R Madhavan's New Film

Actor R Madhavan is currently busy with his under-production project titled Guru En Aalu which is a remake of the hit 1997 Bollywood film Yes Boss, directed by Aziz Mirza and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aditya Panscholi. Madhavan is essaying SRK’s role in the Tamil film.

"I’m quite excited to be a part of the remake. I thoroughly loved the film. Shah Rukh was amazing in Yes Boss. He had so much energy and was jumping here and there with so much ease. He was so charged up that he stood out in the film. It will be quite a task to match his efforts," Madhavan told After Hrs.

Yes Boss narrated the story of Rahul, a middle-class youth with high ambitions of striking it rich in the corporate world. He’s seen quite willing to bend his ethics to prove his loyalty to his boss, Siddharth who he sees as his key to scaling the ladders of success. To please Siddharth, he has to do his dirty jobs like bringing girls for Siddharth to exercise his not insubstantial charms on.

The film reaches its climax when matters become complicated when Siddharth’s eyes fall on Seema, a girl Rahul secretly loves. Seema too wishes to take the shortcut to success by serenading a rich man. Initially she falls for Siddharth’s charms and even believes his sob stories when she comes to know he’s married. But then as his devious ways are revealed to her and she finds her heart being drawn to the simple Rahul, she seeks to escape from Siddharth’s clutches.

We quizzed Madhavan if the filmmakers are changing anything from the original plot.

"The story entirely remains the same but yes there are certain things that need to be changed to suit the south Indian sentiments. We have added a little more humour to the script. I guess people down here love lots of humour. Basically very minor things have been changed and the spirit of the original has been kept intact," he says.

The film which has seen its release date being pushed back from 2007 is currently being directed by Selvah. Actors Mamta Mohandas, Abbas, Brinda Parekh and Vivek are also a part of the film.

Chiranjeevi launches 'Praja Rajyam' amid huge fanfare

Strangely, the biggest political launch in the state since N T Rama Rao's in 1983 began on a quiet note.

With a DVD of Chiranjeevi's film Stalin being screened on the big screen on the dais to keep the crowd in good humour, they hardly reacted when their 'annaiya' made his first appearance, typically bashing up some bad guys.

However, two hours later, about 7 lakh people roared to real life Chiranjeevi when he thundered about delivering social justice and unveiled his Praja Rajyam. Not surprisingly it sent shivers down the Congress and TDP camps and placed Chiranjeevi clearly as a serious chief ministerial candidate.

To Chiranjeevi's credit, the prolonged build-up to his political initiation did live up to its expectation. After having kept everyone waiting and guessing about whether and when he would enter the political scene for the last several months, the simple press conference announcing his political intention followed by Tuesday's meeting seem to herald the semblance of a mass social movement.

"This is a political tsunami, and chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and opposition TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu will be swept away by its current," claimed T Rammohan from Guntur who said he quit the Congress to join Chiranjeevi.

For those who had dubbed Chiranjeevi as a mere film star, his speech was full of content. He spoke of how the government was selling away land (and thus mortgaging the future) for balancing the budget, how fertile cultivable land was being given away to SEZs, how the Naxalite problem arose from poverty and how he would not mind granting Telangana if the region could not be developed otherwise.

He also displayed a marked Left orientation and though his speech was shorn off great oratory, he used symbolism with great effect to demolish the policies of the present government.

But true to his please-all image, the megastar did not attack anyone by name. The potraits of Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Mother Teresa and Jyotiba Phule on the background of the huge stage gave the message clearly about where his sympathies lay.

Tuesday in this temple town dawned to a huge influx of people by the thousands making it to the meeting in buses, lorries, jeeps and by foot.

By 10 am, all roads leading to the city were packed with Chiru's men, and by 3.30 pm, about three to four lakh people had converged at the meeting. Some wore masks of the actor, some carried flags and some others even carried small cutouts.

Although Tirupati has members of Chiranjeevi's Kapu caste in sizable numbers, such a mammoth gathering could not have been made only by its members.

The actor seems to have inspired many outside his community, for it was a combination of several weaker sections, Dalits, Muslims and backward classes that could have led to this large crowd.

The Chiru camp was upbeat over the attendance, and are now insisting that their leader is clearly on the way to the chief ministerial gaddi.

The politician did not directly attack the Congress and the TDP, but by clearing declaring that the current set-up has only spawned social injustice, he has made it clear that they are his main targets.

Now that his party has a name, a flag and a song, how he takes the next step would be crucial for the extent of his success. This would include setting up of a party organisation.

If indeed the people are with him, as perhaps indicated by the numbers at Tuesday's meeting, then the magnificent fireworks at the venue has a clear message for everyone: August 26 is a political and social milestone in the history of Andhra Pradesh.