Track 3 - Tracked on June 15, 1997
With last year's Avvai Shumugi and this year's Bharathi
Kannama being Mega hits and the more recent Vallal being a reasonable hit,
Meena has all the reasons to be proud of.
Unlike most of her rivals, Meena is extremely choosy
about her movies. If you carefully analyze her filmography, you will find
almost all the movies of Meena will have the industry's to top heroes being
paired along with to her. Due to this reason, there are not that many movies
of Meena released in a year. However in whichever role she does, this savvy
actress creates a definite impression on the audience with her oomph and
above all with her acting skills.
When it comes to exposing and acting in those passionate
scenes, these days Meena has her own reservations. Compared to her rivals
like Ramba, Nagma and Roja, Meena is not all that comfortable in flaunting
her body on screen. It is true that during her initial days Meena was made
to reveal a lot by those Telugu directors as it was (and still is) the norm
of the Telugu industry. But once Meena had left the Telugu industry for good
and made it real big in Tamil, everyone is at the receiving end now. With
the kind of success that this girl is enjoying, Meena can definitely dictate
her own terms in the industry.
Roshini, more popularly known as Nagama's sister in
the industry did not have that a great debut with Sishya. No doubt Roshini
was definitely youthful and pretty in Shisya. But her face with limited
expressions and those small oriental type eyes and mostly insipid songs of
the movie all of them have worked against this new comer.
One big surprise in Shisya is Asha, another new comer.
In Shisya, Asha acts as a North Indian wife of comedian Koundamani. In many
angles Asha reminds you of Meena. With her wider eyes and with the same special
smile Asha is a definite look alike of Meena. Asha has also acted in Pongalo
Pongal, pairing opposite to Vivek another popular comedian.
The recent release Ullasam, Amithab Bachan's maiden
production venture in Tamil, has not received that a good review from the
Press. Some of the songs scored by Karthik Raja are really good in Ullasam.
But the usual triangular love story and below average direction of JD and
Jerry has disappointed the viewers. It is to be noted that there was a big
hype and hoopla created before the release of this movie.
Another movie that has generated a lot of expectations
for now is VIP. This has the star cast of Prabhu Deva, Abbas, Ramba and Simran.
Simarn is the same lady who made her debut in Hindi with "Tere Mere Sapne"
a reasonable hit from Amithab's ABCL productions.
The Music of VIP is scored by Ranjeet who once was
A.R. Rahman's assistant . It seems that Ranjeet has done a fairly good job
in composing the music for VIP. To prove this point, the "Maylu Maylu Maylamma"
number from VIP is already making it on Top in all popular charts.
Interestingly the Telugu version of 'VIP' is also called
as 'VIP' itself. Probably its Hindi version could also have the same name,
unless someone else had already registered this name. As a matter of fact
Kamal's blockbuster Tamil hit Indian was to be named as 'Indian' in Hindi
too. However there is this Sunny Doel-Aishwarya Rai Starrer which was already
named as Indian. This has made our 'Indian' to become 'Hindustani' in
Hindi.
The leading Villain Prakash Raj is originally from
Karnataka. He learnt to speak Tamil in the recent past but he still can not
read or speak Tamil. But people who saw Prakash Raj in Iruvar with his delivery
of all those rhetoric will hesitate to believe this. Prakash Raj's new movie
in the offing is Nandini. Prakash is so pleased with his characterization
in Nandini that he has presented a CD player as a gift to Mano Bala the director
of Nandini.
Nandini's heroine is Suhasini Manirathnam. In this
movie Suhasini acts as mother of a teenage girl. During his recent conversation
with Vikatan, Mano Bala the director of this movie goes gaga over Suhashini's
acting skills.
Earlier during election days veteran Manorama had
bad-mouthed about Rajini. However Rajini did pardon her and above all included
her in his recent release "Arunachalam". This as all we know is a old story.
But after performing such a splendid role as an old lady who was cruel to
Rajini in Arunachalam, Vadivukkarsi is being shunned by Rajini's fans. To
top it all even Rajini-loyol directors also senselessly avoid this talented
actress. Strangely roles reserved for Vadivukkarasi are actually given to
Manorama.
The Roja girl Madhu Bala, known as Madoo to the national
audience, in real life is a wild party animal. In her recent interview to
Star Dust, Madhoo has openly accepts her involvement with several industry
men. To avoid any controversy in this regard, the following lines are quoted
as it appears "Star Dust":
"I have been involved with some of my heroes but it
is always superficial. I don't make an issue out of it. I know the industry
is not a place to make deep rooted, solid relationships!"
"I have seen relationships formed only on outdoor locations
for ten days. But it is very difficult for me to accept the fact that my
man is straying while I am religiously calling him and whispering 'I love
you's' and 'Baby I miss you's' over the telephone!"
