Star Portrait-Naga Chaitanya

Naga Chaitanya is an upcoming Tollywood actor who was born and brought up in film based family.He was born on November 23rd, 1986 in Hyderabad to actor Akkineni Nagarjuna and his first wife,Lakshmi Daggubati. However his parents split before his first birthday, and subsequently. He was in Hyderabad but moved to Chennai with his mother after his parents split. Nagarjuna married to his co-star Amala, they also had another son Akhil Akkineni, who played the lead role in “Sisindri” as a two year old. Naga Chaitanya received schooling at the PSBB School in Chennai, during which period he often visited his father in Hyderabad.

He played the guitar and drums occasionally for the PSBB school band. He was then sent to an acting school in Mumbai, and subsequently to Hollywood Studios in California (USA) to learn dance and fights before he made his debut. He is also a huge automotive enthusiast and occasionally participates in organised motorsports even to date. Moreover, Naga Chaitanya's grandfather, Akkineni Nageswara Rao was one of thespians of Telugu cinema, with cousins Sumanth and Sushanth also being film actors. His maternal grandfather, D. Ramanaidu, is a famous producer in the film industry whilst his maternal uncle, Venkatesh is also one of Telugu cinema's biggest actors.

 Naga Chaitanya initially did not want to become an actor,but had a sudden change of mind, which resulted in his parents sending him to an acting school in Mumbai and then to Hollywood to learn dancing and fighting, before he made his debut. He made his film debut with “Josh” in 2009 and after his continuing his josh in industry.

Film Career

Following the legacy led by his family in films, Naga Chaitanya's debut was widely anticipated. After several rumours regarding his debut, during the audio launch of his father's King, Chaitanya was introduced to the film world and there his debut film was launched “Josh” directed by newcomer Vasu Varma and produced by Dil Raju pairs him opposite a fellow debutant and child of an actress, Karthika Nair, the daughter of Radha. This film secured him Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for South Indian films.  Prior to the release of his first film, he signed up for his second film “Ye Maaya Chesave” with Indira Poductions, which is to be directed by Gautham Menon and music will be given by Oscar Winner A.R.Rahman. This film received critical acclaim and created a sensation at box office collections.

This film unanimous positive reviews with the film being dubbed as a classic by reviewers, with comparisons drawn to his father's romantic film, Mani Ratnam's “Geethanjali”. Critics also praised his on-screen chemistry with debutant actress Samantha, as the film went on to become a commercial success at the box-office. This was the Telugu version of the Tamil film, “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya”. He also made a cameo appearance in the Tamil version too. His next movie was Sukumar's “100% Love” which was released in 2011 with Tamanna has gained success in the box office. His next movie “Dhada” with Kajal Aggarwal directed Ajay Bhuyan released in same year with huge expectations was a failure. His next movie is “Bejawada” produced by Ram Gopal Varma. This movie released in the same year and received negative feedback.

His recent release “Thadaka” which is a remake of Tamil movie “Vettai” has acquired a mixed response and running successfully at box office.  Naga Chaitanya is currently working with the Director Deva Katta' for the
movie “Autonagar Surya”. This movie stars Samantha who has already worked with Naga Chaitanya in “Ye Maaya Chesave”. Naga Chaitanya is often referred to as the youngest male actor in Telugu. 

Star Portrait-Nagarjuna

Akkineni Nagarjuna, who is often known as King Nagarjuna or Yuva Smarat Nagajuna or Nag, is one of the popular actor and a successful producer. He is the son of veteran actor, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who is a very much respected actor having successfully done multiple films through the last two and half decades. Nagarjuna was born on 29 August 1959 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to actor Nageswara Rao Akkineni and Annapurna Akkineni. The family later moved to Hyderabad where he attended the Hyderabad Public School and studied at Little Flower Junior College and B.E. from the College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. He completed M.S. in Automobile Engineering from Eastern Michigan University. Initially he married Lakshmi Ramanaidu Daggubati in 1984 and the couple were blessed with a son Naga Chaitanya who is also an upcoming hero in Tollywood. Later due some difference between couple they were divorced in the year 1990. After that he married to his co-star Amala. With Amala  Akkineni he has a son Akhil Akkineni who featured in Sisindri. Nag is close friend of the most popular heroine of bollywood and tollywood, Tabu.

