Rest of Asia India asks Japan to help achieve infrastructure targets

india  envisages financial outlays of over $1 trillion in the next Five Year Plan and while much of this would come "from within", it would welcome support from Japanese companies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Japanese business leaders on Monday. "During India's next Five Year Plan

from 2012 to 2017, we envisage financial outlays of $1 trillion on infrastructure projects. Private investment will play a large role in achieving this target. We would welcome a much greater role by Japanese industry in the development of economic infrastructure in India," the prime minister said at a business lunch hosted by the industry lobby Nippon Keidanren. Hoping to attract Japanese investment, the prime minister stressed on India's infrastructural needs and said that in the next 20 years about 40 per cent of the population would be living in urban areas.

"We seek your help in raising urban infrastructure," he told the gathering, citing needs like control of urban waste and water supply.
The meeting, also hosted by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Japan-India Business Cooperation Committee, was attended by India Inc - Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Enterprises' chief Sunil Bharti Mittal, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Fortis Healthcare's Malvinder Singh among others.
India's business leaders had addressed the 3rd Japan-India Business Leaders Forum ahead of the lunch.
On the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) - India and Japan are expected to announce conclusion of negotiations on the pact - the prime minister said the first priority was to "convert the agreement into a legally binding document".
"We are working on it at the level of the government," he said, adding that it might go to parliament next.
Manmohan Singh, who noted the "welcome sign" that the number of Japanese companies with an established business presence in India had more than doubled in the past four years, said: "Bilateral trade has made a robust rebound in 2010 and should exceed $20 billion by 2012.  However, you will agree with me that India-Japan trade is still at a low threshold apart from being unbalanced."
He said he had long believed that India and Japan should work together to create a business environment conducive to much greater two-way trade and investment flows.
"It was with this perspective that we launched negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement almost four years ago."
He also noted that nuclear energy could provide India's growing economy with a clean and efficient source of power. "Cooperation in this area will enable Japanese companies to participate in India's ambitious nuclear energy programme."

'Rakta Charitra' gets police attention in Anathapuram and other parts of AP

Hyderabad, 22nd Oct: Rakta Charitra has managed to get more hype than any other film in Andhra Pradesh. Being a film on the feud based on Paritala Ravi and Maddelacheruvu Suri, it also gained undue attention political attention. The followers of Obul Reddy, involved in the feud, have allegedly sent threats to director Ramgopal Varma that they will disturb the film’s release.
As a result the police has been brought in to provide security. The premiere of the movie was helds last at Prasad's multiflex, Hyderabad under heavy security arrangements. It is believed that this is first of its kind for a Telugu film.
Ramgopal Varma had said that he wanted to watch the movie in Ananthapuram, along with his cast and crew on its release day of today (22nd Oct). However, looks like his plans are changed now.
It is believed that the Ananthapuram police didn’t want to take chances as few groups might not be too welcoming to the film’s crew. The RGV is not yet come to clarify the visit of Ananthapuram to watch the Rakta Charitra part-I.

