‘Hey Sinamika’ trailer garners 5 million views

The trailer of director Brinda’s upcoming romantic comedy ‘Hey Sinamika’, featuring Dulquer Salmaan, Kajal Aggarwal, and Aditi Rao Hydari in the lead, has garnered a whopping five million views within a day of being released on YouTube.

Sony Music South, on its Twitter handle, made the announcement. It said, “Five million views! ‘Hey Sinamika’ trailer winning hearts!”

The trailer, which gives a glimpse of the lives of the three main characters in the film– Mouna (played by Aditi Rao Hydari), Yaazhan (Dulquer Salmaan), and Malarvizhi (Kajal Aggarwal) — has received the thumbs-up sign from over 2.10 lakh people.

Govind Vasantha of ’96’ fame has scored the music for ‘Hey Sinamika’, which has been produced by Jio Studios with Global One Studios as Associate Producer.

The film is set to hit screens on March 3.

Nithya Menen takes on the role of a judge on ‘Telugu Indian Idol’

Actress Nithya Menen will be seen as one of the judges on the popular music reality show Telugu Indian Idol. The makers of the show, who dropped a video earlier hinted at the ‘Bheemla Nayak’ lady’s collaboration.

Telugu Indian Idol’s show-makers unveiled a blurry video featuring Nithya Menen, as they wrote, “She owns versatility, and her voice has a melody!! Guess the Queen Of Melodies, If you can!!!”.

Nithya Menen is also a noted playback singer and a well-trained traditional singer. She has crooned some popular songs in the Telugu movies ‘Ala Modalaindi’, ‘Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyindey’, ‘Ishq’, and other movies in Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada as well.

The actress will share the panel of judges with ‘Ala Vaikunthapuramuloo’ music composer Thaman on the show. Musician Thaman, who is currently basking his glorious career with back-to-back hits, will make his valuable comments and give input to the singers.

‘Indian Idol’ fame Sree Rama Chandra, who recently appeared on ‘Bigg Boss Telugu 5’ is hosting this upcoming show, which will be streamed on Aha.

On the other hand, Nithya Menen’s upcoming movie ‘Bheemla Nayak’ is releasing on February 25.

‘Jai Bhim’ in World Competition segment of Pune film fest

Director Tha Se Gnanavel’s critically-acclaimed Tamil courtroom drama ‘Jai Bhim’ has made it to the World Competition segment of the 20th Pune International Film Festival, which is scheduled to be held from March 3 to 10.

The other films that are in this category are director Gabor Fabricius’s ‘Erasing Frank’ (Hungary), director Iciar Bollain’s ‘Maixabel’ (Spain), director Shawkat Amin Korki’s ‘The Exam’ (Germany, Iraq-kurdistan, Qatar), director Laura Wandel’s ‘Playground’ (Belgium), director Simon Holy’s ‘Zrcadla Ve Tme'(‘Mirrors in the Dark’) (Czech Republic), director Leonardo Antonio’s ‘Submission’ (Portugal, France), director Selman Nacar’s ‘Iki Safak Arasinda'(‘Between Two Dawns’) (Turkey, Romania, France, Spain), director Mohamed Diab’s ‘Amira’ (Egypt) and Aleksey German Jr.’s ‘House Arrest’ (Russia).

The Pune International Film Festival, a prestigious event, is Maharashtra’s official film festival.

2D Entertainment, the firm that produced ‘Jai Bhim’ shared its excitement at the film has made it to the Pune Film Festival’s World Competition segment.

Taking to Twitter, the production house said, “‘Jai Bhim’ makes it into the World Competition line up at PIFF India.”

Interestingly, ‘Jai Bhim’ was one of the Indian films that were on the list of 276 movies eligible for this year’s Academy Awards. However, it did not make it to the nominations.

Inspired by true events that happened in Tamil Nadu in the nineties, the film tells the moving story of an upright lawyer coming to the aid of poor, defenseless people from the Irular community who have no means to stand up to the might of an inhuman police force that seeks to exploit their helplessness and audaciously commits atrocity after atrocity on them with impunity.

