Chilly Director's silly satires!

When he made a dud film with good content, Film Nagar applauded him for his talent before 'Shock'ing him with no next movie. When he scored a hit with Telugu Chilly 'Mirapakai', Film Nagar is at the receiving end to experience his shocking satires. We are talking about budding director Harish Shankar and here it goes. According to latest buzz, Harish Shankar's head strong attitude and satirical dialogues on big-wigs of Telugu Cinema are irking a lot of people. His attitude went to a peak after signing 'Gabbar Singh' with Powerstar Pawan Kalyan. Harish's ways of addressing big producers, yesteryear star-directors and distributors saying that they are all waste, has become talk of the town. Harish is in the dreams that 'Mirapakai' is a big hit in the industry, and that is the reason behind these extras, say trade circles. Looks like, Harish should reform himself to stay ground else his days will be numbered.

'Mirapakaya' Producer's Extras With Ravi Teja

Build-ups and extras are a big part of the cine industry as it is filled with people who bloat with inflated egos. Now, it appears that the same is the case with the producer of the film ‘Mirapakaya’. His name is Ramesh Puppala and his recent statements gave an impression like that.

He was sharing his thoughts with the media about the collections of ‘Mirapakaya’ when he stated that it has touched Rs 25 crores. Those around whispered that it is a blow up figure and inside talk is that the film has not touched that figure exactly. Ramesh then thanked Ravi Teja and added that he wants to do another film with the star.

True to his hyped statement, Ravi Teja gave a jhalak. He said “Last time you gave me some remuneration and since the film has become a hit, this time you give an additional Rs 3 crores for a new project, since you are saying I’m bringing more profits”. Those around said that Ramesh went pale hearing this and gave a sheepish grin. Ramesh understood that Ravi Teja knows the facts of figures.

Deeksha Seth's Sexy Yoga @ Heroine's Husband

One of the hottest birds to create a sensation in the Tollywood circuit right now is Deeksha Seth. This enchanting seductress is making a strong impact with her oomph and sex appeal.

Now, if news is to be believed she might just top up her beauty further more. It is heard that Deeksha is looking at taking up yoga course and the only man she is looking up to is Bharat Thakur, husband of Bhumika.

Sources say that she is planning to get trained under him once he returns from Dubai. The only reason why Deeksha is opting Bharat Thakur is he got great contacts in Bollywood and Tollywood and on the other hand he has been trainer for hot beauties like Anushka.

The buzz is that Bharat is busy conducting special yoga programs for his rich clients in Dubai.

Many say that the combo of Deeksha with Yoga is going to be a deadly combination and it will cause a major chaos among the male audience. As it is, her voluptuous appeal has been setting the screens on fire and if Bharat’s hand falls on Deeksha then we leave it to one’s imagination of the consequences.

Report: Tollywood's Festive Collection Dismal

Hyderabad: The Sankranti festival is usually a money-spinner for Tollywood filmmakers and distributors. This year it is different. The collection from three big films combined has not crossed the `10 crore mark in the first week.

According to industry sources, the three-day festival pulled in `21 crore in 2010 and `19 cores in 2009, which means that this year’s collection has dropped by 50 per cent.

The repetitive content of the films, the squeeze on farmers who make up much of the audience at this time, inflation and the cautious mood among fans are said to be the cause of the poor box-office takings.

If Arundhati alone grossed `11 crore in 2009 in the first week, Adurs swept the 2010 collections with `13 crore. In contrast, this season all the three releases — Param Veera Chakra, Mirapakai and Anaganaga Oka Dheerudu — have made far from record-breaking collections.

“New releases haven’t fared well because audiences want to be doubly sure before stepping into theatres. The screening of new films like Robo on TV during the festival also affected our viewership," says Mr Vijayender Reddy, president, Telangana Film Chambers of Commerce. The Sankranti festival has in the past made blockbusters of films such as Samarasimhareddy, Narasimhanaidu, Arundhati, Desamuduru, Samarasimhareddy, Varsham, and Nuvvu Vasthanante Nenoddantana. Producer Chintalapudi Srinivas blames the floods and inflation for the dip in viewership.

