31st August 2004

Shankar Dada MBBS audio in Golkonda Tombs?
Audio of Shankar Dada MBBS would be released at a grand gala function arranged on the night of 4th September 2004. The audio would hit markets in the midnight of 5th September 2004. Gemini Films Circuit and Supreme Music would jointly host this function. The venue under consideration is 'Golkonda Tombs'. The final decision about the venue would be taken tomorrow.

Arjun Andhra success tour
Hero Mahesh Babu and director Gunasekhar would be touring Andhra area from 1st September to 4th September to thank the fans and Telugu movie lovers for making Arjun film a big success. They would start the tour by embarking Nagarjuna express on the early morning of 1st September. The unit would reach Guntur by afternoon. They would tour Guntur, Tenali, Mangalagiri and Vijayawada on 1st September. On the second September the unit would go to Kankipadu, Vuyyur, machilipatnam, Gudiwada, Eluru, Tadepalligudem, Tanuku and Rajahmundry. The unit would travel through Mandapeta, Kakinada, Tuni, Anakapally and Gajuwaka on 3rd September. They would travel Vizag, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam on 4th September.

Bala Krishna's film starts on 2nd September
PB Arts latest venture with Bala Krishna as hero in the direction of Jayant C Paranji would have its muhurat on 2nd September. MRV Prasad would produce this film. As per the reliable sources, this period film is going to be based on the life story of Vuyyalawada Narasimha Reddy. Bala Krishna always has the flair for doing bold subjects and different films. And this film only substantiates that fact.

30th August 2004

Balakrishna helps patients
Bala Krishna, who had a bad time recently with certain unceremonious events happened at his residence, is busy doing some social service and visiting holy shrines for peace of mind and internal satisfaction. He visited Tirupati and Srikalahasti too seek the blessings of the almighty. He had a surgery to his knee at Birds hospital in Tirupati. He visited each and every patient in Birds hospital and distributed fruits. He also donated medical equipment for needy patients out there. Idlebrain.com wishes that Bala Krishna would recover soon from the agony he is going through.

RP aims Hollywood
RP Patnaik is currently scoring music for a Telugu film that is being directed by Teja. Speaking to idlebrain.com, RP Patnaik revealed about his plans of going to Hollywood. He says that he has a Hollywood script that is greater than Titanic (in emotions), Lords of the Rings (in graphics) and Sound Of Music (in feel). However, he informed that it would cost around 100 crores (in Indian Rupees) to make that film. Any cash-rich NRI interested can get back to him.

Pawan Kalyan's birthday celebrations in Vizag
Pawan Kalyan is generally away from hype and celebrations of any sort. But the fans of Pawan Kalyan are in for a treat this 2nd September as Pawan Kalyan would be attending his birthday functions to be held at Visakha Municipal Grounds in Vizag. Uttarandhra's Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi fans association is going to hold this function. Naga Babu would attend the function along with Pawan Kalyan. Pawan Kalyan would be honoring the toppers in state for 10th class and intermediate by presenting them gold medals.

Saroj Khan's choreography for Venkatesh
Saroj Khan who composed sensational dances for C Aswini Dutt's film Choodalani Vundi in the past is going to rework on the magic by choreographing steps for Venkatesh and Shriya for the period film 'Subhash Chandra Bose'. This song is presently being canned in Ramoji Film City with the backdrop of wall falls etc. MM Keeravani provides music. K Raghavendra Rao directs this film that also has Genelia.

Dil Raju to make a remake
Prakash Raj's film as producer 'Alaigateeya' was released recently in Tamil Nadu and became a blockbuster. Dil Raju has bought Telugu remake rights of this film. He would be producing this film on his banner Sri Venkateswara Creations that produced blockbusters like Dil and Arya. A popular youth hero would act in this film.

29th August 2004

Chiru's cake to Nagarjuna
Chiranjeevi had shown his sign of friendship by visiting Nagarjuna's house in the midnight of 28th of August along with a cake to celebrate the birthday of Nagarjuna. It was Chiranjeevi, the first film celebrity, who greeted Nagarjuna first. Actor Srikanth also accompanied him. It is such a healthy trend that big stars of Telugu cinema are living in such a harmony. Kudos to the friendship of Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna!

