ShowBiz

Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) The unit of director K. S. Ravindra's upcoming explosive action entertainer, featuring Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja in the lead, began a new shooting schedule of the film in Hyderabad on Friday.

Tentatively referred to as 'Mega154', the film, which is being directed by K. S. Ravindra, who is fondly referred to as Bobby, has raised huge expectations.

The film features Ravi Teja, who joined the unit in the last schedule, in a powerful role. Shruti Haasan plays the female lead opposite Chiranjeevi in the film.

On Friday, the new schedule, which also saw Chiranjeevi take part, began. Sources say this schedule will be a lengthy one and that some of the film's most key sequences will be filmed during this period.

A die-hard fan of Megastar Chiranjeevi himself, director Bobby is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the film has elements that appeal to the masses from start to end.

Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar are producing the film, while G.K. Mohan is the co-producer.

'Mega154' has music by music director Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography by Arthur A. Wilson.

Niranjan Devaramane is editing the film and Sushmita Konidela is the costume designer.

While story and dialogues for the film have been written by Bobby himself, Kona Venkat and K. Chakravarthy Reddy have penned the film's screenplay. The writing department also include Hari Mohana Krishna and Vineeth Potluri.

'Mega154' is scheduled to hit screens for Sankranthi, 2023.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Ace director Shankar, who is now simultaneously directing Kamal Haasan-starrer 'Indian 2' and Telugu star Ram Charan's 'RC15', has showered praise on the recently released Dhanush-starrer 'Thiruchitrambalam', calling the film, 'a beautiful movie'.

Taking to Twitter, Shankar wrote: "'Thiruchitrambalam'. A beautiful movie. The beauty is in the lovely moments that follow the painful ones. Nithya Menon's character and superb performance seizes hearts, the writing by Mithran R Jawahar as well. #DNA at their best as usual. Love to Bharathiraja, Prakash Raaj and the whole team."

Dhanush was quick to respond to Shankar's praise.

The actor tweeted, "Thank you so much sir. This means a lot to me and my team."

The film has gone on to become an overwhelming success, making a good Rs 30 crores in the opening weekend itself. It has already crossed the Rs 60 crore mark in gross earnings worldwide.

'Thiruchitrambalam' has been doing brisk business not only in India but all over the world. In fact, the film's performance is one of the best overseas performances for a Dhanush film.

'Thiruchitrambalam' has already emerged as Dhanush's top grossing film in France with 10,000 entries. It is also the top grossing film of the actor in the UK, making 1,35,000 Euros so far.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Actress Ammu Abhirami, who impressed audiences with her brilliant performance in the Dhanush-starrer 'Asuran', will next be seen playing the lead along with seven others in the psychological, fantasy-thriller 'Pendulum', which went on the floors recently.

Directed by Sathish Kumaran, the new-fangled psychological fantasy thriller is being produced by Thiraviyam Bala of Surya Indrajit Films.

Over the years, Tamil cinema has witnessed psychological thrillers getting made. However, 'Pendulum' will be unique as it will feature eight people playing the lead.

'Asuran' fame Ammu Abhirami and Komal Sharma will be the prime lead characters. They will be seen alongside Sripathy, Sree Kumar, T.S.K., Vijith, Ram Jr. MGR and Prem Kumar.

Apart from these eight people who play the lead, actors Gajaraj and Chaams too will be seen playing important roles in the film.

This is the first-ever time, eight actors will be seen playing lead roles in a thriller movie.

B.Sathish Kumaran, who worked as a making cameraman in director Shankar's film 'I', is cranking the camera.

The team is planning to shoot the film in fresh locations in Chennai, Talakkonam, Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, and Goa.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) One of India's finest music directors, Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja, has got the background score of the musical film, 'Music School', orchestrated and recorded in Budapest, Hungary.

Sources say that the much-awaited musical with compositions by Ilaiyaraaja is getting its final touches in Budapest.

Featuring 11 songs, 'Music School' has been written and directed by Papa Rao Biyyala. The film includes three songs from the Oscar-winning and much-loved classic 'The Sound of Music'.

