Jannu Sreenivasulu, popularly known as Çhitti Srinivas in the sports fraternity, news editor (Sports) of Sakshi TV, passed away in the early hours of Sunday.
He was 55 and is survived by wife, two sons and a daughter. Srinivas began his sports journalism career in Udayam in the late 80s and then joined Andhra Jyoti when its edition was launched in Hyderabad. He moved over to Vaartha before joining Sakshi Telugu daily as sports editor and then switched over to the TV channel of the same group. He was also briefly with CVR News Channel (with which he stayed only for a couple of months) before coming back to Sakshi group.
He covered many international events, including the 1996 World Cup cricket championship in India and the Afro-Asian Games, extensively besides almost all the important national and international events in the city in his career spanning close to 35 years.
International N. Mukesh Kumar, SAI athletics coach Nagapuri Ramesh, Imran Mirza, father of Sania Mirza, Sports Authority of Telangana State Chairman A. Venkateshwar Reddy, Chairman of SAAP P.R. Mohan, Former BCCI president N. Shivlal Yadav, secretary of BAI K.Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, president of Olympic Association of Telangana Prof K. Ranga Rao, expressed condolencesTelangana Sports Journalists Association also expressed shock at the demise of Srinivas.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V.Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – December 18th, 2016
A lathi and a crowd is something that goes hand in hand in a police officer’s life. However, for S Manohar Rao, who goes by the name ‘Stick Manohar’, a crowd of 1,500 schoolchildren and a magic wand in hand was the last step before making it into the Guinness Book of World Records.
The 55-year-old is an Assistant Commisioner of Police (ACP) attached to the Central Crime Station, Detective Department, of Hyderabad Police. Friday was a day where he successfully attempted a “Largest Magic Lesson” when he taught four different magic lessons to a crowd of 1500 schoolchildren in 85 minutes at Majestic Garden Function Hall here to create Guinness world record.
During his performance, Rao efficiently communicated his skills to the children whose eyes were glued to his hand movements. He showed them, first, how to flip a band on their fingers on one hand to make it automatically fall on exactly the same fingers on the other hand. The second trick taught them how to fold a paper with a tricoloured paper hidden inside it quickly and turn it into Indian flag of the exact size of the paper.
Next in the row, was a common trick performed with four ropes of equal size in which, with the skill of the hand, you can make trick the audience into believing that you have been changing the size of the ropes constantly.
The last one was a magic performed balancing playing cards. He performed the feat in front of Squadron leader Jayasimha, BNS Kumar, V Janardhanam, counselling psychologist and others.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / December 17th, 2016
Hanumantha Rao | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Veteran journalist and author V. Hanumanta Rao, 91, passed away at his residence in Nagarjunanagar, Ameerpet, here on Tuesday.
Popularly known as DNF, for running a news agency, Data News Features (DNF), Hanumanta Rao was associated with the field of journalism for over 65 years. He worked for several media organisations, including Krishna Patrika, Eenadu, The Economic Times, Visalandhra, Prajasakti and others. He managed the agency for over three decades.
The Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) and journalist bodies expressed grief and extended condolences to the bereaved family members.
Telanagana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, TDP general secretary N. Lokesh, CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) State secretary Vinod, and others condoled Hanumanta Rao.
On behalf of Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, Chief Public Relations Officer V. Jwala Narasimha Rao visited the residence of the departed journalist and placed a wreath on the body.
Hanumanta Rao also trained scores of journalists and he was one of the most respected figures in the journalistic and political circles. His year books, published by DNF, were also very popular.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent / December 14th, 2016
The girls with Carole Sumner Krechman, chairman and president of Peacemaker Corps Association
The animation film ‘I am Beautiful’ made by six city youngsters wins top honours at Streets Global Film Festival, New York
Six girls from the city have made an animation film that has grabbed top honours at an international film festival in the US. Namrata Tipirneni, Disha Seth, Tushna Baria, Deeksha Aurangabad, Preethi Narapareddy and Meghna Chinta, who were all students of Meridian School, Hyderabad when they made the film, were pleasantly surprised to see their three-minute animation film ‘I am Beautiful’ win the first prize at the recent Streets Global Film Festival, New York. Hosted by The Peacemaker Corps Association at New York, these young filmmakers who won the ‘Peacemaker Corps 2016 Peace’ were invited to tour the UN as well.
The group had made the film in just five days, as part of a grading workshop organised by the Chinh Early Education group earlier this year. The latter sensed the content’s universal appeal and nominated it for the fest, to be among many global submissions, with the final list numbering close to 60. ‘I am Beautiful’ deals with how the external beauty of a woman is always governed by societal obligations. The film touches upon aspects including touched eye-brows, waxing and how society reacts to it regularly.
