 The Ajith starrer ‘Billa’, which was a big hit in Tamil last year is now going to Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly the Tamil movie was a remake of the yesteryear Rajini hit titled the same. When Ajith’s chips were down the movie got released and re-establish his supremacy in Tamil cinema. Now, Prabhas, who is down and out with a slew of failures in Andhra, has chosen to do the film. When Vishnuvardhan was approached to do the remake again, he refused as he was busy with ‘Sarvam’. Similarly Nayantara who played the bold ‘Sasha’ in ‘Billa’ declined to do the similar role in Telugu. Shooting for the Telugu version of ‘Billa’ will start soon. Prabhas had reportedly called on Ajith and sought his advice. |
Archive for August, 2008
‘Billa’ goes to Andhra Pradesh
Sunday, August 31st, 2008‘Alibaba’ to release in September
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 Producer Sekhar (father of director Vishnuvardhan) is getting ready for the release of ‘Alibaba’, named after the heroic sailor. Interestingly Sekhar is launching his younger son Krishna as hero in ‘Alibaba’. An MBA graduate from USA, Krishna had acted as child artiste in ‘Anjali’ followed by a cameo in ‘Iruvar’ and Santosh Sivan’s ‘Terrorist’. Directed by Neelan G Sekar, the movie features newcomer Janani opposite Krishna. Prakash Raj, Thilakan and Biju Menon are also in the cast. ‘Alibaba’ will hit the screens this September. Says Krishna, ‘I was exposed to cinema from the time I was a child. I choreographed a song for Kamal Haasan in ‘Aalavandhan’ before venturing to the USA to study MBA and start my own business house’. ‘Neelan, who worked as associate to Vishnuvardhan, insisted that I should act in his maiden film. My family persuaded me to come to Chennai and be part of ‘Alibaba’. I listened to the storyline and gleefully accepted the offer’. The movie produced jointly by Sekar and Sanjeev Kumar will have musical score by Vidyasagar and cinematography by Dhinesh Kumar. |
Rajinikanth beyond success or failure: Mohan Lal
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 It is a general perspective that Rajinikanth is facing a torrid time these days especially after the poor showing of ‘Kuselan’. But then the superstar has received some support in the form of Malayalam superstar Mohan Lal. ‘Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan are legends and they are beyond success or failure’ said Mohan Lal, who also added that people pounce on recent happenings and forget what the legends have done for the industry all these decades. Rajinikanth is currently working for Shankar’s ‘Robot’ and is also expected to do another film pretty soon in order to quell the financial losses suffered by many circles after the poor showing of ‘Kuselan’. Going by what Mohan Lal has said, Rajinikanth sure would have it in him to ease out these troubled times and coming out winning which is what he is so very used to doing. When Mohan Lal was asked if he was also beyond success or failure, the actor said, ‘if people consider me that way, I would be very happy’. |
Stuntman injured in ‘Padikkadhavan’ shoot
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 Shooting for the Dhanush starrer ‘Padikkathavan’ is going on at a brisk pace. A sequence wherein a bunch of rowdies waylay politicians in a bid to kill them was being shot. An unfortunate incident happened when a chase sequence was being filmed in Palayamkottai. Low intensity bombs are usually stuck on the windshields of vehicles which can then be operated remotely to capture blast sequences. When one such sequence was being filmed, a low intensity explosive material skidded on to the lap of a stuntman ‘Cool’ Suresh injuring him. He was then rushed to a nearby hospital where he was treated. Shooting was cancelled for about two hours. “Padikkathavan’ is directed by Suraj who had directed the hit film ‘Thalainagaran’ earlier. |
Udhayathara, Karan pair up again
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 After a debacle in ‘Thee’, Karan and Udhayathara come together again for their next film titled ‘Malayan’. A debutant Shammu plays the second fiddle. Produced by Balasubramaniam, the movie is directed by S Gopi who was an erstwhile associate of S A Chandrasekhar. Karan plays an employee in an industry and champions the cause of the workers there. Dheena has scored music while the cast includes Sarath Babu, Mayilsamy, Balasingh among others. A song was shot recently in grand sets and traditional folk dances of Tamilnadu were enacted. According to Karan, ‘it is an earthy film. I am hopeful that it would reach out well to the masses. The title too is very catchy’. |
Bhavana desperate for a hit
