Guess, who is Shubha Punja’s dream man?

Guess, who is Shubha Punja’s dream man?

When was the last time you have heard an actress expressing her desire to marry and settle down with a farmer? Sounds different? Not for Sandalwood actress Shubha Punja. Shubha, who loves to spend time close to nature, wants to marry a farmer, who owns huge farmland.

And, yes Shubha has no qualms about quitting her acting career post-marriage. Currently, the model-turned-actress, who has also worked in Tamil films, is busy shooting for five upcoming Kannada movies. Her co-star Rakesh Adiga from the film Kootigondu Love Story is full of praise for Shubha.

"She is a thorough professional, down to earth and highly co-operative on the set. I don't feel like I am working with a senior from the industry," says Rakesh.

Trisha heads to Spain for her Kannada film

Trisha heads to Spain for her Kannada film

Trisha Krishnan is currently in Spain for the shooting of her upcoming Kannada film, which is a remake of Mahesh Babu starrer Dookudu. Puneeth Rajkumar is playing the lead role in the Kannada version whereas Trisha is reprising Samantha's role. The film is being directed by Madesh.

The film's principal shooting began in Bellary back in December, 2013 and the team is keen on wrapping up the film soon. Incidentally, Mahesh Babu's Dookudu was extensively shot in Istanbul and it looks like those portions will be canned in Spain in the Kannada version.

Makarand’s Shiva devotee outing

Makarand’s Shiva devotee outing

Makarand Deshpande was last seen in Sandalwood in director Srinivasa Raju's Dandupalya, in which he played gangleader Krishna, who rapes and kills people. The actor is getting an image transformation of sorts in the filmmaker's next, which is currently untitled, but was known as Basavanna earlier.

"Makarand plays a Shiva devotee in the film, clad in very little, just as sadhus at the Kumbh Mela are. Makarand has a key role in the film and is almost always seen with the hero ( Upendra). He speaks only in vachanas," explains director Srinivasa.

The filmmaker adds that the only apprehension Makarand had in taking up the role was if audiences would accept it, given that he played a very negative character in Dandupalya, while this one will be as good as it gets. "I convinced him that he was the only one who could pull off that look," adds Srinivasa.

What is Nikita Thukral’s role in Ring Road Shubha?

What is Nikita Thukral’s role in Ring Road Shubha?

It's been a while since Nikita Thukral was seen in Sandalwood, given that her last release was Krantiveera Sangoli Rayanna which hit the screens last year. The actress, who spent nearly three months away for a reality show earlier this year, had upon her return signed up for the Bollywood remake of Traffic, which she is busy with currently.

Her next Kannada film, we hear, is going to be Ring Road Shubha, directed by Priya Belliapa. "Yes, I have signed up for the film, and will be paired with Duniya Vijay. I will join the team this week," she says, refusing to divulge further details about her role. When we asked Priya, she too remained non-committal, telling us that the film is based on real-life incidents, adding though, that it is not just about the tale of Bangalorean Shubha, who was convicted in the murder of her fiance.

A source from the team adds that there is more to the story than meets the eye. "There is a reason that the team has chosen to pair Vijay with Nikita, which is a first for them. Priya and her team are making contemporary adaptation of real-life stories. Who knows, it could be about our actors as well," says the source.

Ragini Dwivedi to do a special number in Prabhu Dheva’s next

Ragini Dwivedi to do a special number in Prabhu Dheva’s next

With her newest signing, Ragini Dwivedi is the latest south actress to make a Bollywood entry. She will be seen in a special number in Prabhu Dheva's R... Rajkumar, which stars Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha and Sonu Sood.

Ragini Dwivedi to do a special number in Prabhu Dheva’s next

Sources claim that the number, which also apparently features Charmee and Scarlett Wilson, is more of a situational song than what is essentially labelled an item number. The pre-climax number, composed by Pritam, features a whole lot of artists, including all the villains in the film.

The team has shot for a day earlier, but stopped due to the untimely demise of Telugu star Srihari, who was a part of the film. The next schedule will begin later this week.

With many successful south heroines finding it quite a challenging to sustain a career in Bollywood after they have kicked it off with an item number, it is now up to Ragini to see what she makes out of her big ticket.

