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Spirit Media, founded by “Baahubali” star Rana Daggubati, has acquired India distribution rights for Payal Kapadia’s Cannes prizewinner “All We Imagine as Light.”

Written and directed by Kapadia in her narrative directorial debut, the film tells the story of two women in Mumbai — Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and Anu, her young roommate who is seeking a place to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. The film stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon.

Kapadia said: “This film is about friendship between three different women and oftentimes women are pitted against each other, but for me friendship is a very important relationship because it can lead to greater solidarity, inclusivity and empathy towards each other.”

The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this year.

Tollywood C/o Kancharapalem director Venkatesh Maha is being trolled heavily for criticising the Kgf films in a discussion about commercial and unconventional films in a recent interview. InstagramTelugu filmmaker and actor Venkatesh Maha, who is most widely recognised for his 2018 film C/o Kancharapalem, has found himself in the middle of a controversy after expressing an unpopular opinion about the blockbuster Kannada film series Kgf. Maha was speaking at a ‘Women’s Day Special Interview’ with five Telugu filmmakers moderated by film journalist Prema, when the conversation veered towards the topic of formulaic movies. The five directors — Venkatesh Maha, Shiva Nirvana, Mohan Krishna Indraganti, Nandini Reddy and Vivek Athreya — are among some of the Telugu filmmakers known for occasionally making relatively experimental and less formulaic films than most other mainstream, commercial filmmakers in the industry. A video clip from the interview which was released on March 5 on YouTube soon became viral,...

ReviewThe Kannada remake of the 2018 Telugu film ‘C/o Kancharapalem’, ‘Monsoon Raaga’ is directed by S Ravindranath.Shivani KavaThe 2018 Telugu film C/o Kancharapalem is one of the best slice-of-life films to have emerged recently. Remakes are desirable, given that the film is socially relevant and rejects toxic masculinity through the insightful, sensitive portrayal of its male leads. The Kannada remake, Monsoon Raaga, directed by S Ravindranath brings to life four tales of romance, amid evolving attitudes on relationships, gender and religion. Forty-nine-year-old Raju (Achyuth Kumar), a single man, cannot claim to be content with his marital status. Things seem to never work out for him and he often faces pressure from his peers to get married. He slowly, reluctantly falls in love with his 42-year-old work supervisor Haasini (Suhasini Maniratnam), who asks him to marry her. Schoolboy Sundara wears a pink shirt to school to impress his crush, Suchitra, but ends...

TollywoodRanging from psychological dramas to romantic anthologies, here’s a list of Tollywood movies streaming on Ott platform Netflix. Tnm StaffScreengrab/ YouTubeWith several big-budget Tollywood films such as Acharya, Virata Parvam, Love Story and Tuck Jagadish being postponed in view of the pandemic, Telugu movie buffs are once again relying on Over-the-top (Ott) platforms for entertainment. Several Telugu movies ranging from psychological dramas to romantic anthologies, are available to watch on streaming platform Netflix. Here’s a list of six engaging Tollywood movies streaming on Netflix: Game Over: Helmed by filmmaker Ashwin Saravanan, Game Over revolves around the life of a game designer whose life turns upside down when a serial killer enters her house and makes her play a twisted game for survival. Starring Taapsee Pannu as Swapna, the jaw-dropping psychological thriller is likely to send shivers down your spine. Bankrolled by YNot Studios in association with Reliance Entertainment,...

ReviewThis Telugu remake of the Fahadh Faasil starrer ‘Maheshinte Prathikaaram’ retains the spirit of the original. Sowmya RajendranIn a world of heroes pumped up with testosterone and looking to seek revenge for the smallest of insults came the gentle Mahesh of Maheshinte Prathikaaram in 2016. It was a turning point of sorts for Malayalam cinema where the success of the film saw the emergence of many more narratives that examined masculinity. The Telugu remake of the film, Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya, directed by Venkatesh Maha, released on Netflix on Thursday. It’s a tough act to follow the original Dileesh Pothan directorial, even more so because it stars Fahadh Faasil, one of the finest actors in the country today. However, Venkatesh Maha does not disappoint. This is a director who understands the soul of a small town, as was evident in his first film, the wonderfully made C/o Kancharapalem. So, even...

