That’s not convincing. Director would have shown that the son of CM is going into masses in disguise.

Leader minus heroines’ track would have been the best product. Director would have told better things those go with the main theme in the minutes wasted for so-called romance track. With little care, the film would have become something in the standards of ‘Sarkar’!!

There are many moments in the film where the director touches the hearts of audiences and pulls tears from eyes.

First half of the film catches up pace since the beginning scene and gives a captivating feel by interval. Audiences found themselves meditatively pulled towards the screen. That’s the magic created by the director. And that magic leaves the audiences expecting something great in second half. The pace goes with ups and downs but something promising appears immediately after old man scene.

The scenes run faster from then and culminate into climax in idealistic tone. It’s a sincere effort by director with his understanding. Audiences connect to it connecting the movie to the present political conditions.

The film certainly pulls huge crowds due to the image procured by the director with his previous film ‘Happy Days’. The content in the movie appeals for B and C center audiences as well, if they connect that to present political conditions and watch. On a whole it’s a sincere and good product.

Leader Release Postponed Again!

Daggubati Rana’s debut film ‘Leader’ movie which was slated for a release on Feb 11th is now postponed to Feb19th due to the distribution problems. Allu Aravind’s Geeta Arts has bought the rights of ‘Leader’ film all over A.P except Vizag and Ceeded areas.

The movie is directed by the hat-trick director Shekar Kammula and is produced by M.Saravanan, M.S.Guhan, Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan under the AVM Productions banner. This is 174th film for AVM Productions. Mickey J Meyer has composed the music and Thota Tharani is the art director and production designer. Richa Gangopadhya and Priya Anand, new comers, are starring as heroines.

Geetha Arts Acquires 'Leader' Rights in AP

The mega banner ‘Geeta arts’ seems to be going high these days. Geeta Arts that has bagged the several big budget films rights has now bought the rights of Daggubati Rana’s ‘Leader’ film. The banner has earlier acquired Avatar which is a biggest hit, Pawan Kalyan’s ‘Komaram Puli’ and Mahesh-Trivikram’s latest film.

According to sources, Geetha Arts has made this deal with AVM Productions and Suresh Productions for an undisclosed amount. If sources are to be believed, the mega banner has asked the producers of the film, AVM productions to postpone the film’s release so that the film would be promoted highly and will be able to release in best theatres in the state. Taking all these issues into consideration, the final date of its release will be informed soon.

‘Leader’ In Copy Right Controversy

Shekar Kammula’s directorial ‘Leader’ with Rana as a debutant is landed with copy right controversy. Writer Shiva, who works in film industry, claimed that the basic idea behind the story of Leader is his own and he also filed a complaint in writers association against director Shekar Kammula and has demanded a compensation of Rs.25lakhs.

On the other way Shekar Kammula refused with his statement and said, “ I need not to lift somebody else story to make my film. I still have number of concepts in my brain for my future projects. If, I agree to pay even a single rupee it proves that I really copied his story “.

”While the ongoing Andhra-Telangana agitations are severely affecting the film industry, this kind of claims will further ruin the producers,” he added.

Daggubati Rana To Act With Abhishek?

The young star of current tollywood, Daggubati Rana, even before the release of his debut movie, ‘Leader’ got hold of a golden chance to act in bollywood. Rana is supposed to co-star with Abhishek Bachchan in Rohan Sippy’s drug racket in Goa movie.

Although Farhan Akhthar and Emran Hashmi were considered for this role earlier, Rohan Sippy has confirmed the news Rana Daggubati is finalized for the role.

According to the sources, Rana’s character in the movie is a Goan musician and his role is going to be as powerful as that of Abhishek Bachchan’s role. Rana’s debut movie ‘Leader’ is all set to release in this 8th, January.

Rana's 'Leader' On Dec 21st

His campaign has already begun, as the film's promos, teasers and the recently released audio  announce. The film will finally come before the audience on the 21st of December, almost on the eve of Christmas and New Year. As everyone knows, Leader is directed by Shekar Kammula, who has a niche for himself in Telugu films.

The audio was released recently and though the songs have not yet grown on the liteners, their popularity is expected to bolster once the film releases. The film is being closely watched by industry observers because it is not only coming up with a political theme, but also has a plot that sees its protagonist hold the biggest post of Andhra Pradesh - Chief Minister. (Hey CM! is a song from the album)

Richa Gangopadhyay and Priya Anand are the heroines in the film. It is rumoured that in the film, Rana grows to immense popularity in political circles and his opponents plot a conspiracy to rot his public image.

Art is by Thota Tarani and cinematography is by Vijay C Kumar. Mickey J Meyer is the music director.

Some Scenes Removed In 'Leader' Movie!

After Blockbuster Happy days, Shekar Kammula is coming with Leader. RaNa is being introduced as

Hero with this film. The second trailer of the film was rejected by censor since Shekar Kammula used real voices of MLA's. It is unclear yet whether real time MLA's voice can be used inthe film or not. Now there was news that the director is planning to delete those scenes and change some of the political scenes in the movie to avoid further controversies. Already Leader fought against a controversy when a petitioner at the Film Chambers claimed that the title was already registered. Now the makers changed it to AVM vari Leader.

'Leader' Movie Trailer Rejected By Censor Board

The most talked about movie of the season has become ‘Leader’ and the reason for that is, it marks the debut of Daggubati Rana, son of Daggubati Suresh and grandson of the movie mogul Ramanaidu as the hero. Also, the film is directed by none other than Sekhar Kammula.

This is slated to be a political thriller and now there is news that the censor board members have rejected the second trailer of the film as well. Apparently, the film is said to have the voices of few leaders in the assembly and notable among them happens to be that of the late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy.

Sources reveal that the censor members felt it would hurt the sentiments of the people given the appeal YS has got among the masses. However, it is not sure what the context of the scene is and whether it was positive or negative.

Rana's 'Leader' Release On 24th Dec

Rana, grandson of Dr. D Rama Naidu, is gearing to lead the screens with Sekhar Kammula directed “Leader” While the prolific producer and filmmaker Rama Naidu has played his part in film making in a brilliant way, its now time for Rana to prove his genes of being the grandson of Dr. Naidu who has already peeped into the Guinness book of world records.

After directing the youthful blockbuster ‘Happy Days,’ Sekhar Kammula has now pinned hopes on “Leader,” perhaps a slight deviation this time from his regular family entertainers. While there are hopes of the film is release by 24th of December, the audio is expected to play by the end of November.

Bannered by AVM Productions, it credits four names as its producers- M. Saravanan, M.S. Guhan, Aruna Guhan and Aparna Guhan. Richa Gangopadyaya and Priya Anandh are Rana’s female co-stars. Thota Tharani has looked into the art, Vijay Kumar has cinematographed it while Mickey Mayer has added the music scores.

Others who have had a contribution as members of the cast are Suhasini, K. Srinivasa Rao, T. Bharani, Harshavardhan, R. Ramesh, Subbaraju and the list continues.