“Farmers form the major chunk of the audience during Sankranti but the recent floods have affected their livelihood. The spiralling cost of vegetables and groceries has diminished the purchasing power of lower and middle class viewers. Even die-hard fans seem to be adopting a wait and watch approach,” he says.

“The first audiences cause a lot of damage by SMSing reports of the films, while others make nasty remarks, which discourages fence-sitters. Thus, regular viewers are reluctant to spend `200 on what they are told is a bad film,” says Mr Srinivas, a distributor.

Source: Deccan

Gossip: Director Hits On Heroine's Butt

Strange are the ways of few directors and the way they express their emotions be it happiness or anger. Now, one among them happens to be B V S Ravi who is a debutante and here is a rather unusual tidbit we received from one of his close sources.

It is heard that during the shooting of his film ‘Wanted’, Ravi’s attention seemed to be more on heroine Deeksha Seth’s butt than anything else. It is heard that during scene takes, if Deeksha didn’t do well he used to spank her butt and even if she did well also he used to pat her butt.

Agreed that Deeksha is a mouth watering seductress but then Ravi’s gestures and his area of focus was something not agreeable. Well, since the unit members say it has happened let us hope that this ‘Butt’ frenzy brings ‘Wanted’ some good results at the box office also instead of getting its butt kicked out by the audience.

Sankranthi Report: Fate Of 4 Releases

The festival of Sankranthi is the most auspicious for the Telugu people and the culture is imbibed into the Tollywood circuit as well.

The cine folks believe that since it is the opening of the year, they feel that a good start to the box office will always lead to good results down the line. Therefore, they come up with the best of the big budget movies and want to be the first winners in the list.

Now, the Sankranthi for 2011 is complete and four films were in the race for top honors. Three out of the four were big banner and big star flicks while the fourth was more of a urban treat. So, here is a look at the fate of all the films now that the festival frenzy is over.

Parama Veera Chakra:This was the most hyped and much awaited film from Nandamuri Balakrishna. After the blockbuster hit of ‘Simha’, many expected Balayya to repeat the magic and the fact that this was also the 150th directorial venture of Dasari Narayana Rao added to the hype. However, the film turned out to be a colossal disaster at the box office.

Though Balayya did justice to his act, many blamed the weak handling by Dasari which resulted in the flop. A film which is reportedly made at Rs 20 crore budget is currently scrambling to touch even Rs 2 crores.

Anaganaga Oka Dheerudu:
A super hyped fantasy flick, the film had many highlights. It marked the debut of Shruti Haasan and Lakshmi Manchu in Telugu. It also welcomed the Hollywood giant Walt Disney into Telugu. Above all, this had Siddarth in an ambitious role of a warrior while the director if Kovelamudi Prakash, son of K Raghavendar Rao.  Despite so many plusses, the film still turned out to be a dud. Yet again, the cause for that is Prakash and his poor directorial abilities, said many.

Mirapakaya:
Mass maharaja Ravi Teja seems to be riding on luck somewhat. His earlier venture was ‘Don Seenu’ which scraped into a safe zone thanks to few external factors and the glamour of Shriya. This time, he has emerged to be the lucky winner once again. Though the film was not worthy of being given a pass mark, the poor performance of other two films and the crowd pulling factor of Ravi Teja worked the trick and reports say that the film is inching towards a commercial hit. This in a way, is relief to the box office.

Golconda High School:
The soft spoken hero Sumanth has arrived with an offbeat venture this time and this is the rather unconventional treat from director Indraganti Mohana Krishna of ‘Ashta Chemma’ fame. With cricket as the backdrop and sticking to the environment of the school like the title suggests, the film has got a mixed response. While few connected to the film very well on nostalgic grounds and love for cricket, few felt that it lacked the velocity and intensity to grip the audience. Overall, this is a clean film amidst the lot of masala flicks and with a message.

So folks, the Sankranthi season has given an overall disappointing result and now, the focus will be on the summer releases. Let us see if the heat picks up by then or not.

'Mirapakaya' Director's Hot Love Story

The Sankranthi fever has died down and one look at the releases show that ‘Mirapakaya’ has emerged to be the winner among the lot. The captain of the ship was director Harish Shankar and he is currently riding high with the success and has already begun working on his next project with the same motivation.