Film Journey

Nagarjuna acted as a child artist in the 1967 Telugu film “Sudigundalu” directed by veteran Adurthi Subbarao. Years later he made his debut as a lead actor through the 1986 Telugu film “Vikram”. In 1988, he was starred in “Aakhari Poratam” directed by K. Raghavendra Rao where he was paired opposite Sridevi and Suhasini. In 1989, he was starred in the Maniratnam directed Romantic-drama, “Geethanjali” which became a major box-office success and was critically acclaimed. The film went on to win the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment in 1990. In 1996, Nagarjuna starred and produced “Ninne Pelladatha”, which was directed by Krishna Vamsi. The movie fetched a National Award for him by winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. The next year, Nagarjuna acted in “Annamayya” where he portrayed the role of Annamacharya, a 15th-century Telugu singer and poet, won him his third Filmfare Best Actor Award and his first Nandi Award for Best Actor. His subsequent releases were “Nuvvu Vastavani”, “Ninne Premistha” and “Azad”. He starred in the romantic comedies such as “Santhosham”, “Manmadhudu”, and “Shivamani” as well. He produced “Satyam” in 2003, that starred his nephew Sumanth. In 2004, Nagarjuna had two releases “Nenunnanu” and “Mass”. In 2005, Nagarjuna acted in and produced “Super”. In 2006, he starred in “Sri Ramadasu”, his second period film based on the 18th-century Telugu composer of the same name. Nagarjuna received the Nandi Award for Best actor for the film. In December 2007, he appeared in “Don” and a year later, he appeared in “King” alongside Trisha Krishnan and Srihari. In the year 2010, he had releases such as “Kedi” and “Ragada”. Later he appeared in “Gaganam” was released in 2011. Next his film released in row “Rajanna”, “Damarukam” and “Shirdi Sai”. He recently release “Greeku Veerudu” also proved his romantic hero images once again.

Business and Production House Journey

Nagarjuna revived his father's production Annapurna Studios which has become one of the most successful production companies of recent times in Tollywood. He never hesitates to do experiment when he produces films. He gave a chance to a newcomer who had no prior experience in movies to direct him. The newcomer didn't disappoint him and went on to become one of the finest directors of Indian film industry. The director is none other than RamGopal Verma. Nagarjuna is also known for his swiftness in decision making. He agreed to work with Krishna Vamsi(director) after seeing 10-minute-rushes of the director's film “Gulabi”. His decision proved to be bang on target as they made the blockbuster movie “Ninne Pelladutha”. Nagarjuna owns several restaurants in India and abroad and often visits them on a regular basis. Nagarjuna is investing close to 87 crores in real estate projects in Dubai. He is planning to team up with SRK to build a national level power project in Hyderabad. Nagarjuna is a close friend to the business tycoon Anil Ambani. While working on Khuda Gawah in Afganisthan, Nagarjuna fell in love with the region so much that he bought a huge property there and wanted to build a film studio, but later sold the property after the 9/11 attacks. Nagarjuna made his début as a television producer in 2009 with the serial “Yuva”. He is one of the major shareholders of the television channel Maa TV.

Social Service

Nagarjuna, with his wife Amala, is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad a non-government organization (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights. He is also involved in some of the welfare programs undertaken by the MAA TV association. In 2010, he starred in an HIV/AIDS animated software tutorial created by TeachAIDS, a nonprofits founded at Stanford University.

Awards and Honours

Here is the list of Awards he won,

 Vamsi Berkley Award-Vikram-1986

Bharathamuni-Geetanjali-1989

Andhrapradesh Cinegoers Award-Geetanjali-1989

 Vamsi Berkley Award-Shiva-1989

Cinema Express Award-Shiva-1989

 Film Fare Award-Shiva-1989

Akruthi Film Award-Ninne Pelladutha-1996

 Bangaru Nandi- Andhra Pradesh State Government

Award-Annamayya-1997

Bharathamuni Award-Annamayya-1997

Screen Videocon Award-Annamayya-1997

National Award- Central Government Special Jury Award-Annamayya-1997

Andhra Pradesh Film Journalists Association Award-Azad-2000

Bangaru Nandi- Andhra Pradesh State Government Award (Sharing with Sri.Chiranjeevi)-Santosham & Manmadhudu-2002

Star Portrait-YVS.Chowdhary

YVS.Chowdhary is born on 23 May 1965 at Gudiwada, Andhra Pradesh. He is a well known Film Director, Producer, Screen Writer, Distributor and Exhibitor in telugu industry.