Rugby rules for Sye
Sports do play a vital backdrop for Indian films. In the past we had blockbusters like Lagaan and Okkadu based on sports like cricket and kabaddi respectively. The forthcoming film Sye has the backdrop of Rugby game. Though a widely appreciated game in west, it has very less following in India (especially Andhra). In order to educate the movie lovers with the concept of Rugby, the producer Giri has given a small booklet of 'Rules to Rugby' along with the audiocassette of Sye. We have to wait and see how the Telugu music lovers would become American sports lovers by reading the rules booklet.

Editor Mohan's son as hero in Telugu
After proving himself as successful actor Ravi - younger son of Editor Mohan - would making his debut in Telugu as hero. He acted as hero in Tamil remakes of Telugu blockbusters like Jayam and Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammai. He would also be doing as hero Temil remakes of Telugu blockbusters Varsham and Arya. Raja - elder son of Editor Mohan - proved himself as successful director with the hit Hanuman Junction. He also directed the Tamil version of Jayam.

28th August 2004

Nagarjuna's future films
Nagarjuna is currently doing a mass film titled 'Mass', which is a matured love story between Nagarjuna and Jyothika. His next film in the direction of Puri Jagan would start in the month of October 2004. Later on he would be doing a film each on Kamakshi (D Siva Prasad Reddy), Durga Arts (KL Narayana) and Jayabheri Arts (Kishore) banners. Nagarjuna's 'Mass' in the direction of Lawrence would be releasing in 3rd week of December 2004 (most probably 20th December). Nagarjuna would be celebrating his birthday 29th August amidst fans at Annapurna studios.

Bapu's 'Radha Gopalam'
Veteran classic film director Bapu would be directing a film after a gap of almost a decade. Anil who produced films like 'O Chinnadana' and 'Ottesi Chebutunna' would be producing this film. Srikanth who acted in all the films produced by Anil would be acting in this as well. K Naga Babu's banner 'Anjana Productions' would present this film. Ramana pens the story and dialogues. Manisharma provides music. PRK Raju handles camera. Shooting of this film starts in September 2004.

NTR's car fetches good returns
Legend NTR's bullet-proof Ambassador car (numbered 9999) which was used when he was chief minister fetched a handsome return of Rs. 2,15,000/ at an auction held by government. This car's initial bidding offer was Rs 40,000/-. This car cost Rs. 4 lakhs when it was purchased.

27th August 2004

Gudumba Shankar on 10th September
Pawan Kalyan's Gudumba Shankar has completed shooting, editing, dubbing and rerecording. Currently the final mixing is going on. Produced Nagababu stated today that Gudumba Shankar would be releasing on 10th September 2004. Nagababu said that this film would boast off all the elements the fans look out for in Pawan Kalyan's films.

Shankar Dada MBBS audio on 6th September
Audio of Chiranjeevi's Shankardada MBBS would be released on 6th of September 2004. This album would have five songs scored by Devi Sri Prasad. Jayant C Paranji is directing this remake of Hindi film Munnabhai MBBS. Akkineni Ravi Shankar Prasad is producing this film on Gemini Film Circuits banner.

Brahmaji's Thumps Up
Brahmaji is acting in a mass film titled 'Thumps Up' as solo hero. This film has completed entire shooting but for a song. Sri Sekhar is making his debut as director. Mohita and Nisha are playing female leads. Satya Prakash is cast as villain. This film also introduces new cameraman, new music director, new fight master and new producer.

26th August 2004

Shankar Dada MBBS song in Ooty
Shooting of 4 of 5 songs of Shankar Dada MBBS are completed by now. The remaining one song would be shot in the green landscapes of Ooty in the first week of September 2004. This song would be a mass song. It may be noted that Lawrence - who is busy directing Mass with Nagarjuna - could not compose choreography for any songs in Shankar Dada MBBS.

