Tollywood Weekly Recap: From 80s South reunion and Samantha’s digital debut to Vijay Deverakonda’s housewarming and KRKR delay

Though Telugu cinema is gradually stamping its authority on the national stage with big-budget visual extravaganzas like Saaho and Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, the success percentage of films in recent months is not satisfactory. Over five small-to-medium budget movies hit the theaters last Friday and sadly, none have been able to pull off a surprise. Despite releasing under good expectations and positive pre-release hype, ‘George Reddy’ failed in generating decent footfalls. Though the biopic bagged critical acclaim, the commercial reception is not up to the mark.

Meanwhile, Ram Gopal Varma can be termed as the top newsmaker of this week in Tollywood. A couple of days before the release of Kamma Raajyam lo Kadapa Redlu, the 57-year-old maverick filmmaker announced that he is ready to rename the film as Amma Rajyam lo Kadapa Biddalu if there is any objection from Censor Board. However, in a surprise turnaround of events, the Telangana High Court has stalled the release of KRKR. On this weekend, let’s rewind all the major happenings which took place in Tollywood this week.

The entire Telugu film fraternity expressed their shock and anger regarding the brutal rape and murder of a young veterinarian on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The 26-year-old girl who had gone missing on Wednesday night was found dead and charred at Shadnagar on Thursday morning. She was suspected to have been raped and murdered by four persons who offered to help her punctured two-wheeler get repaired. Along with Bollywood personalities like Akshay Kumar and Farhan Akhtar, several Telugu film actors which include Anushka Shetty, Kajal Aggarwal, Keerthy Suresh, Sai Dharam Tej, Raashi Khanna and others have condemned the grisly incident and demanded that all the culprits should be severely punished.

On Monday, photos featuring top South actors like Chiranjeevi, Mohan Lal, Jackie Shroff, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh and others, who have ruled the roost during the 80s, went viral over social media and took the internet by storm. Popularly called as the ‘Class of 80s’, the mega reunion was hosted by Chiranjeevi at his swanky new house in Hyderabad and the event saw the presence of several 80s actors from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi film industries. Incidentally, the reunion coincided with Chiru’s housewarming party. The dress code decided for the reunion was black and gold.

Starring debutante Pooja Bhalekar in the titular role, the 3-minute teaser of Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Enter The Girl Dragon’ solely focuses on the love life and martial arts journey of the leading lady. Blended with stunning action sequences and irresistible glamour of Pooja, the romantic-action-thriller revolves around the love triangle between the female lead, her boyfriend and her inspiration towards martial arts. Besides flaunting her sexy curves to perfection, Pooja Bhalekar has nailed her role of a kick-ass girl who doesn’t think twice before bashing up anyone. The BGM composed by Ravi Shankar is terrific and overall, the film looks pretty interesting.

Turning the on-going speculations true, Samantha Akkineni has officially confirmed her digital debut with the second season of Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK’s superhit web-series ‘The Family Man’. Starring Manoj Bajpayee, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Darshan Kumar and Sharad Kelkar in pivotal roles, the opening season of the family action-thriller was applauded by critics and netizens for its engaging narration and terrific performances. Sharing the news on her social handle, the 32-year-old actress wrote “Yasssssssss finallyyyyyyy.... my web series debut with the most kickass show ... �� @rajanddk my heroes ��❤️ Thankyou for giving me a dream role”

Since the past few days, news spread like wildfire regarding Vijay Deverakonda’s new house in the affluent area of Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad. Amid the on-going rumours, the 30-year-old actor has broken the ice by announcing that he has indeed bought a plush bungalow. Sharing a group picture of his family on social media, the Taxiwaala actor wrote “Her happiness His pride Our new home! Sending you all lots of love from the 4 Deverakondas - you've all been a part of this journey with us”. Meanwhile, during a recent interaction, popular actress Parvathy Thiruvothu slammed ‘Arjun Reddy’ in front of its lead actor Vijay Deverakonda, who is clearly not enjoying that people are "celebrating" at his cost.

The trailer of much-awaited Kannada film Avane Srimannarayana was finally unveiled on Thursday. Starring Rakshit Shetty in the titular role, the film will be releasing in five languages and the Telugu version is titled as Athade Srimannarayana. The 4-minute clip showcases the protagonist as a police officer in a fictional town of south India during the 1980s and the story seems to revolve around a treasure hunt. Considered as a spaghetti western thriller, Athade Srimannarayana is directed by debutante Sachin Ravi and the story is penned by Rakshit Shetty himself.

On the eve of KRKR release, Ram Gopal Varma announced that he is ready to rename Kamma Raajyam lo Kadapa Redlu as Amma Rajyam lo Kadapa Biddalu if there is any objection from Censor Board. However, in a surprise turnaround of events, the Telangana High Court has stalled the release of the film. While the political satire was scheduled for a worldwide release on November 29, the High Court ordered the Censor Board (CBFC) to take a week’s time, watch the film, take all the objections into consideration and then, award a censor certificate. It also instructed the director to change its title and forward the film for censor.