MAA Elections

Tollywood which is known for its caste-based rival groups has recently split further but his time on different levels. It is the ego-clash of two gangs on the back of Presidential elections of Movie Artists’ Association. One is led by the veteran actor Rajendra Prasad and supported by Nag Babu, Kadambari Kiran, Sivaji Raja etc. The other gang leader is the most venerated actress Jayasudha. Both these groups fought with cut-throat competition in the recent polls due to the fact that the ex-president of MAA, Murali Mohan, supported Jayasudha while Mega Babu supported Rajendra Prasad. However, the industry members felt that it was a collective failure to gang up like this and fight for MAA leadership instead of electing a unanimous president.

While the group led by Rajendra Prasad stood for a cause of change in terms of internal policies & regulations and encouragement of new artists, Jayasudha’s group solely campaigned in the mask of woman leadership to bring gender equality. It is not surprising to witness this group comprising of real-time politicians like Murali Mohan to lead this fight towards an ultimate fiasco. They stooped down to such an extent of bringing out a character artist like Hema to slander Rajendra Prasad. Hema is known for her silly arguments in the past when she passed similar comments on senior actors like Brahmanandam. It is unfortunate to see the reputation of such respectful actors getting tarnished amidst dirty politics of a diseased industry like Tollywood.

Upendra

It is well known that Upendra aka Uppi, the actor cum director of sandalwood, has planned a come-back in Tollywood with the upcoming All Arjun-Trivikram flick S/O Satyamurthy. He is playing the role of brother-in-law of Allu Arjun who is playing the lead role. Telugu audience have always given thumbs up for his multi-talent, creativity, style in reel-life and simplicity, honesty, social responsibility in real life. Although the Kannada hero seems to have hiatus for his dubbed films during this decade, he still has cult craze among his fans in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

His films like Raa, A, Upendra, Shhh! reflect his unique personality towards the art of film making. A clip from his film ‘Super’ showing Future India in 2030 went viral lately and the film won so many accolades from the South Indian film industries. After watching a private screening of this film, Superstar Rajinikanth said, “There is hardly anyone in Indian Cinema, who would think like Uppi. If I get an opportunity and an impressive script, I'd like to act in an Upendra film in the future." Let’s wish him best of luck for S/O Satyamurthy releasing on April 9th 2015.

10 Things You Want to Know About Samantha

1. Filmfare Actress

Samantha is the only actress after Revathi to win both the Filmfare Awards for Best Actress in Telugu and Tamil in the same year. However, being half-mallu, Samatha has never signed up for a single Malayalam film till date.

2. Ads and Endorsements

Samantha is the brand ambassador for more than 10 brands like Hamam, Coca Cola, Chik Shampoo, Gokul Sandiva, Big C Mobiles, Odonil, Lux, Paragon, Maaza and South India Shopping Mall

3. Social Responsibility

She is the founder of NGO Pratyusha Support, a charity organisation. She is associated with campaigns supporting the children suffering from life threatening diseases.

4. Awards and Recognitions

Although she has been equally active in Telugu and Tamil industries since 2010, more than 85% of the awards as Best Actress won by Samantha are for her Telugu films namely Eega, Ye Maaya Chesave, Attharintiki Daaredi and Dookudu.

5. Favourites

Her favourite drink is coconut water, place is New York, game is Cricket and actress is Trisha. She speaks five languages but Telugu seems to be her favourite film industry although Tamil film knocked her doorstep first.

6. Name and Nickname

The meaning of the name Samantha is ‘Listener of God’. She has two nicknames Jessie and Yasodha. Gautham Menon used the former in Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya and Ravi Varman used the latter in Moscowin Kavery to name her characters.

7. Friends and Relationships

Samantha is close friends with the famous costume designer Neeraja Kona who has worked for Attharintiki Daaredi and Ramayya Vasthavayya. She broke up with Siddharth in 2015 after a 2.5 year relationship.

8. Family Life

She is the youngest sister of her two elder brothers Jonathan and David born to Ninette and Prabhu in Chennai. Samantha is a bit spiritual and she believes in god and attends various religious places.

9. Education

Samantha is a Commerce graduate unlike the usual actresses and models who go to film schools and fashion technology colleges. She did her schooling and graduation in Chennai. She was studious and never entertained the pranks of the youngsters in college.

10. Missed Opportunities

She was the first choice of Shankar’s Ai and Maniratnam’s Kadali. Samantha was down with illness owing to her skin allergies during that time but doesn’t regret to miss these flop flicks.

Son of Satyamurthy Story

Allu Arjun’s upcoming film directed by Trivikram notably has 4 actresses Samantha, Sneha, Adah Sharma and Nithya Menon. Although Sneha is expected to share her screen space more with Upendra, it is the first time that Bunny is handling too many heroines in a single film. It’s definitely an eye feast for his fans. But knowing the director, Trivikram, even the female characters are anticipated to have significant roles in the film unlike the mere glamour doll roles.

The story of this movie revolves around a family feud and also portrays silent but real issues that arise in familial relationships. Industry sources say that the way of handling the story has been done in a completely new way in terms of screenplay. Upendra is playing the role of Allu Arjun’s brother-in-law and this gripping script is expected to focus exclusively on values and bondings in a Telugu family. The short and crisp dialogues in the film have been written more on the lines of thought provoking rather than the usual noisy punch lines of other commercial films. Son of Satyamurthy is going to be the definition of a responsible son who successfully solves his family problems and accomplishes the wishes of his failed father.

Mahesh, Pawan and NTR

Although the three biggest actors ruling today’s TFI have got their own ups and downs in the past, there has always been one single star doing the complete business at any given period of time till now. Here’s a short analysis done digging deep into their careers to assess their future.

Superstar Mahesh Babu is typically admired for his looks, action and story selection. He is a visionary actor among the three who knows what his fans want from him. Be it his project with Puri, Sukumar or Srinu Vaitla, he delivers his best and forgets the rest. He is the diro’s hero. One should not forget that he, in fact, gave the first chance to Trivikram to tell the story of Athadu who later became the most wanted director of Tollywood. If he continues choosing different stories and refine his dialogue delivery skills, he could become the most promising actor of Tollywood tomorrow.

Powerstar Pawan Kalyan is worshipped by his fans for his style, dialogues and screen presence. He is an independent star who is also praised off-screen for his virtues and values in life. He is one of those uber cool personalities who are not measured by hits and flops. He was an experimental actor Tollywood deserved but not needed during early 2000s. He is the most impactful of all the actors of this generation. But given his interests towards politics and social service, nobody is sure about his continuance in glamour field. If he puts his full-time energy into films in the coming future, he is sure to remain unbeatable.

Young Tiger NTR is loved by his fans for his excellent dialogue delivery, action and dance performances. He is an actor with dedication and discipline. He proved his acting calibre as a child actor and has turned out to become the biggest commercial hero of all times during early 2000s. He is the producer’s hero. He gave that one chance to SS Rajamouli for Student No.1 who now happens to become the No.1 director of Tollywood. The series of flops never decreased his energy as he kept on giving comeback hits in his own style. Controlled aggression, encouraging new generation scripts, working with directors who can understand the pulse of his fans can always create magic for NTR on screen. He is the hardest working hero. All he needs is consistency and timing. He can become the best of all.