Giri's next film with Trivikram
Giri - the producer of Dil, Andhrawala and Sye - has signed Trivikram as director for his next project. This film would start after Trivikram completes Athadu with Mahesh Babu as hero. Producer Giri has the knack of getting the crazy directors work on his banner. Earlier VV Vinayak, Puri Jagan and Rajamouli worked for him and now it is the turn of Trivikram Srinivas.

AM Ratnam's film with Ravi Teja
Bilingual producer AM Ratnam would be making a film with Ravi Teja as hero very soon. Jothikrishna (AM Ratnam's elder son) who made his debut as director through 'Nee Manasu Naaku Telusu' would be directing this film as his second project. AM Ratnam's latest film '7/G Brindavan Colony' with his second son Ravi Krishna as hero has completed its shooting and post production work and is waiting for a safe release date.

25th August 2004

Upcoming movie release dates
Here are the approximate dates for the upcoming Telugu films in the next one month:

LANCO enters film production
LANCO group entered the film production now. It has established a banner called Rama Lakshmi Cine Creations and making their first venture as 'Evadi Gola Vadidi' in the direction of EVV Satyanarayana. Janardhana maharshi pens dialogues for this film. Kamalakar scores music. This film is a comedy flick. The names of hero and heroine are yet to be announced.

Dinesh - new hero on the block
Dinesh - a 16 year old lad - is making his debut as hero with a film called 'Swamy Shankar'. This film is nearing completion. He would be acting another film to be produced by Prasad (Volga Videos) under Volga Inc banner. This film would introduce a NRI guy called Sunil D as director. Rakshita - who was crowned as Miss New York would be paired up with Dinesh in that film. Dinesh is son of a Hyderabad-based industrialist called Pratap Reddy.

24th August 2004

1.6 crore set for Gudumba Shankar
A huge house interior set worth Rs. 1.6 crores was constructed for Gudumba Shankar at a floor in Annapurna studios. This set has a life time of 3 years. Anjana Productions has hired this floor for a long time and is going to rent out this set for future productions. Vishnu's latest film 'Suryam' is also using the same set. Chiranjeevi's film in the direction of Vijaya Bhaskar is also expected to use the same set (with minor modifications). Anjana productions future film with Ravi Teja as hero would also use the same set. However, the makers of Gudumba Shankar has kept extreme low profile about this set.

Puri Jagan's spot editing
We informed the visitors of idlebrain.com in the past that Puri Jagan has bought a high end film camera ARRI 435. This film has the fecility of transporting the film shot on the spot into a laptop. Puri is making best use of it by editing the film and cutting of shots there itself so that there would not be any worry of remembering the minute points till the spool reaches the editing rooms. This technique is popularly followed in Bollywood. However, most of Telugu filmmakers give a deaf ear to this option though its available for all ARRI 435 cameras.

Arti Agarwal is back
Arti Agarwal who rose to the top ranks at a short span has to take a break from films as she gained lots of weight along with the fame. She is said to have shed considerable amount of weight and she is back. She is currently working in a Telugu film that is being produced by a big banner.

23rd August 2004

Puri to direct Mahesh Babu
Puri Jagan would be directing a film soon with prince Mahesh Babu as hero. This film would be produced by Mahesh Babu's sister Manjula. The script work is getting ready now. This film would be launched in the first half of year 2005. This information was revealed by Puri Jagan.

Shriya replaces Rakshita
Actress Shriya replaced Rakshita in Neelakanta's latest film 'Sada Mee Sevalo' (Click here for Muhurat of film featuring Rakshita). This film is being produced by SP Entertainments that produced blockbusters like 'Swayamvaram' and 'Chirunavvutho'. Venu is the hero of this film. This film attained instant craze among the Telugu movie lovers and trade circles because, it followed two good films 'Show' and 'Missamma' by Neelakanta.