Well, here is the interesting part. It is heard that Harish has decided to come up with the film basing on his love story. Sources reveal that Harish had a love marriage and his was an adventurous love story which had its ups and downs and finally a happy union.

The buzz is that there is a lot of intensity in his love story and Harish wants to add some extra masala to make it double spicy than ‘Mirapakaya’. The talk is that this will be a strong script driven story and Harish is determined to score a success with this one as well and make his mark.

'Mirapakay' Review: Hot And Spicy

Film: Mirapakay
Rating: 3.25/5
Banner: Yellow Flowers
Cast: Ravi Teja, Richa Gangopadhyay, Deeksha Seth, Prakashraj, Kota, Ajay, Supreeth, Sunil, Brahmaji, Ravu Ramesh, Ali, Naga Babu, Chandramohan, Surekha Vani, Dharmavarapu, Sudha, Muralikrishna etc
Music: Thaman
Cinematography: Ramprasad
Editing: Goutham Raju
Story, screenplay, direction: Harish Shankar
Producer: Ramesh Puppala
Release date: 13/01/2011

Mass Raja Ravi Teja has become Mass Maharaj with this film and yet again, he comes up with a tangy entertainer. Let us see how this ‘Mirapaky’ faired.

Story:
Rishi (Ravi Teja) is a cop and though he is good at his duty, he loves the company of girls and wants to enjoy romance and other fun things. He also has a team (Brahmaji, Muralikrishna and others). He gets his chance when he is assigned on a special mission to a college as a lecturer. Here, Rishi meets the traditional Brahmin girl Vinamra (Richa) and it is love at first sight for him.

In no time, Vinamra also falls for him. The story takes a turn with the arrival of Vaishali (Deeksha) in the college, daughter of the big don Kittu Bhai (Prakashraj) and she also falls in love with Rishi. Now begins the mission of Rishi, what is that mission?

Whom does he like, Vinamra or Vaishali? All this forms the rest of the story.

Performances:
Ravi Teja is the life and soul for this movie. His energy levels are extraordinary and he charges up the scene with his body language. He shoulders the film throughout and scores the brownie points.

Richa looks sweet and given her role, she fits perfectly as a gullible yet adorable girl. Her expressions and dance movements during songs are cute. 

Deeksha is live dynamite. There is a significant sex appeal she possesses and her oomph factor outweighs her performance. Her baby face mixed with her voluptuous charms is a feast for the audience. 

Prakashraj was brief, Ajay was neat, Kota was at his best once again. Ravu Ramesh and Sunil would have given better roles to perform. Supreeth was standard. Ali, Brahmaji, Jogi Naidu, Praveen provide few smiles. Chandramohan was elegant. The others did their bit as required and added value.

Highlights: 

• Ravi Teja’s performance and energy levels
• Cinematography
• Production values
• Screenplay
• Music and Background
• The scene where an analogy of Puri Jagannadh, V V Vinayak, Rajamouli films come and Kota says “meeru dhandha vadilesi cinemalu baaga mariginru..”
• Songs and music

Drawbacks:

• Climax could have been better
• Few scenes lack depth

Analysis:
Overall, the director Harish Shankar has improved from his earlier venture and he has balanced the entertainment and commercial values decently. He is showing potential as a commercial director for Tollywood in the future.

As far as this film is concerned Harish Shankar seems to have taken some inspiration from the narrative style and treatment of Puri Jagannath. Hence a bit of ‘Pokiri’ flavor is seen in this film.

The pace at which the film runs doesn’t leave many idle moments and it is more like a touch and go situation without any hiccups. The technical values, the music and the entertainment quotient were in the right proportion. If the story can be given that extra dose of punch and twists, then it will be a right recipe for the box office. However, this has a strong chance to be a commercial success.

First half runs with many hilarious moments packed with some action while the second half goes on action and love sentiment with a few lighter moments.  But the closing of the movie is very abrupt and quick.

Bottom-line: Formula entertainer, can be watched once

(Sirasri can be reached at sirasri@gmail.com)