Poonam Pandey heads South for item song

Poonam Pandey heads South for item song

Poonam Pandey will soon start shooting for an item song for Kannada film 'Love Is Poison'. The actress, who played a seductress in her debut Bollywood film 'Nasha', will be sporting a sensual, yet traditional look for the number.

A source from the production house reveals, "The song has been incorporated at a crucial point in the film. The producers were impressed with Poonam's work in Nasha and felt that she was apt for the song, given how sensuous she is. They also felt that she would lend a fresh presence and would be liked by the southern audience. Chinni Prakash is choreographing the song."

We hear a couple of other directors down South are keen that she makes a full-fledged debut in the Kannada film industry, but the Mumbai girl is keen on a script-backed leading role. So, for now, Poonam will fly down to Bangalore just to shoot for the item song.

Bhama on a roll

Bhama on a roll

Malayalam actress, Bhama, also a well known face in kannada film industry is known for her choice of quality films. No wonder then the actress has a good line up of films. But what is interesting is the fact that the actress will have four releases in a span of two months if everything goes well, which might be something new to Bhama.

Out of the four films, Auto Raja is already released and is doing pretty good. This is Golden Star ganesh's comeback film , and has earned appreciation from everyone. Bhama's other films, Barfi, Appaiah and Ambara are also expected to release in the coming days. The next release will mostly be Barfi followed by Appaiah and Ambara respectively.

In fact, Appaiah was supposed to be Bhama's first release this year, however, the release got postponed and recently ads were released depicting the release of the film.

Sanjjanaa misses the Bigg Boss family

Sanjjanaa misses the Bigg Boss family

Actress Sanjjanaa gets all emotional on Twitter as the Kannada reality show Bigg Boss comes to an end today. The actress was one among the 15 contestants of the show, which was hosted by Sudeep.

The final episode will be aired today and the most expected moment by fans of the show, i.e., the winner, will be announced today. The finalists of the show are Swami Narendra Sharma, Nikita Thukral, Vijay Raghavendra and Arun Sagar. According to reports, the fight is between Arun and Vijay. However, audiences will get to know the results in a few hours from now.

While the contestants of Bigg Boss is getting all sentimental as they performed for the finale, Sanjjanaa took her micro-blogging page to reveal how much she will miss the reality show. She posted saying, "In Pune airport now, off to hyd, Will miss the Bigg Bigg big boss family..was a funfull short journey..it passed lik a dream."

She even said that today roads will be isolated in the city as the finale episode will be aired on TV today. "Join us n Hook up Wid ur TV this eve n watch @KicchaSudeep ,banglore faced low traffic last 3months frm 8pm,today d roads will b isolated."

While the host of the show Sudeep insisted that every member of the show should be happy being a part of season 1's Bigg Boss, Sanjjanaa added, "Nothing feels as great as success,being a part of the most successful show of Karnataka is an honor n a blessing,finale will create history!"

Meera Chopra will romance Diganth in 1920 London

Meera Chopra will romance Diganth in 1920 London

When Sandalwood actor Diganth first announced that he was off to Bollywood, he was to have romanced Prachi Desai in a film called Jazz. But then, Prachi walked out of that project, and Nidhi Subbaiah was roped in. That, though, did not help and the film never took off. It then turned out Diganth would make his B-town debut with Vikram Bhatt's 1920 London, again featuring Prachi. But the news now is that the actress has walked out of this project as well and south actress Meera Chopra will step in. The project, we hear, is all set to take off in June.

Meera Chopra will romance Diganth in 1920 London

Meera, who is Priyanka Chopra's cousin, is excited to work on the project, which marks her Bollywood debut as well. "This is the best debut I could ask for. The first two instalments in the 1920 franchise were hits. This too will work," says Meera. The film will also mark the B'wood debut of television star-turned-actor Vishal Karwal. And, according to Meera, all the roles are equally important in the film. "I play Diganth's girlfriend in the film, but eventually get married to Vishal. The story is about how I get possessed and how Diganth rescues me," she says.
Interestingly, this is not the first time that Meera is working with Diganth. She has already worked with him in a Telugu film. "I worked with him in Vaana, the remake of the Kannada blockbuster Mungaru Male. He is very sweet actor. When we worked together, he was just starting his career. It is great to know that he has become a big name in Kannada cinema," she says.