'Atha kodaka' song in Alludu
It is reliably learnt that legend NTR's chartbuster mass song 'Athamadugu vagulona athakodaka' (NTR, Sridevi) from 'Kondaveeti Simham' would be reused in grandson NTR's film 'Alludu' that is being directed by Vara. Giri produces this film on Bharati Enterprises banner. It may be learnt that NTR reused the song of NTR-Sridevi in 'Allari Ramudu' in the past. Devi Sri Sri Prasad provides music for Alludu.

EVV's new film from 25th August
EVV is going to direct his son Aryan Rajesh for the 3rd time after futile attempts to make hit films with 'Hai' and 'Adanthe Ado Type'. He would be producing this film on his home banner. Kamalakar who scored good music for 'Praanam' film would be doing music for this film. This film would go to floors on 25th of August.

Posani as producer & director
Posani Krishna Murali would be joining the list of dialogue writers turned directors (Dasari, Jandyala & Paruchuri Brothers) very soon. He would be directing a film on his newly started home banner 'UP Cinema Lines'. This film would sport six heroes namely Krishna, Hari Krishna, Srihari, Suman, Sai Kumar & Vinod Kumar.

20th August 2004

Arjun kicks off with sensational openings
Mahesh Babu's Arjun opened with sensational openings on 18th of this month. The first week collections of Arjun are expected to be best ever openings for any Mahesh Babu's films including the greatest blockbuster Okkadu. In Nizam itself, Arjun collected around Rs. 47 lakhs on the day one. Never before any film had 8 am special benefit shows organized in Hyderabad city, which shows the unprecedented craze for the most-expensively-shot-lavish-and-stylish-film Arjun.

Sumanth weds Keerthi Reddy
Wedding of ANR's grandson and hero Sumanth (Son of Srimathi Satyavathi & Sri Y Surendra) with heroine Keerthi Reddy (Grand daughter of Srimati Lakshmi Kantha & Sri G Ganga Reddy) is going on in Excellency Gardens, Medchal Highway now (8:45 pm on 20th August). The muhurtam is 8:15 pm onwards. This marriage is being attended by almost all the celebrities from film, political and social walks of life. Idlebrain.com wishes Sumanth and Keerthi a great married life.

Yagnam 50 days function at Ongole
50 days function of Gopichand's hit film as hero Yagnam would be held at Ongole town (hometown of producer Pokuri Babu Rao and hero Gopichand). The team of 'Yagnam' would start from Hyderabad on the morning of 22nd August and reach Guntur by afternoon. They would visit Guntur theater in the afternoon and reach Ongole town by evening. They would participate in 50 days celebrations at Tulsiram theater in the evening.

17th August 2004

Shankar Dada MBBS audio on 29th August
Audio of Chiranjeevi's Shankar Dada MBBS would be releasing on 29th of August 2004. Devi Sri Prasad is said to have given a rocking music to this film. Audio album of this film would consist of 5 songs. Supreme music has bought the audio rights of this album. The shooting of the entire film is complete except for 2 songs. Incidentally 29th August is the birthday of Nagarjuna. Audio of Chiranjeevi's Tagore was released on Chiranjeevi's birthday on 22nd August 2003.

Vijayendra Varma to complete on 15th Sep
Shooting of scenes related to climax of Bala Krishna's 'Vijayendra Varma' is going on in Ramoji Film City at present. Later on Bala Krishna would travel to Europe to shoot a couple of songs for this film. Bala Krishna is playing the role of RAW (Research Analysis Wing) officer's role. Konda Krishna Raju produces this film. Swarna Subba Rao is the director. Audio of this album is expected in the next month.

Natanya Singh in Gudumba Shankar
Natanya Singh of 'Tum' fame is doing special appearance in 'Killi' song of Gudumba Shankar. This song would feature Pawan Kalyan, Meera Jasmine and Natanya Singh. Shooting of this song is currently going on at a set erected in Padmalaya Studios. Gudumba Shankar is all set for the release on 3rd September 2004. Audio of the film has already making waves in the audio market. Natanya Singh acted in Mohan Babu's film 'Shiv Shankar' as second heroine.

