Baby girl for Lakshmi Manchu

Get your lowdown on what's going on in the world of Telugu cinema, right here!

Actress Lakshmi Manchu and her husband Andy (Anand) recently had a baby girl through surrogacy on June 15. The couple have named her Vidya Nirvana Manchu Anand.

Manchu, who recently attended the Filmfare awards, has worked in Hollywood serials, came down to Hyderabad and did a chat show on television before she started acting in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi films.

Here's wishing the couple the very best.

.

Nagarjuna is going great guns on the small screen in his new avatar as host of Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu (Kaun Banega Crorepati in Telugu) being telecast on MAA TV.  

The show that began on June 9 has been received well in the states of Telangana and Andhra.

Celebrities visit the sets of MEK once in a while -- Vidya Balan made an appearance to promote her film Bobby Jasoos.

Nagarjuna had said before commencing the show that the host of the Hindi version, Amitabh Bachchan, had told him to do the show as it would change his life.

Nagarjuna seemed to confirm this when he said, “I am having a new experience. Each participant has a story. The money they win matters a lot to them.

“It gives me a lot of pleasure helping them win their money so that they can use it to fulfill some of their dreams. It gives me an opportunity to understand people and learn about their problems. It gives me courage to overcome failure.

“People live their life day by day despite being under so much of financial and other stress. Our (film stars) disturbances are nothing in front of the problems most people have today. MEK is so inspiring.” 

Telugu film Manam completed its 50-day run recently. The film has been going strong in the theatres and working its magic at the box office across the country and in the United States too.

A success meet was held recently by its star and producer, Nagarjuna, to thank all the technicians, the people behind the film and the media for making the film a huge hit.

It was one of those rare events where Vikram K Kumar, director of Manam, was also present.

A man of few words, Vikram thanked Nagarjuna and his family for giving him the opportunity to make the film.

Mementoes were handed to all the technicians and to Anoop Reubens (music director), Rajeevan (art director), and Praveen Pudi (editor).

Several members of the Akkineni family were present – Venkat, Nagarjuna, Naga Chaitanya, Akhil, Amala, Sushanth, Naga Susheela, and Supriya Yarlagadda (the executive producer).

The late Akkineni Nageswara Rao was sorely missed. However, the movie’s grand success is heartening given the fact that it was ANR’s last film and, more importantly, a good one, leaving its imprint in the annals of celluloid!