It was with great hype and hoopla that it was recently announced about the success of the Praja Rajyam Party. Apparently, their internal surveys had shown a whopping 200 plus seats along with twenty plus Lok Sabha seats for megastar Chiranjeevi and his men. But then all that seems to be a farce of sorts as per the latest records.

There is news that the Telugu Desam Party is standing next to Congress when it comes to popularity rankings and public preferences while PRP has lost its second position as it was proclaimed earlier. Experts say that the reason for all this is the assumption of the PRP folks that the charisma of Chiru alone will get things going.

What they don't realize is that till date, PRP has not come out with a concrete agenda or a plan that will give direction and vision to the people who want to support the party. Moreover, the appeal of Chiranjeevi has been good enough for the crowd to come and feel his presence but the truth is about 40% of them are coming just to have a look at Chiru and they cannot be looked at vote banks.

The president of the Praja Rajyam Party, Chiranjeevi is now busy finalizing the name of party leaders and candidates for the assembly elections. It is being rumored that Chiranjeevi has asked Dil Raju to join the PRP.

Dil Raju is a producer with a Midas touch. The young producer began his career as a distributor and literally struck gold as a producer. It is being said that Chiranjeevi plans to field Dil Raju from his native place Nizamabad.

Ever since Chiranjeevi announced his Praja Rajayam party, it’s been raining offers for ‘mega’ brother Nagababu.

According to industry sources, the producer-turned-actor has completed 20 to 25 films in 2008 alone! No mean achievement, given that he is neither known for his acting talent nor his looks.

The actor who was earlier considered good only for the ‘father’ and ‘brother’ roles is now being offered character roles as well as lead roles.

According to sources, filmmakers who want to get close to Chiranjeevi are now planning to do films with Nagababu, and if he is unable to give dates they are cajoling him to take up at least a special appearance.

Cashing in on his newfound saleability, the megastar’s brother is demanding hefty amounts, we hear. Nagababu’s career graph has taken an upward curve both in terms of the number of films he is doing and the amount he is charging. If sources are to be believed, he is now charging Rs 50 lakh for playing the lead character and Rs 5 to 10 lakh for a three-day shoot, while earlier his rates were around Rs 3 to 6 lakhs for a film!

Recently one producer from Kurnool made a film with Nagababu and released it last week. Nagababu played the lead in it and it bombed at the box-office. The film costed between Rs 3 crore to Rs 3.5 crore and we hear that the producer's intention was to meet Chiranjeevi, and he was least bothered about the film’s fate at the BO.

“The industry is full of politics, and many actors are aligning themselves with some political party or the other. It’s not good for the industry and it never happened before,” said a top filmmaker, who has a big production house and doesn’t want to divulge his name.

The sad fallout however of this development is that cinematic sensibilities are being compromised for political reasons. It isn’t a surprise that most of Nagababu’s recent releases have bombed at the box-office. Whatever it be, Chiranjeevi’s entry into politics has definitely helped his brother. The point is will this trend continue after the elections? Looks like it all depends on how Chiranjeevi fares in the elections.

Power star Pawan Kalyan may be the most talented stars in the Telugu industry and he might also hold the maximum appeal among the youth but then it is very rarely seen that he shares a smile with the media or the public and has often been quite aloof with the rest of the folks. However, all of them were in for a big shock from Pawan yesterday.

It was during his official induction into the Praja Rajyam Party when Pawan was all smiles and one could feel that he was quite delighted with himself. Later, he was also seen speaking warmly with the media and other folks and this surely has come across as a surprise package for many.

Meanwhile, there are those who have been keen to know what happened to the CMPF (Common Man Protection Force) that Pawan had set up quite some time back and till date there is not a single piece of news about it. Now, with this new role of his, let us wait and see how effective he is.

It is bloody politics again! The political leaders are taking advantage of even the bloodiest terrorist attack in Mumbai for their political advantage.

Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi held a press meet on Thursday morning to condemn the terrorists attack in Mumbai and announced that his blood bank would arrange for any amount of blood required for the victims of the Mumbai carnage. However, he expressed his ignorance by stating that he would first write letters to the Mumbai authorities to find out how much blood is required and based on their indent, he would arrange for blood. There are enough blood banks in Mumbai and the people of Mumbai are large hearted to donate their blood for their brothers and sisters. But Chiranjeevi tried to gain some political advantage by sending blood, without verifying the requirement.

Within minutes of Chiru's announcement, Telugu Desam, too, made a similar announcement. The NTR Memorial Trust announced that it would send 100 units of blood of rare groups to Mumbai to help the victims.

And it is evident that this is also for political advantage for TD. Let us wait for the Congress stand!

It is a known fact that megastar Chiranjeevi was the reigning emperor of the Tollywood till the time he took to politics and left the filmdom. But then it appears that Chiru seems to have taken this label far too seriously if reliable sources are to be believed.

Apparently, those who have known Chiru closely say that he was one man who used to enjoy praises and accolades at the end of every evening of his shoot. Colloquially, they are known as the 'Bhajana batch' whose job is to heap praises about his mannerisms and actions during his cine career.

Now, there is news that he has been continuing the same tradition even to this day. Some say that since he is a strict follower of Hanuman, even he likes to be motivated from time to time and he has been accompanied by a bunch of those regular followers who are continuing their 'Bhajan' with him.

Hyderabad (IANS) Telugu superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi Thursday offered to provide blood from his blood bank for the injured in Mumbai terrorist attacks.

He wrote to the Maharashtra chief minister and chief secretary offering blood from Chiranjeevi Blood Bank here.

‘We are ready to make required quantity of blood available for the treatment of the injured,’ the actor told reporters. Chiranjeevi also appealed to his fans to donate blood and help those being treated.

The founder and president of the Praja Rajyam Party condemned the terrorist attacks and expressed condolences for those killed.

Chiranjeevi said the failure by the central intelligence agencies led to the attack. ‘The attacks show that terrorists can strike wherever they want. The common man is feeling insecure,’ he said.