Posts tagged chiranjeevi
Chiranjeevi’s wish to meet Vidya Balan fulfilled at the Cannes
0Jigar Shah (MID-DAY; May 22, 2013)
Far away from home, Vidya Balan found yet another of her fans at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. This time however it was no regular guy but South superstar Chiranjeevi who also happened to be at the festival.
A source from Cannes says, “Chiranjeevi Sir has been a fan of Vidya for a long time now and always wanted to meet her. But given his hectic schedule, their meeting never took place. In fact, he wanted his entire family to meet the actress.” While the South actor was visiting Cannes this year, he met Vidya personally on the red carpet at the screening of Inside Llewyn Davis.
“They caught up with each other while watching the film and also later to discuss films including south Indian projects,” adds the source.
Chiranjeevi with Vidya Balan, son Ram Charan Teja and daughter-in-law Upasana
I wanted to get married to him-Neha Sharma
0Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; May 21, 2013)
Neha Sharma, 23, may have done fashion designing and is an actor today, but in many ways she still remains a small town girl from Bhagalpur. While she took a break from Telugu films after her first film Chirutha with Ram Charan, she would love to do a Telugu film today as she enjoys the dancing, travelling and money that comes with it. Ahead of her upcoming film Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 with the Deols, she talks to Bombay Times about her first co-star Ram Charan, the tech-savvy Sunny Deol and why box office performance is more important than looks and talent. Excerpts:
How did you get into films? I was born and brought up in Bhagalpur. My dad is a businessman who owns petrol pumps there. I moved to Delhi in Class XI and studied at Carmel Covent School, after which I did my fashion designing from NIFT where I was a rank holder. Right from my childhood, I wanted to be a fashion designer and was obsessed with Armani and Versace and simply loved clothes. I was fit and tall and was used as a model by my seniors to showcase their clothes to the jury for judging them. I did my internship in Canada and was offered a job at Coach, but thankfully I didn’t do it. I used to go to this gym in GK II where my gym instructor Maria would always tell me to get my photoshoot done. I got that done and was called to Hyderabad based on my pictures to meet Ram Charan, Chiranjeevi’s son, for his launch film Chirutha. My director told me that a part of the More >
Subrata Roy to throw bash to celebrate Sridevi’s Padma Shri award?
0The upcoming gala is also meant to scotch all rumours of a rift between his media company and Boney Kapoor
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 19, 2013)
He may be facing a certain amount of heat because of the Supreme Court asking him to refund Rs 24,000 crore to his investors, but Subrata Roy Sahara seems determined to cool off with yet another mega bash.
Close on the heels of the party he hosted for his grand daughter’s naming ceremony, Roy is planning a bash to celebrate Sridevi’s Padma Shri award, at his suburban five-star. The party will be held either on April 23 or 27, and guests have been asked to keep themselves free on both days as of now.
According to sources, in true Sahara-style the bash will see filmmakers, actors, politicians, cricketers and industrialists turn up to congratulate the actress.
Among the few who seemed to have confirmed are the Bachchans, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Hema Malini, Anil Kapoor, Padmini Kolhapure, Preity Zinta and Chiranjeevi, besides Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina. “Subrata Roy wanted to host this party earlier, but his work commitments kept him extremely busy,” revealed a source close to the group.
This party assumes a special significance for the film industry. “This one is special. It puts an end to all the on-going speculation about Boney Kapoor, who has been heading the group’s media and entertainment initiative since 2011, having problems with the company,” says the More >
Zanjeer is re-imagined, not remade-Ram Charan Teja
1Despite the controversies dogging it, Ram Charan pins his hopes on his ambitious Hindi debut
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 18, 2013)
With just five films to his credit, he has established himself as one of the most keenly followed stars of Telugu cinema. Ram Charan, son of actor-politician Chiranjeevi, is now all set to make his presence felt in Hindi cinema. Even as he gears up for Apoorva Lakhia’s remake of Amitabh Bachchan’s Zanjeer, he has been inadvertently drawn into the controversy over royalty due to the original scriptwriters, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar. However, the 27-year-old is confident the new Zanjeer will keep its date with the slated May 10 release. Excerpts from an interview:
The Zanjeer remake (Zanjeer 2.0) is scheduled to hit theatres on May 10. But with all the issues around it, will it keep the deadline? Hopefully yes.