Manasi Parekh excited for her upcoming film with Paresh Rawal

Actress Manasi Parekh is all set to share the screen with veteran star Paresh Rawal in the upcoming film ‘Dear Father’.

Manasi reveals, “Pareshji had offered this role to me sometime back when he was making the play. But I couldn’t because I was already doing a television show and a Gujarati play at that time. I was really upset about dates not working out and really wanted to work with him.”

She added: “However, after some years when he called me back saying that the film is finally happening and asked me if I want to be a part of it, I immediately said yes. I have always been wanting to work with him and for me, it’s a dream come true. It’s a very intense film and my character has a lot of confrontations with him”

‘Dear Father’ is all set to release on March 4.

Also read: Tejaswi Madivada gives it a nod for ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’

Tejaswi Madivada gives it a nod for ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’

Actress Tejaswi Madivada, who was one of the contestants on the second season of ‘Bigg Boss Telugu’, is to appear on the OTT version of the reality show again.

Tejaswi, a model and an actress had appeared on the show in the second season. Her brawls with fellow housemates created sensations during the season.

The ‘Ice-Cream’ actress always maintained a positive attitude during her stay in the ‘Bigg Boss’ house, despite going toe-to-toe with the season’s winner Kaushal Mandal.

‘Bigg Boss Telugu 2’ host Nani had always been supporting, while he also schooled the actress during her stay on the reality show.

Tejaswi Madivada is known for her supporting roles, while her appearance in ‘Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’ alongside Samantha Ruth Prabhu earned her much appreciation.

Well, the stage is being set for the curtain-raiser episode of the first season of ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’.

It is reported that 10 contestants are the ones who were already on the reality show in the previous seasons. With a total number of 16-17 contestants, ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’ will be streamed 24 hours on Disney+ Hotstar.

Nagarjuna will host the 24×7 reality show.

Trailer of director Brinda’s ‘Hey Sinamika’ released

The makers of choreographer-turned-director Brinda Master’s ‘Hey Sinamika’, featuring Dulquer Salmaan, Kajal Aggarwal, and Aditi Rao Hydari in the lead, on Wednesday, released the trailer of the film, which is gearing up for a theatrical release on March 3.

The trailer takes us into the lives of Mouna (Aditi), a weather scientist who falls in love with Yaazhan (Dulquer), a quirky and loving guy. What happens to their relationship after a couple of years and how things take an unexpected turn after the arrival of Malarvizhi (Kajal) form the crux of the story.

The trailer promises a romantic roller coaster ride loaded with comedy, emotions, and music. Youthful and trendy, ‘Hey Sinamika’, as the trailer indicates, will be a celebration of love and friendship.

Says Brinda, “This is a feel-good flick. Youngsters would love it for sure. At the same time, audiences in all age groups can also enjoy the movie. It will be an entertaining mix of emotions.”

Govind Vasantha of ’96’ fame has scored the music for ‘Hey Sinamika’, which has been produced by Jio Studios with Global One Studios as Associate Producer.

Nagarjuna collaborates with Vennela Kishore for ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’ promo

A brand new promo featuring host Nagarjuna along with comedian Vennela Kishore was unveiled by the makers of ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’ on Tuesday.

As reported earlier, the producers of the reality show have made an official announcement on the OTT version, along with an interesting promo.

The promo features Vennela Kishore and noted actor Murali Sharma. Vennela Kishore plays a jail inmate, who is ready to get his death sentence implemented, while Murali Sharma is the police in charge of him.

As Vennela Kishore begs his advocate Nagarjuna to do something about it, he tells the court that Kishore’s last wish is to watch one episode of ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’, which is a never-ending one.

Well, keeping aside the promo, the makers have announced that the show will start streaming on Disney+ Hotstar soon. Producers are setting the stage for the curtain-raiser of the first season of ‘Bigg Boss Telugu OTT’.

Some known names are being heard as the contestants for the first season of the OTT version of the controversial reality show, while there are contestants from previous seasons of the show as well.