Sunday, August 31st, 2008|
After a slew of average outings, Bhavana is hoping to turn the table with ‘Jeyam Kondaan’. She appears as arural belle and is confident that her role would strike it rich. Directed by Kannan, the movie has Vinay opposite Bhavana. With ‘Deepavali’, ‘Rameshwaram’, ‘Kizhakku Kadarkarai Salai’, ‘Arya’, ‘Vazhthugal’ turning out to be disasters at the box office, she is pinning all her hopes in ‘Jeyam Kondaan’. “I play an interesting village girl, the volleyball champion of her place in JK. My character’s name is Annapoorani and I’m sure people will appreciate this work of mine”, she says. |
Ranbir in Mani’s film
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 The latest buzz doing rounds is that Manirathinam has roped in Bollywood heart-throb Ranbir Kapoor for his directorial venture. Since the release of his first film Saawariya, the actor has gone from one big project to another. And now, Manirathinam has approached Ranbir for his forthcoming film based on the lines of Ramayana. Tentatively titled Ravana, the movie will have Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwaya Rai in the lead in Hindi and Vikram and Aishwarya Rai in Tamil. According to reports, Mani saw Ranbir in Saawariya and was impressed. However, Manirathinam has not revealed what kind of character he will cast Ranbir in. |
Arjun’s next avatar
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
 Arjun is currently working in director A Venkatesh’s ‘Durai’ followed by ‘Thiruvannamalai’ with Perarasu. After ‘Vaathiyar’, he teams up with Venkatesh for ‘Durai’. Interestingly ‘Durai’ has story and screenplay are by Arjun. The cast includes Vivek, K Viswanath and Vincent Asokan. Arjun teams up with Vivek for comedy. “Vivek suits the role very well. That’s why we’ve opted for him this time. He plays the owner of a mess”, says Arjun. Amit Dhawan from Mumbai enters the Tamil scene as villain. |
Marital bliss awaits Kavya Madhavan
Monday, August 25th, 2008|
Popular Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan has announced that she would be getting married soon. Introduced to the film world as a child artiste, Kavya Madhavan shot to fame after her first role as heroine in the Malayalam film ‘Chaddranudhikkunna Dikkil’. She became a huge name to reckon with after movies such as ‘Thenkasi Pattanam’, ‘Thillakkam’, ‘Perumazhakkalam’, ‘Naalu Pennugal’, ‘Anandabhadram’, ‘Meesa Madhavan’ and ‘Classmates’. The actress was introduced to Tamil movie audiences with the movies ‘En Mana Vaanil’, ‘Kasi’ and ‘Saathu Miranda’ . Says Kavya Madhavan, ‘There have been rumors at least a hundred times that I was getting married. But this time it is true. I’ll be getting married before this December. My parents are looking for a groom who is not part of the film industry’. She also added that she has been performing Mangalya Pooja to get a good husband. The actress is currently working for the Malayalam film ‘Banaras’ with Vineeth in which she plays a dancer. |
‘Eraaa’ A spooky tamil thriller
Monday, August 25th, 2008|
The name means ‘night’ in ancient Tamil. There is one element that is widely believed across cultures – ghosts and spirits make eerie appearances when darkness falls.
A movie is being made with the name ‘Eraaa’ and as the title suggests the film explores mysterious paranormal happenings. The story follows Nakul, a paranormal investigator who goes to a haunted house in Munnar. Daybreak finds him dead under mysterious circumstances. Puzzled by this incident a TV reporter named Daisy goes over to investigate and brings to light as to what really was the cause of Nakul’s death. Using this backdrop, the filmmakers turn the spotlight on the common beliefs so many of the general public have. According to the filmmakers, the movie would send chills up the spines of audiences and all this without the depiction of violent or gory sequences. The narration has the point of view of one character that relates and identifies with audiences. The crew of the film seems to have done their home work. They have involved themselves in the study of paranormal activities and have been working with Ouija board (wee-gee board), EVP recorder, EMF meters and many more scientific instruments. Moreover they involved themselves in night shoots at locations that are broadly believed to be haunted. Debutantes make up the entire technical team of the film. Satish G is the cinematographer while music is by K. Venkat Prabhu Sankar and editing by Hari Shankar. Story, screenplay and direction are by three people, Harishankar, Hareesh Narayan and Krishna Sekhar. The film is being shot in Chennai right now after completing schedules in Munnar. |