Film Career

Director


YVS.Chowdhary as a director did eight films.  Among them were Devdas and Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo ran for more than 175 days. Before becoming a director, he has associated with directors such as K. Raghavendra Rao, Ram Gopal Varma, Mahesh Bhatt and Krishna Vamsi.

Producer

His movie productions include Lahiri Lahiri Lahirilo, Devdasu, Sree Seetharamula Kalyanam Choothamu Raarandi,Seetharama Raju, Yuvaraju and Seathaiah. He also producued Nippu. Currently he is directing Sai Dharam Teja in Rey.

Personal

YVS Chowdary is a fan of NTR before he entered Tollywood. He started the trend of making films with new star cast in Akkineni Nagarjuna's home production film titled Sri Seetharamula Kalyanam Choothamu Raarandi. He directed actors such as Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Akkineni Nagarjuna,, Nandamuri Harikrishna, Mahesh Babu,Nandamuri Balakrishna and Mohan Babu in his other projects. He introduced "Venkat", "Chandu", "Chandni" in his first film. "Aditya Om", "Ankita Jhaveri", in his fourth film and "Ram", "Ileana D'Cruz" in his sixth film.

Bhai Teaser - Official First look trailer - Nagarjuna, Richa

Adda Movie Review

Adda review

Film-Adda
Release date : 15 August 2013
Director : G.Karthik Reddy
Producer : Chintalapudi Srinivas, Akkineni Nagasuseela
Music Director : Anoop Rubens
Starring : Sushanth, Shanvi

Rating-1/5

Plot

Hero,Heroine falling in love, separating due to misunderstandings and then trying to patchup

Attractions


Lovely Sanvi's beauty

Anup Rubens music

Some romantic scenes

Distractions

Boring dialogues

weak screenplay,direction

bad comedy

song placement

weak romantic track

Verdict

Avoid Adda

Jagadguru Adi Sankara review

Jagadguru Adi Sankara review

Film -Jagadguru Adi Sankaracharya
Certificate-A
Directed by J. K. Bharavi
Produced by Nara Jaya Sri Devi,Global Sai Financiers
Written by J. K. Bharavi
Narrated by Chiranjeevi
Starring Kaushik Babu,Akkineni Nagarjuna,Upendra,Mohan Babu,Meena
Music by Nag Srivatsa
Cinematography P.K.H. Das,S. Gopal Reddy
Editing by Goutham Raju

Rating-3.5/5

Plot

Great spiritual guru Adi Sankaracharya's biopic

Attractions

Kaushik's performance

Nagarjuna,Mohan Babu,Srihari,Saikumar's special roles

Adi Sankara's preachings

Music,direction,screenplay

Inspiring dialogues

Distractions

None

lack of commercial elements

Verdict


Must watch to get inspired from India's great past and heritage

Bengali Beauty insults Balakrishna

Many are scared to stand in front of Natasimha Balakrishna,leave alone talk to him. However Bengali Beauty insulted Balakrishna by refusing to romance him.

It is known that Balakrishna is turning Jayasimha to show his political power under Boyapati Srinu direction. The duo is planning to recreate the magic of Simha.

Filmmakers finalised Sonal Chauhan for the lead role and for the second heroine's role contacted Rosagolla Richa Gangopadhyaya. Even earlier Erica Fernandez, Femina finalist rejected Balakrishna's offer.

Richa who was confined to second heroine roles for most of her career rejected outright saying she is only interested in doing lead roles like the one in King Nagarjuna's Bhai. Wonder how Balakrishna takes this insult!

Mega attack on Bhai!

King Nagarjuna showed his romantic moods to ravishing Bengali Rasogulla Rich Gangopadhyaya even at his age turning Bhai. Bhai planned to entertain movie lovers during Vinayaka Chavithi.However Bhai immersed in romantic mood, didnot foresee the danger of Mega Power Star Ram Charan's yevadu, Power Star Pawan Kalyan's Attarintiki Daaredi.

