Itsy bitsy - Tollywood

siva

Unfazed by success

Nothing succeeds like success and if it's a woman at the helm of the movie, everyone's bound to sit up and take notice. Director Nandini parked her car on the wrong side of the road one evening, she was rushing to participate in the candle light march in support of Anna Hazare at Peoples Plaza, when the lad at the parking lot came angrily asking her to move the car. He suddenly noticed that she looked familiar, he not only forgot to reprimand her, he even refused to take the parking fee. Instead he questioned her, “ Naani ni tholka raledha ?” The lady calmly replied that he's busy in the shooting. On another occasion, while she was returning from the gym, a mob peeped into her car and screamed, “Madam, mee next cinema kosam waiting.” While people are taking Ala Modhalaindi towards the 100th day, the director is unfazed. She has moved on to her next script.

Kitchen disasters

Abhejit, the studious boy with chocolate looks plays an ideal lover in

LBW who loses his girlfriend because of his indecision; many youngsters could relate to his role. In one of the scene in the film, when he visits the girl's home he offers to cook. He says, “To make the scene look real, I dumped a lot of uppu , kaaram and whatever was in sight but the real challenge lay in the subsequent scene where I needed to eat what I made.” Director Praveen Sattaru's intention was to get a realistic expression and it worked. Insist on asking him how the food tasted, he deliberately deviates from the topic and remarks, “we actually thought they will order some fresh food for the tasting scene.”

Many a talent from Tenali

Siva Parvati got into movies only in 1991 but she was active on stage since she was 13. She got an opportunity to work in a drama conducted by Raghu Babu Kala Parishad and was spotted by Paruchuri Brothers and Ramanaidu and subsequently was selected for a role in

Sarpayagam . The lady hails from Tenali and says it is a hub of all artistes, 90 per cent of the people from the industry are from the place. Having worked in over 200 movies, the artiste recollects being nervous for her first film and Shoban Babu calming her down. He told her, “

Kangaaru padakandi, memu antha ilage vocchaamu .” Tell Siva Parvati, she's in a comfortable position to work, now that her children are married and settled she doesn't agree and avers responsibilities never die, “

Ye stage lo undedhi aa stage lo untaayi . Now I have dreams for my grandson,

malli korikalu .”

Testing new waters

Kaushik Babu wanted to do something commercial after his film Ayyappa . He had taken a break to get over the image people had on him, started going to the gym, dancing and worked hard to get rid of the child-like look. After listening to a number of scripts, he chose something interesting in Malayalam. In Nagabrahmam, which is a classical love story he plays a dual role of two brothers born in a weaver's family. That's not all, he is playing Jagadgaru Adishankara, a straight Telugu movie being directed by JK Bharavi. Kaushik says excitedly, “The film is fast paced, there is a revolutionary tone to it and the tagline is ‘a film for the youth.” He adds that Adi Shankara toured India four times on foot by the time he was 32 years old.

Sri Divya in Tamil flick

Very pretty with a face suited for traditional roles, Sri Divya made her debut as a heroine in Manasara in Ravi Babu's direction. The film tanked and the actor waited for good opportunities and since none that were exciting came her way she signed on the dotted line for Lagarpuram , a Tamil film starring Akhil, being directed by a debutant. Sri Divya isn't new to acting, she was a child artiste and worked in nearly ten films. She started her career at the age of three and worked in some notable films like Yuvaraju , Veede , Hanuman Junction etc. An alumnus of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sri Divya hopes to see herself as a notable actress in a few years from now and has given auditions to an RGV and Puri Jagan film. Also the actress is Sri Ramya's sibling, the one who worked in 1940 Lo Oka Gramam .