Of all the Telugu movies that hit the screens this Friday, Manam garnered maximum eyeballs. The movie was late thespian Akkineni Nageswara Rao’s (ANR) last before his death in January. It is not just for this reason, but several more that the film that translates into English as ‘us’.
The entire Akkineni family was out in full strength to receive the who’s who of the film industry at the premiere held in Prasad’s here on Thursday. No stone was left unturned during its promotion, publicity and branding - there was even a premiere in the Unites States, specially for ANR’s fans.
The star cast, predominantly a family affair – starring Nagarjuna, his wife Amala Akkineni and sons Nagachaitanya and Akhil – also has Samantha, Shriya and a half-a-dozen other stars doing cameo roles, including Big ‘B’ Amitabh Bachchan and Lavanya Tripathi.
Manam will remain in the hearts of millions of fans and movie-lovers, including the relatively-new director, Vikram K. Kumar, who is thanking his stars for the opportunity presented to him, directing members of the Akkineni family.
Digitally divided
The much-awaited Rajnikanth-starrer Vikramasimha ( Kochadaiiyaan in Tamil) seemed to have completely polarised Tamil and Telugu viewers on Twitter.
Tamil viewers and fans went beserk, heaping praises on the director – Rajnikanth’s daughter Soundarya. The #Kochaidayaan was trending in a big way on the social networking site on Friday.
“Even JCameroon will be surprised 2 c d output in this budget” was one of the tweets doing the rounds. “#Kochadaiyaan is an experience. Never to be missed.”
The reaction of the Telugu viewers to the movie was a clear thumbs down.
“boring story, weak screenplay, flop movie,” tweeted one viewer.
“#Vikramasimha might work with kids. For others, it’s nothing much to rave about”, said another. Some also took pot-shots at the movie’s technical department. “Lead faces looked disturbed in some areas”, tweeted one fan, while another disappointed viewer posted, “It will take time to even find out who is playing the character of Deepika Padukone”
