CELEBRITY HUB: January 2014

Jan 28, 2014

Jan 24, 2014

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral Journey

Nageswara Rao's two sons Venkat and actor Nagarjuna and other family members lit the pyre at the Annapurna Studios here, established by the thespian himself. The mortal remains of legendary Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao were today consigned to flames amid police honours as scores of film personalities, including Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi, and fans bade him an emotional farewell. Nageswara Rao's two sons Venkat and actor Nagarjuna and other family members lit the pyre at the Annapurna Studios here, established by the thespian himself. Family members, including his grandchildren who have followed his footsteps in acting, paid their last respects before lighting the funeral pyre.

NTR & ANR Rare Photos, Biographies

Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral Journey Part 1

Legendary Actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral Part 2

Legendary Actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral Part 3

Legendary Actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral Part 4

Pawan Kalyan & Trivikram paying tribute to ANR - Akkineni Nageswara Rao Funeral - RIP ANR

Former Union Minister and Congress leader T Subbirami Reddy, state ministers K V Krishna Reddy, D Nagender, veteran producer D Rama Naidu and popular hero Venkatesh were among those present. Earlier, the body was kept at the film chamber building to enable fans and well wishers to pay their last respects, before being taken back to the Annapurna Studios in a procession, which was followed by thousands of fans and members of the film fraternity. Nageswara Rao, who scaled the peaks of Telugu cinema rivalling N T Rama Rao in stature between 50s and 70s, died here yesterday after losing his battle with cancer.

Popularly known as ANR, the 91-year-old thespian mesmerised generations of audiences with a variety of roles and memorable performances in hits like 'Batasari', 'Devadas', 'Prem Nagar', 'Missamma' and 'Tenali Ramakrishna' in a career spanning more than seven decades. Rao recently completed shooting for his home production 'Manam' (Us) which stars three generations of the family --himself, Nagarjuna and grandson Naga Chaitanya. A Dada Saheb Phalke award winner, he had acted in more than 250 films, including some in Tamil and Hindi. ANR was instrumental in bringing Telugu filmmaking to Hyderabad from Chennai, that was home to film production in all south Indian languages.

Jan 7, 2014

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Salman Khan Is Not Impressed With AAP

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Uday Kiran, Telugu Film Actor, Commits Suicide

Cut-throat competition in the Telugu film industry may have claimed the life of Telugu film actor Uday Kiran.
33-year-old Kiran, who was known to portray romantic roles, was found hanging in his flat at Srinagar colony in Hyderabad past midnight on Sunday.Uday Kiran, who had acted in 19 films, was not getting any good offers as an actor and was reportedly unhappy about the way his career was progressing. Uday began his career with a bang with a small-budget film "Chitram" directed by Dharma Teja in June 2000. He went on to deliver a few hits and soon got the tag of 'lover boy' in Telugu cinema. In 2003, Uday got engaged to Chiranjeevi's daughter Sushmita, which was called off within a few months. It was alleged that Uday was not accepted by some of Chiranjeevi's family members, including his brother Pawan Kalyan.

Uday Kiran's downfall began soon after this incident as no producer was willing to offer him roles. The fact that Tollywood's mega star Chiranjeevi kept him at bay made producers hesitant in signing Uday. The actor, as a result, had to take up any project that came his way. His last film "Jai Sriram" released in April last year.
According to sources, when Uday took the extreme step of committing suicide, his wife Vishitha was not at home. Uday had made some calls to some of his friends but when they called him back, he did not respond. Police sources said that his friends found him hanging when they rushed to his house. They rushed him to Apollo Hospital at Banjara Hills where the doctors declared him brought dead. "There was no reason for him to commit suicide. He had enough money. If it was a question of his career not progressing well, he had time on his side," said VVK Murthy, his father.

Uday Kiran and his father were not on talking terms for the last six years as Uday Kiran felt his father was allegedly misusing his finances. Murthy had retired as a government employee and chose not to get involved with his son's life after the fall-out. Uday Kiran got married to Vishitha in 2012 which was attended by most people from the film industry. Vishitha reportedly told the police that Uday had been in depression for some time because of his film career. Telugu filmmaker Dharma Teja, who launched Uday Kiran with "Chitram" in 2000, said the late actor was a very passionate actor. "Uday and I started our careers together with 'Chitram'. It was a very special film for both of us and we enjoyed its success together. He was a passionate actor and I sensed it a few days after we started working on our film," Teja said

For his 2001 hit film "Nuvvu Nenu" which was directed by Teja, Uday Kiran got the image of a soft and romantic hero. For his role in this film, he had even got the Filmfare award as best actor. All the subsequent films that Uday Kiran did were not up to the expectations of the audience and his ratings as an actor fell. Uday Kiran hoped that his career would revive with his Tamil movie "Poi", but it remained stagnant. With "Jai Sreeram" last year, Uday Kiran tried to show that he could do tough roles too, something that would appeal to the masses but even this attempt fell flat. Banjara Hills ACP Ashok Kumar during preliminary investigation said that they came to know that Uday Kiran had been in a state of depression for the past one month. According to sources, Uday had messaged his wife saying, "I Love You" before he committed suicide.

In a shocking incident, Telugu cinema hero Uday Kiran died by committing suicide. Initial reports say that the actor died after taking the extreme step in his flat at Srinagar colony.