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Bala Krishna as Lord Rama in Sri Rama Rajyam



The Grand Launch of Nandamuri Balakrishna’s ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ will be on November 22nd at Ramakrishna Cine Studios, Hyderabad. He has earlier played the mythological characters in the films such as Abhimanyu in Dana Veera Sura Karna, Arjuna in Sri Krishna Vijayam, and Lord Krishna in Pandurangadu etc. Now, he picked up the role of Lord Rama. Nayanthara will be seen as Sita.

This mythological film will be comes under the direction of Bapu and the screemplay & dialogues by Mullapudi vekata Ramana. Music Maestro Illayaraja has already recorded 8 songs for the film and SP Balasubrahmaniam, Sreeram, Shreya Ghosal and Chitra has given their vocals for these numbers. Yelamanchali Saibabu is producing the movie under Sri Sai Baba Movies.

(Nag+Anushka) Vs (Jagapathi+Priyamani)
Orthodoxy and sentiments are the other names to our Tollywood. Producers and directors run behind the hit pairs making them a part of their ventures again and again. Here comes same such pairs of Anushka with nagarjuna and Priyamani with Jagapathi Babu.

Both the handsome and manly heroes have good following in audiences and many times paired with hottest of the beauties in the filed. Still, the magic around Jagapathi Babu’s romance with Priyamani and nagarjuna’s with Anushka is an instant attention grabber.

As per latest news, Nag pulled Anushka into his team for the fourth time to pair besides him as the main lead. After ‘Super, Don, Ragada,’ this movie on RR Movie Makers tentatively titled ‘Damarukham’ will be the fourth movie in their combination. Keep away the special appearances in ‘King, Kedi.’

In the same way are Jagapathi Babu and Priyamani. ‘Kshetram’ will be the fourth movie in their romantic combination after ‘Pellaina Koththalo, Pravarakhyudu, Sadhyam.’ No wonders as many knew that Jagapathi loves the company of dusky Priyamani as much as Nag loves it with sexy Anushka.

Well, let us see…which pair will lead the industry after these two releases.

Both of them hail from well recognized legendary families in industry. Both of them have tried and still trying their best to prove as artists. But, here is the point where they are striking a rare resemblance and that is about planning movies on their banners with their respective family heroes.

Yes, Naga Babu announced it during a recent interview that he was weak in handling the projects as a producer. ‘I can’t handle two or three projects at a time as a producer. It is true that I was not able to use the hero images of my family members. Never too late, we are planning movies with Allu Arjun and Pawan Kalyan in coming days on Anjana Banners,’ said Naga Babu about his future projects.

Other side, it was kalyanram on the same track trying to use the enormous craze for his family heroes like Balakrishna and Junior NTR. ‘I am planning to come up with movies of Babai Balakrishna and brother Tarak on NTR Arts. Discussions are also going about multi starrer and we are still working on it. I am not at all against multi starrers,’ said kalyanram.

So, it seems to be a situation where in kalyanram and Naga Babu as producers are trying to bring big ventures very soon still magnifying the images of their respective families. Let us see, who will succeed first.

It appears that both Chiranjeevi and Aravind have lost control on children. Both Chiru and Aravind share every aspect of their life as friends and build their emoire stringer and higher. That is known for all. But why they are failing in keeping children in control?

It is known that the marriages of both the daughters of Chiru have becomes controversial and disturbing. First girl with Uday Kiran’s failed engagement and second girl’s unconventional marriage with Sirish Bharadwaj. Now sources say that Ram Charan is also in love with a girl and that is not going well with Chiru.

On the other hand Aravind’s son Allu Arjun is in love with Sneha Reddy and his other son Allu Sirish is bringing head ache to his father by doing businesses in hasty way and wasting money.

Whatever be the success rate personally, both these celebrities have lost control on their children say many.

San Francisco: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has praised Google's smartphone operating system Android and predicted that it will soon surpass the iPhone operating system in both quantity and quality.

