Tollywood Celebrities !!

Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FroGT_6gYJI

 

Patna: A senior journalist with national hindi daily Rajdeo Ranjan was killed in Siwan on Friday by some unidentified assailants. According to sources, he was hit on the head and neck from point blank range. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors declared him dead.

According to the police, the motive behind murder is not clear as he had no personal enmity with anyone.

Read: Bihar: Two people detained for murder of senior scribe in Siwan

The police, however, on the basis of the eyewitness account, said that “motorcycle-borne criminals killed him on the streets of Siwan”.

Later in the evening after the incident, RJD chief Lalu Yadav who was campaigning for the by-election in the nearby locality visited his house.

Meanwhile, BJP senior leader and former deputy chief minister condemned the killing and demanded a speedy investigation into the incident. Mounting an attack on the chief minister, Hindustani Awami Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said, “Everyday people are being killed and Nitish Kumar keeps talking about good governance. Law and order system has completely failed in Bihar”.

The incident has sparked protests by mediapersons, triggering a shutdown in the areas.

Mr Rajdeo Ranjan, Siwan district chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, was fired at in Siwan district when he was going on his motorcycle near the fruit market on Station Road under Town police station at around 7:45 pm, superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar Sah said. Ranjan has been writing for a long time against law-breakers of the area.

Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), a journalist of a news channel, was gunned down by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district, the police said.

Mr Singh was attacked near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night, a police official said. A bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.

Probably, for the first time in history, the TDP, Congress and YSRCP have joined hands for a cause: defeating the TRS in the Palair by-poll.

The election was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA of Congress Ramireddy Venkat Reddy. The Congress is fielding his wife Sucharitha Reddy in the elections.

The YSRCP and TDP have decided to stay away from the fray as a mark of respect and decided to support her.

The TRS is fielding Tummala Nageswara Rao, a Kamma because there is a sizeable Kamma presence in the district. So, we are witnessing a rare spectacle in Palair of Congress, TDP and YSRCP cadre canvassing for the Congress candidate.

KTR is so confident of winning Palair that he has said he would resign if they lost. This is probably the best opportunity of the opposition parties to break the victory streak of TRS.

Congress has won Palair seat 11 times so far and Ramireddy Venkat Reddy himself won it twice. He also had a lot of support among the tribals. The polling is scheduled for May 16.

Many movie projects are undergoing changes in Tollywood. While director Vamsi Paidipally has backed out of Akhil's second movie, another director Boyapati Sreenu is trying for major additions in his next film.

Boyapati Sreenu signed to direct Bellamkonda Srinivas much before the "Sarrainodu" took place. As "Sarrainodu" has become a hit and the image of Boyapati has further increased with its success, the director now wants to make a big movie with Bellamkonda. But if the budget gets increased, it won't be viable with the two-movie hero like Bellamkonda Srinivas.

Hence he is reportedly planning to rope in a big star to do a lengthy guest role in the movie like what Allu Arjun did in "Rudhramadevi". Boyapati is reportedly now having discussions with several top stars to convince them to act in this movie.

Who would dare to share a screen space with a Bellamkonda?

Mythri Movie Makers that have debuted with blockbuster Srimanthudu are currently making Janatha Garage with NTR and Koratala Siva.

The producers have given advances to many other star heroes and directors. They are going to launch very big projects shortly. They were supposed to produce Akkineni Akhil’s second film too.

Vamsi Paidipalli who won accolades with recently released Oopiri is going to direct Akhil’s second film.

As per grapevine, Vamsi Paidipalli has given a budget estimate of 40 crore for Akhil’s film. The producers felt that it is too risky to invest 40 crore on Akhil, who is yet to prove his capabilities as a star.

Over spending on Akhil’s first film Akhil led to disastrous results as that film failed to collect 20 crore at the box office. So the producers weren’t ready to invest 40 crore on this film, instead they have asked the director to cut down the budget estimate to 25 crore.

The deal didn’t work out between the director and producers and hence Mythri Movies backed out of this project, says the buzz. Now Nagarjuna has to either find another production company or produce this film on Annapurna Studios.

Summer is here in the U.S. The festive season begins for all “Indian” organizations, after a dormant winter. Telugu/Telangana organizations are especially big into these celebrations.

There are at least seven nation-wide organizations (including an organization recently launched) that celebrate their conventions. And, of course, there are tens of local organizations in each city/state where the community is bigger and these local organizations do celebrate their festivities without a miss!

Here is a little background. All national Telugu organizations in the U.S. celebrate their biennial three-day conventions on a grand scale and they spend at least 2 – 2.5 Million dollars each, excluding their pre-convention kick-offs and competitions they organize in each big city for fundraising.

In addition to the organizations’ spending, guests also spend on their travel and stay as they have to travel from different places to the location where the convention is held. Almost all of us know how these conventions are held. Two of the Telangana organizations announced two “First” conventions this year, have to see if they will continue the tradition of others and celebrate annual/biennial conventions. 

