Sandalwood's T-20 cricket competition

Just a few days ago Tollywood's T-20 cricket competition organised by the Telugu film artists association was a big hit. Four top stars of the Telugu film industry Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Venkatesh and Nagarjuna headed four cricket team's which played three matches on June 13 at the Lal Bahadur stadium to mobilise funds for the Artists Association to create a fund for the ailing film artists.

Now, there will be a Sandalwood T-20 Cricket Competition named the Dr. Raj Kumar Cup which will be organised by the Kannada film Dancer's association. The matches starts on July 25 at the Kanteerava Stadium. The practice sessions have already started with Super Star Upendra practicing with his fellow artists and technicians. He will soon have to fly to Dubai and then to London to participate in the final lap of the shooting of his directorial venture Super. The practice sessions were held on Sunday and Monday in the central college grounds in Central Bangalore.

Other kannada artists who had participated in the practice schedules included Diganth, Shrujan Lokesh, Vijay, Ajith, Tarun, Tarun Sudhir, Chethan, producer Anaji Nagaraj, director Shivaprabhu and director Murali Mohan. Kannada film actor Dhruv who is a record holder for acting as a hero in a film despite being physically challenged was seen coaching all the film artists.

A cultural programme has also been organised in the evening which will be represetned by all the leading stars.

Shiva Rajkuma in Kannada Bond film

The 23rd James Bond film starring Daniel Craig may have been put on a backburner but the Kannada version of MI6 agent’s heroics will make a comeback after 32 years.

For over three decades Bond fans have been going to the cinemas to see their favourite spy save the world. And back home, they look into the mirror and pretend to be James Bond, saying, behind those dark sunglasses ‘The name’s Bond..... James Bond’.

Far back in 1968, Sandalwood saw the desi version of James Bond in none other than Rajkumar.
Being a James Bond fan, Rajkumar acted in four Bond inspired films -
Jedara Bale, Goadalli CID 999, Operation Jackpot Nalli CID 999 and Operation Diamond Racket.

Now after 32 years, kannada actor Shiva Rajkumar will step into the shoes of his father with Operation Golden Gang. The film will be announced on Shiva Rajkumar’s birthday on July 12. “Since two years I have been planning to make a Bond movie. Shiva Rajkumar was informed last year but due to various reasons we could not go ahead. After we got a green signal from Shiva Rajkumar, we are now finalising the storyline,” said producer Basava Reddy. He has already registered the title with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. The shooting will commence in January 2011.

After kannada film Operation Diamond Racket, it was announced that Operation Golden Gang would be the next in the series. But the film never went on floors due to various reasons. “Operation Diamond Racket was the costliest film made in those days. Almost Rs 38 lakh was spent on it. In those days, it was difficult to recover the cost of the making even if the film was a hit. I had a story ready for the sequel and it is a wonderful subject. If they approach me, I would be happy to share it,” said director Bhagwan. In fact, the director duo Dorai-Bhagvan (Dorai Raj and S K Bhagwan) made their debut with Jedara Bale.