Mission 20-20
Debutant director Prem Raj's movie will comprise 20 directors from the Telugu film industry. Touted to be the first of its kind in Indian cinema, the story is adapted from Yandamuri Veerendranath's novel Anaitikam . This isn't the first time the novelist's films have been made into movies but what is noteworthy is there has been a huge gap, the last time his novel was made into a film was 15 years back. Yandamuri doesn't reveal much but gives the synopsis, “It is about a vacuum in a woman's life created by her marriage, how she takes a false step and how realisation dawns on her. The director said his intention is to win an award and it's not to merely commercialise it, so I'm hoping he would do justice to the story.” The director on his part says each of the 20 directors will play a role of depth and the idea to take them all is that they would understand the role and play it better.
Main yaha hoon
The actor who scorched the screen with the number veedu yama hot ra babu in Samanyudu has resolved not to do just about any film in Telugu anymore. She is dismayed with the rumours in the industry being connected to her absence, “couple of people called me to check if I'm married. I want to make it clear that I'm very much in and around Mumbai. I'm looking for a decent role where I can at least be noticed. I can't understand what's happening, either the filmmakers need a fresh face or a popular face, then what about actors like us?” True, Kamna's plight is similar to that of lot of actors in Telugu cinema. Her not so recent films here are Bendu Appa Rao and Katthi Kanta Rao .
Filthy dip
Nandu who plays hero of Nenu Nana Abaddham has a grouse. During the shooting of the film, he had to fall in a pit filled with dirty water. Usually a pit is dug for such scenes but Nandu was made to fall in the regular dirty pits in Tuni where people spat and was filled with filth. He draws a lot of sympathy with his question , “have you seen star heroes emerging from pits, with a brown, mud-like thing coming out of their mouths? It's all Cadbury chocolate.” The actor comes up with yet another complaint. He had to strip in public, that too amidst 500 people for one of the scenes. He doesn't mind doing it in front of the heroine but not when so many people are watching. Nandu has worked in 100% Love , his films before that were clearly inconsequential ; he doesn't want them to be mentioned.
Balancing act
Child artist Divya Nagesh has made her debut this Friday as a heroine in Nenu Nana Abaddham . A Telugu girl settled in Chennai, she's been working in numerous films; the not-so-recent one being Arundhati in which she played the Junior Anushka. She's been working for the past 12 years in movies but has been balancing her studies and movie career perfectly. This brown belt holder in Karate has learnt Bharatanatyam and is now into classical music and western dance. The multi-faceted actor says, “I've always been carrying my books to the shoot and studying whenever I would find a gap.” But will she go for higher studies or is this movie a beginning of a full fledged career in films? She avers, “I will continue studies to a certain level and then become a full time actor.”
