Director Jeeva passes away

Popular Tamil director Jeeva died of a heart attack in Moscow , Russia , yesterday, June 25. He was 44.

He had gone to Russia for the shooting of his new film, Dham Dhoom.

Jeeva started off as a camera assistant and later, become a cinematographer. He worked with Tamil director Shankar in films like Gentleman, Kadhalan and Indian. He has also worked in Hindi films like Hulchul, Baghban and Hera Pheri.

Jeeva turned director with 12B and Ullam Ketkume. His recent release Unnale Unnale was a hit.

His body is expected to be brought back to Chennai on June 27 for the final rites, the sources said.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Niluvave remix in Lakshyam

ANR’s song ‘Niluvave Valu Kanuladaana’ (Illarikam) is being remixed and shot for Gopichand’s forthcoming film ‘Lakshyam’. Mani Sharma composes music. This song is shot on Gopichand and Anushka. Srivas is making his debut as director. Nallamalupu Bujji produces this film. Audio of Lakshyam is expected to release on 10 June. Lakshyam film will release either in the last week of June or in the first week of July.

Sivaji Vs Dasavataram

Directed by Shankar and produced on the banner of AVM Productions with Rajanikanth and Shriya in the lead, 'Sivaji' is termed to be a prestigious film on that banner.

There was a big talk that the film was made with the highest-ever budget of Rs 70 crores and would create a record in the south Indian film industry.

However, it is reliably learnt that 'Dasavataram' of Kamal Hasan is also being made with similar budget of Rs 70 crores.

According to the producer of 'Dasavataram' Oscar Ravichandran, they had already spent Rs 55 crores on the film and it needs another Rs 15 crores to complete the movie.

It is well aware that Kamal Hassan was portraying 10 different roles in the flick and one among them is the US President.

Another speciality of the film is that the technical crew that worked for 'Titanic' is working for this movie.

NTR to build temple to his grandfather

May 28 is the birth anniversary of Viswa Vikhyata Nata Sarvabhouma, Nata Ratna, Padma Shri, Dr Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao. On that day, not only all his family members but also his fans worldwide pay rich tributes to him.

Though everyone remembers him in various ways, it was not just the case with his grandson NT Ramarao Junior. He not only bequeathed his attire, but also continuing his legacy in the filmdom.

He showed his love, affection and devotion towards his grandfather in a different way and in his own style. He bathed the idols of his grandfather NT Ramarao and also his grandmother Basava Rama Tarakam at NTR's birthplace Nimmakuru.

He lauded his grandfather in many ways and informed the visiting film journalists that he would construct a temple for his grandfather. Besides NTR, Gudivada MLA Kodali Nani, Sukumar and others participated in the meeting.

Lakshyam audio by the end of this week

Nallamalupu Bujji is making Lakshyam for Lakshminarasimha Productions in the direction of Sri Vaas. Gopichand, Anushka, Kalyani are doing lead roles in the film. The unit of Lakshyam met the press today at Ramanaidu studios.

Hero Gopichand thanked Bujji for entrusting such a good story for him. 'Sri Vaas is a very good director. He knows exactly what he wants. I got totally involved in this project after hearing the first half of the script. Also, Suresh Babu being a part of the project gave me full confidence that it would be a perfect film. There is always a positive feeling right from the beginning of this film. And I am sure that this film has the best music among my films so far released', said Gopichand.

Raghu Babu who is playing a key role in the film commented that he noticed a spark in Sri Vaas during the time of Murari when Sri Vaas was working as assistant to Krishnavamsi. Heroine Anushka also expressed her confidence in the film. 'This is not a running around the trees role.. but has good scope for performance', said Anushka. Suresh Babu said that though he was not really into listening to this script, he got totally impressed during the narration.

Audio of the film will be released soon, probably towards the end of this week.

'AMAV' continues to top the Box Office

Venkatesh's winning streak continues this week with "Aduvari Matalaku Arthale Verule" topping the list again.

The top five Telugu films this week are:

1. "Aduvari Matalaku Arthale Verule" - Though this comedy looks like an unlikely creation for Sri Raghavan, it promises a busy season for the serious filmmaker.

2. "Aata" - The great chemistry between Siddharth and Illeana keeps the film going strong at the box office. Producer M.S. Raju and director V.N. Aditya break their jinx with a moderate hit.

3. "Munna" - After a good opening, the film may be sliding a bit at the box office. But Prabhas' looks, Ileana's oomph, lilting music and slick action stand "Munna" in good stead.

4. "Dhee" - Director Srinu Vytla's strength lies in lacing his stories with laughs. The formula clicks once again with the film bringing Vishnuvardhan back into the reckoning.

5. "Bhookailash" - Comedian Venu Madhav plays the main lead in this tale, which is about a farmer who becomes a millionaire overnight due to a real-estate boom.

'Yamadonga' in action scenes

Directed by SS Rajamouli and produced by Cherry and Urmila Gunnam on the banner of 'Viswamitra Creations' with NTR, Priyamani and Mamata Mohandas in the lead, Padma Shri Dr Mohanbabu in the prestigious role of Yamadharma Raju and senior artiste Khushboo as his wife, is presently busy in canning action episodes.
So far, some action scenes were shot in specially erected huge set at Ramoji Film City. Presently some more action scenes and some chasing scenes are being choreographed in Vizag.
It is reliably learnt that all the action scenes are very important in the movie. This is the hatrick film in the combination of NTR and Rajamouli.