Pawan Kalyan, Rana Daggubati’s ‘Bheemla Nayak’ releasing on Feb 25

Pawan Kalyan and Rana Daggubati-starrer ‘Bheemla Nayak’ is gearing up for its grand release on February 25.

After back-to-back postponement struggles, the makers finally made an official announcement regarding the release date on Tuesday. The production house of Sithara Entertainments took to social media to announce, “25 – 02 – 2022!! The date is set for the POWER STORM to hit the screens #BheemlaNayakOn25thFeb”.

Along with the exciting release date announcement, the makers also released a poster featuring Pawan Kalyan. Pawan looks fresh, as the picture seems to be captured from his recently-shot promotional song for the movie.

Helmed by Sagar K Chandra, ‘Bheemla Nayak’ is an original remake of Malayalam’s super hit movie ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’.

With the screenplay and dialogues penned by Trivikram Srinivas and music by S Thaman, the movie has got so much hype already.

Pawan Kalyan, in and as ‘Bheemla Nayak’ will be seen playing a cop while Rana Daggubati appears in an important role with shades of negativity.

The much-awaited action-packed entertainer ‘Bheemla Nayak’ has an ensemble of cast and top-notch technicians. Nithya Menen and Samyuktha Menon are the female leads in the movie.

Produced by Suryadevara Naga Vamsi, the upcoming action drama has cinematography and editing by Ravi K. Chandran and Naveen Nooli respectively.

Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi condoles Bappi Lahiri’s death

Stating that Bappi Lahiri had given him numerous chartbusters that had immensely contributed to his films’ popularity, Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi Konidela on Wednesday paid tributes to India’s disco king, Bappi Lahiri, who passed away at the CritiCare hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, Chiranjeevi wrote, “Rest in Peace, Bappi da!'” and posted a note in which he had penned his heartfelt condolence message.

The note read, “Deeply anguished at the demise of legendary music director and singer Bappi Lahiri. I had a great association with Bappi da.”

“He gave numerous chartbusters for me which contributed immensely to my films’ popularity. He will always be remembered for his unique style and his great enthusiasm for life which is reflected in his music. My heartfelt condolences to all his near and dear.”

Chiranjeevi wasn’t the only one to express his condolences from the Telugu film industry. One of the first to react to the news of the music director’s demise was actor Allari Naresh.

He said, “The legend who brought disco to us…Deeply saddened to hear of his demise. Rest in beats Bappi Lahiri Ji.”

A front row seat to the life and times of pop icon Usha Uthup

Usha Uthup, India’s undisputed icon of pop music, has enthralled an entire generation of listeners with her unforgettable voice and continues to do so. Completing fifty years as a professional singer in 2020 was just another milestone in her fabled career.

In “The Queen of Indian Pop” (Penguin), a vivid biography originally written in Hindi, Vikas Kumar Jha captures the entire arc of Uthup’s career in music. From her childhood days in Mumbai and her first gigs singing with jazz bands in Chennai’s glitzy nightclubs to her meteoric rise as India’s musical sensation and her philanthropic work, Jha covers it all and manages to weave a narrative that is colorful, inspiring, and bound to keep any reader engrossed till the end.

Uthup is known for such evergreen hits as ‘Hari Om Hari’, ‘Rambha Ho’ and ‘Jeete Hain Shaan Se’, and her voice transcends genres. When she takes the stage, in her elaborately designed saris and trademark bindis, she embodies a unique liveliness, unparalleled in the realm of Indian music. Jha meticulously explores Uthup’s sense of freedom, her struggles, and her constructive and creative attitude towards work and life.

This pitch-perfect English translation, by Srishti Jha, offers the reader a front-row seat to the life and times of the inimitable Usha Uthup.

“I’ve enjoyed a long and abiding friendship with Usha Uthup, and this book shares the gifts of her friendship with the world – her tenacity, charm, wit, and compassion are woven through its pages. Vikas Kumar Jha’s compelling narrative and immersive storytelling confirm what I have long known: Usha’s legacy is more than her extraordinary musical talent. It is also the grace, fearlessness, and wisdom with which she lives her life,” says parliamentarian and author Shashi Tharoor.