Currently Prashanth enjoys the fruits of his three successive hits "Jeans", "Kannadirae Thondrinaal" and "Kaadal Kavithai". Looking at his hit parade, as they say in Tamil, maybe someone has set evil eyes on Prashanth and his career. Otherwise why should Prashanth be hurt badly during the shooting of his "Poomagal Oorvalam", produced by R.B. Choudry?
For a scene in "Poomagal Oorvalam", Prashanth was to perform a make-believe fight with a bunch of goons. Unfortunately during this stunt scene, a sharp iron rod hit him on his face and he was hurt dangerously at his left cheek. He immediately had three stitches on this wound from a local hospital. But to avoid a scar on his face resulting from this injury, Prashanth is being rushed to London for a cosmetic surgery. Let us hope everything goes well and the talented lad gets well soon
The Dream Girl
Once people thought that "Devadai"
girl Keerthi Reddy would take the tinsel-town by storm with her extraordinarily charming
looks. But thanks to her affluent background this soigné damsel soon became unpopular
with her unreasonable demands. So much so, while she had outdoor shootings in some remote
villages, she would still demand the comforts of her five-star-hotel-like home. Not
surprisingly, helpless producers started shunning her soon. Besides a string of flops like
"Devathai", "Iniyavale" and "Jolly" saw her career
nose-diving soon after its great launch.
Subsequently Keerthi shifted her focus into Telugu movies. Initially her
first movie in Telugu "Gunshot" went unnoticed. But her next film —
"Toliprema" went on to become one of the biggest hits of Telugu movies in 1998.
And suddenly a girl, who was jinxed earlier in Tamil, has become a front-runner in Telugu.
Now with her "Toliprema", Keerthi has become the new dream girl for Telugu
audience.
Interestingly "Toliprema" was also the launch pad for
Kalyan the hero of the movie. Kalyan actually is the younger brother of Telugu Megastar
Chiranjeevi. Being born and brought up in Chennai, Kalyan has no problems with Tamil and
he even converses in so called Madras-Tamil with relative ease.
Based on its overwhelming success in Telugu "Toliprema"
is now being dubbed into Tamil as "Aananda Mazhai". A.M.Ratnam produces
"Aananda Mazhai" under the banner of S.S.C. Arts. Its star-cast includes Kalyan,
Keerthi Reddy, Sangeetha, Vasuki, Nagesh and others.
Karunakarn an erstwhile assistant of popular director Kathir
helms the movie with his own story, screenplay, dialogue and direction. While Mahendran is
in charge of its Cinematography, Our "Thenisaai Thendral" Deva, who is getting
popular in Telugu these days, is the music director of this movie.
Transcending Titans
The irrefutable "Super Star" of
Bollywood "Amitabh Bachan", once had a remarkably large number of fans even in
Tamil Nadu. But his successors could not leave similar mark in the state chiefly due to
the inherent language barriers. But now on the same lines of Amithab, Sharukh Khan is
emerging as the true "Super Star" of the nation. Of late he has proved that his
charisma could penetrate beyond all the language boundaries of the country. Particularly
his recent work "Uyire" from the renowned director Manirathnam has made Sharukh
a household name in Tami Nadu too.
The latest news about Sharukh is… he is all set to do a real
Tamil movie soon, unlike his "Uyire" which was basically made for the
consumption of the Hindi audience. And guess what… Shah Rukh Khan will be acting in
the film to be produced and directed by Kamal Haasan. Kamal will be the other hero of the
movie that is simultaneously made in three different languages Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. So
it is going to be a clash of two outstanding performers, one from the South and the other
from the North.
Shahrukh who is an admirer of the versatile Kamal himself, is
said to have accepted the role immediately. However it still remains a mystery as to what
the star cast for this exciting venture would be. However based on her popularity the
Khandala girl Rani Mukherjee of "Ghulam" and "Kuch Kuch Hota hai" fame
is expected to play the heroine’s role in this movie, probably opposite to Shahrukh
Khan. Also there is a dead heat going on among the Kollywood girls to grab the role
opposite Kamal. But whatever the final cast would be… it is going to be a rare event
to watch two of the greatest performers transcending each other.
