Tamanna is playing the female lead in a bilingual Tamil-Telugu film titled Ananda Tandavam. A fresh face Sidharth is making his debut as hero while Rikmini plays the second female lead.
This film is being produced by V Ravichandran of Ascar Films and the Telugu version is by SVR Media. The story of the film is based on a novel by Sujatha, who earlier wrote the story for Aparichithudu.
Gandhi Krishna, a former disciple of Shankar, is making his debut as director with this film. GV Prakash Kumar composed the music for this film.
Charmi seems to be having a pretty good time this year. Her film 16 Days is already released and Manjula’s Kavya’s Dairy where she plays the main character is due for release in March.
Meanwhile, her film titled Sye Aata, produced by Rajasekhar of Yamagola Malli Modalaindi fame, is getting ready for release in March itself. This film has been directed by debutant Pawan.
The star cast of Sye Aata includes Kota Srinivasa Rao, Siva Prasad, Ajay, Nazar, Prabhakar, Omkar, Rao Ramesh, MS Narayana, Ali, Chalapathi Rao and others.
Director R Balki of Cheeni Kum fame will start shooting for the film Pa which will feature Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan. This film is being produced by AB Corporation.
The announcement of the film was made last year but delayed because of the illness of Amitabh and other commitments of Abhishek. Moreover, Tabu, who performed splendidly in Cheeni Kum, is supposed to be in the film, but for reasons unknown she skipped the role only to be replaced by Vidya Balan.
The film will start its first 25-day schedule on March 2 in Mumbai and then at other locales in North India and outside the country.
Slumdog Millionaire has won eight awards including Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Direction and Best Film.
Hereunder are the winners of 81st Academy Awards presented on Sunday evening at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles:
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire Best Actor: Sean Penn, MilK Best Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire Best Original Score: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire Best Song: A.R. Rahman for Jai Ho penned by Gulzar Slumdog Millionaire Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire Best Sound Mixing: Resul Pookutty (India), Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke Slumdog Millionaire Best Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire Best Short Documentary: Smile Pinky Best Foreign Film: Departures (Japan) Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk Animated Feature Film: WALL-E Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Costume: Michael O’Connor, The Duchess Art: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Animated Short Film: La Maison en Petits Cubes Live Action Short Film: Spielzeugland (Toyland) Visual Effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
AR Rahman, the Mozart of Madras, has won two Oscars at the 81st Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
A.R. Rahman won the two awards for original score and best song along with Gulzar for Slumdog Millionaire. Rahman perfomed his compositions O Saya and Jai Ho on the stage after he accepted the awards.
India’s Resul Pokutty won the best sound mixing Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke.
India-based Smile Pinky won the best short documentary.
The Telugu film by production house Tolly 2 Holly Films directed by debutant SS Murthy is titled Aa Okkadu. This film features Ajay, Madhumita, Suresh Gopi and Sunil.
This film is a suspense thriller and has completed a major part of its shooting. Producer Ganesh Indukuri says that simultaneous post-production work is in progress.
This film completes its shooting by mid-March. The audio of the music composed by Manisarma will be released in the last week of March and the film in April.
The film titled Bangaru Babu is being produced by K Ramakrishna Prasad under the banner of Soubhagya Media Limited. Story and Screenplay have been written by Dasari Narayana Rao.
This film features Jagapathi Babu and Meera Jasmine in the lead roles. The star cast includes Shashank, Gouri Munjal, Murali Mohan, Shayaji Shinde, Sonu Sood, Jayasudha and others.
This family drama is directed by Jonnalagadda Srinivasa Rao. The film’s music has been released by Mayuri. This film is slated for release on February 20, 2009.
JD Chakravarthy had come up with Homam starring Jagapathi Babu and produced by Koneru Kiran Kumar. This film had been inspired by the Hollywood film The Departed.
The same combination of producer, director and actor are now coming up with the film Siddham, which is inspired by the Bollywood film Ab Tak Chhappan starring Nana Patekar as an encounter specialist and directed by Shimit Amin.
Siddham, with Jagapathi Babu and Sindhu Menon, is ready for release in February.
Sushant, grandson of Akkineni Nageswar Rao, is acting in a film titled Current being produced by Sri Nag Corporation and presented by Annapoorna Studios. Sneha Ullal is playing the female lead.
Surya Pratap is making his debut as director with this film. The shooting of the talkie part is completed and the songs are to be picturised.
Pratap says that the film deals with an irresponsible youth who never thinks about tomorrow, but whiles away his time. His girl friend always thinks of the future. This difference in their outlooks gives rise to some interesting events.
The film being produced by Sivalenka Krishna Prasad with Balakrishna and Priyamani, has been titled as Mithrudu. Mahadev, a former assistant to SS Rajamouli, is making his debut as director with this film.
The shooting of the film will be completed by the first week of March. The audio will be released through Lahari Music in the last week of March.
Veteran Telugu actress Nirmalamma passed away today in Hyderabad at her residence.
The 82 year old actress acted in more than 1000 films. She mainly portrayed the roles of mother and grandmother. She acted with all top stars of Tollywood in her film career spanning more than four decades. She also produced five films in Telugu.
All the bigwigs of the film industry paid homage to Nirmalamma. She is survived by a daughter whose husband is also a film producer.
The most acclaimed Tollywood director Kasinadhuni Viswanath turns 79 today. He is the only Telugu director, whose film Swathi Muthyam was India’s official entry to the Oscars in 1986.
K Viswanath started his life as a technician. He was editor of the ANR-Savithri starrer Moogamanasulu. He later worked as assistant director to Adurthi Subba Rao before making his debut as director with Atmagauravam in 1965.
K Viswanath made 53 films in Telugu and Hindi. Most of his film titles start with the letter S or A. Some of his most memorable films are Sankarabharanam, Siri Siri Muvva, Sagara Sangamam, Swathi Muthyam, Swayamkrushi , Saptapadi, Sruthi Layalu and Swarna Kamalam.
K Viswanath is the recipient of many National Film Awards:
1980-National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment -Sankarabharanam
1982-Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration-Saptapadi
1984-National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu-Sagara Sangamam
1986-National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu-Swathi Muthyam
1988-National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu-Sruthi Layalu
2004-National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu-Swarabhishekam
Veera Shankar will direct the film titled Yuva Rajyam which will be produced by HS Haroon under the banner of Asra Nirman.
The director says that this film deals with the problems being faced by modern day youth. He earlier directed films like Hello I Love You, Gudumba Shankar and Vijayarama Raju.
Veer Shankar denied that his film has anything to do with Pawan Kalyan’s Yuva Rajyam. He also discounted rumours of Pawan playing a guest role in this film.
The cast and crew are being finalized. The shooting of the film starts from February 27.
The film unit of NTR Jr starrer Adurs left for Tashkent in Russia to cane couple of songs under the choreography of Raju Sundaram. Nayantara plays the female lead in this film.
A major portion of the film, including talkie, songs and fights, has been shot at Ramoji Film City. This film is being described as a complete family entertainer by its director VV Vinayak.
Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan is producing this film and Kodali Nani is presenting it. The music has been scored by Devi Sri Prasad.
This film is getting ready for a summer release.
Tamanna is playing the female lead in a bilingual Tamil-Telugu film titled Ananda Tandavam. A fresh face Sidharth is making his debut as hero while Rikmini plays the second female lead.
JD Chakravarthy had come up with Homam starring Jagapathi Babu and produced by Koneru Kiran Kumar. This film had been inspired by the Hollywood film The Departed.