Tollywood Satyadev plays the role of Mahesh, which was done by Fahadh in the original.Tnm StaffUma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya, the much-awaited Telugu remake of the acclaimed Malayalam film Maheshinte Prathikaram, is now out on Netflix. This is the second film of director Venkatesh Maha, who made his debut with C/o Kancharapalem, an indie Telugu film which became hugely popular with the Telugu audiences. In Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya, actor Satyadev reprises the role of a small town photographer and his bittersweet tale of revenge, played by Fahadh Faasil in the original. While the original was set in Kerala’s Idukki district, the Telugu remake is set in Araku, also a charming, picturesque hill station. Satyadev plays Uma Maheswara Rao, proprietor of Komali photo studio in Araku Valley. Satyadev has previously played minor roles in films like Mr Perfect and Kshanam, before acting in more prominent supporting roles recently, in films like Brochevarevarura,...

Tollywood Today, there’s rarely a film which one can call a simple cute love story - and that's not necessarily a bad thing.Hemanth Kumar C RStill - 'Fidaa'The world around us is changing every day, and so has our idea of love. In a decade, an entire generation of people has gone from wanting to celebrate love to questioning what it means to be in love; and from understanding the essence of love to exploring whether love has more forms than what we expect. The days of ‘simple love stories’ are long gone. Films, these days, are no longer about whether love is pure or not, but more about what it takes to be in love long after the couple professes their feelings for each other. And this has a lot to do with how people and their expectations and struggles have changed over the years. A shift...

Tollywood Today, there’s rarely a film which one can call a simple cute love story - and that's not necessarily a bad thing.Hemanth Kumar C RStill - 'Fidaa'The world around us is changing every day, and so has our idea of love. In a decade, an entire generation of people has gone from wanting to celebrate love to questioning what it means to be in love; and from understanding the essence of love to exploring whether love has more forms than what we expect. The days of ‘simple love stories’ are long gone. Films, these days, are no longer about whether love is pure or not, but more about what it takes to be in love long after the couple professes their feelings for each other. And this has a lot to do with how people and their expectations and struggles have changed over the years. A shift...

TechnologyData analytics firms study star value, popularity and sentiment generated by a film among audiences, to help producers in their promotion strategy.Priyanka RichiWe often get bombarded on Facebook with commercials of those exact products we were browsing through on an e-commerce website, say an hour ago. We no longer need to search for the next episode of our favourite series on YouTube because it helps us continue from where we stopped. Delivery apps seem to gauge our food choices better than we ourselves do, and we are no longer surprised with these human-like qualities of our machines because data analytics is now a reality and has inarguably invaded almost every corner of our social life. If you are social media savvy and have declared your undying love for a particular actor, your choice of a city or even a dress that you like, by all chances Facebook can hit...

ControversyThe Telugu film had been rejected from getting nominated for the National Awards because it was produced by Praveena Paruchuri, a Us citizen of Indian origin.Tnm StaffIn good news for film buffs, Telugu film C/o Kancharapalem, which had been rejected from getting nominated for the National Awards because it was produced by Praveena Paruchuri, a Us citizen of Indian origin, has been allowed to apply for the awards. After an appeal by Praveena, Trs working president KT Rama Rao had also appealed to the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Arun Jaitley and Minister of State Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Saturday to reconsider their decision. “I appeal to Union I&B Minister Sri @arunjaitley Ji and MoS @Ra_THORe Ji to kindly review the below appeal. National awards are a matter of pride for all filmmakers. An award cannot be denied for a #MadeInIndia product because of archaic rules...