Mayura is shelved

It’s official. Mayura is shelved. The film starring Puneet Rajkumar, Sandhya (of Kadhal fame) and Shraddha Arya (of Nishabd fame) was to be directed by Shobhan who passed away recently. Now Puneet will be acting in Vamshi, to be directed by cousin Prakash under his home banner. Puneet is also in discussion with director Prem to star in his forthcoming film. However, according to brother Raghavendra Rajkumar, Puneet will do another film for Mayura’s producer. Then there is Ravi Srivatsa’s ambitious Omm, featuring the three brothers – Shivanna, Raghanna and Appu – all together for the first time which will go on the floors around March-April. Finally, here’s some news for those waiting for Bindaas. The film will be released on Valentine’s day. Not because there’s paucity of theatres or to accommodate other films but to allow people to soak in the sweet success of Milana!

Rocky rocks

Rocky is coming to town. No, not Rocky Balboa Stallone nor Sanjay Dutt, nor Zayed Khan either. Yash, known to television viewers as Sharat Hampapur of Preeti Illada Mele, is Rocky in the new film directed by editor-cum-actor Nagendra Urs. This Rocky rocks, and is a smart playboy who goes about bringing happiness in people’s lives.

How? By uniting struggling lovers! Keeping him company is Bianca Desai, who has already done two Telugu films – Nestama (releasing on February 15) and Jalsa opposite Pavan Kalyan. Nagendra Urs, who is acting in Dinakar Thoogudeepa’s Navagraha says, direction won’t be a problem as he has compartmentalised his mind for each task! Jai Jagadish and Padmaja Rao play parents yet again. Seems the paucity of character artistes has been taken care of for now at least.

Action film

Cyanide A M R Ramesh’s Minchina Ota promises a real treat for action lovers. Particularly the climax. While most films offer 5-10 mins of climax, Minchina Ota’s climax is only 40 minutes long! Not to be seen in Hollywood films either, Ramesh’s newest adventure has loads of action involving a car-train collision, with star brothers Vijay and Murali inside the car! The propriety of using such stunts notwithstanding, Ramesh has made extensive use of camera equipment, each costing a cool Rs one lakh per day, so that there is no scope for computer generated imagery or other stuff. It is well that the shooting of this climax is over. Murali is finally getting hitched and will soon be engaged to girlfriend Vidya.

Marriage side-effects

Love, family feud, adventure, comedy are all perennial favourites of filmmakers. So is marriage and its attendant problems – adjustments and even extra-marital affairs. While one film promised to spell out 12 time-tested guidelines for building a happy home, another reiterated what every family of the bride says – Maduve Maadi Nodu ! But, Phani Ramachandra, famous for his Ganesha series of films with the irrepressible Anant Nag and spirited Vinaya Prasad, nee Prakash, is back with a take on different types of marriage and bachelorhood as well.
Ganesha Matte Banda, starring Vijay Raghavendra as Ganesha alongside Anant and Vinaya will explore whether marriage is good for the society or is it better to remain single. Phani promises his usual dose of humour as well as a debate on this topic. For good measure, Phani claims he has taken pains to make his songs really watchable as well! Trust Phani to package a relevant package at the right time.