Coming to the point why I am writing this is when I was visiting India and discussing with friends, I often heard that NRIs are “Non-responsive Indians”. I felt bad being one of the thousands of NRIs. Also felt sad because many of the NRIs do respond to the crises, they donate, they do fundraisers, and they discuss and debate in “social media” on the most burning issues. Some of them even travel to places and help the ground situations. But, after looking at this year’s drought and the way people are dying, looking the unresponsiveness from the most influential, affluent and highly educated “Organizations”, it feels like it is true that NRIs are Non-responsive Indians. 

All these organizations should think what is being achieved in these conventions. Taking the example of this year alone, there are 5 such conferences happening in the US, a small conference costing $ 500K and big ones spending around $ 2.5 Million each, altogether, they altogether would be spending anywhere between 10 Million to 12 Million dollars. One can imagine what all can be done with that kind of money. Each organization has “service” (seva) in their tagline. They really have to introspect how much percentage of their spending is on real “service” compared to the spending they do for these conventions. 

These conventions became the symbol of their existence for these organizations. Of course, celebrations are part of life, but why so many of them? Can’t all organizations come together and celebrate one big convention? All organizations invite the same political leaders (whoever is in power) and all of them invite almost the same film stars and there are several instances where these guests from India shuttle between these conferences, as all these happen at around the same time. 

These politicians became leaders and came to power, because our brothers and sisters back home voted for them, not NRIs. Those film stars became famous, because our brothers and sisters back home watched their movies. But, the same brothers and sisters back home are suffering, they are dying with drought and negligence, they are looking for help. It may not be the duty of these organizations to provide help, but at the same time, we don’t have any right to claim those leaders as ours and those stars as ours. 

Most of the NRIs are educated and saw a world bigger than people back home did. NRIs have to think out-of-the-box and provide necessary help to our own people. Sacrificing a mere three days of fun (normally, each convention is for three days), is not a big deal. Those film stars and politicians don’t’ lose anything if these organizations don’t bring them to U.S., but a family can live for 1 year just with the price for one business class ticket you provide for those stars and politicians. At least, 5–10 students can pursue their education for whole year, just with the price one ticket you buy for those guests. 

By the way, what do those film stars and politicians do by attending these conventions? They come to these conventions, appear on the stage for a maximum of 5 -10 minutes, that’s all. But, these organizations publicize them for almost 6 months. They enjoy their vacation with your money, they are treated with red carpet, and I don’t think they have this kind of treatment even in India. What is the return on investment for these organization? Answer is, leaders of these organizations get selfies with stars and politicians to post them on social media!! 

True, it is very true. These conventions are a big hoax. Out of the three days, day 1 starts as a banquet, which is a trumpet blowing event for their leadership and “big” donors. Day-2 is all about having each one a session of their “interest”, you hardly find people attending these sessions, unless a celebrity is in there. Day 3 is all about a “Prime-time” show, where all stars are on stage for a few minutes. There were instances where fights broke-out at food stalls, because the supply is less. What do the attendees of these conventions do? Half of them come and meet their friends and relatives at one place, they drink, eat and play within their hotel rooms, the other half come and go through the vendor booths to buy clothes and jewelry. It is time, even the people attending these conventions to re-think and find out where they want to spend the money they are spending. 

All NRIs speak foul about politics and how divided we are as a country. But, why do we need these many organizations in the name of Telugus. Fine, since the state is divided back home, having one for each state is justified, but why so many? If one agrees or not, these organizations are divided by caste, looking at the names of their leadership will tell you the facts. Within the caste, if somebody is not elected into the leadership, they start a new organization. How long will it go on? 

Every organization has “Culture” and “Service” in its tagline. We really have to introspect what contributions these organizations are making to promote “culture” here in the U.S? How many next generation kids even understand what a “Telugu Festival” is? I am sure, these organizations will extinct with the “First” generation immigrants, there are no takers from the second generation, they very well know how divided these people are and what actually these organizations do. Some of the organizations have more leaders than members in them, if you see any of their press releases, you will realize that the content of the press release is buried somewhere inside a huge list of “same” names in every press release. 

Coming back to the situation back home, it is really heart wrenching to see the news of people dying due to lack of water. Not everything can be done by government alone, there is also so much that all of us can do. One phone call to a person outside of Hyderabad will explain you the ground situation in our villages and towns. Isn’t it our responsibility to react? If not doing anything, at least, can we standby them instead of celebrating when our brothers and sisters are in a pathetic situation? Why can’t we show an example by canceling a celebration (convention) and try to show some solidarity by asking all your members to donate that convention amount to a charity back home? 

Even though, all NRIs are not part of these organizations, fortunately or unfortunately, they represent all NRIs because they are the ones going to the media and claiming to be the representatives of all NRIs. So, having these organizations non-responsive, all NRIs are becoming Non-Responsive Indians. Also, on the positive side of having one or two of these organizations is, they are doing extremely good work, even in the case of unfortunate events such as somebody dying here in the U.S. A couple of organizations do a brilliant job in sending bodies of the deceased and helping out the families with any medical problems. 

