Kollywood Hotshots

In ‘Striker’ Siddharth plays a carrom player and Padmapriya is his romantic interest. Set to release in Hindi and Telugu on the 5th of February, the film is important for her as she hopes to bounce back in Telugu and make a strong entry in Hindi.

The actress with great acting potential is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. After ‘Thavamai Thavamirundhu’ she lost touch with Tamil audience.

Hope she strikes the right chords with her ‘Striker’ this time.

It is getting a big star like opening throughout Tamil Nadu! In Chennai city the film is leading the advance booking race, and is ahead of its rival Goa!

Says a manager of a popular multiplex: “We never expected this kind of craze for Tamil Padam, it has been sold out for the weekend while Goa tickets are available. There is a lot of inquiry on this spoof film and its songs are very popular with the masses.

Tamil Padam is likely to take a super opening in Tamil Nadu where it is releasing in nearly 175 screens. All Tamil superstars have asked the producers to hold special shows of the film for them, due to the great buzz around this spoof.

Karthika made her acting debut in the Telugu film Josh opposite Nagarjuna’s son Naga Chaitanya. But her fortune did not rise and she has pinned her hopes now on Ko.

Let's wait and watch the on-screen chemistry of Simbu-Karthika!

But now director Shankar assures that Rajnikanth’s stunt sequences in ‘Endhiran’ will overshadow ‘Murattu Kaalai’ itself. Director Shankar had recently shot a stunt sequence across the moving train on a exotic hill station. Usually, such sequences are canned across Ooty train passages, but this time the filmmaker has opted for Konkan Railways and felt more difficult to obtain permission from Central Railways Department.

Finally, after affording big sum, the crew could somehow make it happen and the stunt shots have been brilliantly performed by Rajnikanth. This will be one of the best highlighting features in this film.

Sources reveals that the actor will don the role of a fisherman in the movie. The shooting is currently progressing in Puducherry. Produced by Sangili Murugan, Sura has musical score by Mani Sharma. Cinematography is by Ekambaram of Kanthaswamy fame.

Gautham Menon’s brilliant screenplay, top performance by Surya has won the national award for this film.

IANS reports that Gautham Menon was excited over national award, and said

I am very happy that the National Award jury recognised the merits of the film and selected it for the honour.

Actor-director Sasikumar's yet-to-be-titled film is progessing in Chennai. Meanwhile, the latest buzz from the crew is that beautiful Tamanna has been approached to play the lead role opposite Sasikumar. Sources also add that the actress has agreed. The films also stars Samuthirakkani and A.L. Azhagappan in important roles.

The first part is said to be very humorous in the inimitable Rajini style. Santhanam gives company to Rajini in ‘Endhiran’ the way Vivek did in ‘Sivaji’. Punch dialogues are left to Santhanam as in ‘Sivaji’. So expect some clean high class hilarious moments. And we know how good the super star is in comedy scenes. If the first half is light the second half will compensate for it with pulsating actions. ‘Endhiran’ is going to be a wholesome entertainer.

Also the new young look of the Super Star is making news. The latest pictures released show Rajini and Aishwarya in vibrant costumes with the help of Hollywood technicians who worked for films like ‘Batman Returns’ and ‘Men In Black’. It is thrilling to see an absolutely handsome Rajini as we have seen in films like ‘Gayatri’ and ‘Billa’ in those days. Two songs were picturised in never been to locations in Hawaii Islands and Brazil.

‘Endhiran’ film has strengthened the relationship of Rajini and Shankar much stronger. It has moved beyond Actor-Director levels, one reason could be the similarity between them.

Shankar also has deviated from a usual Rajini film happening with ‘Endhiran’. Usually all Rajini films in recent times were shot either out of Tamil Nadu or overseas. But to the joy of Rajini fans Shankar shot a lot of portions in and around Chennai.

Says a spokesperson of Devi theatre in Chennai: “ Kutty was a slow starter but by evening show on day one it started filling up. Next three days the families took over as all shows were houseful. The film is the first hit of 2010.”

Says A Ravishankar Prasad of Gemini Film Circuit: “ The film is a hit and it held its head high among the Pongal releases as it was the only film with a clean U certificate. Family audiences are encouraging the film and all our distributors are happy. The songs of Devi Sri Prasad are slowly turning out to be hits and we are very happy”.

According to distributors what has worked for the film is its low budget and reasonable price it has been sold to the distributors. Says a leading distributor: “Kutty’s feel-good factor is working big time with the family audiences. Everybody would like to see a happy family entertainer during Pongal. It is a breezy romantic, along with good performances by the entire cast and peppy songs are major plus for the film."

A remake of the Telugu blockbuster Arya, Dhanush carries the entire film on his shoulders and he has emerged a winner. Kutty is his fourth hit in a row and the first one of 2010. Said a ed Dhanush : “I was keeping my fingers crossed and is so happy to hear positive feedback from audiences from all release centers. It is my best New Year gift”.

Selvaraghavan’s two years in the making, action adventure Aayirathil Oruvan is a brave attempt at trying to come out with something new in the placid world of Tamil cinema. Breaking away from the shackles of the stereotypes, the director transports us to a whole new world and at the end of it all, we are dumb stuck by the visuals, the packaging and the new way of storytelling.

The film has a terrific first half with a basic thread, comedy, action, eye catching song picturisation, stunning visuals and grandeur. The film combines ultra-violent action with murky mysticism. The Government appoints a secret team led by archaeologist Anitha Pandian (Reemma) and a military officer Ravi (Azhagamperumal) to track down the missing links after a scientist and archaeologist (Pratap Pothen) vanishes into thin air while he was on his mission to discover the lost Chola civilization!

