Latest news with #Venky
Hindustan Times
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Suriya's first look from Venky Atluri's Suriya 46 brings back his ‘vintage' look. See pic
Actor Suriya turned 50 on 23 July, and on the occasion, his first look from his Tamil-Telugu film with Venky Atluri was released. Producer S Naga Vamsi took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday evening to share a poster wishing the actor on his birthday. Take a look. (Also Read: Overwhelmed Suriya takes selfie video with sea of fans gathered outside his Chennai home for his 50th birthday. Watch) Suriya's first look from Venky Atluri is expected to bring back his 'vintage' avatar. Suriya's first look from Venky Atluri film While the film hasn't been titled yet, Suriya 46 will see him play the lead. The film, directed by Venky, will be simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil. Sharing a poster of Suriya looking dapper in a blue T-shirt and a brown jacket, Vamsi wrote, 'Wishing our Hero @Suriya_offl garu a fantastic birthday! An actor who keeps setting the bar higher. We're beyond excited to show you all the vintage Suriya garu in #Suriya46.' Fans were thrilled to see the return of 'vintage' Suriya, leaving comments that his look was a 'banger'. One fan commented on X, 'Young charm look.' Another wrote, 'Waiting for vintage Suriya anna.' Some fans who had hoped that the film's title would be announced were disappointed. 'Mahn he fits perfectly in any look,' wrote one fan. About Suriya 46 Suriya 46 stars Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, and Raveena Tandon in lead roles. While promoting Retro in Hyderabad in April, Suriya confirmed the film with Venky and said, 'I had to start with Allu Arvind garu (for Ghajini); the whole journey started with him. With his blessings, you have been waiting for this announcement. We are associating with Sithara Entertainments, Vamsi, and my dear brother Venky here.' He also said, 'This will be my next. As you've all been asking after a long time, with beautiful association and beautiful talent here. We will be doing my next film with Venky, and I will be spending a lot of time here in beautiful Hyderabad. From May onwards, we start our next. We need all your love, we need all your blessings. This will be a beautiful journey.'
News18
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Saiyaara's Shaan R Grover On Playing A Red Flag: ‘Felt Little Disturbed'
Saiyaara's R Shaan Grover noted that a friend of his was really touched by Aneet Padda's performance in the film. Saiyaara, directed by Mohit Suri, has created a storm at the box office. The romance drama catapulted Ahaan Panday, Aneet Padda, and Shaan R Grover to stardom. Shaan's performance as the antagonist, Mahesh Iyer, has surely taken the audience by surprise and has gained a lot of attention. Now, the actor opened up about how difficult it was for him to play the role. In an interview with Filmygyan, Shaan R Grover shared, 'I am not trying to show anybody ki mein aisa nahi hoon waisa nahi hoon. I don't care ki mein kaisa hoon, but to play a negative character around girls, because I have never been like that." He added, 'I was playing that red flag and I genuinely felt a little disturbed or mujhe laga ki pata nahi yaar isko hate milna chahiye of course but kahi log mujhe isse associate na kare." Earlier, in conversation with Zoom, Shaan shared that antagonists like Mahesh exist in real life as well. He shared, 'When we went on set and stepped into our characters, we were prepared. Of course, it is not easy to play such characters. I am not Mahesh Iyer. That's not how I function and my brain functions. I was gullibly thinking ki 'Mahesh jaise log hote hai iss duniya mein?'" He added that a friend of his, who experienced something similar, was really touched by Aneet's performance in Saiyaara. Saiyaara has exceeded the Rs 100 crore mark in the first few days of release. Mohit Suri's latest project follows the life of a musician (Ahaan) and his love story with a journalist (Aneet). The duo's initial clashes slowly transform into a romance, before fate gives them an unpleasant surprise. This film was the Bollywood debut of Ahaan Panday. Aneet, meanwhile, had earlier appeared in a supporting role in Salaam, Venky. Meanwhile, Shaan served as assistant director on Harshvardhan Rane's film Sanam Teri Kasam. He has also worked on a number of OTT projects, including the Netflix film Nobleman and web series like Roohaniyat and Dus June Ki Raat. First Published: July 23, 2025, 17:23 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Director Venky Atluri reveals he always shares his scripts with this actor: Find out who the star is
Picture Credit: X Venky Atluri is currently busy directing the highly anticipated, tentatively titled Suriya 46, starring Tamil superstar Suriya. In a recent media interaction, Atluri opened up about a rather interesting personal tradition he follows as a filmmaker. According to a report by 123Telugu, the 36-year-old director revealed that he has a unique habit of narrating his scripts first to Telugu actor Akkineni Naga Chaitanya, before approaching anyone else and even before locking his final cast or crew. Venky mentioned that despite their close creative exchange, he and Naga Chaitanya have not yet worked together. When asked why this promising collaboration hasn't materialized, Venky explained that scheduling conflicts and practical constraints have been the primary reasons for the delay. On the work front Venky Atluri had a successful last outing with Lucky Baskhar, starring Dulquer Salmaan and Meenakshi Chaudhary. He has also directed notable films like Tholi Prema and Sir, the latter featuring Dhanush in the lead. On the other hand, Naga Chaitanya was last seen in the romantic drama Thandel, co-starring Sai Pallavi. The film turned out to be his first to cross the Rs 100 crore mark. He is currently shooting for his upcoming film NC 24, directed by Virupaksha fame Karthik Varma Dandu. The supernatural thriller, which also stars Meenakshi Chaudhary as the female lead, is progressing at a brisk pace.
