Her innocent smile can just brighten up your dull day. She was a State level athlete and a National level Football player, one may even wonder if this is the secret behind her wafer thin structure. Hailing form the Mangalorean Catholic community Geenu is known to us all as a girl of sugar and spice. Can you guess who the vibrant beauty is?
Well, today is her birthday and we can call her as the lady of young generation. Her mere presence on the screen can set fire to the hearts of the young men. Though her mother tongue is Konkani, she has acted in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and has also appeared in Kannada films.
The sweet beauty who we were referring to is none other than our own Genelia D'Souza! Although she made her debut in Filmdom with ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ she chose to be out of Bollywood for a while to concentrate on South Indian films. Genelia won the ticket to Tamil film industry with the movie ‘Boys’ by ace director Shankar. She made her Telugu debut with ‘Satyam’. Then she went on to act in films like ‘Happy’, ‘Samba’ and ‘Sye’, which raised her profile as one of the most sort-after actress down south. She then played the role of Haasini in ‘Bommarillu’ which was one of the biggest hits in her career and earned her wide recognition. It was later remade in Tamil as ‘Santhosh Subramaniam’ in which Genelia played the same character again and the movie became a big hit.
Though she was well set with South movies she never stopped trying her hand in Bollywood. She gave ‘Masti’ and ‘Mere Baap Pehle Aap’ which were a moderate success. Her final breakthrough in Bollywood was through the blockbuster, ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ in which her role has been widely admired for the sweetness, freshness, and new style of acting.
This chirpy girl who first hit the lime-light with a Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan is now the brand ambassador of the new Fanta and Cadburys Perk. Her latest release ‘Ready’ was a super hit and now she is busy with her Bollywood projects like ‘It's My Life’, ‘Hook Ya Crook’, ‘Yahoo’ and ‘Life Partner’.
Genelia’s positive vibes is considered to be her great plus and her charm allures the teenagers a lot. Surely she is a ball of energy and is born to make men crazy! (more...)
Genelia celebrates B’day on sets
Kajal-The new sensation of Tollywood!
Kajal Agarwal, has emerged as the latest heartthrob of Andhra youth with her romantic performance in Ramcharan movie Magadheera. Now she is all set to be Allu Arjun's heroine in Arya 2.
The actress who came up with a raw deal in her debut film Lakshmi Kalyanam of Teja soon picked up the techniques of Tollywood soil and has come to stay for longer innings. Kajal Agarwal too once said that she liked the acting prowess and dance skills of Allu Arjun.
Speaking about Arya 2, the actress said that she is excited about the movie and that she would give the venture her best. Can the girl turn a lucky mascot for Allu Arjun, after doing it for Ramcharan?
(more...)
Ravi Teja’s new film launched
A remake of Tamil hit Nadodigal, was launched today here in Hyderabad. Titled Shambo Shiva Shambo Ravi Teja, Allari Naresh, Shiva Balaji and Sunil play lead roles in this film.
Priyamani is the heroine while Abhinaya is playing another important character. Produced by Bellamkonda Suresh, the film is directed by Samudhirakani who also directed the original Tamil movie. (more...)
Vangapandu Attacking 'Magadheera' Song
A folk lyricist claims that the song written by him was used without his permission in the film Magadheera. ‘yem pillado eldaam vasthava’ is the line that comes in the song ‘paita naligithey ma amma oppukuntadeti’ that was shot on Kim Sharma.
The lines from ‘yem pillado’ are lifted from his song written for the movie ‘Ardharathri Swatantram’ directed by T Krishna in which R Narayana Murthy acted, claims Vangapandu Prasada Rao, the lyricist.
Keeravani, Rajamouli, Chandrabose and Allu Aravind are yet to respond to Vangapandu regarding this. (more...)
Just Ganesh completes shooting at Araku valley
Ram's Just Ganesh has recently wrapped up its shooting at the scenic locales of Araku Valley, Visakhapatnam. Starring Kajal Aggarwal as heroine, Just Ganesh is directed by Saravanan (a protégé of A.R. Murugadoss) and produced by Sravanthi Ravi Kishore under the banner of Sravanthi Movies.