Venkatesh's movie in brisk progress

The shooting of a film being directed by young director Boyapati Srinivas and produced by D Sureshbabu on the prestigious banner of Suresh Movies with Venkatesh and Nayanatara in the lead is going on a brisk pace.
It may be mentioned here that Venkatesh was injured while participating in the shooting of the film some time ago. Following this, the shooting was temporarily postponed.
Later, Venkatesh has become busy with the shooting of 'Aadavari Maatalaku Ardhale Verule' on the banner of Sri Saideva Productions. After the release of the film, again Venkatesh returned to his home production's flick 'Tulasi'.
Though the title of the film was not yet officially announced, it is reliably learnt that the unit had confirmed this as the title.
The shooting of the film which is presently going on at a brisk pace is likely to hit screen in September. One had to wait and watch whether Boyapati Srinu, whose debut film 'Bhadra' was a hit, could succeed in his second attempt or not.

'Dubai Seenu' to release on June 7

Directed by Sreenu Vaitla and produced by DVV Danaiah on the banner of Universal Media 'Dubai Seenu' with Raviteja and Nayanatara in the lead is all set for release soon.
Speaking on the occasion, producer DVV Danaiah says, 'We are planning to release our film 'Dubai Seenu' with 225 prints across the State on June 7. It is well aware that 'Venky' which came in the combination of Sreenu Vaitla and Raviteja was a big hit. We are confident that this movie would repeat the history and would be a very big hit. Raviteja's role in this film is a mass character and is a total entertainer. Likewise, Nayanatara not only filled the glamour slot but had good scope to perform. Moreover, Sreenu Vaitla's recent film 'Dhee' was a big hit, and our recent release 'Desamuduru' was a blockbuster. Hence there were lots of expectations on the movie and we are sure that we will reach the expectations. We are confident that 'Dubai Seenu' would be another big hit on our banner.'

Reason for Shivaji Delay

This is about Shivaji, sources in Chennai claim that, the actual reason for the delay in the movie release is not the post-production work but the business problem, which has not been done. The reason behind this they cite is that a ruling party politician’s son was reportedly interested in buying the rights of the movie and offered a sum of 85 crores, which the producers declined and said they would be able to do business to the tune of 120 crores and explained in what way it was possible - as the first 2 weeks the ticket prices could be hiked to 180 Rs.

So the politician’s son, immediately got a rule passed by the government that the ticket price in Tamil Nadu shouldn’t exceed 40 Rs., this happened in January and regarding this issue, there was a problem in the release of Tamil Pokiri also.

Now at that prices, the distributors are hesitating to buy the movie and Rajnikant is away to Himalayas for meditation, and the producers are in a fix as their price is not coming up to their expectation and they don’t want to under sell the film, hence delaying the movie umpteen times.

The voice behind Shriya in Sivaji

Cinema is an unusual place for a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the BITS, Pilani, to be in but Kanika says she finds the place
very interesting. She started her acting career as the heroine in Susie Ganesan's Five Star, a film produced by Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies. And now she lends her voice to Shriya in the Rajnikanth starrer Sivaji. Earlier, the actress has also dubbed for Sada in Anniyan.

She done a movie with Srikanth(Ottesti Cheptunna). Earlier reports came that shriya voice is dubbed by sandhya. But that rumor mills are shut down with this.

Director @ 21

AVERAGE age of a debutant director in Tollywood is 30 years.But here is a guy named Suman Pathuri, with no filmi background,is going to director a Telugu commercial film at a tender age of 21. He is from Sanjose,CA and well trained in film making at Academy of Art University,San Francisco.Eariler he worked as co-director for Vennela. A New lead pair will be introduced in this movie produced by Ram K Reddy,Ravi Pendekanti, Prasad Dasari on Out of the Box films banner. Kishore(remember Khadar in Vennela?),Ravi Varma will be seen in other important roles. Sirivennela pens lyrics and Mahesh Shankar (Flavors,Vennela fame) scores music.The film will begin its regular shoot in 3rd week of July.

Okka Magadu Audio in August

Nandamuri Balakrishna starrer YVS Chowdary's Okka Magadu is currently shooting in Rajahmundry surroundings. It will take 3 weeks to complete this schedule.Key scenes(showing Balayya in a different getup) were picturised in this schedule. Simran,Anushka,Nisha kothari were heroines in this cinema as Mani Sarma is taking charge of music. Audio release will be in August Also planning to release movie in Septembe.

'Desamuduru' to celebrate 125 days function soon

Directed by versatile director Puri Jagannath and produced by DVV Danaiah on the banner of Universal Media 'Desamuduru' with Allu Arjun and Hansika Motwani was released recently and was proved to be a blockbuster.

The film is going to complete 125 days successfully in the next few days. Chakri's melodious music turned a boon for the film.

