It’s been a while since I watched a Prabhas movie in a theater. Blind faith in director Karunakaran‘s potential has pushed me towards the cinema hall (Viswanath 70mm, KPHB, Hyderabad). Though there were no expectations from my side, DARLING movie hardly had any great moments to cherish about.

WHAT I LIKED:

• Pathos music in the background for Prabhas & friends in few of the comedy episodes (whenever something bad happens)
• “Neeve Neeve…!” song and it’s picturization
• Interval bang of revealing the secret about flashback episode
• Idea of snow fall in Hyderabad and it’s monuments (Golconda, Buddha Statue & Charminar) with the help of Special Effects
• 1st fight in the market place with his mother & sister not knowing about his actions
• Sentiment scene of Prabhas, Sister and Chandramohan
• Episode that leads to the last song and even the song with Montage scenes is refreshing!

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKED:

• Hip-hop costumes for Prabhas were not a perfect fit
• Lazy performance with no improvement from hero: Prabhas
• Not so catchy songs
• Very week script and screen-play
• Nothing novel from Karunakaran (even the intro song – it has shades of Tholiprema and Pawan Kalyan)

FINAL ANALYSIS: Along with sticking to an oldish concept and extracting ordinary performances, director KARUNAKARAN has failed to an extent in giving us a feel-good movie again! It’s time for Prabhas to work on his expressions and diction. Though DARLING is a below par movie on a whole, it might have a decent run at the box-office due to the lack of another family-entertainer during this summer holidays…!

After bearing lots of humiliation and disgust, I’ve decided to move a Fraud Attempt by AIRTEL to the Consumer Court. I’ve listened to many similar stories of WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT in the past. But, I’ve been a victim of the same from last few months and I’m hardly left with anymore patience regarding this CHEATING CUSTOMER issue!

I’ve paid 1700 rupees for retaining a post-paid number [Deposit: 500, Previous user's balance: 300 & Yearly Rental: 899] and used it for hardly 2 days in December 2009.  When I went to pay my 1st month bill on Jan 28th 2010 – I was left with shock to see that the number is PERMANENTLY DISCONNECTED for address verification failure [same address is present on all my other Airtel Landline - Airtel DTH - Airtel Pre-paid services and all these services are associated with the same Pre-paid mobile number]. I’ve kept my cool and agreed to submit the documents again. Now, the REAL SHOCK: They’re asking me to pay the amount (Deposit + Rental + Balance) AGAIN for the re-allocation and activation of my 5 year old number…… GOD… !

• Do I need to be present at home all the time for their address verification??
• Do I need to pay 3500 rupees for making 5 or 10 calls??

Will see how far can I go, how much more can I pay & how long can I fight with AIRTEL people for RETAINING a 5-year old Post-paid number…! Will update soon!

UPDATE:1 (20th March 2010) – Mr. Mahender Kumar Sharma (from Corp Office in Delhi) has called me and promised me that he will surely try to resolve this issue by 23rd March. Keeping my fingers crossed! In between, thanks to N.N.Iyer (from India Consumer Forum ) for facilitating the discussion!

• Akkineni NAGARJUNA‘s new film will be on the lines of Kandahar Hijack episode and the film’s shoot has already begun! The film is a bi-lingual made in Tamil & Telugu. Radha Mohan (directed Aakasamantha in the past) is directing this flick, Dil Raju produces the Telugu version while Prakash Raj produces it in Tamil. PAYANAM & WANTED are the titles under consideration…!

• RAJAMOULI‘s next film with Suneel as it’s hero is already in progress. This low budgeted comic entertainer has Saloni (Chukkallo Chandrudu & Oka Oorilo fame) as the female lead and C.Ramprasad handles cinematography. MM.Keeravani is the music director for this flick. MARYAADHA RAAMANNA is the title that’s confirmed for this movie…!

• Powerstar PAWAN KALYAN‘s next film after the much delayed Puli would be with director: Vijaya Bhaskar. This film would see the best writer/director pair (Trivikram & Vijayabhaskar) coming together after many years. Comedian Ganesh Babu produces this film (for some unknown resons the earlier announced project with young director: Harish Shankar was called off)…!

• It’s surprising to see Nandamuri Balakrishna coming up with a new movie one after the other. The latest on the block would be a new movie of Balayya in the direction of young talented director: SriVaas (debuted with Lakshyam). This film would be produced by S Krishna Prasad (Sridevi Arts).

