I was friends with Rana way before my entry to cinema: Dulquer Salmaan

Recently, when Dulquer Salmaan became a dad, Baahubali star Rana Daggubati was one of the first to wish the couple. He even said in an interview that he would be flying down soon to meet Dulquer’s little angel.

Rana and Dulquer shared a very close friendship and it dates back to their days before their entry to cinema. Dulquer revealed this in a recent interview to a popular monthly. Naga Chaitanya, who did his college education in Chennai, was close friends with Dulquer. Naga Chaitanya and Rana Daggubati are cousins and that’s apparently how Dulquer got to know the Baahubali star.

Following the birth of Dulquer’s baby girl, a cute moment of brotherhood happened in Twitter when Rana congratulated Dulquer on becoming a father.

Rana wrote,

Wow wow wow!! Congratulations brother man!!! Love to Amaal and the little one.

Dulquer Salmaan replied back,

@RanaDaggubati hahah chief you have to come and see her ! I’d like to see how tiny she looks next to her mountain of an uncle

Recently, in a chat session with a Bollywood media, Rana admitted that he is a huge fan of Dulquer and talked about how he enjoyed watching Dulquer’s movies like Ustad Hotel and Bangalore Days. It is also worth a mention that Rana played one of the major roles in the Tamil verison of Bangalore Days.

Santhosh Pandit offers financial aid to residents of Govindapuram colony

While Kerala is celebrating the 100th anniversary of community feast Panthibhojanam initiated by social reformer Sahodaran Ayyappan to fight caste based discriminations, untouchability is being practiced at a Tamil speaking Dalit colony at Govindapuram near the Kerala- Tamil Nadu border.

The issue was recently reported by the medias and it soon became a topic of discussion. The upper caste Gounders have prevented the Dalits belonging to Chakkliya community from entering their shops and hotels.

https://www.facebook.com/santhoshpandit/videos/1580672115320376/

Santhosh Pandit recently visited the place and gave financial aid to residents of the colony. He has also promised to find sponsors for the students of the colony. He offered the remuneration he got from his new Mammootty movie Masterpiece and his debut Tamil movie. Santhosh has been getting a a lot of appreciation from social media users for his benevolence to help the needy.

This is not the first time Santhosh is lending his helping hands to the underprivileged. Earlier during an Onam season, he had provided basic food items for some residents in Attapadi region. He believes that, being a social animal it is his responsibility to help others.

Santhosh Pandit shot to fame with his debut movie Krishnanum Radhayum. He is noted for handling almost all departments of filmmaking including acting, direction, composer, lyricist, singer, choreographer, editor etc. Eventhough his films have been severely criticized over the years, he remains an internet celebrity who is unfazed by the harsh reactions. He recently grabbed an opportunity to work with Mammootty in the upcoming movie Masterpiece, directed by Rajadhiraja fame Ajai Vasudev.

With 2 million followers, Mohanlal is now the most followed Malayali actor in Twitter

Mohanlal is undoubtedly one of the most popular and influential Malayalis in the world. He has been the reigning superstar of Malayalam film industry for over three decades now apart from being a recipient of multiple national awards. Naturally, Mohanlal is also the most followed actor in the Twitter world.

Mohanlal’s Twitter followers count has now crossed two million, which is the highest for any actor from Malayalam cinema industry. Mammootty has over 7 lakh followers while his son Dulquer Salmaan has over 6.5 lakh followers.

In August 2016, Mohanlal became the first Malayali actor to cross one million followers. It must be noted that another one million users have followed him in less than an year, which is nothing but phenomenal.

Recently, it was announced that Mohanlal would be playing the lead role in the 1000 crore project Mahabaratha. Following this announcement, self proclaimed film critic Kamal R Khan aka KRK had unleashed an attack on Mohanlal with a series of derogatory trolls against the superstar.

Mohanlal fans came hard at KRK in the Twitter space forcing him to apologize and take down the tweets. This had made Mohanlal quite popular in the social media space. Also, the blockbuster success of his films like Pulimurugan and Janatha Garage has increased his popularity outside Kerala. No wonder that the man who is the first entrant to the 50 cr and 100 cr club of Mollywood, has also become the most followed Malayali actor in Twitter.

Aamir Khan’s Dangal closing in on the historic Rs 2000 crore mark

Aamir Khan’s Dangal is all set to achieve huge milestone at the box office. The movie with this fantastic run in the Chinese box office is inching closer to the historic Rs 2000 crore mark. Dangal will become the first Indian movie to enter the Rs 2000 crore club.

The movie continues to get phenomenal response from the Chinese audience. As per the latest reports from trade experts, Dangal has grossed Rs 1193 crores in China. Apart from that, it has also earned around Rs 40 crores at the Taiwanese box office. With that, the movie has done a whopping business of Rs 1435 crores in the international markets. Globally, the movie has earned Rs 1977.34 crores and is expected to cross the Rs 2000 crore mark by the end of this week.

