Mahesh’s Dhookudu in Hyderabad from Feb 28!

 

Prince Mahesh Babu’s forthcoming film "Dhookudu" shooting is going to begin in Hyderabad from February 28th onwards. As per the sources the shooting will take place at Chiran Fort, earlier also the film unit canned some scenes in the same location in Hyderabad. Samnatha is pairing with Prince Mahesh Babu in this film. It is being directed by Sreenu Vytla and Achanta Ram, Gopichand, Anil Sunkara are jointly producing this film on 14 Reels Entertainments banner. Music is scoring by S Thaman.

Ram Charan okays Sampath's film

Ram Charan's third film, Merupu , that was launched last year, has been put off. Source told us that producer N V Prasad has decided to go with another director instead of Tamil director Dharani. After much dilly-dallying N V Prasad has taken young director Sampath Nandi to Ram Charan to narrate a story and the director of Emaindi Ee Vela reportedly impressed the star very much. So, this movie is all set to go to the sets in the place of Dharani's Merupu.

It should be remember that Dharani came up with a storyline that is too massy and it requires huge budget. But Ram Charan's father Chiranjeevi is not in favour of such risky movies. So the project has been dropped off.

Sampath Nandi is now giving final touches to his script.

Kudiritey Kappu Coffee - Movie Review

Film: Kudiritey Kappu Coffee
Cast: Varun Sandesh, Suma Bhattacharya, Tanikella Bharani, Bheemineni Srinivasa Rao, Sivannarayana, Sukumar and others
Dialogues: Abburi Ravi
Music: Yogishwara Sharma
Lyrics: Sirivennela
Cinematography: Santosh Rai
Editor: Anil Kumar B
Art: Sashidhar Adapa
Producers: Mahi and Shiva
Banner: Shiva Productions and Moon Water
Story, screenplay, and directed by: Ramana Salva
Release date: Feb 25, 2011

What's it about
The story is about a young guy's dilemma over love as he experiences a tragic incident in his friend's life. Seshu (Varun Sandesh) is rich guy's son. His family owns a guesthouse in Karnataka. When his friend ends life after a failure in love, Seshu vows not to fall in love. To forget this incident he decides to go to resort that is now run by his father's teacher Malati (Sukumari). There he meets Malati's granddaughter Lasya (Suma Bhattacharya) who has grand plans to make the guest house turn into a resort. Soon Lasya falls in love with Seshu but he doesn't reciprocate. Rest of the movie is all about Seshu and Lasya unite in the end.


Analysis
Kudiritey Kappu Coffee is a love story that gives more importance to visual beauty. As the story is set in the backdrop of a guesthouse situated in lush green locales, the debutant director Ramana Salva completely focuses on capturing picturesque locations and narrates the movie with songs. He has tried to present it as a mood film, which is new to our audiences. So the film might not go well with majority of our audiences. The film's conflict is not sufficient to hold the interest. And moreover some scenes end abruptly. But the movie draws you into it towards the end of the movie.
It has picture perfect visuals thanks to the cameraman Santosh Rai and also the director himself is a cameraman (who photographed earlier Vinyakudu and Village Lo Vinyakudu).

All the songs are good to ears as well as visually alluring. The location where the movie shot (in interiors of South Karnataka) was never seen on our Telugu screen. And the most of the movie has lush green tone that is pleasant to one's eyes. If the director has focused more on connecting scenes smoothly and handled emotional scenes in more matured way, the film could have been a good love story. Although the pace of the movie is very slow, the movie's run time is just two hours. So on the whole, Kudiritey Kappu Coffee is okay movie.

Performances

Varun Sandesh tries to portray the role of an anguished young person as well as romantic guy. He looks different from other films but his performance in the film is not consistent. Suma Bhattacharya is like girl next door. But there is a problem with makeup with both the hero and heroine. Malayalam actress Sukumari, veteran actor Tanikella Bharani and Sivanarayana show their experience in acting. Director Bhimineni plays the role of father to Varun Sandesh.