The comments by the man who invented the first Mac computer came as Android-powered phones are fast catching up with Apple's iPhones in market share, and were the starkest illustration to date at how well Google has managed to close the gap with Apple's once unassailable iPhone.

Bangalore: Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) was introduced in India for the first time this year by the Carbon Disclosure Project and Wipro technologies have topped the list. Jubilant Organosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Larsen and Tourbo, ACC, Mahindra and Mahindra, Ambuja Cements and Sesa Goa were the other firms in the index.

Bangalore: Leading IT company MindTree said it plans to forge an alliance with leading educational institutes in the country for an initiative aimed at setting up digital infrastructure and formulating a curriculum tailor-made to the present requirement of the industry.

The company has already -- identified two educational institutions in Karnataka -- BVB College of Engineering and Technology in Hubli and Gogte Institute of Technology in Belgaum --- for the purpose, company Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman Subroto Bagchi told reporters here yesterday.
Talks are under way with the management, he said, adding that the company aims to ink agreements with as many as 10 institutes.

"All these days, educational institutions were modifying their curriculum based on the requirements of the industry and now it is the other way round. We will approach them to know their innovative practices and how they could help industries," he said.

On the hype about the IT sector and the focus on tier-II and tier-III cities, Bagchi said there is a need to look beyond the established information technology hubs in the country.

"In developed nations, nobody talks of information technology. Every region has its strength which has to be looked into and IT can be used to improve it," he said.

MindTree Vice-President (Talent Acquisition and Transformation) Dattatri Salagame said that nearly 40 institutions had approached the company for tying up with the firm for the new initiative and the process of short-listing them had begun.

Earlier, addressing students, Bagchi said that life is a matter of choice and what kind of life one leads is the consequence of one's choices.

Bagchi, who has authored bestsellers like 'Go Kiss the World: Life Lessons for the Young Professional', said that society was divided in four categories of people -- low platform-low purpose, low platform-high purpose, high platform-low purpose and high platform-high purpose.

He told the students that unless they were ready to improve their skillsets, they would remain within a single quadrant throughout their life.

MindTree is the application development and maintenance services partner for the unique identification project in the country, also known as 'Aadhar'. 

Oakland: Three Indian American students have developed a new game application for Apple. Rahul Bhatia, Akshay Narayan and Rohan Agarwal, all aged 17, have developed "Galactic Odyssey" - a strategy game where users try to steer their lost rocket ship home using the gravity of planets, reports Rob Dennis of Oakland Tribune

They began with the idea of app in June and went over brainstorming ideas and worked through the summer. The app was sent to Apple a week and half ago and it became available on Monday. The app is priced at 99 cents and can be downloaded from Apple.

The trio plan to come up with contests on the game, to help the app popularize. They also plan on launching a sequel to the game app.

Pete Murchison, Principal, Irvington High School where the trio study said, "This is unbelievably difficult. They (Apple) get a gazillion of these applications, and for these kids to do it, it's absolutely amazing. Now they're dealing with the biggest, most powerful company in the world."

The three study computer science and AP physics in school. They used physics concepts they learn in class to build the app. However they added one doesn't need a science background to play the game.

Says Agarwal, "We used physics to create the game for the user. They just have to enjoy it." .

London: Google has agreed to delete private emails and passwords mistakenly picked up from wireless networks in Britain by its Street View cars, the British information commissioner said today.

The US Internet giant has also agreed to improve the way it trains staff on data protection issues as it seeks to manage a global row over the cars, which gather information for its free online mapping services.

Chandigarh: Software developer Microsoft today said it is in talks with the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal to help them roll out e-governance projects on cloud computing platform.

"We are in dialogue with governments of HP and Uttaranchal to assist them in rolling out their e-governance services fast through cloud (computing) which also results in reduction in capital outlay," Microsoft Director (Public Sector) Pratik Mehta told reporters here today.
Cloud Computing allows sharing of IT applications, software and other infrastructure through internet.

Microsoft has already facilitated launching of e-governance services like making death or birth certificates, trade licenses in Jammu and Kashmir via cloud computing whereby it enabled the state to use various IT applications developed by the state government of Madhya Pradesh.