An excited Namrata, who’s now pursuing her Bachelors in Mass Communication at St. Francis College, says “External beauty as an idea really interested us and we all knew that feminism was a topic of discussion for many. We worked on the film during our class-hours. We had to make nearly 30 drawings for each frame. Scripting for an animation film was a true challenge.” The girls later underwent a tutorial where they learnt to manage the technicalities assisted by the Chinh group.
“It was a special moment to be in the UN. We shared the stage with people younger than us from all around the world, saw where we stood on a global level. The attention felt good,” add Disha, Tushna and Preethi who were part of the New York trip. The group was gifted a camera on the occasion. “The moment felt better because of the constraints with which we made it there. Our ideas got better when there were limited time and resources on hand,” they add.
Sharing the stage with their global counterparts had them nervous as well as excited. The parents of the teenagers only knew of the film as a school activity and were immensely supportive of their efforts. “Though I have ideas of making a career in the media, I may even consider films in the future,” Namrata hints. They all hope to collaborate for a similar effort in the future as well.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / by Srivathsan Nadadhur / Hyderabad – November 10th, 2016
So you have been making various visits to your local tailor and paying a hefty price on top of the cost of the outfit to get the right fit? In a bid to reduce hassles, time and cost, three young fashion designers from the city have created a mobile app that will provide a wide range of design, colour and fabric options.
The app named ‘Athira’, which launched on Thursday, is all set to serve its customers their desired outfits at their doorstep once they confirm their measurement and choice of design before placing their final order on the app, claim the alumnus of Hamstech Varsha, Vamshi and Praneeta.
The startup which has begun with a small team is determined to make timely deliveries which will involve “reasonable” shipping charges. Varsha also shared that she came up with the idea having faced difficulties in conveying her requirements to the local tailors and failing to get the work done in time.
To reach out to people across classes in Hyderabad, these young entrepreneurs will directly contact those customers who are not very comfortable in navigating through their smart phones.
The startup also plans to hire student volunteers eventually. “Right now, we are a handful of entrepreneurs and a few tailors.
Athira, as the name suggests, clearly has been started targetting women in mind.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Zumbish / Express News Service / November 02nd, 2016
Singer/writer Alluri Redd on his music and his name
If Shriram Alluri Reddy became Redd Alluri it wasn’t because he plays the guitar and sings English songs. Nor was it a conscious name change owing to his student life in London a few years back. The name change happened most surprisingly at the airport when the name got spelled as ‘Alluri Redd’ on his boarding pass. “Boarding passes can accommodate upto a few letters only. I wasn’t aware of that until I casually looked at my boarding pass and dashed off to the counter thinking I was carrying someone else’s boarding pass by mistake. I was then assured and made to understand the constraint,” laughs Alluri.
Alluri Redd who wasn’t too keen about flashing his surname, didn’t think it was necessary to go back to correcting the name and continues to be Redd.
In Hyderabad to play at NH7 Weekender, he is happy to be back in the city and play to a home crowd.
This London-based alt-rock singer/songwriter is an artiste caught between two cultures but he isn’t a confused a young man. “Growing up in India and completing my studies in Europe, I have been influenced by both eastern and western sensibilities. I have used this as the inspiration behind the Man Of Truth, the album which came out this year. I was introduced to western music by my elder brother. That’s because when I would watch MTV, my brother thought I was interested in western music whereas in reality I would give company to my sister while she enjoyed the songs,” he recollects.
Alluri apparently discovered rock via Ricky Gervais podcasts and his debut recorded in Brighton shows how adeptly he was absorbed.
But the music bug bit him quite accidentally. “My brother handed me a couple of albums out of which I heard Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the water’ and wanted to instantly play the guitar,” he says.
So, is Alluri trained in music? I was forced into classical music as a kid by my dad. I learnt the violin for a while and gave it up. Then I learnt the piano for a while and didn’t pursue that either. Same happened with my guitar lessons. I went for a few days and when I got a copy of the chord sheet I didn’t go back to my classes. But I didn’t give up playing the guitar. Soon I started writing my own tracks but didn’t think much about it,” says Alluri who feels his Bachelor’s degree in music technology was another reason for his interest in music.
He started writing songs since 2011 and is not deterred by the low response initially. “I am a confident singer/writer and I play the guitar so that it supports my singing,” says Alluri.