"I've had my fair share of relationships and today
I tell dad, 'When I am ready for marriage find me a proper Brahmin .....
(caste name here is censored) husband who puts lots of oil in his hair and
is God-fearing, and I'm sure I'II be happy with him!"
What else can we do but to pity that poor would-be husband
of wild Madhoo.
According to Kumudam lights-on Vivek, the music director
for Rajini's next movie will be the recent national award winner A.R. Rahman.
Here is the Star Tracks news - the next generation:
Shiela's son Vishnu, Shivakumar's son Surya, Gangai Amran's son Venkat Prabhu
and finally Illaya Raja's son Karthik Raja all of them were room-mates during
their college days. Among them Vishnu is the hero of the new movie in the
making "Kadal Rojave". Surya is one of the leading men in "Nerrukku Ner".
Karthik Raja we all know is a promising music director. But we still have
to hear what Venkat Prabhu is up to!
Finally here is a shocker about Sridevi appearing in June 97
on-line issue of "Cine Blitz". Once again to avoid any controversy it is
quoted as it appears in "Cine Blitz":
"Apparently, Sridevi's mother was a junior artist in
Telugu films, as was her own father. Due to some differences her parents
split and her mother took little Sridevi away. She then married her lawyer
friend Ayyapan, who was already a married man. He apparently never divorced
his first wife, so Sridevi's mother being a second wife, was also allegedly
not the legally wedded wife of Ayyappan.
People in Madras are very angry with Latha and feel
sorry for Sridevi.
Srilatha was born of this relationship and Satish (who
we wondered how he was related to Sridevi), was Ayyapan's son from his first
wife.
Confused? So are we. And to make it simple, we say
that Sridevi worked all her life to look after her mother, her step-father
and mother's alleged illegal husband, their love child Latha and her step
brother Satish, and his real mother.
Thirty years after being separated from her real father,
Sridevi is paying a heavy price for her mother's mistakes. She worked since
that young age of five and her earnings were invested in the name of a man
who was apparently not even her real father.
Latha and Satish are therefore, fighting for the money
that was in the name of their father and not Sridevi's. Ironical, isn't it?
Can one ever understand how Sridevi feels about working
all her life for these people and still being hounded for her wealth? Where
would they have been, if she had not sweated it out in those dusty studios?
People in Madras are very angry with Latha and feel
sorry for Sridevi. Nobody grudges her, her happiness with Boney Kapoor today.
Wonder what her real father, who is still alive in Hyderabad, feels about
all this?
Sometimes, the past slaps you in the face... Sometimes,
you pay for somebody else's mistakes... and sometimes, you go through life
trying to gather love and in the bargain, get used, abused and misused. Sridevi's
life is a lesson in humanity. Today, the bitterness between the sisters proves
one thing - that had they been real sisters, there would have been some feeling
in Latha's heart and she would not have dragged Sridevi to court.
But blood, in this case, was certainly not thicker
than water..."
- This edition of Star Tracks is tracked from Star Dust, Cine Blitz, Kumudam,
Anandha Vikatan and other Internet sources.
Track 2 - Tracked on May 29, 1997
Nagma vehemently denies her involvement with Sharath
Kumar. In her recent interview to G Magazine - a Bollywood magazine, Nagma
considers Sharath just a friend and nothing more than a friend. But when
it comes to the question of Sharath's rift with Chaya his wife, Nagma fully
sympathizes with Sharath Kumar. Here are Nagma's impressions on Sharath:
"See, I do not want to be judgmental. If you are genuinely
interested in knowing the truth, please believe me, I'm not instrumental
for Sharat and his wife's rift. And why only blame the man? They could both
be at fault. A woman should be mature enough to admit that she could be at
fault. It's very easy for her to give a sob story. Whether it's her fault
or not, she gets all the sympathy. But if a man opens his heart he is branded
cheap and fickle-minded. It's unfair.
"All I am asking is why paint the man black without
knowing him?"
And how well does Nagma know him?
"I have done three films with him so far. When you
work with a man from dawn to dusk, for days together, you can read his moods
and know the type of person he is".
And what type of person is Sharat?
Nagma sums him up in one sentence.
"He is a very straightforward person."
In her recent movie "Pista", it looks like Nagma has
done something more than her glamorous presence. Yes.. she has surprised
the viewers with a bit of her acting skills!
Nagma is now busy shooting for "Janaki Raman" Directed
by K.C Sunder. Incidently the hero of this movie is Sharat Kumar and the
other heroine is Ramba. Portions of this movie are being shot at
Gobichettipalayam AKA Gobi the western Kodambakkam of Tamil Nadu and its
surroundings. (Ooh it is my home town!)