Bitten by the Love-bug!
In early nineties Mohini was the heartthrob of Tamil moviegoers.
Starting her career with "Naddodi Paattu" this amazing beauty has acted in
several Tamil movies including "Unnai Vazhtthi Paadukiren", "Vanajaa
Girija" and "Kanmani".
With no projects in her hand now, Mohini has decided to call it quits. Besides she is also
bitten by the love-bug. Soon she is going to wed her beau Bharat, who is a manger in a
Chennai firm.
The couple has been seeing each other for quite sometime. Their
initial encounter started with an argument and very soon it blossomed into true love.
Finally while they were dining in an upscale restaurant in Chennai, Bharath proposed her
by kneeling before the beauty and presenting her with a bouquet of flowers. Mohini too
accepted his proposal and they both are all set to ring the wedding bells on May 19th
of this year.
Soon after their marriage in May, the couple has plans to
celebrate their honeymoon in Mauritius. When a reporter wondered won’t it be too hot
in Mauritius during those days, Mohini retorted bashfully saying it would be so only for
those who venture out of their honeymoon suite.
Too many cooks
When it usually takes several months to complete a
movie, if someone claims that he could finish it in a day, your natural reaction would be
to term it quixotic. But in reality there is a new Tamil movie in the making called "
Suyamvaram" that is slated to get completed in a very ambitious time frame of just 24
hours.
The main
intention of its producers Hemnaak Ramu and Hemnaak Babuji is to enter into Guinness Book
of World Records with this rare feet. Apparently these two producers of yesteryears made
several Tamil movies in the past, including Rajnikanth’s "Garjani",
"Kaali" and "Murattukkarangal". Now after a long hiatus of fifteen
years they reunit again to create this unparalleled effort.
As the first step towards their goal, recently the
movie " Swayamvaram" was formally launched amid a galaxy of stars led by
Rajnikanth and Kamal Hasan. During this occasion it was a rare sight to watch when
both these heavyweights together lighted up the traditional lamp the symbol of auspicious
beginning.
This historic Tamil movie is based on parallel
efforts from several members of the industry. It would have an amazing fleet of twelve
heroes including leading stars Vijayakanth, Parthiban, Karthik, Arjun, Prabhu Deva and
Prashant. Besides them there is a rumor that both Rajini and Kamal would be persuaded to
take part in this unique venture. And another stellar gallery of eight heroines including
Simran, Ramba, Roja, Devayani, Keeriti Reddy and Kushboo would make this movie a special
event.
The main theme of "Suyamvaram" is that the
head of a family is about to die in 24 hours. As per his last wish, his three sons and six
daughters should get married well before his death.
To achieve the one-day deadline, the movie would be
simultaneously helmed by ten directors including S.A.Chandra Sekar, P.Vasu, R.K.Selvamani,
K.S.Ravikumar and Sunder C. With each of these creators shooting it at different
locations, Dimond Babu has the most difficult task of coordinating their efforts.
Interestingly there would be four songs in the movie scored by four different music
directors Ilayaraja, Deva, S.A. Rajkumar and Sirpy.
The work on "Suyamvaram" would begin on
March 24th morning and the entire movie would be ready for editing by the end
of the same day. Presently the movie is slated to release during the first week of May 99.
Shock treatment
Subsequent to his successive failures, Arjun hopes
that "Mudalvan" would be his comeback movie. Soon after he signed up for this
latest venture from Director Shanker, there were many people who wanted to have him in
their projects. But so far Arjun has refused them all, as he felt that he is strongly
committed to Shanker and his "Mudlavan". But thanks to its heroine Manisha
Koirala, who muddles with her dates, the movie is said to be progressing rather slow.
Meanwhile Arjun has accepted a new movie directed by Selva.
Peeved by Manisha’s attitude, Shanker has
included Shilpa Shetty as another heroine for "Mudalvan". On hearing this, the
latest news is… the shocked Manisha has become more concerned now and not
surprisingly she has given bulk dates for Shanker.
Awestruck in Madhurai
Among the northern girls in the industry, Suvaluxmi
is one who has developed a special liking for Tamil and Tamil culture. Usually in most of
her interviews you would find her praising the Tamil People. But some times she would even
overdo it to win the hearts of the locals. 