The movie was released on May 5 in 9000 screens in China. The Chinese version was titled as Shuai Jiao Baba, which means Let’s Wrestle Father. Ever since it’s release, the movie has been getting great response from the Chinese audience. Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping had told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about how he was impressed by Dangal and also remarked on how well the movie is doing in China.

Within a month from it’s release, Dangal created history by earning over Rs 1000 crores at the Chinese box office. It became the 33rd film in Chinese cinema history to cross one Billion RMB, which in Indian currency amounts to about Rs 1000 crore. It is currently the highest earning non- Hollywood film in the country.

Dangal is a sports drama directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The movie also stars Sakshi Tanwar, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Suhani Bhatnagar, Zaira Wasim and Sanya Malhotra in lead roles. It is inspired from the real life of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, who trained his 2 daughters to world class wrestlers. The film is produced under the banner of Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures.

Prithviraj is nervous about his daughter’s first day at school

Prithviraj’s three year old have a daughter Alankrita is stepping into the world of academics. Today was her first day at school and her dad was the one who had all the nervousness.

Prithviraj shared this bit of information with his followers through his official Facebook page. Along with one of his photos, he wrote,

First day of school for the lil lady..and I have the jitters! Should put on the cool dad act though! Phew..how time flies!

Prithviraj got married to Supriya Menon, a BBC India reporter, on 25 April 2011. Their daughter Alankrita was born on 2014. Just like other fathers of his age, Prithviraj has still not been able to come to terms with the fact that his daughter has now become a school going kid.

On the work front, the actor recently recently wrapped up the Scotland leg of shoot for his upcoming movie Adam Joan. The movie, which marks the debut directorial of scenarist Jinu Abraham also stars Narain, Bhavana and Mishti Chakraborty in other major roles. His next release will be the much awiated big budget movie Tiyaan, also starring his brother Indrajith and Murali Gopy in the lead roles. The movie directed by Jiyen Krishnakumar is slated to hit screens in this Eid season.

Fahadh Faasil requests fans not to spoil their life for cinema stars

In India, movie stars enjoy massive popularity with scores of fans showering them with their unadulterated love. Cine actors across the country have fans association members who actively on part for their matinee idol.

Stars like Ajith and Kamal Haasan have dismissed their fans associations as they did not want the members to waste their life like that. Fahadh Faasil is probably the only actor from Mollywood, who has been against the idea of fans associations.

In a recent interview, he opened up about the importance of education and why fans should not waste their time unnecessarily. He is quoted saying, “I studied for my bachelor’s in the US but I returned back home without finishing my final semester. I still don’t have a degree. If do not know any job other than cinema. So I know that situation well and I don’t want anyone else to go through that. Youngsters should concentrate on their studies at this age. They should not be spoiling their lives for cine actors.”

On the work front, the actor’s next release will be Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum. The movie, directed by Maheshinte Prathikaram fame Dileesh Pothen is slated to hit screens June 28 as an Eid release.
Director Raffi’s comedy entertainer Role Models is also expected to release soon.

Did Dulquer Salmaan hurl a real petrol bomb in CIA?

Dulquer Salmaan’s latest outing CIA aka Comrade In America had a massive release on May 5. The movie was highly anticipated majorly due to the teaming up of Dulquer with Amal Neerad. The director is known for his stylish mass action films and hence the expectation levels was very high.

CIA, written by Pavaada fame Shibin Francis is about an young comrade’s journey through adverse conditions to the US in pursuit of his girlfriend. Dulquer played the role of Aji Mathew, a hot blooded young comrade.

His introduction scene in the movie was much talked about. A terrifically staged scene with Gopi Sunder’s pulsating background score is a treat for Dulquer fans. A minister is accused of corruption and opposition party supporters stage a protest outside his house. They end up in a scuffle with the police officials. Dulquer who represents the opposition party enters with his face masked and hurls a petrol bomb at the police.

The making video of the scene was released recently. The petrol bomb made by the art department was a mix of glass and plastic. The original one is usually a glass bottle but it’s very dangerous as the bottle gets shattered after the explosion scattering the glass pieces. The scene came out incredibly well giving one of the best hero introduction scenes in Malayalam cinema in recent years.

CIA managed to have a fair run in theatres grossing around Rs 20 crores. The movie was unshaken in the box office inspite of the mixed reviews and the Baahubali storm. Debutante Karthika Muraleedharan played the female lead in the movie. Siddique, John Vijay, Jinu John, Chandini Sreedharan, Soubin Shahir, Maala Parvathy and Dileesh Pothen essayed other supporting characters. CIA is bank rolled by the director’s own company Amal Neerad Productions.