BALAYYA! Nandamuri Balakrishna Is Back To Bash In Heads In PAISA VASOOL

Hot from the success of his film Gautamaputra Satakarni in January, Telugu superstar Nandamuri Balakrishna is coming back to the big screen this Friday, September 1st, with Paisa Vasool.

Paisa Vasool is a full-on Telugu mainstream "entertainer" directed by the prolific Puri Jagannadh, who has delivered some really solid films over the last couple of decades. Balakrishna is to be joined in the film by popular South Indian actress Shriya Saran in what is likely to be a pretty thankless role as his love interest.

I have an unnatural and mostly unexplainable affinity for Balakrishna, known affectionately by his fans as Balayya. He is the fifty-something son of Telugu film legend NT Rama Rao, one of the most famous actors from South India and also a political powerhouse in his home state of Andhra Pradesh. Growing up as part of that family, Balakrishna was always going to be in the movies, but he's also followed in his father's footsteps and moved into politics as well.

Balakrishna started in the movie business as a child in the '70s, but by the mid '80s he was one of the Telugu film industries biggest stars, regularly top-lining huge films. By the mid '00s his star had begun to fade, but in 2010 he made an incredible comeback with the absolutely INSANE action film, Simha. That film was one of the year's highest grossing Indian films and brought this beast of a man back into the foreground of Telugu cinema, where he has sat ever since.

Balakrishna is not a great actor, he's not a great singer, and he's not particularly adept at expressing any emotion of than LOUD, which isn't even an emotion. However, he is absolutely captivating on screen where he treats every line he utters as if it were a command from the gods, themselves. I've watched him perform impossible acts of agility and strength, romance women young enough to be babysat by his own children, and I keep coming back for more.

Paisa Vasool is his latest film and it definitely promises to deliver all of the pudgy Balayya goodness I carve in spades; from poorly delivered English dialogue, to crazy action, to awkward dancing. I can't wait!