• K.Vishwanath‘s new film is titled as SUMADHURAM. It will have Allari Naresh as it’s hero and Manjari (Siddhu from SK fame) as the female lead. Happy to see KV making another new film after Swarabhishekam.

Oscars of Music: GRAMMY AWARDS were awarded few hours back and our 43-year old Musical genious – AR RAHMAN had won 2 of the categories he nominated for. AR Rahman has won the “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album” and “Best Song Written For Motion Picture” for his famous Hollywood flick: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE! What an achievement! I’m so happy and kudos to our little master!

World renowned bike manufacturer: HARLEY DAVIDSON is all set to make its debut in India. As per the news, Harley-Davidson will be opening the 2-wheeler bookings from April 2010 and the bikes will be delivered from June 2010.

The bike manufacturer is going to launch 12 motorcycles that will fire the senses and stir the soul. The price range starts from 6,95,000. Get ready to ride!  The Models (click on the model name for a photograph of the bike) and Prices of all the 12 Harley-Davidson Bikes follows:

1. SPORTSTER series – XL 883L Sportster -> 6, 95,000 rupees!
2. SPORTSTER series – XL 883R Roadster -> 7, 50,000 rupees!
3. SPORTSTER series – XL 1200N Nightster -> 9, 95,000 rupees!
4. SPORTSTER series – XR 1200X -> 11, 95,000 rupees!
5. DYNA series – FXDB Street BOB -> 13, 95,000 rupees!
6. DYNA series – FXDC Super Glide Custom -> 15, 45,000 rupees!
7. SOFTAIL series – FLSTF Fat Boy -> 18, 45,000 rupees!
8. SOFTAIL series – FLSTC Heritage Classic -> 19, 45,000 rupees!
9. V-ROD series – VRSCDX Night Rod Special -> 18, 95,000 rupees!
10. TOURING series – FLHR Road King -> 20, 45,000 rupees!
11. TOURING series – FLHX Street Glide -> 21, 95,000 rupees!
12. CVO series – FLHTCUSE Ultra Classic Electra Glide -> 34, 95,000 rupees!

So, by end of June 2010 we can see Harley-Davidson (HD) bikes on India roads. Hyderabad & New Delhi were among the cities for which the dealers were confirmed!

Hyderabad is well known for it’s mixed culture and the late-night life has been one of the concerns for party going animals in the city from many years. More than anyone else, it has been a long wish for every Hyderabad City Lover to roam around the city in the nights and have fun with friends/family. The beauty of this heritage rich city has to be seen with the illuminated lights around…!

The NIGHT MARKETS was actually a proven concept with Cities like Goa (Ingo’s Saturday Night Bazaar), Singapore (Bugis Street Night Bazaar) and Bangkok (SuanLum Night Bazaar) having them from many years. As most of the cities/citizens are restless throughout the day, the desire to go out in nights can be easily understood.

Coming to the point, AP Govt has decided to start it’s own version of Night Bazaar (until 3:00 AM) by this summer and is seriously planning it to name after our late CM: YSR. So, the name under consideration for this project is: Ysr‘s SHILPA SANDHYA VEDIKA. The location is obviously besides the popular crafts village: SHILPA RAMAM (in Hitec City).

But, but….. the way they are coming up with the shops/stalls is pretty disappointing. Because, the ever famous huts/mud-made-stalls in Shilpa Ramam will be replaced with the brick/cement made shops and it will be more like a shopping complex spread over few acres of land with fountains, wall-paintings, graffiti all over it. I got to click the UNDER CONSTRUCTION bazaar and you can see it in this post!

Note: Improving the standards of Night Life has always been a dream of Chandrababu Naidu, while YSR was always against the night-life concept. But, this impotent Govt has decided to name the bazaar after YSR’s name and it has been the trend of Congress Govt to steal the credit (I always get pissed off to see the statues of Rajiv/Indira Gandhi at the main junctions of Hitec City/Silparamam, NTR Gardens/iMax, Kukatpally/Malaysia Township, etc – because – all these places were initiated and developed during the tenure of Naidu and there has never been any progress during Congress Govt except the new statues..).

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RAM CHARAN TEJ is currently very busy with the shooting of his new film: ORANGE in the direction of Bhaskar (Bommarillu & Parugu fame). GENELIA is one of the 2 heroines and she is already taking part in the film’s current schedule. Bollywood heroine: SHAZAHN PADAMSEE (debuted with RocketSingh film) has been confirmed as the 2nd heroine opposite to RamCharan in this ORANGE film. You can look at some of her profile pictures!