To help them reach the lost city, Lavanya, daughter of the missing archaeologist is roped in for the mission. And helping the group to carry their belongings through the rough and tough jungle terrain and sea is the Coolie gang led by Muthu (Karthi), a boorish, uncouth, foul mouthed guy with roving eyes. They go through some of the most inhospitable terrain full of hidden danger and nature’s fury.

Suddenly after a tedious expedition, they stumble on the lost Chola civilization and its king (Parthipan) and find unexplained links between them and the world’s earliest culture. What follows is a series of happenings that will leave you glued to the screen.

The subtle message that Selva tries to convey is that a group of people cut away from civilisation, struck with poverty and knowledge is far superior to the present generation who lack values, culture or basic human kindness. All this leads to some unexpected twists and turns in the climax till you find that history repeats once again as Muthu rescues and run away with the King’s son to the darkness, like what happened centuries back!

Aayirathil Oruvan starts with a bang, but it doesn’t unfold quickly. The second half takes a u-turn and is riddled with holes in the plot line and is confusing and tedious. It looks like another film and there are long gaps of silence in the climax which will make an ordinary viewer restless.

Directing an interweaving screenplay, Selva’s narrative structure bursts with sporadic agility along with top class camera work by Ramji.

GV Prakash’s background score and his music is tangy. Un Mela Aasadhan.. sung by Dhanush, Aishwarya Dhanush and Andrea and picturised on the lead trio is a rocker. The remixed old MGR song on Karthi and the coolies is a treat.

Reema brings an uninhibited joie to her role as Anitha and thanks to the ability of the director has extracted a fine performance from her. Andrea is likeable and seems to have enjoyed doing the film. Parthipan is adequate as the king. But it is Karthi, who is a scream. Right from his introduction scene till the end, he is lovable and provides humour. Actually Karthi with his punchlines is getting the loudest claps as the crazy MGR fan and has made a sensational comeback three years after his debut film.

The film has to be seen in the right perspective. Selvaraghavan is trying to explore the frontiers of commercial cinema. For this alone he should be applauded.

Meanwhile, the actor in an interview to a Telugu daily, said that he has a lot of admiration for Tollywood stars, Allu Arjun and NTR for their scintillating dance moves, and Pawan Kalyan and Mahesh Babu for their style. He also added that he goes mad watching the dance of Allu and NTR.

“I have been living in Mumbai since quite a long time now so my son Vedant knows Hindi, English and Marathi but he is not versed with his mother tongue Tamil. Some years ago, my parents insisted me to teach Vedant Tamil,” shares Madhavan.

“Sura’ features Vijay and Tamanna in the lead roles and is directed by S.P. Rajkumar. The director S.P. Rajkumar is making his comeback in Kollywood taking a sabbatical after “Azhagar Malai’. First schedule of the film was recently completed and the entire crew is busily shooting for the following schedules in Pondicherry and Vizag.

According to the trade reports, “Vettaikaran’ has been sold out for very big price throught Tamilnadu and it has gradually encouraged Sun Pictures to ink a deal with Vijay’s “Sura’ as well.

Now Sura being aquired by Sun Pictures, Vijay has proved that he is still the King of Kollywood Box Office.

The meeting was attended by Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Nadigar Sangam president R Sarath Kumar, producer of the movie Radhika Sarath Kumar and chiefs of various associations in the industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Kamal said: "Encouraging piracy is equivalent to sedition. A portion of the revenue generated from the sale of pirated CDs ends up in the hands of anti-national elements."

Urging Sarath Kumar to take it as a free publicity for the movie, he said, "all efforts should be taken to release the movie at the earliest in theatres".

Expressing his solidarity with Sarath Kumar on the issue, Rajinikanth said, "the culprit is not anywhere from outside. It should be one among us. It is time for us to do some introspection. Running from pillar to post for help after an act of negligence is no good. We should stand united and fight against them."

Both Sarath Kumar and Radhika burst into tears. "We are left without words - a sense of anger and dismay prevails amongst us. Our hardwork for over a year to come up with a quality film has been belittled now. The labour of over 100-odd men has been demeaned," they said.

“When Saran completed the script, we found a character which had equal importance as that of the hero. Impressed by it, I expressed my desire to do the role. Saran accepted it happily,” says Ajith.

Saying that one of his getups would surprise the audience, he adds: “The film has lot of surprises. One of them would be my getup. We finalised it only after working on various ideas. In short, ‘Asal’ would be a perfect treat for film buffs.”

Meanwhile, Ajith fans celebrated the audio launch of ‘Asal’ that took place in Chennai on Monday. Music stores all over Tamil Nadu were thronged by enthusiastic fans, who had no patience to listen to the songs from their ‘Thala’ film.

Produced by Prabhu and Ramkumar for Sivaji Films, Sameera Reddy and Bhavana have acted opposite Ajith in the film.

The music album of the Silambarasan-Trisha starrer, directed by Goutham Vasudev Menon, was released in London recently. The function was attended by top musicians in the United Kingdom, besides select guests from Chennai.

‘VTV’ is the first film for Goutham and Rahman to work together. “I am happy that Rahman’s first film after the Oscar honour is directed by me. His music is one of the major highlights of the movie,” says the filmmaker.

Heaping praises on Rahman, the movie’s heroine Trisha says, “I am a great fan of Rahman since my school days. I was literally flying when I was told that he would compose music for ‘VTV’. I had the opportunity to interact with him. He was so simple and humble.”