Time of India
07-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
MLC: San Francisco Unicorns are betting on AI to redefine T20 cricket in USA
Venky Harinarayan is a co-owner of the San Francisco Unicorns, a franchise in the Major League Cricket. (Image: Special Arrangement) Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been the buzzwords for many years now in different spheres. Cricket has embraced data, belatedly and, perhaps, begrudgingly — now it is the turn of AI. No surprise that one of the first embracers are Silicon Valley venture capitalists who founded Junglee and Kosmix, which were later acquired by Amazon and Walmart, respectively. Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan met during their college days in the US and shared a passion for cricket. Venky, who lives in San Francisco, played in school and relied on newspaper clippings sent by his father to stay abreast with the game in the late 80s and early 90s. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Fast forward two decades and the duo have turned their love for cricket into an entity - having birthed the San Francisco Unicorns in the Major League Cricket (MLC). "We've tried to build this franchise from first principles, like any startup. And in today's world, trying to build a startup without leveraging the data and making it AI first is not a smart thing to do," said Venky to by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Вот что поза во сне говорит о вашем характере! Удивительные Новости Undo "I think we are pushing the envelope on a lot of how these things are applied to cricket." Some of the challenging aspects that are scrutinised with the help of data science and AI are squad construction, auction tactics, domestic draft picks and in-game strategies. File photo of Jake Fraser McGurk. (ANI) One player identified by this process was Australia's Jake Fraser-McGurk who was snapped ahead of the second season. Despite his impressive CV in T20 leagues, the 23-year-old only produced 81 runs from seven matches in MLC 2024. The Unicorns, however, are unperturbed. "You can keep going deeper and deeper today with AI. For example, if bowler X is bowling to batter Y, the bowling coach can advise what should they be bowling, what length, what the plan is etc. AI can help dramatically with that. Because it can look at all the balls that the batter has played and tell you, 'this is where the strengths are, this is the weakness'," explained Venky. "What you see right now is that a lot of this has been done by the first level of data analysis. AI is sort of the next level. And completely new territory." "I think most teams should be starting that journey at this point because it is going to be opening up a lot of new avenues as to how you play the game. And this is less about our team. This is about pretty much any data science or AI operation. You need to have sort of a harmony between the data and the humans," he elaborated. After an inaugural season of learnings, the San Francisco Unicorns finished as runners-up in 2024, losing to Washington Freedom in the final. It was a big achievement for both teams, especially since they're up against four franchises backed by IPL owners. MI New York, Texas Super Kings, LA Knight Riders, and Seattle Orcas benefit from the experience gained through their owners' involvement in various T20 leagues. We showed up at the stadium, all the IPL teams have giveaways. We have no idea this is what you do! So our guys are running to the local printer, trying to get some flags printed, trying to get some hats Venky Harinarayan The challenge of going head-to-head with such legacy franchises intrigues Venky. "To be honest, I actually love that. Because it's always good to compete against the best. I'm very happy with all the IPL teams as our partners, but from a franchise point of view, especially on the field, you do want to compete with the best," he said before acknowledging their collaboration with Cricket Victoria to ensure they're an efficient unit. "I feel like we are the new kids on the block and we embrace that. Again, coming from the startup world, we embrace that completely." "When you start a startup, you're competing with the big giants. So you have to embrace that. Otherwise you don't belong belong in this world. And to be honest, first year wasn't great. We showed up at the stadium, all the IPL teams have giveaways, have flags. We have no idea this is what you do! So our guys are running to the local printer, trying to get some flags printed, trying to get some hats." How do you grow cricket in the USA? Oakland Coliseum will host MLC matches this season, becoming the third venue in the USA's T20 league. (Image credit: X) That captures one of the challenges for MLC and its six franchises. There have been steady steps with number of matches increasing from 19, 25 to 34 in the upcoming season, with the venues also going from two (Grand Prairie Stadium, Texas and Church Street Park, North