It is a known fact that the moment tensions in Andhra region cool down, these two mega films will hit the silver screen. Now Bhai scared to face them postponed the audio release from Aug 15th to Sep 1st. This means even film release won't be during Vinayaka Chavithi.

Chiranjeevi's 150th film release in Aug

Mega Power Star Ram Charan's Yevadu and Power Star Pawan Kalyan's Attarintiki Daaredi may have postponed. But Mega Star Chiranjeevi's 150th film is releasing on Independence day.

Millions of mega fans may be surprised but it is true. Chiranjeevi will be seen as Lord Shiva in Jagadguru Adi Shankara directed by Jk.Bharavi. From the beginning it is known that Chiru is giving voice over for the film which stars Sreehari,Mohan Babu,Nagarjuna in special roles.

Latest information says the filmmakers are using Chiranjeevi's Manjunatha scenes with his permission in the film. This is a delight for his fans who are eager to see him on silver screen once again.

Bhai's first look released

Greeku Veerudu review

Review: Greeku Veerudu
      Banner: Kamakshi Movies

Producer: D.Shiva Prasad Reddy

Director: Dasarath

Music: S S Thaman

Casting: Nagarjuna, Nayantara, Meera Chopra, K Vishwanath, Brahmanandam, M S Narayana, Kota Srinivas Rao, Sharath Babu, Ashish Vidyarthi.  Ali, Venu Madav, Raghu Babu, Vennela Kishore, Nagi Needu, Tagubothu Ramesh, Kovai Sarala and others

Rating: 2.25/5.0

Story

Chandu (Nagarjuna) runs an event management company in USA. He values money and doesn’t believe in love or human relations. Sandhya ( Nayantara), a doctor committed to service. She works with the charitable organization 'Make a Wish'. She believes in sentiments, relations and love.

Chandu travels to India to meet his grandparents and relatives for the first time to address and an unprecedented event occurred in USA. On his way to India, Chandu meets Sandhya who has conflicting views about life, get acquainted to each other. After meeting Sandhya and relatives in India, Chandu realises the value of human relations and importance of love.

What made Chandu to change his views on relations and love forms the crux of the story.

Performance

Nagarjuna, though slim and handsome looked bit old in the character. Nagarjuna failed to bring the right kind of emotions in key scenes. Except in Greeku Veerudu song, there are not many steps in choreography.

Nayantara looked dull in the movie. She too looked old and pale in close ups. Definitely her spark is missing in this film.

Meera Chopra role is very small and wouldn’t gain anything out of it. K Vishwanth is routine in grandfather role. Ashish Vidyarthi and Kota appear in negative roles.

Brahmanandam, M S Narayana and Dharmavarapu Subramanyam and Kovai Sarala entertain you in comedy roles. Rest of the supporting cast is okay.

Technical

Dasarath once again chose a story which tells the human relations and love. The film's story resembles director Dasarath's earlier film 'Mr. Perfect', in which the hero and heroine have divergent views. Ultimately they unite when the hero changes his views. Though the subject is good, director failed to handle the script to perfection. The scenes are half baked or end abruptly. He failed to bring the intensity in emotional scenes. The screenplay of the movie is big draw back and boring at times. The movie runs on slow pace and ends on sluggish note.

S S Thman tried to be different with this movie. He showed variation in background score and music when compared to his other movies. Anil Bhandari cinematography is rich. Marthand K Venkatesh could have done better job on editing. Dialogues by Dasarath are good. There is nothing to say about Choreography or Action.

Analysis

Dasarath who scored hits with human relations subject once again chose the same subject for Grreku Veerudu. Unfortunately, unimpressive screenplay and poor direction hamper the chances of film at box office. The movie runs on sluggish pace from start to finish. There is not enough family drama to make an impact on audience about relations. There is no depth in the scenes between Nagaarjuna and Vishwanath or between Nagarjuna and Nayantara to elevate the movie. Cliamax is also a big letdown. Director seems to be influenced by Srinu Vytla finished the climax in comic way undermining the main subject.