16th August 2004

Jikki is no more
Female playback singer of yesteryear Jikki (PG Krishnaveni) expired at Saravana Hospital Chennai at 5:45 pm on 16th August 2004. She was 69 and survived by four daughters and two sons. She started singing career in 1943 at an age of 10 years. She married another playback singer AM Raja. She was popular for her 'Yeruvaka Sagalo' song. She is known for the current generation with a song each in Aditya 369 and Murari. May her soul rest in peace!

8 am Hyd shows for Arjun
Mahesh Babu's latest film Arjun is releasing on 18th August all over India with highest number of prints in Mahesh Babu's career. Arjun film is having benefit shows in Hyderabad at 8 am in the morning of 18th August and all tickets are sold out. The tickets for 8 am benefit show by Lions Club at Sandhya35mm (RTC X roads) are priced at Rs. 250/- and Rs 150/-.

Allu Arjun donates 1 lakh to CARE
Allu Arjun has won Rs. 1 lakh in Brain of Andhra game show of MAA TV (a game show on the lines of KBC) on Sunday. He donated that amount to 'Little Hearts foundation' of CARE hospital which helps serving poor children with heart related diseases.

14th August 2004

Gudumba Shankar with 250 prints
Sources from Anjana Productions have revealed idlebrain.com that Pawan Kalyan's Gudumba Shankar would be releasing with 250 prints on 3rd September 2004. Though there is a demand for 350 prints, the producer is considering 250 keeping the longevity of the film in mind. The final song of the film would be shot from 15th for four days till 18th August. Dubbing and editing of the film is completed. Special Effects work is nearing completion. National award winner Meena Jasmine is doing female lead in this film.

Tagore film not considered for being a remake
In an interview given to a famous TV Channel, Basu Chaterjee (Chairperson for National Awards 2003) informed that they could not consider Tagore under best film category because it is a remake film though it has all qualities to become a winner. However Suddala Ashok Teja who reused the popular Sri Sri's 'Nenu Saitham' poem for Nenu Saitham song in Tagore film won the best lyricist award on national basis.

Srihari to make Hanumanthu
Srihari is currently doing an important role as brother of heroine in MS Raju's film 'Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana?' He is planning to produce and act in a film titled 'Hanumanthu', which is a cop story. This film would go to floors once his work with MS Raju is completed. Sri Hari is celebrating his birthday 'August 15th' by visiting Tirumala Shrine.

12th August 2004

Bala Krishna permitted to travel abroad
Film star Bala Krishna whose movement was restricted to the conditional bail granted by the court for facing criminal allegations is given permission to go abroad as his movie Vijayendra Varma would be shooting songs in countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Vijayendra Varma is expected to release either in the last week of September or first week of October 2004.

143 on 27th August
143 - launch vehicle of Sairam Shankar (brother of Puri Jagan) - would be releasing n 27th of August. This film would be having three heroines - Samiksha, Flora Saini and Pooja. Puri Jagan directed this film on Vaishno Academy banner. Nagarjuna predicted that this film would become a blockbuster after seeing the double positive of 143.

Sada in Chakram
Actress Sada would be playing one of the heroine roles in Krishna Vamsi's film 'Chakram' with Prabhas as hero. Charmy is also playing one heroine. Shooting of this film is going on at a brisk pace. Siva Raju and Venkatraju are producing this film on Geeta Chitra International banner. MM Keeravani provides music for this film.

10th August 2004

Eleventh for Sumanth
Eleventh of August is the day of celebrations for hero Sumanth. He has the opening shot of his latest film '51' in the direction of Surya Kiran (Satyam fame) at 9 am in Annapurna studios. ML Kumar Chowdary would be producing this film. Sumanth has audio function of 'Gowri' to be held at Annapurna studios in the night of 11th August. He is getting married on 20th August to Keerti Reddy. He has several functions lined up in the next 10 days!