A Delhi girl, Meera started her film career in the south with a Tamil film Anbe Aaruyire. With south heroines like Trisha, Tamannaah, Kajal Aggarwal and Asin starting their career with bigger stars, does it bother her that she is being launched with newcomers? "What happened to Trisha's debut? We can't really predict anything in Bollywood. Take, for instance, Vicky Donor, the actors were new, but the film did wonders at the BO. If it's a good script that is handled by a bunch of talented people, it will get a good response. When I signed the film, I didn't even ask who the actors were. Vikram is a brand by himself and I am confident of my B'wood debut," says Meera, who has done a Kannada film opposite Darshan earlier.

As for Prachi, her spokesperson informs us, "She has not given any quotes with regard to her not doing 1920 London. She is busy shooting for Policegiri and has date issues. Because of Sanjay Dutt's current situation, everyone's busy trying to wrap up Policegiri. Prachi got busy with that."

Tisca Chopra turns scriptwriter

Bollywood actress Tisca Chopra, who was in Bangalore for her husband's book launch recently, seems to have taken to writing herself. "I'm done writing my book, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Indian Film Industry, and will be launching it by the end of this year," she says. Tisca also tells us, "I'm working on a script now. It's a genre that's not explored much in Indian cinema — a personality drama, probably like an As Good as It Gets. I'm working on this with director Suhail Tatari."

While her writing endeavours are taking flight gradually, the actress has an interesting couple of films lined up this year as well. Her next, Ankur Arora Murder Case will see her donning the role of a mother yet again, but with a twist. And following that will be Anup Singh's Indo-European film Qissa, opposite Irrfan Khan. "Qissa, for me was a huge growth as an actor because I learnt a different aspect of acting — the art of doing nothing, yet communicating everything," says Tisca. The actress, who seems to be both intrigued and impressed by intense scripts that make a quick connect with the audience, has another Indian-international venture lined up, she reveals.

Daisy Shah’s flying dreams

Daisy Shah is one of the most gorgeous faces in recent times to gave made her debut in the Kannada film industry, but Daisy Shah is not just a pretty face. The talented actor who made her debut with Bhadra has now become of the busiest actresses of Sandalwood with several film offers in her hand. But this is not what Daisy wanted to become initially. Daisy always wanted to become an air-hostess, while her father wanted her to become an IAS office in her childhood.

Recently, the actress revealed that she had never planned to become an actress but it was her modelling assignments that fetched her film offers too. Like many other actresses, Daisy too is from Mumbai who has made a name in Sandalwood. She says that though she is from Mumbai, she is happy and content to work in Kannada films which gave her fame. But Daisy will now be making her Bollywood debut too and that too with none other than Salman Khan in his upcoming film, Mental.

Pooja Gandhi and Rakshita to contest from BSR congress

It's official: Sandalwood actress Pooja Gandhi and Rakshita will contest from Raichur and Chamarajangar constituency respectively, on BSR congress ticket in the upcoming Assembly Elections, which will be held on May 5 in the state. Both the actresses will be contesting in the elections for the first time.

Pooja Gandhi who shot to fame with a blockbuster movie Mungaru Male, has already changed two political parties JD(S) and KJP and will now be contesting from the newly found party by former minister B Sriramulu. The party decision to field Pooja from Chamarajanagar has evoked protests from party members.

Rakshita, who made her Sandalwood debut in the movie Appu with Puneeth Rajkumar has acted in several films like Suntaragaali, before she became active in politics. However, it's going to be a different ball game for both these actresses in this summer.

The other film actors who are contesting elections are Umashree, Ambareesh, Madan and Mayur Patel.

Sanjjanaa’s getting ready for TV

Sandalwood actress Sanjjanaa, who has been busy shooting for her Telugu-Tamil bilingual that is tentatively titled Production No 1 in Hyderabad, recently took time off to also shoot for a special appearance on actress Khushbu's television show, Get Ready.