Carolina) to three (Grand Prairie; Broward County Stadium in Lauderhiil, Florida and Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, California). There is an overarching test of growing the game in the region while keeping the league competitive. "We're fairly clear that this is something which is not going to happen overnight. It's going to happen over a period of time, and we have to be patient and willing to keep pushing. We know there's definitely opportunity on the competitive side, there's still a way to go — we have to keep improving," opened up Venky. "After every season, we reflect on what we can do better, and I'm sure every team does the same. And when it comes to growing cricket here, that's something we really need to embrace." "As a startup, the first two years have been especially challenging. We've been focused on getting our own house in order — fielding a competitive product and getting the basics right. But now, heading into season four, after this one, we feel we're at a point where we can begin building real momentum." "There's so much opportunity. We've been amazed by the interest — not just in watching cricket, but in playing it. And it's not limited to people who grew up in cricket-playing nations like India. It's also their children and those from other communities. You see this reflected in Bay Area academies — one I visited recently had over 300 kids, and that's just one of many." "First, we need to solidify the sport within passionate communities, and then expand to those where awareness is still low. There's a marketing challenge too — many Americans still think of the old, slow format of cricket, with tea breaks and multi-day matches. But T20 is a fast, exciting game that fits the viewing habits here. Once people experience it, they love it, but it takes education." "Of course, American sports are deeply rooted, so carving out a niche here won't be easy. It's not a simple process. But we have great raw material and encouraging proof points from the first two seasons. Soccer took a long time to get established here. So, we just have to keep pushing, keep investing, and that's important." San Francisco Unicorns will get the 2025 MLC season underway against Washington Freedom on June 12 at Oakland Coliseum. A total of 30 matches will be played in the league stage followed by knockouts in Texas, with the season culminating on July 13.
Mint
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Mint
Is Venkatesh Iyer on his way out of Kolkata Knight Riders? Aakash Chopra feels IPL side dropped hint during SRH vs KKR
Kolkata Knight Riders' poor defence of their Indian Premier League title ended on May 25 after they crashed to a huge defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last IPL 2025 fixture. KKR conceded a massive 278/3 in the first innings to the Hyderabad franchise before putting on a meek chase that ended with the defending champions getting skittled out for 168. Their 110-run defeat at the Arun Jaitley Stadium epitomised their batting struggles as they finished IPL 2025 at a disappointed eighth with 12 points from 14 matches. One of the biggest disappointments for KKR from the batting unit has been Venkatesh Iyer, who was roped in for a huge sum of ₹ 23 crore. To say he has had a poor season would be an understatement, and KKR left the lanky southpaw out for the SRH fixture; he was on the Impact Substitute list but was not brought in. This is the second time he didn't feature for KKR in IPL 2025 after being dropped for the Chennai Super Kings clash on May 7. Commentator Aakash Chopra wondered whether his exclusion was a sign that KKR could move on from him ahead of IPL 2026 as they look to rebuild their squad before next season. "The big news for me from this match was that they didn't play Venkatesh Iyer. He was in the impact substitute's list, but you didn't get him to bat. You got Manish Pandey and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to bat, and you played Ramandeep Singh and Rinku Singh. You played everyone, but you left Venky out," Chopra said while speaking on his official YouTube channel. "Is that the indicator that Venky will be released next year? You will release ₹ 23 crore, and then you may want to buy him back at a lesser price. That is a possibility, but I feel we have got an indicator for next year," he added. The lanky southpaw featured only 11 times for the defending champions this year, and his numbers make for poor reading. Iyer could muster only 142 runs in the entire season at an average of 20.29 and a strike rate of 139.22. Part of the reason for his poor form could be a change in his batting position. The left-handed batsman usually plays at the top of the innings but has featured lower in the batting order this year for KKR. With South African Quinton de Kock and West Indies' Sunil Narine cementing their spot as openers for KKR, Iyer could well be on his way out of the franchise if they choose to retain the duo at the top.
