Where have all the novelists gone, asks Akkineni

Madhumasam celebrated its 100-day function on Thursday. And Akkineni Nageswara Rao, who is known not to leave the mike when he comes across one, took the opportunity to shower praises on Ramanaidu. How he (Ramanaidu) always thinks about only cinema, blah blah blah. He was also hopeful that the Telugu film industry too can come up with good themes. Of course, the film in question, Madhumasam, stars his grandson Sumanth. And, so, he went bonkers about Ramanaidu and the film. And he didn't stop at that. He lamented the lack of good stories in Telugu cinema to the lack of support from the literary field. "There are no good novels coming out in the market today. If there had been, we would have had good stories," he said. And then, as usual, he went down memory lane, to tell the audience about how he had acted in films made out of novels, like Secretary and Premnagar. He has also given credit to a novel, Jeevanatarangalu, which was a milestone in the industry and which gave a new image to Krishnamraju in those days.

Bravo! Melton baby, keep it up!!

You need to have guts to say no to a top producer in Tollywood. Especially when it is Rama Naidu, you need to have all the more courage to refuse to budge from your stubborn position. But Parvati Melton did just that. When the makers of Madhumasam (produced by Rama Naidu) wanted her to strip a little more for her role in the film, she coolly said that it wasn't needed and that she would make up for it with her histrionic talents. They tried various means to pursuade her but she said no with such final authority that they had to give in to her. Now that the film has been released, she says she says she feels vindicated by her stand. Bravo! Melton, keep it up. Hope we have more gals like you in the industry.