Over all, Greeku Veerudu is a family drama with little comedy and zero mass elements. The movie may appeal to a small section of family audience who love to see films on human relations and love. But, the film is hard to digest if you are looking for pure entertainment.

Final Talk

It is a below average movie.

Stars shine at TSR Awards

    Top actors from the South Indian film industry and Bollywood made their presence felt at a recent awards function for the years 2011 and 2012, held at a private auditorium in the city. The glitzy affair saw several awards in various categories presented to the actors. Megastar Chiranjeevi, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Dr D Ramanaidu, Balakrishna and Nagarjuna among others, spoke highly of the awards. While actor Neha Dhupia regaled all with her Bollywood dance numbers, danseuse Shobhana was all grace in her Bharatnatyam recital. Bolly stars Sridevi, Rani Mukerji, Anil Kapoor, Dia Mirza and Zeenat Aman added lots of glitz to the event. T Subbarami Reddy was spotted ch at t i n g with guests who made their way to the ceremony.

 

Chiranjeevi, Shatrughan Sinha and ANR

Zeenat Aman

Anil Kapoor

Sridevi and Boney Kapoor

Tamannaah

Shobhana

Jayasudha

Neha Dhupia

Charmme

Balakrishna

T Subbarami Reddy

Richa

Pinky Reddy

Rani Mukerji

Ameesha Patel

Nagarjuna

Dia Mirza

Nagarjuna, Dhoni team win car race

Manmadhudu turns Chandaludu

Damarukam success meet

http://youtu.be/SQUw7aKfYFI

Nagarjuna unlocks 'Damarukam' secrets

http://youtu.be/MljLncIqIM4

Damarukam review

 

Cast: Nagarjuna, Anushka, Prakash Raj, Ravi Shankar
Direction: Srinivas Redde
Genre: Fantasy
Duration: 2 hours 36 minutes

Synopsis: Andhakasura ( Ravi Shankar) is the last surviving asura (demon) who comes back from eons of hibernation to take revenge against the gods who decimated his race. But to realise his dream he needs to sacrifice Maheswari (Anushka). But he finds an unlikely nemesis in Mallikarjuna (Nagarjuna).

Movie Review: The movie lives up to its tag of being a "visual effects extravaganza", at least in terms of sheer quantity. With monsters, devils, sorcerers, gods, naga sadhus and the works. . .this movie probably packs more minutes of vfx than any other Telugu film.

But then quality of the computer generated gimmickry is much harder to ascertain. It depends on what the benchmark is, for they keep changing all the time. If you compare the visual experience with that of Kodi Ramakrishna's 1995 film, Ammoru, this movie would be miles ahead. But compared to Arundhati and Eega, the wizardry seems marginally better at best, save the menacing monster that crops up in the climax episode.

The film has a very simple premise. At the beginning of universe when the gods waged a war against asuras they manage to vanquish all except Andhakasura. Seething with revenge he disappears into oblivion waiting for an opportune time to for vendetta. It presents itself in the form of Maheshwari who is born with the blessings of goddess Parvati. If Andhakasura can marry her and offer her as a sacrifice to the dark forces on the day of total solar eclipse he will be blessed with the power to rule the universe. But to have his way, he first needs to vanquish Mallikarjuna, a protege of Lord Shiva, who stands in the way.

Now that's a decent premise to begin with but the characterization and narrative flow proves to be the film's undoing. Prakash Raj looks a tad tacky playing Lord Shiva and looks more like Swami Nithyanada with a straight nose. Ravi Shankar's get-up looks like a cheap imitation of the nepala manthrikudu character in Pathala Bhairavi. So perhaps more original imagination would have helped here. Brahmandam's comic track is funny in parts.

As far as performances go, well they are over the top but fall short of being good, save for Nagarjuna who essays his role with his trademark panache. Well, Anushka has little to do as far as performance goes and does a good job of upping the glam quotient.

The background score by Devisri Prasad is pretty impressive and the sound of the dhol and chantings about Lord Shiva reverberate all through the film. The songs are good too. The graphics are good but they just seem to have a video game feel to them. It's just that the movie doesn't come together as an experience.

Tip Off: As long as you go to the movie not expecting to be blown off your seat, you won't walk out disappointed.