The first thing that strikes in the film is cinematography. Santosh Rai's stunning visuals (not just the location, he has captured it so well) are major plus point of the movie. Through out the movie, his camera work dominates. And the next person who walks away with honours is debutant director Yogishwara Sharma. All the songs are lilting. Especially Srikaram song is the best.

The director Ramana Selva has visual sense but he doesn't show grip on narration. Also his handling of certain emotional scenes are amateurish.

Producers Siva and Mahi should be commended for trusting the director whose script lacks the usual commercial elements. The film has rich production values, without doubt.

Bottom-line

Kudiritey Kappu Coffee is simple love story, which has eye-catching visuals and lilting music. It is okay movie but can be watched for its great locations.

Rating: 3/5

Prema Kavali Vs KKC : Big Battle of Romance at Box Office

Two romantic films, Prema Kavali and Kudhirithe Kappu Coffee are hitting the screens on February 25. While Prema Kavali, made with a budget of more than Rs 10 crores, marks the debut of Saikumar's son, Aadi, the other film Kudhirithe Kappu Coffee has Varun Sandesh in a new look. Prema Kavali is being directed by Vijayabhaskar and K Atchi Reddy is producing it. Venkat of RR MovieMakers which is producing the film is promoting Aadi in big way. Before the release of the film, the producer hired close to 300 various advertising spots including hoardings, lollipops in Hyderabad to promote the film. It's going to release in around 200 screens across the world including 19 screens in Bangalore. Saikumar has a huge fan following in Karnataka.

On the other hand, Varun Sandesh, Suma Bhattacharya starrer Kudhirtihe Kappu Coffee is banking on its storyline, music, lyrics and visuals. Made with a budget of Rs 4 crores, the film has been mostly shot in Coorg. The business offers from several regions was closed two weeks before the release of the film and the producers Shiva and Mahi are confident about their film. Ramana Salva has directed the film and Yogeshwara Sharma has composed the music. Santosh Rai is the cinematographer.

Shruti Haasan in Siddharth-Dil Raju's film

Shruti Haasan has been roped in to play the role in Siddharth's upcoming romantic film, which is tentatively titled O My Friend. Dil Raju is producing the film on Sri Venkateshwara Creations banner and Venu Sriram is going to make his debut as a director in the film. Till few days ago, a rumour was floating around that Nithya Menen had been cast opposite Siddharth; however, nothing was confirmed. Now, we hear from reliable sources that Shruti Haasan is part of the project. She had recently made her Telugu debut opposite Siddharth in Anaganaga O Dheerudu and has also been signed for Jr.NTR-Boyapati Seenu's film.

Has Ram Charan moved on from Merupu?

Has Ram Charan moved on from Merupu? It could be true, if the buzz in film circles is to be believed. After launching the film amidst huge expectations, a song was also shot with a whopping budget for Merupu. Dharani was supposed to direct the film and Kajal was signed to play the lead role. However, soon after the release and debacle of Orange, Ram Charan Tej and Chiranjeevi are believed to be concerned about the budget of the film. According to an estimation, the film would have cost around Rs 34 crore and if the film was given a green signal, it would have cost Rs 37-38 crores in the end. As per a source, Chiranjeevi was skeptical about the commercial viability of the film with such high budget and it looks like the film might have been shelved. Meanwhile, several directors are approaching Ram Charan with new scripts and now Chiranjeevi wants his son to do mass entertainers. Another rumour floating in air is that Ram Charan is listening to a story which might be the remake of Dhanush's recent Tamil film, Aadukalam. Let's wait and watch what his next move would be.

Hema Malini with Amitabh Bachchan in Puri Jagannadh's Budda

 

Puri Jagannadh is all set to begin his directorial venture in Hindi with a film titled Budda (Old Man). Amitabh Bachchan is playing the lead role in the film which is a love story of an old man. Recently, the iconic actor revealed that he would be romancing none other than Hema Malini in the film. The duo had acted in Baghban few years ago. The shooting of Budda is going to begin in March. Amitabh Bachchan is co-producing the film on his home production banner AB Corp and Studio 18 has inked an agreement to co-produce the film which will reportedly cost Rs 35 crores. We are told that all the technicians and cast would be from Mumbai. Stay tuned for more news.