According to sources, the film revolves around a few kids. Three romantic songs on Ram and Kajal have been shot recently in Switzerland under the choreography of Raju Sundaram.
Mickey J. Meyer has scored music to lyrics by Seetarama Sastry and Rama Jogayya Sastry. Dialogues are by Abburi Ravi. The film is a family entertainer with humour and action elements. (more...)
Magadheera success poses threat for others
Magadheera is rocking at the box office and the director S S Rajamouli, Ram Charan Teja and Kajal Agarwal are savouring every moment of their success. Magadheera has opened to packed houses and day by day the numbers are just on the rise. The story keeps moving from the 17th to the 21st century.
Magadheera, revolving around reincarnation and death is scaling the charts and most film opundits clearly vouchsafe for a 100 crore plus collections. Howeever the success of this movie has posed a problem for the movies which are awaiting the day of release. The reports and the alarming success rate has forced movies like Mallanna and Josh to postpone their release by a week or two later. The smalleer movies will definitely have to bear the brunt of the Magadheera success. What has been more encouraging is that the film was made on a moderate budget.
With immense fanfare and hoopla, Magadheera is riding high up the success curve and audiences are floaking in huge numbers to the theatres for the movie. During a show at the Ashoka theatre in Rajahmundry on Saturday, a Chiranjeevi fan lost his life while pledging his loyalty to his icon by watching Magadheera. The man vommitted blood and was soon rushed to the hospital by the theatre authorities, but he breathed his last during the treatment. (more...)
Box-office Report: June - July 2009
June had 16 straight films released. Much-publicized Aa Okkadu, which introduced Ajay as a hero and Madhurima as the heroine and N.S. Murthy as a director, turned out to be a dud at the end of the day, though the director's work and the heroine were appreciated; Ajay did not win much extra mileage with the film though. Ramesh Varma's Ride, a free-make of Beijing Bicycles, earned profits to everyone; the film was above average at the box-office.
A debutant, Karun Prakash, made a free-make of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle into Kavya's Diary starring Charmme and Manjula was also flop. An NRI director, Raj Pippalla, tried to mark his bONii (first bargain) into Telugu films with Sumanth's Boni but was unable to mark a bONii due to slow and boring narration. Producer-director Puli Amrut's Galimpu with Srinivasa Reddy and Duvvasi Mohan could not see people in theaters even upon gaalimpu (search) after the first week. Chirunavvutho fame G. Ramprasad wanted to say Naa Style-e Veru with Rajasekhar, but it wasn't any different from other films, it soon proved. Surya Prathap came up with Current for Sushanth, and the film producers claimed the film hit, like always.
M.S. Srichand came up with Nacchaav Alludu! with Ali, but the film was a disaster too. Durga Shankar Nath's Raju-Maharaju with Sharwanand and Mohan Babu got the talk of a sentiment film but it didn't sustain at the box-office too long. Aanandam fame Akash officially turned director with the film Sweet Heart. Thought the film's theme somewhat resembled Srikanth's old film Preyasi Raave, the audience didn't entertain the film for its rather weak heart. Music director turned director, Sasi Preetham wielded the megaphone for a second film Kitakita + Kirkit = Kriket, but the film was duck-out at BO. Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao's son Ravindranath's debut film Junction finally got a green light, but the film found no jam-packed audience at theaters and was a flop. Nagababu's Anjani Puthrudu had no takers like rest of his recent films. Only one film which raised hopes in this month is Evarainaa.. Epudainaa.. of Varun Sandesh. The film was directed by debutant director Marthand Shankar, brother of Marthand Venkatesh. The film had good openings but even this film was unable to sustain the audience really, and ended up as a below average fare on the whole. The major minus to the film was its heroine and a weak script. Other duds released in June include Thriller Oka Vichitram and Rs 999/- Maathrame.
