There may be more than one actor of the same name in the film industry, but when you share your name with an actor of the opposite gender, you might opt for what Prajwal Poovaiah hopes to do. “I prefer to be called Prajju,” says the actress, who shares her first name with actor Prajwal Devaraj.

The countdown for the release of her next film, Asthitva , has begun and Prajju reveals yet another aspect about herself with this: “I have always been passionate about acting and wanted to be here.”

While she started taking up offers for print modelling right from the age of 14, Prajju says that facing the camera for a film was different from what she was used to as a model. “I have been a part of over 150 ads, but none of them can be compared to what it was like to act. As a model, you don’t have to mouth dialogues. I have never even performed onstage before.

So, I decided to equip myself better with an acting course in Mumbai, at filmmaker Subhash Ghai’s institute. Movie offers started pouring in right after,” she says.

Prajju adds, “I did one Tamil film and my Tulu film Oriyan Thoonda Oriyagapuji made a mark for being one of these few films that played in theatres for over 100 days,” she says.

In Asthitva, Prajju plays a confident young girl who holds friendship and love in high regard.

“Working became all the more fun because it was a young team. Our director, Nutan Umesh sir, however, is a perfectionist. I got to learn so much about dedication and commitment to the art form from him. He is also rather strict and demanding,” she says.

For a girl who loves dancing, Prajju is happy to have gotten the opportunity to show off her dance skills in this film.

“I have learnt Bharatanatyam before, but I enjoy learning and performing all forms of dance. For Asthitva, it was for a fun, peppy, party number. I hope people like it,” she says.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Entertainment> Kannada> Movies / Kavya Christopher / TNN / May 29th, 2016

Here are six things you probably didn’t know about Gulshan Devaiah.

Actor Gulshan Devaiah, known for his role in Ram-Leela, Shaitan and Hunterrr, turns 38 on May 28. The birthday boy is all set to appear in Pooja Bhatt’s ‘Cabaret’ opposite Richa Chadha which is to be released this June. Here are six things you probably didn’t know about the actor.

1. While Gulshan rocks the screen with his brilliant performances, he can also floor you with his culinary skills. When free, he loves to experiment with flavours and textures of food and try new combinations in the kitchen like a Non-veg upma for a change.

2. In addition to acting, Gulshan is also an artist. As a kid he was always inclined towards drawing. He came second in his state in the higher grade drawing exam conducted by the state secondary education board.

3. Gulshan is a big fan of body building contests. Every year he keenly follows some international contests from around the world like Mr Olympia and Arnold Classic.

4. Gulshan has come a long way being a performer. His first performance was at the age of 5.

5. Gulshan can get mildly agoraphobic (an anxiety disorder where the person perceives the surroundings to be dangerous, uncomfortable, or unsafe). He tries to avoid situations with large crowds or unfamiliar places because of which he is an anxious traveller.

6. Along with being an actor and an artist, this multi-talented lad is also a fashion design graduate from NIFD.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood / by Express Web Desk, New Delhi / May 28th, 2016

The young and beautiful Harshika Poonacha was in New York and her host Bharat Goradia chose to organize for the leading lady of many popular Kannada films a press conference on May 23 at Senior Care Center of Bobby Kumar in Hicksville.

In her exclusive conversation with The Indian Panorama editor Prof. Indrajit S Saluja she expressed her admiration for America and Americans. She said it was her second visit to America and she had visited quite a few locations. She said given an option she would like to stay and work in the US.

Ms Poonacha recalled that she was 15 and studying for her High Schoolin Bengaluruand was with her friends at a coffee shop when a gentleman (she learnt later he was Ramesh, a film maker) approached her with an offer to give her a lead role in a Kannada film he was planning. She thought it was just a ploy of the man to entice her. He said he wanted to make a film on changes young school children undergo.However, soon she learnt that the man was genuine and that his offer was a professional one. That was the beginning of her film career. The incident took place in 2008. And the film -PUC- was released in 2010.

For her performance in the movie Tamastu, based on the subject of terrorism, Harshika received the Karnataka State Films Award. Her next big film which has not yet been titled is directed by the famous director Sunit Kumar Desai and is to be released in the next few months.

source: http://www.theindianpanorama.news / The Indian Panorama / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood> Indian Diaspora / The Indian Panorama, May 27th, 2016

Following Kalpana 2 and Mukunda Murari, Upendra has signed up his next, which has an interesting title, Upendra Matte Hutti Baa, Inti Prema. The screenplay, inspired by the Telugu film Soggade Chinni Nayana, we hear that the storyline for Kannada is written by Upendra himself. The film will be directed by Arun Loknath who also helmed H20, which starred Upendra and Priyanka and Prabhu.

Upendra Matte Hutti Baa will see Uppi in a dual role.
Prema’s first film with Upendra was his directorial Om that starred Shivarajkumar in the lead.

She later starred opposite him in Upendra, which turned out to be a blockbuster.

The actress took a hiatus from films after Shishira (2009).

“After 17 years, she will share screen space with Upendra in her comeback film,“ says our source.

Sriram, who has been managing Upendra’s work will be producing this film. He has currently taken the responsibility of finalising the rest of the cast. If all goes well, the crew plans to go on floors in the second week of June.

Meanwhile, Upendra is completing portions of his film Mukunda Murari directed by Nanda Kishore and will follow it up with a song for Ananth Raju’s Kalpana 2.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Kannada / by A Shradhaa / May 23rd, 2016