Rakta Charitra part-I' rated top: Part-II will be hit the screens on Nov 19th

Hyderabad, 22nd Oct: The Ram Gopal Varma's latest film Rakta Charitra review rated the all web site at top position. Who saw the film premier of Rakta Charitra part-I were eagerly waiting for the Raktha Charitra part-II. It may be releasing on November 19th. Rakta Charitra part -I story:   The story of Paritala Ravi and the faction feuds in Ananthapur is captivating enough. And when someone like Ramgopal Varma picks this story to make a film on it, it is enough to create a sensation. As a result ‘Rakta Charitra’ comes with the hype that no other film in the Telugu film industry can compete with. Our team takes a peep at whether this story of the one person’s view of a real life story will create history in Telugu cinema! The story of Rakta Charitra is pretty simple and almost known to everyone. Nagamani Reddy (Kota Srinivasa Rao) gets a local backward caste leader Veerabhadraiah killed out of pure jealousy. The revenge drama unfolds as Veerabhadraiah’s elder son starts killing anyone who is close to the Reddy’s. He also tries to keep his younger brother Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi) away from the feuds. However, Bokka Reddy (Abhimanyu Singh) gets Pratap’s brother killed. Enraged Pratap Ravi is sucked into the quagmire of revenge resulting in him being left to take hiding in jungles with only vengeance in mind. The rise of Pratap Ravi from a vengeful son to a political leader is the story of Rakta Charitra – Part 1. From the moment it starts, we are sucked into the blood bath that is done in the name of loyalty and to an extent, fear. There are many characters, and we relate to each one of them easily within the first few minutes. The men are either loyal or jealous or afraid, but they are extremely true to their specific emotion. The film seems like it looks down upon women showing them as mere spectators of what’s happening around them. But their silence is brutal; their support to their men is obsessive. If women can be so emotionally aggressive, almost all the men’s characters are justified. As a result of such justification and terrific characterization, almost all the actors shine. Vivek Oberoi shows his calbire as an actor. Kota Srinivasa Rao fits right into the character of a villainous politician, even though he played such roles a zillion times. Shatrughan Sinha does the role of ‘over the top’ and self appraising actor-turned-political leader extremely well. Zarina Wahab as Ravi’s mother is intense. Sudeep and Ashwini Kaleskar have small but interesting roles to play. However, it is Abhimanyu Singh who wows everyone in the role of Bokka Reddy. He plays the embodiment of all vices as if he is one such character in real life. He’s so good as the villain that you don’t feel like looking at him when he’s on the screen. The metaphors that Ramgopal Varma uses for the police, the guns, justice, revenge, lost innocence etc. are plenty in Rakta Charitra. Those who want to find them will definitely find them. The movie however doesn’t come across as brilliant as it could have been. Our talented director Ramgopal Varma(RGV) was so enchanted by this riveting drama that he chose to be the narrator himself. His voice is as good and as loud as Nutan Prasad’s narrative for a famous crime based TV serial. While the film’s tone is more like a documentary, it jumps situations and timelines for the sake of screenplay convenience. It seems the screenwriters were trying to avoid telling if the film is set in modern times or the 1980s. There are no mobile phones, yet the settings look ultramodern in urban scenes! The hero uses scooter, but the village settings don’t blend with the tone of the film, giving it a very hypocritical texture. This might result in making the audience disconnected with the story. Rakta Charitra doesn’t glorify violence, but killing people never looked so easy and yet so excessive on Telugu screen. The only laughing moments come in the way Abhimanyu Singh looks at women. The only song in the movie looks like it has been hurriedly shot, and carries the flavor of ‘Khallas’ from Ramgopal Varma’s film ‘Company’. All other songs are in the background and almost all lyrics contain the words Rakta Charitra. Obviously those who will be looking for any kind of entertainment from this movie will be highly disappointed. The movie doesn’t explain why Pratap Ravi’s brother is in jungles. In one scene Pratap Ravi, who is wanted in the village, drives along with his entourage of rowdies just hiding under a rug, and kills a very important leader just like that. Ramu doesn’t give any logic to such scene, as he might have thought that the emotion of killing will carry the scene. May be he is right! The Cinematographer, Amol Rathod’s camera work is exceptional, and is supported by the film’s editing very well. One important aspect is that the continuity is noticeably realistic, inspite of having numerous characters on screen. The screenplay is brilliant at the beginning, when characters are introduced. It takes a backseat as RGV’s visual technique guides the film. Background music is justified. Costumes are realistic, but the setting should have been taken care of. Ramgopal Varma the director is as good as he can get. A situation where the hero’s one eye is visible, and the other eye is covered with a sickle just tells how much importance he gives to visual style. However, his inattention to certain details like those mentioned above is visible too. All said and done only someone like Ramgopal Varma has the guts to make a film like this and he should be appreciated completely for it. Rakta Charitra has unexpectedly least entertainment value for a typical viewer of Telugu cinema, yet it never bores you. As expected it is a documentary style film, and has more violence than one can imagine. Watch it at your own risk, but this is an unforgiving film and you won’t forget it too soon. The sneak peek of Rakta Charitra - Part II at the end of the Part 1 was so enthralling, especially with Surya on screen that no one moved till it ended!

NTRs Brindaavanam film: Old Wine with a New family package!

