Nayantara in Murattu Thambi

Yogi, the Telugu film directed by V.V. Vinayak with Prabhas and Nayantara paired up for the first time, has been dubbed in Tamil as Murattu Thambi.

Yogi is the story of a pampered youngster named Eashwar (Prabhas), a fun-loving guy who does not want to do any job. But he is forced leave for the city to find a job when his father dies. In the city, Eeshwar gets involved with the land mafia and becomes Yogi. A journalism student Nandini (Nayantara) follows him everywhere for she wants to do an interview with him for her academic project.

Yogi, which was dubbed in Malayalam also, is the remake of the Kannada film Jogi. Incidentally, the Kannada original Jogi was remade in Tamil as Parattai Enghira Azhaghu Sundaram with Dhanush and Meera Jasmine in the lead.

With so many versions of the movie, how will Murattu Thambi fare? Which version would you prefer to watch?

Mumaith starrer Target on March 20

Item girl Mumaith Khan is acting in a character role in the film Target which is set to release on March 20. Ramesh Raja is the director of Target which has Siva Balaji and Shraddha Das as the lead pair. Mumaith is said to have a meaty role in the film and the item girl is all set graduate into an actress.

Touted as an racy action packed romantic entertainer, the film is said to be inspired from the Hollywood film Basic Instinct and Mumaith is doing the role originally done by Sharon Stone. Koti has scored the music for the film. Other members of the cast include Krishna Bhagawan, Venu Madhav, Riyaz Khan, Jeeva and Geetha Singh.

Basic Instinct, directed by Paul Verhoeven was released in 1992. Sharon Stone played the role of a mysterious and dangerous writer which instantly catapulted her in to the league of the most sought after stars. Although surrounded by controversy, Basic Instinct was hugely successful with collections over $353 million worldwide.

Police Police on March 27

Director Manmohan's bilingual cop movie Police Police, being simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil with Srikanth (Sriram in Telugu), Prithviraj, Kamalinee Mukherjee and Sanjana in the lead roles, has been slated to the hit theatres on March 27.

Post-production work is progressing briskly. Presented by Mohan Patil and produced by Chandu under the banner of Pinnacle Pictures Pvt. Ltd., the film is likely to have its audio launch next week.

Police Police revolves around two young honest police officers S.P. Ranadhir and D.S.P. Ravikanth. Both crave for peace in society, but choose different paths to achieve their single goal. Whether they are able to achieve their goal is the essence of the story. Sources say that the look and feel of Police Police would be like Gautham Menon's super-duper Tamil flick Kaakha Kaakha (2003) starring Suriya and Jyotika.

Also in the cast are Brahmaji, Vikram, Dhandapani, Ahuti Prasad, Prasadbabu, Amit, Giri and others. Editing is by Srikara Prasad, music is by Viswa and Sai Karthik. The film was extensively shot at the locations of Warangal, Hyderabad and Pondicherry. The Chennai distribution rights for the Tamil version of Police Police have been bought by Sun TV.

Aakasha Ramanna on April 9

Debutant director Ashok's upcoming Telugu film Aakasha Ramanna, starring comedy king Allari Naresh, Shivaji, Rajiv Kanakala, Meera Jasmine and Gowri Pandit in the lead cast, has been scheduled to grace theatres on April 9.

Produced by Manyam Ramesh under the banner of Manyam Entertainments, Aakasha Ramanna is now in the final stage of its post-production. Story and screenplay are by the director himself.

The main highlight of the film is Allari Naresh and Shivaji, who are presented in two stylish and out-and-out comedy roles. Also in the cast are Nagababu, M.S. Narayana, Venu Madhav, Srinivas Reddy, Geetha Singh. Music is scored by Chakri.

Adurs in Malayalam

Director V.V. Vinayak's ongoing big-budget Telugu film Adurs, starring Junior NTR and Nayantara in the lead, will reportedly be dubbed in Malayalam. Presented by B. Vamsi Mohan and produced by Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani under the banner of Vaishnavi Arts, the film is progressing at a brisk pace in the surroundings of Hyderabad.

It is believed that Adurs can make it big in Kerala, as its lead ladies Sheela and Nayantara hail from Kerala and have a good fan circle there, which can help draw audiences to the theatres in a big way.

One of the top heroines in Tamil, Nayantara, for the first time, shares screen space with Jr. NTR. Sources say that Nayantara, who did a bikini act in the Ajith starrer Billa (Tamil), will repeat the same act in Telugu for this NTR starrer. Rumours say that that Nayantara is likely to display more glamour in this flick, as she is facing tough competition in Tamil and Telugu from Anushka and Priyamani.

The major portions of Adurs, including talkie, songs and fights, are been shot at Ramoji Film City. Planned as a complete family entertainer, Adurs has music be Devi Sri Prasad and will hit theatres on July 9.

Allu Arjun with V.V. Vinayak

After the super hit of Bunny (2005), Stylish Star Allu Arjun is all set to team up with director V.V. Vinayak again in a commercial flick to be produced by hit maker Allu Aravind under the banner of Geetha Arts. This film is expected to go on floors in June.

According to sources, director V.V. Vinayak has made a script in the same lines as Bunny to attract larger crowds with all the entertaining elements. The crew and the heroine along with the supporting cast will be finalized shortly.

Meanwhile, Allu Arjun’s other Telugu film, directed by Gunasekhar and produced by hit maker D.V.V. Danaiah, will start rolling from March 21. The hunt is still on for a new heroine. Allu Arjun will have a foreign babe as his heroine in this film which will be shot in three schedules. The first two schedules will end by March and April. The third schedule will start in April end and will continue till the entire shooting is complete.

Jr. NTR in TANA 2009

Jr. NTR will be the chief guest of Telugu Association of North America’s annual event TANA 2009 to be held at Chicago on 1st April 2009. Allari Naresh, Charmi, Colors Swathi, comedians Suma, Uttej, Rajeev Kanakala and Raghubabu will also participate and perform in this event under the supervision of Murali Mohan and senior director E.V.V. Satyanarayana. This is the first time NTR Jr. is the chief guest of this event, which is celebrated every year in Chicago.

Meanwhile, NTR's ongoing big-budget Telugu film Adurs, starring Nayantara in the female lead, is progressing at a brisk pace in the surroundings of Hyderabad. Directed by V.V. Vinayak, Adurs will reportedly be dubbed in Malayalam. The film is presented by B. Vamsi Mohan and produced by Kodali Venkateswara Rao alias Nani under the banner of Vaishnavi Arts.

According to sources, NTR will soon remake his grandfather N.T. Rama Rao's super hit Bobbili Puli (1982) under the direction of veteran Narayana Rao Dasari. In fact, Bobbili Puli was originally scripted and directed by Narayana Rao Dasari himself. If everything goes well, the film will begin by the end of March.