As for his favourites, he is a fan of Lou Reed, Morrissey, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Beatles, Radiohead, Elbow, Nick Cave and Joy Division. Alluri is also inspired by The Smiths and Nick Cave among others.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / Prabalika M. Borah / October 21st, 2016
The director-duo behind the first-Indian web series shot in the US worked hard to make theirdreams come alive
Every week, around 30 Indians from the ‘Art Street Creations’ group — all film enthusiasts residing at Bay Area, San Francisco come together at a coffee shop to discuss films, scripts and beyond. And at one such meet, Anurag Kautoori and Ashok Varma planned and conceived their Telugu web-series, Let’s Go San Francisco. This happens to be the first Indian web-series to be shot in the US.
Let’s Go San Francisco was in fact a product of the director-duo’s post-work efforts every night and their free time on weekends. Anurag and Ashok had already proved their filmmaking mettle in the past; their short films titled Foreign Sambandham and Exam Fever earned considerable acclaim online. “One of our earliest worries was to decide the medium of the story, whether it would be a feature film or a short film or a web series. When we first came up with the idea , web series as a concept was fairly new,” says Anurag, who has now shifted base to Hyderabad to pursue films as a career.
The sensibilities of two filmmakers matched, both had always enjoyed American TV shows and not a day would pass without the two watching a movie or a series episode. They considered several languages for the web series — Hindi, Tamil and Telugu — the latter was the choice they opted for practical reasons. They had many roadblocks to cross; limited financial resources, a small crew and the problems in obtaining shoot permissions in US. Incidentally, they shot the airport scene in the film with a huge crowd on the day when Narendra Modi was in town.
Roles of the crew on sets weren’t clearly underlined, but people chipped in whenever necessary, from arranging spaces to bringing meals to the makeup sessions. “Making the final result crisp, the length, the dialogues and keeping the atmosphere real were no easy tasks.
A scene from Let’s go San Francisco
For instance, there’s a scene where two friends in the series keep talking and another person butts in to make a point. That’s something we don’t see in feature films. Handling on-screen histrionics of multiple characters in each frame was a challenge indeed,” reveals Ashok, who shifted to filmmaking from photography.
They wanted to imbibe the sensibilities of the likes of Sekhar Kammula, Mani Ratnam and Gautham Menon to the final result. ‘No punch dialogues’ was a rule we followed; we believe that the lines hit hard when they are natural.” Rakesh, one of the central protagonists in the series (a former roommate of Anurag) and a known name in the short-film circles was critical in bringing them to life.
Joint directors also meant a certain amount of creative differences that the both consciously worked on. The two say, they wouldn’t have taken so much time to make it, had they spent more time on the pre-production aspects. Even after making the series, post-production took time, they’d worked with the DI team of Annapurna Studios, which they say was crucial to bring a cutting-edge quality to the visuals. “We have a full-fledged script to shoot future episodes in the series and even have the thought of making it a feature film,” the duo states. While Anurag felt the need to break free from his monotonic job and pursue his filmmaking passion, Ashok (who works at Google) finds it better balancing it with his profession. “We are happy to be among the firsts in this place, setting up a path for many,” they sign off.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / by Srivathsan Nadadhur / October 14th, 2016
Director Narendher Goud talks of filming the documentary ‘Art at Heart’ on the Khammam-based Koya community
From the horns they sport in their headgear to their attire in the unique dance form Kommu Koya (bison-hunt dance), a lot about the Koya community intrigued Hyderabad-based documentary filmmaker Narendher Goud, who has made a documentary on them, titled Art at Heart, which was shown at several regional film festivals recently. Initially, he had no books or other referential material to assist him. He says he could’ve easily invited them for a performance in the city and got speaking to them, but that would’ve only meant a hush-hush job. What he truly wanted to know was the prominence of dance and music in their lifestyles by living with them. He packed his bags along with his eight-member team to meet the few men they knew from the community in Khammam, who’d later connected them to a tiny Koya group that lives across the Andhra Pradesh-Chattisgarh border.
Dance in their roots Narendher and team with the Koya community
“Dance is connected to every part of their daily life, from marriages to the time a child is born, the time people wake up, come from work, celebrate festivals, drink palm wine (kallu) and even die. I didn’t want to make the documentary only on the dance form, but observe their life as a community. We shot the film over a week’s span,” reveals Narendher, whose documentary is equally informative and emotionally-arresting. ‘Art at Heart’ has traced the form’s roots to the times of Indus Civilisation, where the dances were believed to be performed by Lord Shiva himself. And things weren’t easy for a start, given the precarious political situation around the Edugurallapalli area (near Khammam), where the cops once suspected their identity as well. “We were once asked to show our footage to prove that we came here for a documentary.”