Abroad BO:
Evarainaa.. Epudainaa.. was bought for 25 lakh rupees, and the distributor was safe, but none of the exhibitors made any money. The film is thus a washout from the exhibitors' point of view. Kavya's Diary was bought for five lakh rupees but ended up a dud anyway. Kick continued its craze in this month with not much of a competition from other films.
July started with Siddharth's Oye. Once-popular child artiste, Baby Shamili became a heroine with this film. The film was possibly inspired by A Millionaire's Love Story and was directed by debutant Anand Ranga. The film opened with a good crowd but was just an average at the box-office. Japanese film Invisible Wings finally hit the screen in Telugu as Ningi Nela Naade. The film had good reviews and won a worthy critical acclaim but was not a commercial success. Vamsy's Gopi Gopika Godavari had good openings but bad reviews. However, the film slowly turned to be profitable one for producer due to the fact that the movie was made with small budget and the good openings covered it.
Actor Jithendra a.k.a Chinna tried his hand at direction with the horror film Aa Intlo. He got good reviews but the film was a flop. Asha Shaini was shown differently in the film. Swathi's much talked film Kalavaramaaye Madilo had good music, but the director Satish Kasetty was not able to come out of the hang-over of K. Viswanath's movies. The film generated a lot of pre-release interest but progressed towards being a flop from the day one. Meena's Vengamamba got a positive talk but that hasn't helped the film become a success. The same goes to Debutant director Uday Bhaskar for his film Oohachitram. The film had good narration but it failed to make it because of near-zero publicity. The month ended with the much-awaited movie S.S. Rajamouli's Magadheera. The film opened with record openings. It's now for us to wait to watch if it would break more records.
Other duds in this month include Raathri (directed by Challa Bhanukiran, casting Sayaji Shinde), Kshanamoka Yugam, Gangleaders (dubbed), Adugu (directed by Veeraprasad Neelam), Saamraajyam (directed by Veeru Dwaith, with Srihari, Suman, and Priyanka Kothari in the lead), Vyaapaari (dubbed) (directed by Shakti Chidambaram, starring S.J. Suryah, Tamannah, Namita, Malavika), Jagadekaveerudu (dubbed version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), Thootaa (dubbed) (directed by Selva, starring Jeevan, Priyamani), Udrekam (directed by Sumeet Roy Singh, casting Anthra Biswas, Mona Lisa, Krishnudu), and Jallu (directed by Recharla Subrahmanyam Naidu, starring Jayanth, Prithviraj).
Abroad BO:
Oye was bought for sixty lakh rupees. The distributors were safe, but the exhibitors lost money. Gopi Gopika Godavari was brought for fifteen lakh rupees, but was a loss to everyone at the end. Kalavaramaaye Madilo, released by Adlabs, was a complete washout. Magadheera was brought for 1.6 crore rupees. The distributors are safe. As of now, the exhibitors lost some money as the prints had not reached on time in some centers such as Bloomington, IL, Columbus, OH, Houston, TX, Chicago, IL, and some more cities. However, it would be too early to say more on the movie as it started showing only from this Friday (and from Saturday in some centers). (more...)
Why Chiru was angry?
PRP President Chiranjeevi was angry with Chief Minister Dr. Rajashekar Reddy and TDP President N.Chandrababu Naidu, for their way of handling the Assembly proceedings. Both the rivals, who always keep criticizing each other, consumes all the time of the Assembly proceedings with their severe verbal exchanges. They won’t allow any others to discuss about people’s problems.
Irritated with their attitude, Chiranjeevi addressing the both said that, “When, I act in the films, people used to watch them great admiration. But, here in the Assembly I become a helpless spectator watching your unending drama. You both are acting very much better than me. Don’t you both know that I also represent the people and I need to speak about their problems? You both are consuming all others time simply with your useless challenges. Being the people’s representatives we all have the moral responsibility of discussing about their problems and to find solutions for them. But you both merely are wasting the precious time of the Assembly, with useless exchanges. Please let us discuss about the people’s problems and not about your own.” (more...)