The film is produced by the Hyderabad-based company Yamini Films. The producers planned to record background music in Budapest to match the quality of the music from 'The Sound of Music'.

"Dr. Ilaiyaraaja has written many parts of the film's background music for a symphony orchestra," director Biyyala said. "Hence we approached the Budapest Symphony Orchestra - one of the leading orchestras in the world."

Earlier, three songs from 'The Sound of Music' were orchestrated by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before the shoot of the film.

So, the music composer and the director thought it would be wise to have an orchestra of equal stature like the Budapest Symphony score the rest of the music for the film.

The recording was done at the Tom-Tom Studio in Budapest and Laszlo Kovacs conducted the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

"I am very happy that Raaja sir gave so much time and involvement to my film," director Biyyala said.

'Music School' is about how school systems and parents put pressure on children to continue with endless hours of studies, with the hope of producing doctors and engineers, thereby leaving no time for art and leisure activities.

The film's cast is led by Shriya Saran, Sharman Joshi, Shaan, Prakash Raj, Suhasini Mulay, Benjamin Gilani, Gracy Goswami and Ozu Barua. One of India's ace cinematographers Kiran Deohans has filmed 'Music School'.

'Music School' is to be screened on September 12 and 18 in the industry/market section of the Toronto International Film Festival.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Comedian and politician Raju Srivastava has been put on ventilator again after he ran a mild fever of about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The actor had gained consciousness on August 25 and had been recovering since then but the latest development has once again made his fans worry about his health.

As per a report by India Today, Raju is still conscious and with normal body movements. The comedian was earlier registering Spo2 levels of 80 per cent to 90 per cent without oxygen support.

Raju Srivastava was admitted to AIIMS in Delhi on August 10 after he suffered a heart attack following his gym routine. His trainer immediately took him to the hospital. Over the past few days, the comedian's health has witnessed significant fluctuations. On August 25, Raju finally regained consciousness around 8:00 a.m.

Currently the comedian is being closely monitored for fever as he continues to recuperate.

--IANS
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Los Angeles, Sep 2 (IANS) Director Stephen Merchant has shared that Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson brings his own meals to restaurants for 'regimented' diet'.

Merchant, who worked with Johnson on 'Fighting with My Family', described the actor's "regimented" diet while speaking to Jim Norton and Sam Roberts on SiriusXM, reports foxnews.com.

"I do remember having a meeting with him just in Texas just before WrestleMania and we were having a meeting about the movie and his alarm would go off at like 3:17 p.m. and he would go to the fridge and there would be turkey and rice with '3:17 p.m.' written on it and he would microwave it," Merchant recalled.

"It was so regimented. It's extraordinary," he added.

The director went on to say he was once told Johnson has even brought his own meals out to restaurants.

"I think someone told me, maybe he told me, that when he goes for dinner with friends he has to take his food to the restaurant and have them heat it up because it's such a structured diet he has to have," he said.

Johnson is known to follow strict diets and exercise programmes in order to maintain his ripped physique.

However, he does partake in cheat meals every once in a while.

Johnson recently tried In-N-Out Burger for the first time and shared his cheat meal for "the history books."

The former WWE wrestler ordered two Double-Double cheeseburgers and two large fries.

"A solid start with a bite of good fries," he wrote before adding: "as we know s----- fries can ruin the whole experience."

He paired the meal with some tequila, according to his post.

Johnson revealed his motivation to keep up his workout routine in a YouTube video shared in February.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' went down memory lane with a contestant who shared that his strict father would not allow him to play cricket, and the cine icon talked about how his mother, Teji Bachchan, would catch him listening to cricket commentary under covers.

Narrating the incident, contestant Saurabh Shekhar shares: "I have been an ardent follower of cricket since childhood and was very fascinated by the game when I was a kid. When I used to live in the village with my family, my father thought that there was no scope for sports. Even so, I was mad about cricket!"