"This was a first pilot project in which cloud computing was used to roll out e-governance project in the country," he said.

Microsoft has also offered its services in developing State Data Centres to the Centre under Private Cloud model. "Under private cloud model, we have proposed Union IT Ministry to develop State Data Centre through virtualisation while ensuring the protection of the data from any external threat," he said.

"India's experience in e-governance initiatives has demonstrated significant success in improving accessibility, cutting down costs, enhancing transparency and increased access to un-served groups," said Karan Bajwa, Country Head, Microsoft.

"The government is completely focused towards accelerating this progress by coming up with new projects and successfully implementing the projects in pipeline. The proof lies in the government's commitment in initially investing Rs 10,000 crore earlier this year and future investments of Rs 20,000 crore in next few years," Bajwa said.

Microsoft works with over 10,000 multi-system integrators like Wipro , Infosys, TCS, Patni etc. 

New Delhi: Canada-based Blackberry maker, Research in Motion (RIM) Friday said that it is confident that the security concerns of the Indian government will be resolved to their mutual satisfaction.

"Our ongoing discussions with the government of India continue to be very positive and progressive, and we are confident that any outstanding concerns can be resolved to our mutual satisfaction," said RIM in a statement released here.
"We share a common interest in continuing to satisfy the legitimate security needs of corporate and government customers while also acknowledging the equally legitimate need for law enforcement agencies to investigate illegal activities within the globally accepted norms of lawful access practices," it added.

Earlier India had expressed its concerns saying that Blackberry services could be used by anti-social elements to stir social instability. The Indian government had also threatened RIM with a ban if the company denied the government access to its messenger and corporate email communications.

Bangalore: Twitter has come out with an intelligent way for the social networking savvy to check their tweets all the time without actually looking at twitter. The replies feature has been updated and is referred as mentions.

In the Twitter sidebar, the users will see their own @username tab and after clicking on it, they will see a list of all tweets with a reference to their account with the @username convention instead of only at the beginning, which is how it worked in the past.
The users will receive a notification by an account they follow whenever they get mentioned. This latest feature, known as push notifications, has been launched for @mentions. It enables the users to know every detail about what is happening regarding them on the site. The handset owners would be curious to know who spoke about them or to them. The conversation can be continued also by the users, as is revealed by the official twitter blog.

The latest version of Twitter for iPhone will initially send Notifications for @mentions through SMS. Those who need to download the latest variant of the app can head over to the App Store. Not to slip by, push notifications are also sent for Messages to Twitter for iPhone.

The Twitter blog elucidates the company is working on the Android and Windows Phone variant of this feature. Users may turn on SMS notifications by accessing twitter.com/devices and selecting Text message notifications, these notifications settings can be altered anytime, anywhere. 

Bangalore: 'Don..." say Shah Rukh Khan, flipping open his stylish black Motorola cell phone. "Le zandu balm hui, darling tere liye" sings an irresistible Mallika in the hottest bollywood number of the year from Dabangg. With the protagonists using Apple laptops and drinking branded aerated drinks which are so covertly yet visibly placed at different scenes in story, brand placement in mainstream movies and TV soaps are no more unintentional depictions but a deliberate and strategic branding and marketing technique.

I may assert that you would have at least noticed Coke's perfect placement in Rang De Basanti or Marlboro's placement in 'Swadesh' (remember SRK asking heroine to hide the cigarette pack) or many mobile brands including Blackberry and Motorola featuring in many recent movies you have seen. If you think it's there just for the sake of being there or an accidental part of the script, you are probably wrong. Brand Placement in movies has been a gizmo devised and identified as a potential marketing tool during early 80's when Spielberg hid the alien from outer space inside Reese chocolates (for which the company paid later) in his landmark movie 'E.T'. And with the new concept in India's advertising world that is gaining traction, the 360-degree marketing, one may wonder while watching the recent Bollywood movie 'We are family' why plastic tubs seem to feature as much as the celebrities who star in it. Two-thirds of the film was shot in a kitchen made by German kitchen brand Poggenpohl for which the film's budget got paid of course.