But the scriptwriters of the 1973 film, Salim-Javed, have said they won’t allow the remake to release till they get paid Rs 6crore as compensation. Yes. This is an issue. Salim Saab and Javed Saab have been in the film industry for a long time and they both know what they’re doing. The good news is the shooting hasn’t stopped. We’ve been filming in Mumbai peacefully, and I’m sure they will soon sit down with producers Amit Mehra and Reliance Entertainment and resolve the issue. We are on schedule and both the Hindi and Telugu versions will open on the same day.
What was your reaction to Lakhia’s offer to play the More >
No room for clash between me and Prabhu Dheva-Remo Dsouza
0India’s top choreographers discuss matching steps as actor-director on new film
Ankit Ajmera (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 10, 2013)
One hour spent with choreographers Prabhu Deva and Remo D’Souza (real names: Shankupani and Ramesh Gopi) is long enough to figure that they are fond admirers of each other. Which made working together on ABCD (Anybody Can Dance), India’s first 3D dance film a breeze. It’s the story of a choreographer who is fired from a dance institute, when he bumps into an old friend and the two decide to make their own team.
Although both Prabhu Deva and D’Souza have successfully graduated from choreography to direction, for ABCD, Prabhu Deva turned actor, happily taking instructions from D’Souza. “There was no room for a clash because I know how good a dancer Prabhu sir is,” D’Souza says, smiling wide through a thick French beard.
Since 2005, Prabhu Deva, the son of Sundaram Master, a well known choreographer in South Indian cinema, has directed 10 Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films including blockbusters Wanted (2009) and Rowdy Rathore (2012). It was when Telugu film producer MS Raju suggested that he direct a movie that he took on Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana, which won the Filmfare award (2006) for Best Film (Telugu).
D’Souza wasn’t as lucky. His first film Lal Pahare’r Katha (2007) based on Chhau, a tribal dance form of Orissa and West Bengal, had to be self-produced. Mithun Chakraborty agreed to act in it, and it turned out to be a surprise winner at the More >
I am scared of handling big stars-S S Rajamouli
0Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; December 20, 2012)
SS Rajamouli, 39, director of Eega, is a man who many big stars want to work with and the rights of whose films are instantly grabbed for remakes in other languages. In an hour-long conversation with Bombay Times, he tells us why he is pro-capitalist, how he was clever in selecting his wife and why he will not work with big stars.
Tell us about your childhood? I was born in Karnataka, studied in Andhra and moved to Chennai as my family was into producing films. Ours was a big joint family (my father had six brothers and we were 13 cousins). We were failed producers who ate away all the resources that my grandfather had accumulated as a rich landlord. We hit rock bottom and did not have any money for even my further education after intermediate. All of us were living in a two-room apartment. Even though they were hard days, it was fun together. Today, talking about those days, it looks as if we were poor but at that time, we were happy and were sure that good days lay ahead.
Right from class two, my passion was telling stories. On Saturdays, we had an extra-curricular class, where it was always Rajamouli telling stories. I don’t remember what I studied in school, but I remember each and every comic I read of Amar Chitra Katha. I used to mix and match the characters from Amar Chitra Katha to tell stories to suit my liking. I was good in studies till 10th after which it went kaput. My father kept asking me what I wanted to More >
Pictures: Best of Amitabh Bachchan’s 70th Birthday Bash
0AMITABH BACHCHAN, JAYA BACHCHAN, NIKHIL NANDA, AGASTYA NANDA, SHWETA NANDA, ABHISHEK BACHCHAN, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN
ABHISHEK BACHCHAN, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN
AMEESHA PATEL, AMITABH BACHCHAN
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
SRIRAM NENE, MADHURI DIXIT, TANUJ VIRWANI, RATI AGNIHOTRI
JOHN ABRAHAM
GENELIA D’SOUZA, RITEISH DESHMUKH
VIDYA BALAN
S CHAWLA, JUHI CHAWLA
AMEESHA PATEL
AMEESHA PATEL
GEETA BASRA
PARINEETI CHOPRA
AYESHA TAKIA AZMI
SHAMITA SHETTY, RAJ KUNDRA, SHILPA SHETTY
ANIL KAPOOR
BONEY KAPOOR, SRIDEVI, GAURI SHINDE, R BALKI
TABU
SHASHI KAPOOR
RATI AGNIHOTRI, TANUJ VIRWANI
NILPRABHA ZINTA, PREITY ZINTA
PRAN
MAHIMA CHAUDHARY
ZEENAT AMAN
DIVYA DUTTA
SONALI BENDRE
PRACHI DESAI
CHIRANJEEVI, KONIDELA SUREKHA
AMITABH BACHCHAN, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, AARADHYA BACHCHAN
GALLERY.ONEINDIA
Anybody can be Sridevi-R Balki
0BOMBAY TIMES (October 5, 2012)
Sequels have made smash hits into huge franchises. Batman, Spiderman, Superman… man man man! Now, welcome the biggest sequel to the smashest hit woman of Indian cinema. Sridevi-2.
