Actor Nagarjuna
Akkineni Nagarjuna Turns Singer, Creates Magic with His Voice
Actor King Nagarjuna after winning the hearts of billions with his acting charisma, revealed his love for singing after crooning a love song titled “Kotha Kotha Bhasha, Kotha Prema Bhasha” in his own gentle melodious voice for the movie Nirmala Convent.
When asked, what kindled his inner desire to sing, “King Nagarjuna said I just got hooked to this beautiful love song sung by Master A R Ameen, s/o A R Rahman, and I decided that this is the song I should croon in my own voice. I loved the way it shaped out. I hope my fans and music enthusiasts will love this beautiful heart warming New Age Love song”.
According to Roshan Salur, Music Director of Nirmala Convent, “this craving of King Nag didn’t surprise me at all, he was at his best rendering the beautiful love song“.
Nagarjuna, always come off as an incredibly smart Actor, by instinct, knowing the type of projects he should work on and this song definitely add another feather on his natural ability of being the best. Seems like the Actor is pretty much best at anything he tried.
Hollywood Appeal To Baahubali By Annapurna Studios Digital Lab
SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali was one of the most anticipated films of 2015. It broke new technological boundaries and presented many creative challenges to its editor and DOP KK Senthil Kumar who spent hundreds of man hours over a period of 24 months.
Much like the Hollywood films, the filmmakers (digital intermediate) DI partner Annapurna employed as many as technicians on the project. It is the first ever DI process ever attempted in India in the scale of Hollywood films.
After watching the film Actor Nagarjuna Akkineni said ‘Spectacular visuals and dreams come alive in BAAHUBALI !! we salute you Rajamouli.”
“It was a pioneering effort says CV Rao, Head of DI at Annapurna Studios said. For the First Time in India, we have implemented ACES work flow. We have started this project 2 years ago and did several researches on workflows which is best suit in the long run and finally locked for ACES. It gives lots of freedom and controls for VFX artist to play around within the footage.
Explaining about the role of DI, C V Rao said DI is all about shooting digitally and getting that content into editing, color, VFX and audio in the most efficient way. To begin with all live shots initially reach the DI suit, we then check them thoroughly with all brightness, and contrast levels thereafter deliver the right formats to VFX team. Later the final edited picture along with VFX shots are blended together to enhance the look and mood of the film.
Digital Color Correction (popularly known as DI) has become a very essential and prominent part of Film making today.Colorist, workflow and equipment are important to deliver the world class product says DOP K K Senthil Kumar of the film. Annapurna offers a pool of highly talented manpower and sophisticated equipment that met our unprecedented high quality needs.
“The best part of Annapurna Studios is the dedicated team from colourist Shiva Kumar BVR to CV Rao and their DI team that worked relentlessly to help us achieve the top possible quality. The kind of pressure under which the DI of BAAHUBALI happened is Unbelievable. I am very satisfied with the quality, service and support they have given us for the film, DOP Says.
To get Baahubali out on such an aggressive schedule, Annapurna leaned hard on a post production infrastructure built additional DI suites including several conforming stations. In addition, an Apace active backup solution with 400 TB of storage was also installed, which could immediately switch over if ISIS failed.
The editorial team – headed up by C V Rao and coloring expert Shiva Kumar BVR consisted of supporting colorists, conformists, & visual effects artists.
To meet the film makers expectations we brought in a completely new Baselight systems dedicated to the Baahubali project CV Rao added. Baahubali is a heavy visual effects production and that made the challenge for DI team even more intense and we are glad that we could complement the film’s theatrical and storytelling experience.
Few lines about ACES
Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) is a color image encoding system proposed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that will allow for a fully encompassing color accurate workflow, with “seamless interchange of high quality motion picture images regardless of source”
Nita Ambani Tour Annapurna Studios
Annapurna Studios had a surprised group of VIP guests.
Nita Ambani wife of Mukesh Ambani along with Juhi Chawla, Swati Piramal, Nawaz Singhania, Ananya Goenka, Leena tiwari, Radhika Sheth, Anupa Sahney and many other women corporate bigwigs were seen taking a tour.
The Managing Director of the studio and well known Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna guided the distinguished visitors to tour around Annapurna Studios.
The guests took tour of the Studios where a number of major productions are currently in progress.
They also visited the preview theater, edit suites, sound recording unit and the Annapurna International Film School for Film+ Media.
The visitors were thrilled to watch Akkineni’s block buster film ‘Manam’ too in the preview theater.
After a good two hours of tour, the guests were heard saying, it’s been brilliant to see such world class studios right here in India
Now a Master Degree from AIFSM certified by JNTU-H
Annapurna International School for Film and Media (AISFM) and JNTU today signed an MoU to offer a unique training program titled “Master of Media Business Administration”. The MoU was signed by Prof. Rameshwar Rao, the Vice-Chancellor, JNTUH and Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna, President, AISFM.
This two-year master’s degree, provided by JNTU-H under MoU with AISFM, prepares aspiring managers for the media industry with a mixture of theoretical and hands-on training. The subjects are grouped into five streams – marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, strategy and film production. The course includes major projects, including co-productions with international schools, as well as internships with major media companies.
Currently, the Indian media industry is undergoing tremendous transformation to meet the challenges of globalization, digitization, the growth of new media and the demand for more sophisticated content. These developments have increased the demand for trained media managers who can ‘think globally and act locally’. The aim of this program is to build new talent pool to meet the demands of the industry, now and going forward.