Shamilee is back
Remember Anjali the movie and the child who played the title character? Well, nobody is likely to forget that heart-wrenching story. Shamilee, who played Anjali, went on to do a handful of movies as a child artist, then a couple of supporting roles in Malayalam and Tamil in her early teens, and then she went off the radar. It’s been ten years since we saw her in the silver screen, and now she is back – she’s vibrant and cheerful as she plays the heroine in Telugu movie Oye! opposite Siddharth. “It’s almost a decade since I faced the camera. Although I have been a part of tinsel town for a long time, I felt as if I was starting all over again. As a child artiste, I never worried about my looks. But now, I am concerned about that aspect every time I face the camera,” she says.
“I play a conservative girl Sandhya who loves to live life on her own terms. It was an interesting character and it was great working with my co-star Siddharth. He was very supportive and explained every scene on the sets. I think he is aspiring to be a director,” she says of her Oye! experience. “Even though I play a traditional gal in Oye!, I love wearing western outfits. I am comfortable in my jeans and tees and am confident that I can carry them off well. I want to be myself on-screen as well.”
Shamilee has lots of dreams that await to be transferred to celluloid. But there’s just one thing she won’t do. “I will not act opposite Ajith! It’s an absurd idea and even he would dislike it. He is like my elder brother and I’m like a baby to him. It will never happen,” she insists. (more...)
Ashta Chamma - First Telugu Film As Case Study In ISB
For its successful planning and execution, the Biggest Small Movie Ever Made "Ashta Chamma" has been included as a case study for the students of Indian School of Business (ISB) in their entrepreneurship course. This is the first ever Telugu movie to be taken up as a case study in a business school.
The case, which is being taught by Ramakrishna Velamuri, Visiting Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the ISB, brings home to the students the story of Ram Mohan, the movie's debutant producer, and his continuous journey as a relentless. ISB sources said the movie was chosen as a case study as it was a small budget movie with new faces in the lead roles and became big movie at Box office.
In this case-study, students were shown the success of Ram Mohan (producer of Ashta Chamma), an IIM-A graduate who had failed in entrepreneurship before he began his film innings with Suresh Productions and then UTV. The case study also discussed about the efficient marketing strategy of the movie led to its box-office success.
"It's good to see someone studying our movie scientifically," said Mohana Krishna Indraganti.
"It is tough, really, not just to make a good film. It is even tougher to market it. I will never forget the first opening day when I stood at theatre from 10:30am (the show was at 11:45am) wondering how will such a large theatre fill up. My friend next to me, was joking "We are five of us. And there are five kids there near the counter. Not bad, Ram!!!" When people started trickling in and filled up entire theatre, I knew we did good job in marketing a good film. We will make sure to deliver good movies from our Art Beat Capital production. Our next movie in the direction of Mohana Krishna Indraganti will be starting in the month of September. More details on this will be announced soon," said producer Ram Mohan. (more...)
Setback for Ramoji Rao in High Court
It’s yet another jolt for Eenadu Group Chairman Ramoji Rao, who tirelessly fighting an unending legal battle with the state government which filed several cases against him over the irregularities taken place in his Margadarsi Finance Company.
Today, the High Court has rejected his appeal to spare him from attending personally for the ongoing cases of trial courts. The Court opined that it is his responsibility to make it convenient to attend the court cases, which were filed against him. With this court decision, he found himself in a fix, because neither he can ignore the court orders nor he can go on with his big business. He is left with only one option that is knocking the doors of Supreme Court. (more...)
Swathi makes a splash
Swathi got the best actress award for Ashta Chamma in the recently held Filmfare awards. All are expressing a sigh of relief that a Telugu girl got the award for the best actress after many long years.
Though this fact is appreciated, and taken in the right spirit, one is fascinated by the way the girl herself made an impression while walking up to the dais to receive the award. Every bit confident and sexy in her red attire, she was perfection personified. Her acceptance speech was also very good.
Indeed this girl has style accompanied with talent. (more...)