When you talk about Gobi, one will always associate
it with the famous director K. Bhagyaraj who has his roots from Gobi. Bhagyaraj's
next movie would be "Vettiyai Madichukkattu". In this movie Bhagyaraj pairs
with Nagma. The story is about a Tamilian who moves to Mumbai and Marries
a North Indian Girl. Based on the title one could expect a lot of Bhagyarajish
humors in this movie.
It looks like wedding bells will soon ring at Gouthami's
residence. When Kumudam's Lights-on Vinod contacted Gouthami, she informed
him of this good news. However she did not want to reveal her man's name.
But sources from Bollywood say it could be Sandeep Bhatia a business man
from Mumbai. Sandeep Bhatia's ex-girl friend Kashmira Sha an upcoming actress
in Bollywood accuses Sandeep of two-timing with both Kashmira and
Gauthami.
Another actress who is on her way to marriage is Ramya
the hot siren of Andhara Pradesh. Now Ramya is out of the clutches of her
sugar daddy Ragavendra Roa and her marriage is going to be with Krishna Vamshi
another successful Telugu Director.
- This edition of Star Tracks is tracked from G Magazine
, Anandha Vikatan, Kumudam, Thinaboomi and other Internet sources.
Track 1
After the stupendous success of Assai, Vanmathi and
Kadal Kottai, Ajit has now bagged the prestigious film from Amithab's ABCL
banner "Ullasam". Ullasam has the romantic pair of Maheshwari the star cousin
of Sridevi with Ajit. People who had watched the "O Ranganaada.." number
from Nesam will surely swear by the perfect match of this pair.
The "Ullasam" hero Ajit is born to a Sindhi mother
and a Malayali father. Because of this he always feels that he is half
North-Indian. With his command over Hindi, he is also confident that he might
shift to Bollywood sometime in near future. Ajit's obsession for North never
stops with this. In his recent interview to Rediff on Net Magazine he is
in full praise of those North-girls. Here are his remarks:
"See, North Indian girls tend to be very fair...
considerably fairer than the girls in the south. And that is one reason why
our Tamil and Telugu producers are increasingly starring them in their films
- Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, Pooja Bhatt, now Sushmita Sen... It's
all part of this star fixation," Ajith muses. "The front-benchers here, they
go to the theater and see these north girls and they go, Hey, look at her,
so fair and nice...!"
Another news about Ajit...Ajit has been dropped by
Mani Rathanam from his movie "NErukku NEr". One version says that he is out
of this movie because he had severely messed with Mani's schedules. But according
to another version Ajit had felt that his role in that movie is not as meaty
as Vijay - the other hero of "NErukku NEr."
The replacement for Ajit in "NErukku NEr." movie is
Surya another star son to the industry. His dad...? The ever-green hero Shiva
Kumar.
More news about Chikni Chachi - Kamal's new venture
at Bollywood. This Hindi remake of Tamil Mega hit Avvai shunmugi is being
directed by Shantanu Sheorey and produced by Saab John, a long-time associate
of Kamal Hasan.
Shoeory the debut director for this movie is husband
of Kimi Katker - Bollywood heart-throb of late eighties. According to Shoeory
the Tamil version Avvai... did not have that much of humor.
Michael Westmore, a renowned make-up man who figured
in films that relied heavily on makeup like Star Trek and Mrs Doubtfire,
will be flying down to Mumbai just to help on Kamal's make up.
After every new movie release Rajini has the habit
of having a month break at Himalayas then heading to foreign lands. This
time, after Arunachalam's release, Rajini had spent his vacation at Himalayas
and now he is on his way to visit countries like England and US.
Rambha had very high hopes of making it big on Bollywood.
She even wanted to settle in Mumbai if luck favored her. That is why she
gave more importance to those roles bending backwards and forwards to please
those directors. Sadly, barring one or two, none of her films did well. Even
her resemblance to Divya Bharathi (including those squint eyes) and generous
exposures could not help Rambha to emulate the magic of late Divya. Now Rambha
is concentrating mainly on Tamil and Telugu movies. Thanks to her sensuous
looks in movies like Ullathai Allitha, Dharma Chakkarm, Arunachalam and now
Rasi, Rambha is the current heart-throb of Tamil Nadu.
The dubbed Telugu versions of Iruvar, Minsra Kanavu
and Arunachalam... all of them are declared as flops in Andhra Predesh.
After Azhar and Sangeeta Bijlani the current movie-cricket
romantic pair is Anil Kumble and Shobana. Shobana particularly is very open
about this affair.
- This edition of Star Tracks is tracked from Rediff
on Net, Thinaboomi and other Internet sources.
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