Gopichand returns with Shankam

Gopichand is emerging in the big league of Telugu heroes after delivering hits like Okkadunnadu Lakshyam and Souryam. The actor is quite a hit with the masses after his film Ranam. He glides through action smoothly and is equally comfortable with romantic sequences. His dialogue delivery is clear, sharp with good diction.

And now, the actor is now back with Shankam directed by Siva who also helmed Souryam. The movie, which releases this Friday, stands for conch and going by the title this film too seems to have a predominant action element. After all, it's after the conch is blown that battle cry is sounded. At the audio release a huge conch was also part of the proceedings.

His next film will be directed by none other than Puri Jagannath.

Gopichand stars opposite Trisha in Shankam. This is the first time they are paired together.

Trisha has acted with most of the big heroes in the Telugu industry like Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Mahesh Babu and Prabhas. She is steadily doing at least one Telugu film a year. It would be interesting to see Trisha and Gopichand together on screen.

Siva is the man behind the story, screenplay and direction of Shankam. This cinematographer-turned-director's debut film Souryam fared well at the BO.

Souryam was a commercial entertainer and one has to wait and watch if Shankam follows the same route. Siva brings back Tamil artiste Satyaraj, who is supposed to have an important role in Shankam.

Comedy and comedians are part and parcel of Telugu cinema. Every film has 2-3 comedians trying to tickle the funny bone. In Shankam, Venu Madhav, Ali, Dharmavarapu Subramaniam and LB Sriram are expected to do just that.

Thaman S is gaining a foothold in the Telugu industry as a music composer. His previous ventures include Kick and Anjaneyulu (incidentally both are Ravi Teja's movies). Here too he has composed the music of which the audio was launched a few weeks ago.

J Bhagavan and J Pulla Rao produce Shankam which is edited by Marthand K Venkatesh. Vetri is the cameraman.