Performance of Allu Arjun, Chakri's music, Puri Jagannath's directorial abilities turned pillars for the success of the movie.

Producer DVV Danaiah had decided to celebrate 125 days function by the end of May.

'Veduka' to hit screen on May 31

The audio of 'Veduka' directed by Jitender Y and produced by Ponnamaneni Venkateswara Rao on the banner of Akshaya Films with Raja, Poonam Bajwa in the lead, which was released recently is getting a positive response.

The producer held a meet to reveal the release date.

He says, 'Anoop gave melodious tunes to all the songs. The success of the audio had hiked the expectations on the success of our movie and we believe that as a good omen. The way the characters of Raja and Poonam Bajwa were moulded was quite different and would be very attractive to the audiences. I wish the film would give a good break to Raja. I compliment our director Jitender for moulding 'Veduka' in an attractive way.'

Director Jitender says, 'The audiences had a habit of welcoming different movies. I believe that our film 'Veduka' would give a new experience to the audiences. The entire film is quite interesting and would do complete justice to the title.'

'Lakshyam' shoots action scenes

Action scenes are being choreographed for 'Lakshyam' produced by Nallamalupu Srinivas (Bujji) on the banner of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Productions introducing Srivasu as director with Gopichand and Anushka in the lead.

Presently the film is being shot at Victoria Memorial School in Dilsukhnagar of Hyderabad, where some action scenes are being canned under the direction of fight master Vijay involving Gopichand and some other fighters.

It may be mentioned here that the recent film of Gopichand, 'Okkadunnadu' was proved to be successful.

The success of the film had increased the expectations of the forthcoming film 'Lakshyam' of Gopichand among the audiences as well as in the industry circles.

'Jayam' Ravi debuts in Telugu

'Jayam' Ravi and Vishaal are two young heroes in Tamil who are of Telugu origin. Almost all the hit films of the former were remakes of Telugu blockbusters, the most recent one being 'Nuvvustanante Nenodantana'.

For a long time, 'Jayam' Ravi and his family were planning to make a direct film in Telugu to establish his box office marketability here in Tollywood. Finally, time has come.

'Jayam' Ravi won Tamilnadu state government's Kalaimaamani award this year. Naturally, he is jubilant for having achieved such an honor so early in his career. Now comes his first film in Telugu. 'Aggiramudu' is the most likely name of the film. In all probabilities, his elder brother, Raja might direct this. Search is now on for a heroine.
Meanwhile, the actor is most likely to get married before the end of this year. His family ahs already started looking for a bride for him.

Rajamouli to direct Ramcharan Tej

Ram Charan Teja, son of Padma Bhushan, Mega Star, Dr Chiranjeevi, is presently busy with his debut film 'Chirutha' directed by versatile director Puri Jagannath and produced by C Aswinidutt on the banner of Vyjayanti Movies.

After completing his first film, he would play hero in a film to be produced by Allu Aravind on the banner of Gita Arts. According to sources in Film Nagar, Ram Charan Teja would work in the direction of SS Rajamouli, which would be his third project.

By that time, Rajamouli's home production 'Yamadonga' would also come to an end. This shows, how Ram Charan Teja is meticulously planning his career, with the first film from a versatile director like Puri Jagannath and third film with a dynamic director like Rajamouli, who did not face any kind of flops in his career.

Being the son of a Mega Star, there will be lots of expectations on him in the audiences in general and Mega Star and Power Star fans in particular.

It is not that easy to reach their expectations and hence these many precautions in choosing his directors. All the best Cherry!

Athidhi 4th song shoot begins at RFC

New schedule of Mahesh Babu’s Athidhi has begun on Tuesday, May 22, 2007. A duet is being canned at a specially erected set at Ramoji Film City. Raju Sundaram who has choreographed all the three songs earlier is composing steps for this song too.

Directed by Surender Reddy and produced by Ramesh Babu on Krishna Productions Pvt Ltd, Athidhi is romantic action drama. Manisharma is scoring the music. Bollywood heroine Amritha Rao is making her Telugu debut in this film.

NTR and NTR together in Yamadonga

As Reported earlier NTR lent his voice for a song in YamaDonga. Here are few more snippets about that song and the film. This song is on NTR and Mamata Mohandas in the film. And in real, NTR and Mamata Mohandas gave their own voices for this song. Mamata Mohandas is already familiar to Telugu audience with her voice (she sang Rakhee.. Rakhee song in NTR's Rakhee). This song has 4 stanzas (2 charanalu 2 pallavulu) and is filmed in 4 sets. The song is completed recently at Padmalaya studios.

• Confrontation scene between Yamudu (Mohanbabu) and NTR. This scene is supposed to be another highlight in which NTR will say a lengthy dialog that will leave the audience stunned.
• Also, some extraordinary graphics were added to this film. As sources say, NTR will be on screen with legendary NTR in graphics. Earlier similar graphics were used to show legendary NTR in the film Kalisundaam Raa. It is of no doubt that fans will go crazy with this type of highlights in the film.

SS Rajamouli is the director. MM Keeravani is the music director. Mohan Babu is playing the role of Yama dharmaraju while Rajeev Kanakala plays Indra.