Itsy Bitsy

Aksha

Twelve-day struggle

Young lyricist Vashista Sharma makes the most of the night time. “I read books and chill out with my friends during day time. I start writing songs from 11.30 in the night to 4 am,” reveals this talented youngster who's also a dialogue and story writer. He's already written 300 songs before he entered the industry. He feels only when the situation in the story is strong that the lyrics come out well. Currently he is working for Anish Kuruvilla's project and for a film by the producers who have made Advaitam . He has also written a song Yem Mantramo for Andala Rakshasi and is writing dialogues for Raj DK's Telugu film. Did he struggle to get in here? “Not really, I started hunting for opportunities exactly for 12 days after which I stopped and people approached me,” he says.

Back and how!!

There was a buzz about

Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu being a remake of Gundamma Katha but it isn't. The story of two brothers has Venkatesh playing the eldest one who lives in a village, a simpleton and a, straight forward person. This mentality of his inadvertently brings out a clash of opinions between the duo —Venky and Mahesh. Mahesh on the other hand is a street smart person who knows the knack of surviving in the world. Venky loves his brother a lot and the drama happens in their separation and re union. Venkatesh is looking fresh, handsome in SVSC and while handling sentiment on one side, he has taken up Shadow , an angry man in a revenge role. Shadow Looks like Venkatesh is the man to watch out for in 2012.

No more breaks

Aksha grabbed attention in

Kandireega. But soon after she took a break to prepare for her final year B.Com exams. “You will not see me taking a holiday anymore after each film. I did that after

Yuvatha and

Ride and

Kandireega ,” she says. Currently she is working in an untitled venture with Srikant and says it is the toughest film of her career. Aksha adds, “What really different is directors usually ask heroines to look more glamorous, to wear good clothes and make up, but here I was aksed to stay away from all that. I'm playing a rich city girl but situations are such that she can't afford to look glamorous… she is in disguise wearing a duppatta most of the time. The film is shaping out to be better than what the director promised,” says an excited Aksha.

Musical output

Kiran Varanasi debuted as a music director with John Appa Rao Forty Plus directed by Kuchupudi Venkat and he followed it by a film in Bhojpuri and an international album ‘Purple Blue'. He was a lyricist in Virodhi and now has composed music for Neelakanta's Chammak Challo . Kiran, a Hyderabadi, studied in Chennai, had worked for a while in the US and has moved to India to pursue his passion for music. So is he happy with the way his career is shaping up?

“Not really happy with the output right now, sounding and melody is my forte and Neelakanta has been very encouraging. He has a clarity that makes it easy for technicians and he knows what he wants. This film will show exactly what I can do,” says Kiran. He has also acted in Virodhi .

He adds, “I learnt Carnatic classical spending five hours a day even while I was working in a company. I did a remix version of Niluvave valu kanuladana in Gopichand's Lakshyam , for which Mani Sharma did the music,” informs Kiran.