"Was too much fun shooting wid @khushsundar mam yesterday fo her show Getready,was really mesmerised by her charm," Sanjjanaa wrote on her micro-blogging page, along with a picture of the two together. The actress also tweeted a picture of herself during the show.

Sanjjanaa, who has three Kannada films ready for release - Mahanadhi, Rebel and Agraja - as well as a Telugu flick called Jagan Nirdoshi, has been so busy with her new film and the TV show that she could not attend the first match of this year's Celebrity Cricket league, despite being an ambassador for the same. "Missing out with the match in siligudi coz I hav early morn shoot on Monday in rfc,Looking fwd to the rest of the matches though.," she wrote hours before the first match on February 9 in Siliguri.

Ram Gopal Varma enters Sandalwood

Actor is Sudeep is on a roll post the success of the Rajmouli's Eega. The film was not just a massive hit, but also fetched several congratulatory messages from stalwarts of Indian cinema. Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma was one among them. Though he's already worked with the actor in movies such as Rann, Phoonk among others, the latest buzz is that RGV will direct him in a four language film that will be produced by KCN Kumar.

The buzz is that RGV will be visiting Bangalore this week to initiate the discussion. We also hear that the film will originally be made in Kannada and Telugu, which will later be dubbed in Tamil and Hindi. However, we will be getting a clear picture once the filmmaker makes an official announcement.

Meanwhile, Sudeep is currently shooting for Bachchan, which has Bhavana, Tulip Joshi and Parul Yadav in lead roles; while his cameo appearance in Vardhanayaka along with Sameera Reddy is ready for release. The movie has Chiranjeevi Sarja and Nikeesha Patel in lead roles.

Radhika Pandit considers 2012 lucky

Radhika Pandit is very thrilled that she has had two of the biggest hits of 2012 falling under her kitty. The actress was first seen in the film Addhuri, which is arguably the biggest hit of 2012 and then followed it up with a successful Drama.

"I couldn't have had a better year. With two of my films doing extremely well, it makes me feel very content," says Radhika, who also had her film Sagar releasing this year, which was an average performer at the box office.

Radhika recently signed a new flick Dilwala opposite Sumanth Shailendra Babu, where she is rumoured to have paid an amount much higher than the last film that she has signed, considering the fact that her release Addhuri, where she was teamed opposite newbie Dhruva Sarja, did exceptionally well at the box office.

Radhika, meanwhile, will next be seen on screen opposite Shivarajkumar in the Suri-directed Kaddipudi, which is currently in its post-production stage.

Priyamani Escapes Mishap

The Paruthiveeran heroine had a escaped unhurt when she was on the way to her outdoor schedule.

This weekend has proven to be extremely lucky for Priyamani. The actress narrowly missed getting hurt in an accident on Saturday morning. She was on her way to shoot for a Kannada film Anna Bond in the jungles of Muthathi, Karnataka, from Bangalore. "We were driving when we were involved in an accident. Luckily, the car's sides were damaged but we were all fine in the car," says Priya.

The Paruthiveeran heroine is currently filming for Anna Bond, which co-stars Puneet Rajkumar and Nidhi Subbaiah, and awaits the release of her other Kannada film Vishnuvardhana opposite Sudeep, which will release this Friday. She also has other projects in Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam that are currently under production.

Nikita Thukral Banned in Kannada

The Kannada Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) has imposed a three-year ban on popular actress and item girl Nikitha from acting in Kannada movies for allegedly creating trouble in her co-star Darshan's married life.

Darshan's wife Vijayalaksmi filed a police complaint alleging that her actor-husband assaulted her and threatened her and their young child with his licensed revolver. The actor was arrested on Friday. In her complaint, she blamed Nikitha for the problem in her marital life.

The KFPA office bearers decided to ban the actress after visiting Vijayalaxmi in the hospital on Saturday, sources said. "It’s a lesson for other artistes. We want them to be more professional and concentrate only on their jobs," KFPA president Munirathnam said.

Meanwhile, Nikitha called the ban “ridiculous” and accused the KFPA for acting “without proof.” The actress said: "Without consulting me, the KFPA has slapped the ban. Darshan and I have acted in three movies. There’s nothing between us beyond a professional relationship."