Priyanka in Hospital

Remember the big dramatic sequence in Prakash Mehra's Zanjeer where the Big B playing the scowling ireful cop Vijay drags Jaya Bhaduri, the reluctant eyewitness for the villain Teja's crime, into the hospital to show her first-hand the mayhem that he has caused?

This week director Apoorva Lakhia shot that sequence with Ramcharan and Priyanka Chopra for the neo-Zanjeer.

And the venue of the shooting was Ramcharan's wife Upasana Kamineni's hospital, the massive pride of Hyderabad, the Apollo.

An eyewitness from the scene of the melee says, "It was like a rally for big-time politicians, the kind of crowds that Narendra Modi attracts at his election rallies. That's how popular Ramcharan is in Andhra. And when you add Priyanka Chopra to the proceedings you've got a virtual stampede on hand. The minute news spread that Priyanka and Ramcharan were shooting in his wife's hospital, all of Hyderabad swooped down on the place."

It was Ramacharan's wife Upasana idea to shoot at the Apollo.

Says our source, "The Zanjeer unit earlier planned to shoot the crucial dramatic sequence in another hospital of Hyderabad. Upasana protested, and insisted that they shoot at Apollo. 'How can you shoot in another hospital when you've the best available?' she argued. No one argues with Upasana, most certainly not Ramcharan. So we decided to shoot the sequence at Apollo making sure that the news of the venue didn't go out to the public."

Within 20 minutes of the shooting the hospital resembled a political rally.

Says the eyewitness, "The entire city of Hyderabad seemed to be there. You see, you have to understand Upasana's hospital is like a luxury hotel. It's like the Kokilaben hospital in Mumbai. There's no restricted entry into the premises. People walk into the main area as and how they wish. So it became a free-for-all, with the Hyderabadi junta demanding a dekko at Ramcharan and Priyanka."

Says the eyewitness, "We were doing that very dramatic scene from the original in a corner of the sprawling hospital. We somehow managed and none of us had to be admitted into the hospital during shooting (laughs). For this we need to thank Ramcharan's and Priyanka's bodyguards who were firm but not rude. If the public felt snubbed they would have disrupted our shooting."

Aamir to meet Crime Journalists

Aamir Khan is known to promote his films in rather innovative ways. For his upcoming suspense drama Talaash, Aamir along with his marketing team came up with yet another unique idea.

Since Aamir plays Inspector Shekhawat, a cop who is investigating a tough case, he thought it would be rather apt if during the promotions of the film he got a chance to interact with crime journalists especially those who have done investigative journalism. Aamir has been a keen follower of crime and investigative journalism and he thinks that they do a very commendable job in the tough circumstances. Hence he would be meeting and interacting with various crime journalists during his promotional spree in various cities of India.

Talaash starring Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor releases worldwide on November 30.

Regina became Competetor

Amala Paul has just started spreading her glow over Tollywood but in this competitive world, competition starts from day one. Here is a competitor to her now in the form of another dusky Tamil beauty.

The girl who charmed in SMS and the one who won hearts of youths with 'Routine Love Story' is none other than Regina Cassandra. Being a dusky siren, Regina too falls in the category of Amala Paul and she is also wooing youths like Amala did. Yes, Amala has fallen in the eyes of biggies after doing 'Love Failure' and now, Regina is also heading towards such fate with 'Routine Love Story'. Cine observers are saying that Regina will surely over take Amala in the days to come, as Tollywood do not loves too many dusk sirens at once.

On the other side, Routine Love Story is opening to packed crowds everywhere and they can't stop raving some dialogues and about Regina after watching the movie. The commercial success of this flick can be estimated by Monday only.

Handsome Villian in Tollywood

Sometime in the 90s and in early 2000s, Tollywood lost it to Hindi actors when it comes to villains. Off course, even now there are B-town actors as villains for us, but some names from our very own industry are also ringing loud.

Sesh Adivi, the guy who debuted as actor and director with 'Karma' movie is the man we are talking about. He has shot to fame after doing a powerful role of Jackie Shroff's son in the movie Panjaa. After that Sesh has become too choosy about scripts and finally signed our Mass Raja. This handsome hunk is going to be the lead antagonist for Raviteja's upcoming flick 'Balupu', say sources. 'Don Seenu' fame Gopichand Malineni is handling Ravi for the second time and the presence of Sesh is surely raising the bar of this flick.

If Sesh Adivi clicks big time and stays in the villain circuit, then Tollywood will surely enjoy the presence of a Telugu villain at least for a time. We have to see what happens!

Another Hero from Mega Family

Noted producer Aswini Dutt got the credit of launching some of the promising star sons in Tollywood including Mahesh Babu and Ram Charan. He is making plans to launch another Mega Hero soon.

Yes, the newbie is none other than Varun Tej who is the son of Mega brother Naga Babu. However, this project will go to floors only in 2014 as the youngster is undergoing some training sessions to bring best out of him.