For example once an
interviewer asked her that who was her favorite poet. The immediate answer from Suva was
"Bharathiyaar"! During another occasion she was asked to explain the meaning
behind her name. For that the explanation from Suva was... it is a derivation of the
Tamil name "Subbha Luxmi"!
Come on Suva… give us a break! We know very
well that Bhrathaiyar’s verses in Tamil would be quite difficult for you to read and
"Suva" is a pure Bengali prefix that has nothing to do with "Subbha
Luxmi". Believe me... even with out such quirks, we would still adore you for taking
Tamil so close to your heart.
The latest on Suva is about her recent release
"House-Full". In "House-Full" Suva comes as a roadside flower vendor
and guess what… she has delivered her Tamil dialogues with her own voice! Besides she
has decided to use her own voice in all her future movies.
Earlier during two weeks of "House-full"
outdoor shooting in Madhurai, Suvaluxmi used to visit the Meenakshi temple often. She says
that she is still awestruck by the temple’s towering structures and its beautiful
lake.
The blue-eyed boy!
Prasanth seems to be blue-eyed boy for Murali
Manohar of Metro films. Earlier as a co-producer Murali Manohar had Prasanth and Aiswarya
Rai working for his super hit movie "Jeans". After its massive success in Tamil,
Prasanth was once again chosen for his next venture "Kaadal Kavithai. However in
"Kaadal Kavithai", La Rai was left out and the promising newcomer Isha Gopikar
was offered the heroine role.
Now the famous producer is all set to make another
multi-crorer called "Jodi". "Jodi" has Prasanth again in its lead and
ravishing Aishwarya Rai would be one of the main heroines of the movie and sensational
Simran would be the other one. Wow... talk about the competition! In addition to them
Nasser, Manivannan, Raghuvaran, Vivek, Chinni Jayanth, Srividya and Ambika form the rest
of its cast,
"Ratchagan" fame Preveen Gandhi directs
"Jodi" and A.R.Rahman scores music for the movie. The songs of "Jodi"
is expected to be released soon and the film itself is scheduled as May 99 release.
I
The stalemate
Vijayakanth’s "Kallazhagar" and
Karthik’s "Chinna Raja" were the movies, which were meant originally for
this Pongal. Unfortunately both these movies failed to hit the theaters that time, each of
them for different reasons.
In Kallazhagar's case, the movie was flatly rejected
by Indian censors, because of its potential to spark religious conflicts. Particularly it
has a scene in which some Muslim extremists masquerade themselves as religious Hindus and
join in the celebration of a major festival in a temple. Their main intention is to bomb
the temple and cause communal unrest in the state. Based on the tensed situation in the
country, the censors declined to certify the movie fearing a major communal backlash. If
the movie is to be released, their condition is to remove all incidents that have communal
undercurrent. But since the main crux of "Kallazhgar" is based on religious
conflicts, its producers now have a tough time revamping its story to please the censors.
The reason for the delay of "Chinna Raja" is
different. Apparently last year "Udaviku Varalamma", a Karthik starrer bombed
badly in the box-office. While the loss from the movie is very heavy, distributors from
Kovai alone suffered a loss of some Rs 10 crores. Since the film's collections were way
below the advance paid by the producers, as per their agreement its producer Gaffer
(Karthik’s friend) should return a portion of the original advance back to those
distributors. However Gaffer did not honor the agreement and failed to return their money.
So while they somehow allowed the other Karthik starrers "Unnidathil Ennai
Koduthen" and "Pooveli" earlier, suddenly the Tamil Nadu distributors have
united and determined to ban the release of "Chinna Raja", till they are
properly compensated.
Though Gaffer is the producer of "Udaviku
Varalamma" on papers, it is said that entire funding for the movie is actually from
Karthik himself. So the distributors insist that Karthik should make up for their losses.
However Karthik has recently made a public statement
saying that "Udaviku Varalamma" is Gaffer’s movie and now he does not have
anything to do with Gaffer. Then he appealed that he should not be held responsible for
Gaffer’s actions. Besides he has also sought help from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
to intervene and resolve this issue.
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