Shekhar added: "My father used to think that if he lets us siblings play, it would be like sparing the rod, we won't study. There was also a time when we did not have a television set in our house and a match was on. My older brother would listen to the commentary on the transistor and there were only a few overs left."

"In our excitement, we went to our neighbour's house to watch TV and celebrated the last few overs that were left. No sooner than we left the house, our father woke up and then, all hell broke loose."

Big B too followed Shekhar's story with his own in which he spoke about his mother. He will be seen talking about how he used to go under the covers in his bed and listen to the commentary on the transistor from there. And when his mother caught him, she questioned him and asked him to focus on his studies.

'Kaun Banega Crorepati' Season 14 airs on Sony Entertainment Television.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Malayalam director Rejishh Midhila's upcoming Tamil fantasy film, in which comedian Yogi Babu plays the lead, has been titled 'Yaanai Mugathaan'.

Interestingly, the director, who is well-known in Malayalam film industry, is making his debut in Tamil with this film.

Sources close to the unit say that Yogi Babu plays a character called Ganesh in the film. Interestingly, the name of the character actor Ramesh Tilak plays in the film is Ganesh too.

"Both characters-- played by Yogi Babu and Ramesh Tilak respectively-- are called Ganesh. Ramesh Tilak plays an auto driver in the film and is extremely devoted to Lord Ganesha. His character has the habit of procuring a loan from every person he meets. His character often gets into problems by failing to pay the debts," says the source.

"In the film, Yogi Babu introduces himself as Vinayagar to Ramesh Tilak and makes a demand. As a result, a sudden set of developments happen, changing their lives. What happens then is what the story is about," the source adds.

The shooting of the film, which started in Chennai, continued in Rajasthan.

Actress Oorvasi too will be seen playing a pivotal character in the film. She plays a character called 'Malli Akka', the owner of the apartment in which both Yogi Babu and Ramesh Thilak live.

Karunakaran plays a small pan masala shop owner called Michael.

Apart from the lead artistes, the film will also feature George Maryan, Hareesh Peradi, Kulappulli Leela ("Marudhu" Paati) and Nagavishal in important roles

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 1 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, whose latest release 'Laal Singh Chaddha' tanked at the box-office, is currently holidaying in San Francisco.

Earlier media reports claimed that the superstar is on a two-month break and is holidaying in the US. He will start his next film after he is back in Mumbai following his break.

A picture of Aamir doing the rounds on social media shows that the actor is currently not in the country.

The photograph has been shared by a fan named Natasha on Twitter, where the two are seen posing for a selfie.

She captioned the image: "Yesterday in unexpected unbelievable i'm still unwell twists."

In the image, Aamir is seen flaunting a salt and pepper look. He looks dapper dressed in a navy blue full sleeved T-shirt. He has a sweater tied around his waist and is seen carrying a beige coloured cross bag. He kept it casual and completed his look with spectacles.

'Laal Singh Chaddha', which also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, is a remake of the Hollywood film 'Forest Gump' starring Tom Hanks.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 1 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan along with his family welcomed Ganpati at his sister Arpita's home and even shared a video of performing aarti.

Salman took to Instagram, where he shared a small clip from the celebrations. In the video, the 'Dabangg' star is seen performing aarti dressed in a white shirt paired with denims.

Soon after him, Arpita and her actor husband Aayush Sharma are seen doing the aarti and praying.

The superstar is a believer in all faiths. His Father Salim Khan's first wife Salma is a Maharashtrian Brahmin and the second, is former Bollywood actress Helen, a Catholic. They celebrate Eid, Ganpati, Diwali and Christmas with full fervour.

On the work front, Salman on completing 34 years in Hindi cinema on August 26, announced that the title of his movie 'Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali' has been re-christened to 'Kisi Ka Bhai.. Kisi Ki Jaan'.

'Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali', which is now titled 'Kisi Ka Bhai.. Kisi Ki Jaan', stars Venkatesh Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu and Pooja Hegde. The film is a remake of the 2014 Tamil movie, 'Veeram'.

--IANS
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