ISVK on 13th August
Siri Media Arts that gave 'Pellam Voorelithe' for last year's Sankranthi is coming up with another film 'Intlo Srimati Veedhilo Kumari' with Srikanth as hero. Arti Chabria, Prabhudeva, Prakash Raj and Urvasi played other important characters. K Vasu directed this film for which Ghantadi Krishna has given music. Chintapally Ramana pens dialogues. C Aswini Dutt and Allu Arvind produced this film.

Anaconda 2 in Telugu
Anaconda 2 is going to have simultaneous release in India along with its westerns counterparts just like 'Matrix Revolutions' and 'Day after tomorrow'. Two Ceded distributors - NV Prasad (producer of Vasantham) and Paras Jain - are jointly dubbing this film in Telugu and are releasing it simultaneously on Sri Srinivasa Arts banner.

8th August 2004

Top cops watched Gharshana
The top cops of Andhra Pradesh including DGP Sukumara watched a special show of Gharshana organized at the preview theater of Prasad Labs on the night of 8th August. They were impressed with the film and commended the team of Gharshana for making a good film. A week back, director Krishna Vamsi and hero Prabhas too had a special preview of Gharshana in the same preview theater.

Audio of Gowri on 11th August
Audio of Sumanth's film Gowri would be releasing on 11th August in a star-studded function to be held at Annapurna studios. In may be remembered that Sumanth's blockbuster Satyam was also released at the same venue. Sravanthi Ravi Kishore remade this film based on the Tamil flick 'Thirumalai'. Charmy is paired up with Sumanth. BV Ramana directed this flick. Koti provided music.

Uday's Sreeram again as 'Vikram'
Uday Kiran has acted in a Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster called 'Dhil' as 'Sreeram'. Now the same film is being dubbed in Telugu as 'Vikram'. Tamil superstar Vikram acted in it. The speciality of this film is that Vikram himself sang a Telugu song for this dubbed film. Uday Bhaskara Reddy is producing this Telugu version.

5th August 2004

KAD bags Gudumba Shankar US rights
KAD distributors who distributed blockbuster movies like Tagore and Arya in the past have bought overseas rights of Pawan Kalyan's latest release 'Gudumba Shankar'. Audio of this film is expected to hit market on 9th August. Meera Jasmine is paired up with Pawan Kalyan in this film. K Nagababu produced Gudumba Shankar in the direction of Veera Shankar on Anjana banner.

Upendra to do Kannada Manmadhudu
Upendra who is currently doing Uppidada MBBS (Kannada remake of Shankardada MBBS) would be doing the Kannada remake of Nagarjuna's award winning blockbuster Manmadhudu. Mehar Ramesh who directed Veera Kannadiga (Tamil version of Andhrawala) would direct this film. Incidentally, Kannada film industry has banned Telugu remakes in Kannada. Only exception it gave is the films that won Nandi awards. Manmadhudu won Nandi award as best film, hence won the qualification to be remade in Kannada.

Gharshana and Sri Anjaneyam trimmed
The latest big releases - Gharshana and Sri Anjaneyam - were trimmed by a considerable amount of footage to fasten the narration. We have to wait and see if this trimming would help the talk of these films improve.

4th August 2004

Naa Autograph on 11th August
Release of the film Naa Autograph is pushed from 6th August to 11th August. Ravi Teja, Bhumika Chawla and Gopika play main leads in this Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster 'Autograph'. MM Keeravani scored melodious music for this film. Famous cinematographer S Gopal Reddy is making his debut as film director through this film. Sameer Reddy handles camera. Bellamkonda Suresh produced this film on Sai Ganesh banner.

Athadu shoots at Lakdikapool
Shooting of Mahesh Babu's latest film 'Athadu' in the direction of Trivikram Srinivas is going on now at the railway station of Lakdikapool. Trisha is paired up with Mahesh Babu. Sayaji Shinde is playing the bad guy. This film is being produced on Jayabheri banner. Release of this film is expected for Sankranthi 2005.