But it is time these service motives and spirit are extended to the whole range of activities that the organizations do. Time for the charity and ‘culture’ of solidarity with Telugus extended to the less privileged sections of our own people back home. Time the dubious label of ‘Non-Responsive Indians’ is peeled off and we become one with the last man in need back home. 

a

She is the wife of one of the reigning Tollywood superstars. She has been playing a vital role in the career planning of the star.

Most of the star wives choose to remain out of their husbands careers, but she knows how the industry works and therefore taking utmost care about getting everything perfect for her husband.

Earlier she used to involve only in the matters related to money and the career assignments of the star. Of late she is involving even in the trivial issues related to the movies of her husband.

If the buzz is to be believed she does not trust anybody in any matter. She assigns a job to a person and appoints someone else to see that this person gets the job done.

Even the people who used to have all time accessibility to the star hero are no longer allowed to see him until ‘she’ gives the permission.

People are being troubled with her overenthusiastic behavior, but couldn’t do anything about it as they cannot afford to strain their relations with the star hero. It is good to be caring and see that her husband reach greater heights.

Probably she should leave certain things to the people who were experienced and take care about the projects that her husband signs up.

Despite her professed sartorial unpreparedness, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan picked the perfect dress for her first red carpet appearance at Cannes this year on Friday.

The 42-year-old star shimmied down the Croisette in a metallic sheath overlaid by a sparkly floor-length cape.

It was a brave choice for Aishwarya, who rarely experiments with her look ? not least because the dress was created by Kuwaiti designer Ali Younes, not Elie Saab, Roberto Cavalli, Armani or any of the other couturiers Ash has worn with great success in the past.

Massively busy with her new film Sarbjit, Aishwarya has had little time to prepare for what is a Cannes milestone for her - this is the 15th year she will be at the film festival.

Pre production work of Megastar Chiranjeevi’s comeback film is going on at a brisk pace. Rockstar Devi Sri Prasad is on board for this film. Music sittings for this film were started and Chiranjeevi was present on the first day of discussions with DSP.

Other music directors too were considered for this film but Chiranjeevi wanted the numero uno music director Devi Sri Prasad for this iconic film. Ram Charan the producer of this film made sure to have the best in the business for this special mega film.

This film will start rolling shortly and will be completed within six months. The makers are targeting Sankranthi release as of now.

Vinayak and his team are getting the story board ready. Meanwhile the hunt for the heroine is still on. Buzz has it that Anushka is the frontrunner for bagging it.

The name Meher Ramesh sends chill down the spine in NTR's fans as the director has delivered biggest dud in Young Tiger NTR's career with "Shakti".

Both NTR and Ileana starrer "Shakti" and Venkatesh starrer "Shadow" were directed by Meher Ramesh that  put the producers in huge losses.

After these movies, Meher Ramesh lost all opportunities in Tollywood as many producers who have given advance amount to him have backed out seeing his messy direction in those movies.

Two years later, the director is back in spotlight with the commercial ad of Ramakrishna Venzia, a realty company in Vijayawada that featured Mahesh Babu as brand ambassador.

With this ad, he has resurface on the scene of filmmaking and he reportedly also pooled in some producers for his next big movie. So Meher is back. 

Guntur: Ever since they burnt down two bogies of the Ratnachal Express, every political party is trying to play to the Kapu gallery now and this might actually work out to the community’s advantage.

Elections for the Guntur Municipal Corporation are scheduled to be held after the Krishna Pushkarams.

The YSRCP has already decided that it will field a Kapu candidate for the post of Mayor and is scouting for an appropriate person. This has put the TDP in a spot of bother as the Party has several contenders from the Kamma community, prominent among them being former TDP floor leader Yaganti Durga Rao who has already made his intention clear of vying for the top post.

If the TDP decides to counter the YSRCP by opting for a Kapu candidate too, it could leave several of its party men disgruntled. Maddali Giridhar of the TDP also has already declared his intention of contesting for the Mayor post. It’s clearly not going to be an easy decision for the TDP.

Acclaimed director Sekhar Kammula has been out of action for a while. His last film was Anamika with Nayanatara, a remake of Bollywood hit Kahani. Anamika was a failure and Sekhar Kammula took a long break after that.

As per our sources Sekhar Kammula is going to start his next film shortly. Mega hero Varun Tej who is fondly called as Mega Prince by mega fans will feature in Kammula’s upcoming film. Ace producer Dil Raju will be producing this film on Sri Venkateswara Creations.

Sekhar Kammula has reportedly narrated this story to Ram Charan but Mega Powerstar is not so impressed with it. Sekhar approached Varun Tej with the same script and the lanky hero liked it.

Varun Tej is currently doing Mister with Sreenu Vaitla. Going by his choices it looks like this young mega hero has belief in experienced campaigners.