While Gauri was busy writing and directing English Vinglish, I was serving coffee, watching Sri perform and thinking to myself about the concept of human franchise. What does it take an actor to be a phenomenon? And a phenomenon 2?
It’s actually very very simple. Anybody can be Sridevi. Here’s how.
1. Be born with ACT+ blood group.
2. Start acting at the age of 3 or max 4.
3. Preserve your basic intelligence at all costs. Don’t complicate instinct with too much knowledge.
4. Love acting. Keep acting. Don’t analyse your gift.
5. Grow up. Forget birthdays. Adjust your dates between Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, NTR, Nageshwara Rao, Chiranjeevi….etc etc. 6. Between all the dancing, jumping and after every fifth commercial blockbuster, slam the audience with a breathtakingly sensitive performance or through divine comic timing.
7. Have the courage of conviction to turn the north into the south. Do the same things… follow the same rules and conquer the rest of the country.
8. Command a price equal to the country’s top heroes and command the respect given to the country’s finest actors. Be right on top.
9. And stop.
10. Get married to a man with a heart the size of Punjab. Allow luck to play a part in your life for once and introduce yourself to somebody as wonderful as More >
Big B attends Ram Charan Teja’s wedding
0P Pavan & Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 15, 2012)
In a star studded function held at Temple Tree resort in Moinabad, Chiranjeevi’s 27-year-old son Ram Charan Teja, who is all set to make his Bollywood debut with the remake of Zanjeer, tied the knot with his childhood sweetheart Upasana Kamineni, granddaughter of Prathap C Reddy, the chairman of a leading hospital and lifecare chain, on Thursday.
A few hours after the wedding, Ram Charan told Mirror, “It’s been one hectic morning for me. That I am married now is yet to sink in. All I can tell you at the moment is, it’s been the best experience of my life.”
Mirror learnt that a rather busy Amitabh Bachchan took time off from his Kaun Banega Crorepati shoot to attend the wedding. He flew to Hyderabad for the wedding at 9 am in a private jet and flew back at 3 pm. Though Kamal Haasan couldn’t be a part of the celebrations, it was one of those rare occasions when superstars Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi and the Big B came together. Boney Kapoor and Sridevi along with Shriya Saran and Rana Daggubatti were there to bless the couple as well.
Curiously no one from Ram Charan’s Zanjeer team showed up at the wedding. Apparently director Apoorva Lakhia had a family engagement, so they all stayed away. Leading lady Priyanka Chopra busy promoting her other film, sent a handpicked gift for the couple.
When contacted. Lakhia said, “But we’re all leaving for Hyderabad very shortly with our gifts. There’s at least three days of festivity More >
Spot Nana RIP
0Gunda fame actor breathes his last in a Hyderabad hospital while undergoing a treatment for his kidney ailment
P Pavann (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 15, 2011)
Indian cinema has lost yet another versatile actor. Rami Reddy, the popular villain of the Telugu cinema who also stretched his wings successfully into Bollywood, expired on Thursday noon while undergoing treatment for a kidney ailment.
During a recent public appearance, on being asked about his increasing weight, the actor joked, “I am not following size zero formula. It won’t suit a villain character. I suffered jaundice during which my liver got damaged.”
The 52-year-old actor who acted in over 250 films also including Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Bhojpuri, breathed his last at the KIMS hospital in Hyderabad where he was admitted two weeks ago.
A native of Chittor, the actor was a journalism graduate from Hyderabad’s Osmania University and worked as a journalist with a Hindi and an Urdu newspaper.
After he quit journalism, it was Tollywood director Kodi Ramakrishna who introduced Reddy in Ankusam as Spot Nana in in 1990. The same year he plunged into Bollywood, as a villain, with Juhi Chawla and Chiranjeevi starrer Pratibandh.
His memorable performances were in films like Gunda with Mithun Chakraborty, Waqt Hamara Hai, Khuddar, Akshay Kumar starrer Jaanwar and Talaash.
The director of Talaash, Suneel Darshan, told Mumbai Mirror, “Rami Reddy has a huge profile of work in Hindi and Telugu. His More >