Suryam to shoot in NZ
The unit of the film 'Suryam' starring Vishnu and Celina Jaitley would be traveling to shoot a couple of songs soon. Ashok Raj and Raju Sundaram would choreograph a song each. Chakri provides music. Samudra directs this mass flick that is being produced by Mohan Babu on Sri Lakshmi Prasanna Pictures banner.

3rd August 2004

Tarun in 'Sakhiya' (caption Naatho Raa)
Tarun's latest film in the direction of Jayant C Paranji is titled as Sakhiya (with a caption Naatho Raa). 50% of the shooting is completed now. The last schedule of this film would start from 4th August onwards. Shooting of the film would be completed by the 1st week of September. Audio of Sakhiya would be releasing in the 1st week of September and the movie is expected in the last week of September.

Mohan Babu to remake Adidhadi
Mohan Babu has bought the Telugu remake rights of Tamil blockbuster 'Adidhadi' that stars Satyaraj and Nepolian. Mohan Babu would be producing and acting in the Telugu version. He would do the role of Satyaraj and another big hero of Telugu cinema would enact the role of Nepolian. This film is expected to go to floors after a couple of months.

Chiru speeds over 90 KMPH
When Chiranjeevi was participating in the shooting of Shankardada MBBS on 2nd August evening, he has been getting frantic calls from Santosham Suresh who is organizing awards function that night. And Chiranjeevi confessed in the awards function that he had to speed his car over 90 KMPH to make it to the function on time.

2nd August 2004

YSR announces Allu Award
YS Rajasekhara Reddy - honorable chief minister for Andhra Pradesh - has visited the residence of Allu Arvind and met the family members of the deceased comedy legend Allu Ramalingaiah. He announced 'Allu Ramalingalah Memorial Award' which would be conferred by the state government to the best actors every year. Chiranjeevi was also present at this occasion.

Puri Jagan to keep 143 Nizam rights
Puri Jagan is currently sweating out for the postproduction work of his latest film '143 (I miss you). This film launches his kid brother Sairam Shankar as hero. The people who have seen the double positive are raving about how good the script is. Puri Jagan is so confident about this film that he is planning to keep the distribution rights for Nizam territory with himself. This film would be releasing in a month's time.

Sadaf's no for own remakes
There is an old saying that 'Golden words are not repeated'. Likewise actress Sadaf feels that good performances cannot be reenacted by the same actor/actresses again. She seems to have realized it during the shooting of Tamil 'Jayam'. She felt that she is just repeating the scenes instead of doing something exciting while doing her own remakes (she also acted as heroine in Telugu original Jayam as well). Since then she decided not to act as heroine in remakes of the originals in which she played heroine.

1st August 2004

Teja in controversy
Telugu film director is in trouble with a small artist Naveen Reddy lodging a police complaint against Teja for beating him at shooting location of 'Dhairyam' film followed by harassing him mentally and physically by confining him in Teja office for three days. Teja was booked under Section 323 (hurting a person), Section 346 (wrongful confinement) and Section 506 (threatening to kill). Teja surrendered at court on 31st July morning at 11 am and was granted bail at 2 pm. However, it was learnt that Teja denied all the allegations leveled on him by Naveen Reddy. For the starters, Naveen Reddy acted as one-eyed follower of villain in Mahesh Babu's Takkari Donga. He also acted as the gang leader of rival gang in Mahesh Babu's 'Okkadu'.

Two remakes next Friday
Tamil remake fever is on. We have seen Gharshana released last Friday with high publicity glitz. Next Friday (6th August) would witness two remakes - Naa Autograph (Telugu version of Tamil Autograph) that introduces cinematographer S Gopal Reddy as director and Donga Dongadi (Telugu version of Tamil flick Thiruda Thirudi) that stars Manoj Kumar (younger son of Mohan Babu) and Sadaf in the main leads.

Alpha Telugu channel to be launched
Zee Network is all set to launch its 100% Telugu channel 'Alpha Telugu' on 24th of August. This is the first foray of Zee TV in South India. Alpha Telugu would offer the right mix of entertainment-based as well as education programs and prime time serials. This channel will also provide reality shows.