Pix: Kangana's sizzling debut in Telugu

Ek Niranjan, starring Prabhas and Kangana Ranaut, and directed by stylish director Puri Jagannath is releasing this Friday (October 29).

The Puri-Prabhas combo, which comes together after their Bujjigadu: Made in Chennai last summer, seems to be a big-budget affair.

With Puri, one of the top-notch and successful directors helming this film, expectations are bound to be high. Adithya Ram produces the film under the Ram Movies banner.

An interesting aspect of the film, of course is the presence of Kangana in Telugu.

Puri Jagan is known for his slick flicks which have wafer thin storylines but fairly good screenplays.

His Pokiri with Mahesh Babu set a certain benchmark which has been difficult to emulate even for the director himself.

Full of the regular dose of masala, Puri Jagan's films are huge entertainers. But somehow his magic touch was missing in Bujjigadu which had an average run at the BO.

Ek Niranjan will be the second release of the year for the tall and lanky Prabhas, the first was the super-slick Billa.

The 'rebel' star will be looking for a hit after Billa which didn't fare too well. One is sure the movie will have its share of action sequences (orchestrated by Stun Siva) and the usual song-dances in tune with Prabhas' image.

Puri Jagan is invariably on the lookout for new faces preferably from the Hindi heartlands.

He has launched quite a few heroines too like Hansika, Neha Sharma and now Kangana in Ek Niranjan.

Kangana, a name to be reckoned with in Hindi as far as acting goes, is said to have a substantial role in Ek Niranjan.

There's nothing much about the story except that Kangana plays the role of a music teacher.

Given Sonu Sood's penchant and reputation for doing villainous roles in Telugu, he will be essaying a negative character in Ek Niranjan too. Prabhas would be the 'supreme' hero.

The star cast also includes Mukul Dev, Makarand Deshpande, Brahmanandam and Tanikella Bharani.

It is said that a set worth Rs three crore was put up for this film in Hyderabad. The film was shot in Hyderabad, Bangkok and Switzerland.

Mani Sharma scores the music. Shyam K. Naidu, almost a constant with Puri Jagan, handles the camera, art is taken care of by Chinna (a regular too) and editing by MR Varma.