Currently, a section of Kommu Koya dancers look for performances in terms of livelihood and not as an integral part of their lives. In fact, Narendher mentions us that even the way they look (the Koyas who are mostly civilised now) is similar to any person in the city. “The soul that comes across in the form as they lead their lives is obviously lost. One needs to accept that the dance form is slowly fading into oblivion and they’re losing their identity. The reasons are attributed mainly to civilisation and mass-religion conversions.” he adds. Art at Heart has been filmed in two versions, Telugu and English, the latter’s production work was done at Indianapolis. The documentary produced by Govt. of Telangana has gone onto receive several nominations in the film-fest circuit.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / by Srivathsan Nadadhur / October 04th, 2016
Her dance background gave her the strength to scale the 20850 ft high Stok-Kangri, says Vaishnavie Sainath
When the 12-hour climb to the peak took 20 hours, Vyshnavie Sainath’s mind and heart had begun to remember the disapproving comments from friends and acquaintances when she had announced her decision to trek to the Himalayas. But she quickly arrested those thoughts and focussed on what she had set out to achieve — reach the peak. When she succeeded, her heart was filled with inexplicable joy at reaching the peak and getting a first hand experience of the sight from the peak. Vyshnavie Sainath, the city-based dancer of Bharathanatyam, Odissi, Simhanandini, Kalari and contemporary forms summited the 20850 ft high Stok-Kangri and she is more than pleased with herself, minus the sunburned nose and cheeks.
“During the day it was quite hot but at night the temperature fell down to minus. The sun and the clear atmosphere left me with a sunburn. This sunburn is special, I have earned it,” she laughs.
The five-day trek began with this dancer and yoga practitioner. along with the team she was climbing with, making two stops at a base camp. “I took an extra day to get acclimatised to the weather, the thin air. To top it, the clear weather forecast suddenly became a snow blizzard and this being my first camp, I decided to stay back for an extra day. I wasn’t challenging anything, nor was my attempt to do the Himalayan Trek an attempt to prove anything to anyone. It was my decision to experience that moment at the trek and if I wanted to return at any point, I could have,” says the youngster.
She was not only excited but was sure of the atmosphere she would be introducing herself.
In the beginning, her body didn’t know what it was getting into. The altitude was high and so was the clean thin air. But something that she has been doing for several years came to her rescue. “Since I have been dancing for years and also practising yoga, my body had been silently accumulating the energy and stamina. Besides my regular dance and yoga sessions, I also designed a session of 2-3 hours to prepare myself, that involved cardio, yoga and other fitness routines. Dance also helped me keep my mind stable and not give in at the weak moments,” she explains.
Vaishnavie says that it’s her self-assessment and her calm mind made it all possible. “But just because I did it, I wouldn’t say it is easy. Self-assessment is a must and one has to prepare thoroughly before taking up such a challenge,” she suggests.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Metroplus / byPrabalika M. Borah / Vyshnavie-Sainath, Stok-Kangri / September 26th, 2016
A 54-year-old throwing almost six punches per second seems like a story straight out of the Shaolin temples in China. But M Jayanth Reddy from Hyderabad proved to the world, on July 2, that he is a tough nut to crack when he broke the Guinness World Record for the most number of full contact punches in a minute using one hand – hitting 352 of them in the process.
His tryst with world records started in 2010 when he broke the world record for the maximum number of round kicks in a minute. He followed it up with a staggering 10 individual Guinness World Records in martial arts. A taekwondo practitioner since the age of 14, Jayanth won five gold medals at national championships from 1983-88. But fate had something else in store for him. After being unable to crack the Olympic riddle, he shifted his focus to teaching the martial art to youngsters. “I opened my academy in 1996-97 and since then I have taught more than five lakh students,” the eighth Dan Black Belt holder said.
The inspiration to attempt scores of world records came from his family members.
An IPL inspired tournament is Jayanth’s ultimate aim. “By November, 2017 we will start International Taekwondo Champions League which will have participants from India, Thailand and the USA,” he asserted. In a chat with Express, Jayanth said that his latest world record was the toughest. “In taekwondo, kicks are used ninety per cent of the time. So to break the one handed punches world record was really tough.”
His students haven’t been left behind when it comes to smashing world records. “Konda Sahadev, who has been a student of mine for over two decades, has nine world records to his credit, while R Gajendra Kumar and Abdul Khalil have six each,” said Jayanth. Nothing seems to be stopping the pentagenarian, who plans to break one more world record in near future.
The third-generation Hyderabadi resident has authored two books on healthy lifestyle. He expressed his concerns about India not performing well at the recently concluded Olympics. “I will identify talented people soon and start training them for the Tokyo Olympics,” Jayanth said. He opined that the country is filled with talent.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Vishal Vivek / August 29th, 2016