Aswini Dutt has the knack of bringing crazy combination on board for his every film and he sticks to his strengths again. He is already in talks with a hotshot director for making it a grand launch vehicle.

Varun's charming looks and the support of huge fan base his family heroes enjoy will come in handy for him. Excluding Chiru and Naga Babu, he will be the sixth hero from Mega family (after Pawan, Charan, Bunny, Sirish, Sai Dharma Tej).

Imran Khan to endorse Maaza ?

Imran Khan is man who can rightly be called as one of the Gen-Next stars who is all set to rule the silver screen in the years to come. Today, he is on the wish list of not just every director and producer, but also of every brand manager as well.

According to reliable sources, Imran Khan has now been chosen as the brand ambassador of the soft drink major Maaza.

The official announcement of the same is being awaited.

Heroes Not Saying Okay

Some heroines are too hot to handle and even a small hero gets scared to act beside them. All this is a part of 'image politics' that dictate terms of anyone's future in Telugu film industry. Check this out!

Red hot Kannada babe Sanjana is touted as a flop beauty always, but her career is on a high these days with handful of flicks. Though he is not a hit starlet, Sanjana's name reverberates in the hearts of our youths for her hotness and dazzling looks. Right now, it seems that she has fallen short of heroes in Telugu industry as many of them are thinking that acting with her gives no limelight for them. Sanjana is playing lead in an upcoming women-centric Telugu film titled 'Teertha', which is now waiting for a hero to sign the deal.

Film Nagar folks are saying that the hunt is on from last one month but none has come forward. Too much hotness will also become a trouble baby!

Nandhita in Sudhir Babu's Movie

There is strong need of Telugu beauties in film circuits to play lead roles and one such beauty with strong screen presence is Teja's Neeku Naaku heroine Nandita. Finally this girl has cleared clouds over her absence in tinsel town.

Earlier Nandita was supposed to be lead girl of Dasari Maruti's 'Bus Stop', but took an exit from that flick. However the big secret is that she is kept on hold for Mahesh Babu's brother-in-law's movie, which is being produced by Maruthi. Nandita is playing lead opposite Sudhir Babu in the upcoming film 'Prema Katha Chitram' which is being directed by Maruthi's cinematographer Prabhakar Reddy. It is heard that Maruthi has stopped Nandita from 'Bus Stop' intentionally, as that double meaning tale will lessen her image.

On Nandita's side, it looks like she has underwent some gorgeous training sessions to look more bold and hotter as her recent looks are telling it all. We have to see how Nandita proves that Telugu girls are no less to any Tamanna or Samantha.

What's Wrong With These Two?

Two beautiful babes who shot to fame after acting in Telugu flicks are getting sacked from projects for reasons unknown. Film Nagar is currently discussing about the possible future of these two hotties in Tollywood.

Ravishing siren Samantha and tempting seductress Richa Gangopadhyaya are the girls we are talking about. Both had some decent runs in Tollywood till date, except the fact that Samantha is a top-starlet while Richa is a sought after second fiddle. Sam was kicked from Charan's 'Yevadu' recently and followed by Richa's forceful exit from Nitin's 'Courier Boy Kalyan'. More than saying that creative decisions have sacked them, insiders stated that is a matter of handling tantrums that is pushing our makers to keep these girls aside.

So sad those two top sirens are getting labelled this way, and we have to see how strong these babes will answer these happenings. Samantha is having three biggies in hand that are getting ready for release, while Richa is also proud to be part of two big flicks as second heroines. Wait and see!

New Characters in Zanjeer

Apart from having all the existing characters of the Zanjeer original in the remake too, Director Apporva Lakhia have created some new ones after changing the script to suit the tastes of modern day audience.

One such role is will be portrayed by noted character artist Atul Kulkarni. "I was roped in to play a role which is completely new and original. You willn't find it in the 1973 super hit. The shooting of my portion will begin from November end," confirms the actor.

The star cast of this Rs 70-crore Hindi-Telugu bi-lingual is keeping the expectations souring higher. At first it was Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Raj, Mahi Gill, then Sanjay Dutt and Sonu Sood joined the cast, now Atul too playing his part. It's getting bigger and better with each passing day. One this is for sure, Ram Charan mayn't have had a better launch vehicle than Zanjeer if in case this flick didn't materialize.

Zanjeer makers are planning to release the film on May 11, the same day on which the original had hit the screens. So, the coming summer is going to be action packed.

Birthday Boy's Gift To NTR

He is celebrating his birthday, yet he is the one who is giving gifts to our energetic hero. Currently Film Nagar is raving about this stuff and here goes the real story.

On one side he looks so lively with his foot tapping tunes and devastating numbers that set stages on fire. On the other side, he is cute looking like a 'teddy bear' and he is none other than music director Thaman. Today happens to be his birthday and director Harish Shankar complimented him for giving Birthday Day gift to them, rather taking it. Harish is the one to call Thaman as a teddy bear before it got popularized in the whole circles. Reportedly Thaman has given two stunning tunes for NTR-Harish Shankar's upcoming movie under the production of Dil Raju. We need to wait for months at least to listen to those songs anyway.