Hyderabad, 16th Oct: Brindavanam is the 4th and the last of the big movies to hit the silver screen over the last one month and this will probably be the last big release of 2010 as well. It comes in the footsteps of the highly hyped, big budgeted, starry releases such as Komaran Puli, Robot and Khaleja that received varied reactions from the box office.
Brindavanam plays safe by adopting all the successful triedand tested formula and delivers some entertaining old wine in a new package. Within ten minutes into the film, we get to know that the super-rich Krish (NTR) is the type of character who believes in helping anyone in distress.
His girlfriend Indu (Samantha) plays on this attitude of his by asking him to help her friend Bhumi (Kajal) who needs a “boyfriend” to take back to her village to avoid getting married to her no-good bava (Ajay). So by the 20th minute, Krish lands up in Bhumi’s palatial village mansion “Brindavanam” which is lorded over by her father Prakash Raj and a small army of relatives.
Despite Prakash Raj’s open dislike towards him, Krish goes around spreading happiness by reuniting estranged joint families and by the end of the first half, he has Prakash Raj’s approval to marry Bhumi. So we now have a situation where Bhumi really falls in love with Krish who also has a soft corner for her while there is an Indu hovering in the background!!!
Indu also lands up at Brindavanam and this triggers off a series of episodes where Krish, Bhumi and Indu try to hide the truth from the family. So the rest of the movie is about how the truth is revealed while Krish tries to resolve the love triangle he has ended up in!!! Brindavanam tries to play to all types of audiences and does a successful job of it.
The mainstay of this movie is NTR who gets a meaty role where he dons the romantic lover boy role for the family audiences while getting enough footage to show-off his dancing and fighting skills to his fans. His comic timing and dialogue delivery is extremely good while his dancing skills have always been his strong point.
Kajal has a strong role as the timid girl, who fights back her feelings for Krish, and she does makes her presence felt in this while Samantha looks glamorous in her city girl avatar. Prakash Raj packs a punch as the head of a large family who hides his love for his daughter under the garb of responsibility.
There is a hilarious comic track involving Brahmanandam as the “Bommarilu Father” that has the audience in splits. Kota Srinivas Rao, Srihari, Ajay are adequate in supporting roles. The songs and the fights are well spaced out over the movie. The art direction department has spared no expense in making Brindavanam set look rich.
There is a sense of déjà vu since we have seen many such movies in the past which had one hero torn between two heroines and so the predictability factor can be a spoilsport. Also, the movie tries to add on too many sub-plots by including a step-brother conflict that is very easily resolved despite the violent build-up shown.
The final confrontation ends quite tamely contrary to audience expectations of seeing a major showdown between NTR and Ajay based on the previous fight sequences. Samantha’s character disappears in the first half once Krish moves to the village and we don’t get to her see her until she lands up in Brindavanam.

The movie makes no apologies about the fact that it is out to entertain using all the clichés possible and banks heavily on NTR to see them through. Overall, it can be a onetime watch as it’s a total masala entertainer. Special effects ensure the original NTR makes a guest appearance for a scene with NTR jr during the end of the movie.

Robo Rajinikant's new film may be a Basha Sequel?

Hyderabad, 16th Oct: It is known that South Indian Super Star Rajinikant, who is flying high with the massive hit of his recently-released science-fiction Robot (Endhiran), is now in Himalayas on holiday.
The Tamil film Industry buzz is that before leaving to Himalayas, Rajinikanth met R.M.Veerappan, the producer of ‘Basha.’  Sources say that the super star and the producer had discussed about sequel to ‘Basha.’ It is learnt that Rajinikanth listened to the basic script and asked R M Veerappan to get ready with the complete script by the time he returns from Himalayas.
If this is true, then it would be great to watch the super star again in the sequel. Rajinikanth’s ‘Basha’ (Tamil) released in 1995 was an action thriller. The film was also released in Telugu with the same title.
Both the versions were big hits at the box office. It had Nagma as heroine and Raghuvaran as villain. The film was directed by Suresh Krishna and produced under former minister R.M.Veerappan’s film banner Sathya Movies.

Microsoft Giving Free WP7 Devices To AT&T Staff

It was previously mentioned that Microsoft was dishing out WP7 devices  to its staff and interns, and now word is out that the software giant is also giving AT&T workers free WP7 devices to spur acceptance. An employee has claimed that about 100 devices were given out to those attending an event in Minneapolis, though it wasn't confirmed if it was a US-wide policy. It wasn't mentioned which specific phone amongst the many WP7 devices were given, but with the Samsung Focus being the first to ship, it's assumed that the lucky workers received said phone. Such a move isn't new as Apple gave free 8GB iPhones to all of its full-time workers back in June 2007 when the iPhone was first launched, both as a reward for their work and to familiarize them with the platform.

First Week gross: Mahesh Khaleja collected over Rs 21 Crore!

Hyderabad, 15th Oct: Prince Mahesh’s Khaleja, despite average talk on the film has collected over Rs 21 crores in the first week. The mouthtalk and web sites average reviews could not keep Prince’s fans away from the film.

Though the film is not up to expectations of the audience, especially fans, Prince Mahesh’s stardom has pulled them to the theaters. Moreover, Prince Mahesh's coming back to silver screen after three long years has done magic to the film. As per the filmmakers, Khaleja’s first week collections are as follows:
Nizam - 5,75,13,000; Ceded- 3,25,09,000; Vizag - 1,20,12,000; E.Goavari - 85,41,000; W.Godavari - 86,33,000; Krishna - 83,79,000;Guntur - 1,48,74,000; Nellore - 54,98,000; Overseas - 3,85,50,000; Karnataka - 1,81,25,000; Rest of India - 85,63,000; Total - Rs 21,31,97,000