The common practice of doing 30 second or one minute ads in Indian channels doesn't seem to be doing its trick in the market clutter ( come on, Indians have enough choices on channels and technologies to skip through). And advertisers have moved to films and TV soaps where they can display their brand which cannot be ignored in the process of viewing. While a few brands like Nike gets there product placed in movies at no cost by supplying goods like shoes, bags, jackets etc to the movie company, some other brands get the script tailor made for placing their products. Technology brands like Apple have been doing this kind of a 360 degree branding in umpteen numbers of Hollywood movies. Tracing back, one can find that Apple have been doing brand placements in movies all the way like Independence Day (1996), Fight Club (1999), Sex and the City (1998-2004)etc.

So how does this really work? Sometimes a brand placement simply happens. Sometimes it's arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation and sometimes it's arranged, and there is financial compensation. Usual kind of deal is a simple exchange of the product for the placement. For example, the production team wants lead actor to display a quirky affinity for a particular type of beverage. This will come across rather strongly over the course of the program which means the chosen product could get a lot of air time. So the production people approach a particular beverage company folks with a proposal and a deal is made; in exchange for the airtime, the cast and crew are provided with an ample supply of the beverage at work. Now you remember Hritik drinking a lot of Bournvita in the Movie 'Krish' right?

So what should the audience do? Nothing, simply grab your popcorn, lay back on the seat and enjoy the movie. Feel happy when you spot the brands as they appear with or around your favorite celebrities and as the marketers expect, recall them at the point of purchase. Or maybe you can rate them with a Filmfare award for the best brand that starred in recent movies later. 

Bangalore: As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of H -1B visas it is always good to turn back and see what the country has benefited out of it. The H -1B discussion is always heated and sometimes even worse ' when it turns racist, elitist, subjective or just plain ugly. Even though recent reports say that H -1B visas may soon become a dream for the Indian techies still the Indian companies weep over it.The spark of hope during the recent Obama's visit which died down in hours show where is H -1B heading towards.

If you look back towards when the Congress government created the H-1B visa program, 20 years ago it sent the American IT industry into uncharted territory from which it has yet to emerge. The U.S. had an H-1 visa for foreign nationals with "distinguished merit and ability" prior to 1990, but that year, in response to warnings of an emerging "skills gap" or "skills mismatch" among U.S. engineering and technology professionals, thus the government broadened the scope of the visa.

But during the recent visa controversies Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont said, "The very least we can do is to make sure that banks receiving a taxpayer bailout are not allowed to import "cheaper labor" from overseas while they are laying off American workers." Over the 20 years has this lost its shine? Isn't H1B visa a skilled job visa? How can it be Cheap labor visa?

The benefits of U.S. on the H1B are a plain truth that is known to everyone. They are able to get substantially higher work quality at lower rates, more spending in U.S. hence the movement of currency etc. Since the Indian companies work on a contract basis the U.S. companies don't have to worry about the perks much.

If you look at the Indian scenario IT professionals who have been displaced from their jobs because of offshore outsourcing believe that the H-1B visa has made government a complicit partner in the shift of jobs. They maintain that the H-1B visa and offshoring have become inextricably linked, with offshore companies placing H-1B workers in client sites in the U.S. with the intention of ultimately transferring the work overseas.

Rahul Narayan an Indian techie who went to U.S. on an H- 1B visa and later shifted to a U.S. firm says that majority of the Indians prefer to shift their jobs to U.S. firms since they offer you better pay and other facilities. Employees prefer their comfort rather than being nationalist. Such a way H-1B visas are really helpful to the Indians.

Beside the Indian companies' benefits through the revenue generated from these onsite positions and the little improved spending power, has Indian economy achieved anything out of it is a matter of a question now. Can we say that some of these 'gains' are not really concessions by the U.S.? It is true that 20 years is late for analyzing it but it is always good to mourn over something that is beneficial to all of us. Should we mourn for a 'cheap labor visa' anymore?