“JNTU Hyderabad is recognized internationally as one of India’s best universities for professional and technical education. This new course at AISFM will allow aspiring media managers to receive a valuable JNTUH degree while also studying film production inside a real film studio.” Prof. Rameshwar Rao, the Vice-Chancellor, JNTUH, said after signing the MOU.
One company that certainly understands the importance of media management training is Reliance MediaWorks, one of India’s leading film services companies. Expressing his views about this course, Venkatesh Roddam, the CEO of Reliance Mediaworks said “Indian film and media companies are quickly establishing operations on a global scale. Success at this level is dependent on sourcing the right talent. Graduates, who understand film production, as well as finance, strategy and marketing, will have strong career opportunities in the years ahead.”
While the film and media industry has always required technicians, the growing need today is for managers with creative skills and practical experience. We are very excited about providing this revolutionary management course that includes hands-on production” Star actor Nagarjuna Akkineni President of AISFM said.
World Super Sport Championship: Fabien Foret wins race for Mahi Racing Team India in Spain
After a fantastic qualifying round of the World Super Sport Championship campaign Mahi Racing Team India rider Fabien Foret won the race in Motorland Aragon, Spain on Sunday recording the fastest lap of 2’02.743 in the 18 laps race. It was Fabien’s16th race win of his career and the 2002 WSS Champion now becomes the new leader in the current World Championship.
“We are absolutely thrilled with our team’s victory today. During the qualification round we knew that our riders were all set to recreate the Philip Island magic in Spain and they did not disappoint us” team owners Actor Nagarjuna and Nandish Domlur who are in Spain to cheer the team said.
“It was a fantastic race and we are super excited and hope our fans in India will share our excitement, Nagarjuna added.
Earlier this year the defending and three-time World Supersport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu gave Mahi Racing Team India the first win of the season and set the new lap record in 1’33.283 in Phillip Island, Australia.
“It is a great win for our team” Fabien Foret said after the race. We look forward to maintaining our consistent performance throughout the season.
The 2013 race season is expected to have 15 rounds. The Indian Team rider line-up include triple world champion Kenan Sofouglu and former world champion Fabien Foret. Supported by Kawasaki as its factory team, with technical direction in the hands of Andrew Stone, the Mahi Racing Team will be moving on the next race at Assen in Netherlands on 28th April 2013, with supreme confidence.
The Indian round will be held at the Buddh International Circuit in November this year.
Results: 1. Fabien Foret – Mahi Racing Team India. 2. Michael van der Mark 3.Luca Scassa 4. Andrea Antonelli
‘Mahi Racing Team India’ Co-owners Nagarjuna Akkineni and Nandish Domlur Elated – India’s first World SBK team takes 1st & 4th Position at World SuperSport Series in Phillip Island, Australia
The defending and three-time World Supersport Champion Kenan Sofuoglu gave ‘Mahi Racing Team India’ its first win of the series and set a new lap record in 1′ 33.283”. With a total of 38 championship points, the team way ahead of others after the first race of the season.
It was a double delight for the ‘Mahi Racing Team India’, on Sunday, the team lead rider Kenan Sofuoglu, the defending and three-time World Supersport Champion gave ‘Mahi Racing Team India’ their first win in the series and set the new lap record in 1’ 33.283”. Mahi Racing Team India’s Fabien Foret finished 4th with 23’43.575. Also, Mahi Racing branded Kawasaki Superbike ZX-10R with Tom Sykes, runner up in the World SBK Championship 2012 finished 5th at Phillip Island amidst the monopoly of the podium by Aprilia riders. Overall, it was a great racing weekend for Mahi Racing and Kawasaki.
Sofuoglu’s triumph positioned Mahi Racing Team as one of the front runners for the title in this 15 round championship. With this win and total of 38 championships points the team is way ahead of others after the first race of the season.
“We have made an impressive start in the first race of the season by winning the Phillip Island round and we are elated said South Super Star Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna and Nandish Domlur, co-owners of the Mahi Racing Team. We are right on course to realise our dream to see Mahi Racing Team on the podium when we make our Indian debut at the Buddh International Circuit in front of our home crowd in Nov 2013.”
Kenan Sofuoglu won the 32nd race of his career in World Supersport Race at Phillip Island by beating pole man Sam Lowes (Yaknich Motorsport Yamaha), after a thrilling battle that went on throughout the entire race. “It was a near perfect race for us and I am very happy that I and my team have started the campaign on the winning note,” said Sofuoglu after the race.
The three-time world champion showcased the speed and reliability of the Kawasaki ZX-6R by taking the chequered flag 1.899 sec ahead of Lowes. Sofuoglu stopped the clock at 23’32.480 and in the bargain also recorded the fastest lap timing of 1’33.283 on the 15th and final lap.
The 2013 race season is expected to have 15 rounds. The Indian Team riderline-up include triple world champion Kenan Sofouglu and former world champion Fabien Foret. Supported by Kawasaki as its factory team, with technical direction in the hands of Andrew Stone, the Mahi Racing Team will be moving on to Aragon in Spain for the next round on 14th April 2013, with supreme confidence.
Result: (Top 4 Riders) 1. K Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India) 23’32.480 2. Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport) 23’34.379 3. Michael vd Mark ( Pata Honda World Supersport) 23’39.251 4. Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India) 23’43.575.
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