Thaman is also on fire it seems to give blockbuster music, as the young rebel music director hasn't given any best album after Mahesh-Puri's blockbuster 'Businessman'. Happy birthday and all the best Thaman!

Sunny Leone in a workshop

Ragini MMS may have been one of those small unassuming ventures by Ekta Kapoor when she released it last year. However the surprise success of the film has made her all the more ambitious about nurturing it further as a franchise. Though roping in of Sunny Leone has already made the film big enough on paper, now she also wants the adult star's 'performance' to do the talking.

"Ragini MMS as a brand has two core constituents for it - sex and horror. For the former, there is Sunny on board and for the latter there is Bhushan Patel as a director who recently made a successful debut with 1920 - Evil Returns which is a hit. While this combination coupled with Ekta's marketing prowess would have been good enough to make the film hot much before its release, she wants more. She has allocated good budget for the pre-production as well", says a source connected to the film.

As of now as a bare minimum there is a 15 day workshop being planned with Sunny. Also, indications are that there would be some pre-release publicity created around the film's launch as well.

"Though no one can challenge Sunny's sex appeal, from the performance perspective too she had managed to hit decent notes with Jism 2. That was a pleasant surprise in itself. However Ekta as well as Bhushan feel that Ragini MMS 2 would require Sunny to go many notches here. They want the film to be more than just a sex driven affair", the source continues.

Thankfully for the makers, Sunny has agreed to an early visit as well. While the film's shooting would begin in Mumbai around January 15 next year, Sunny would be in town at least 10 days in advance for the workshop. That would involve participation from Sunny as well as her co-actor, the auditions for whom are currently on.

When contacted, Bhushan confirmed the details.

However given the core genre of the film, one wonders whether Sunny would indeed need a 'workshop' to get her on-camera 'act' right!

Urmila to endorse Snickers?

Just yesterday, we had reported that the ageless Diva, Rekha has been signed up as the brand ambassador of the chocolate major Snickers, as per reliable sources tell us.

Now, we hear that besides Rekha, there's also the original 'Miss Oomph-matic' Urmila Matondar, who has also been signed up to endorse the said brand. It will be really nice to see Urmila, who has been missing in the spotlight for long, to be been back in action!

The official confirmation of the same is being awaited.

Nadiadwala signs Anushka Ranjan

A few weeks ago, Sajid Nadiadwala signed Tamannaah Bhatia as the lead actress opposite Tiger Shroff in Heropanti. And now, the news is that Nadiadwala has signed yet another newcomer Anushka Ranjan. In fact Sajid will be launching Anushka, the elder daughter of Anu and Shashi Ranjan, in his next venture.

Though the details of the film are yet unavailable, Anushka's father Shashi confirms the deal, stating that Sajid has taken Anushka under his wings and is mentoring her for a mega project which will go on the floors in mid 2013.

However, confirmation from Nadiadwala's office regarding the same is still awaited.

Huma Qureshi to deliver a lecture

Post the release of her debut film, Huma Qureshi has become one high flyer overnight. After having been on the wish list of many film makers, the latest update about this hottie is that she been invited to talk to the students of a film school in Chicago to deliver a lecture to the students about her journey in Bollywood. In addition to the lecture, she will also be felicitated at the function.

News reports have it that since she has a strong theatre background minus a Godfather in Bollywood, the said school felt that she is just the apt choice. Do we see future Huma Qureshis in the making?

Himesh takes Khiladi 786

Himesh Reshammiya is ensuring that the music of his Khiladi 786 goes places. Well, literally! For his upcoming London concert at Wembley, he would be playing a medley of songs from the film which would be incidentally released around the same time.

"While the film releases all over on December 7, the concert would be held a few days later on Dec 16. Himesh is expected to fly after film is through with its first weekend. While he is in the process of short-listing songs that he would be singing at the concert, the ones at the top of the list are obviously from his soon-to-be-released film. In fact he has been getting requests to sing 'Balma', 'Lonely', 'Saari Saari Raat' and the latest arrival 'Hookah Bar'. Himesh is planning to form a medley of these songs and come up with something creative that would make the experience memorable indeed", says a close associate.

In fact some of his diehard fans are also planning to felicitate him for his consistency by equating his resurgence as a composer to that of Sachin Tendulkar in the field of sports.

"Both are in their late 30s, share the same year of birth and have proven their consistency in their respective domain. The moment Himesh decided to compose for outside films, it seemed as if he hadn't gone away anywhere. Flurry of successes during last year and a half with multiple chartbusters added to his name is a testimony to that", adds an insider, "Now when he travels to Wembley, he can't disappoint his fans. He has to do something special for them."