‘Aayiram Vilakku’ audio on Aug 9

The audio launch of HMI Pictures ‘Aayiram Vilakku’ is happening on Monday 9th August at Sathyam Cinemas.

The function will be presided by Rama Narayanan, VC Guhanathan, Hansraj Saxena, Kalaipuli S. Thanu, K. Bhagyaraj, Abirami Ramanathan, Sivasakthi Pandian, Editor Mohan and R, Madhesh

The songs will be released by Prabhu Deva and ‘Jayam’ Ravi and received by Sasi Kumar, Venkar Prabhu will receive them. Special invitees at the function will be Salem A. Chandrasekaran, Mysskin, ‘Jayam’ Raja and Pandiraj

Srikanth Deva has scored the music for the songs written by Vairamuthu. The film has seven songs and they are these. “Madura Madura” sung by Naveen & Velmurugan, “Porale” sung by Karthik, “Andipatti” sung by Karthik, “Jigarthanda” sung by Karthik and Rita, “Enna Thavam” sung by KJ Yesudas, “Uthama Puthirane” sung by KJ Yesudas and “Rathiye” sung by Harish Radavendra and Chinmayi

‘Aayiram Vilakku’ is the second film directed by SP Hosimin after ‘February 14’. It is a mafia epic overshadowed by love. Set in the back drop of Madurai soil the film stars Sathyaraj, Santhanu Bhagyaraj, Sana Khan, Suman, Delhi Ganesh, Thalaivasal Vijay, ‘Ganja’ Karuppu and others.

Andrea joins dance classes

Actress Andrea is busy shaking her legs day and night. Know what? The actress has joined a dance class to develop the skills. Making her debut with ‘Pacchaikili Muthucharam’, Andrea never had an opportunity to dance. Even in the most overpowering song of ‘Oh Eesa’ of ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’, it was Reema Sen, who had more footage to dance. However, Andrea hasn’t given up the hope and is now vigorously gaining those skills.

The actress is now shooting for her upcoming film ‘Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam’, in which she shares the screen space with Dhanush. The film is directed by Selvaraghavan and is produced by his father Kasthoori Raja under the banner of RK Productions.

The rumors about her affairs with Selvaraghavan have slightly got trivialized on its course and maybe, soon after the release, things may catch up again.

Kamal is a villain

This is not about the ‘Ulaga Nayagan’. But a newcomer, who is playing the baddie in ‘Aayiram Vilakku,’ a suspense movie starring young actor Santhanu Bhagyaraj and veteran Sathyaraj in lead roles.

The film is directed by Hosimin of ‘February 14’ fame. “We roped in Suman to cross swords with Sathyaraj. We came across Kamal when we were searching for a right man to fight with Santhanu in this movie,” he says.

Saying Kamal is however not a new face, Hosimin adds: “He is the hero of the Telugu film ‘Aavakai Biriyani’ and a known face in Andhra Pradesh. We are launching him in Tamil film industry.”

“Kamal’s character in ‘Aayiram Vilakku’ will be talked about,” the director says and adds: “Sana Khan of ‘Silambattam’ fame is playing the heroine in this film, which is loaded with non-stop action and thrill.”

Santhanu, the Madurai man

It was Santhanu Bhagyaraj who was initially approached by Sasikumar to play Paraman in ‘Subramanaipuram’. Since the actor was unable to be a part of the film due to ‘unavoidable circumstances’, the director himself donned the greasepaint and played the role of a Madurai-based youth.

Almost after two years, Santhanu got a similar opportunity, and he was not ready to say no this time. We are talking about ‘Aayiram Vilakku’, in which the son of veteran director Bhagyaraj, is playing a Madurai youngster.

“Thanks to director Hosimin, I am playing Gopal, a local from Madurai. I did a lot of homework for this film. I went to Madurai and spoke to a lot of people there and learnt their slang. Even for dubbing, one of the director’s friends, who is from Madurai, accompanied me,” Santhanu says.

On acting with a veteran like Sathyaraj, he says, “Though I know him as my dad’s friend and my friend Sibi’s dad, this is the first time for me to stand in front of the camera with him. Despite being a seasoned actor, he asked me to treat him like a newcomer once the camera was switched on.”

A Pilot, Now an actor

Many professionals have quit their careers for the sake of their acting interests. Here is a person, who has flying as a pilot in Emirates Airlines and has now resigned his job for his insatiable passion for acting.

Michael Eshwar is his name and he made his debut with ‘Virundhali’. It seems that the film’s producer met him while flying through the same and signed him for his project. But Michael Eshwar says that he was earlier encouraged by producer Henry, who is now producing Mammooty-Arjun starrer ‘Vande Mataram’.

The actor says that he is so passionate about acting and will constantly look out for better scripts before signing them. In spite of the film ‘Virundhali’ not doing well at box office, the actor has won some good reviews for his performance. He has now completed shooting for the Hollywood MovieDam 999.

Before getting into films, Michael has been a part of various commercial advertisements including AIRCEL and is now for his stunning physique.

‘As an actor, a person must maintain a good physique’ tots up Michael Eshwar…

All The Best Buddy!!!

Endhiran gets record price for Andhra and Karnataka

Sun Pictures continues to set new bench marks in movie marketing with Endhiran as the movie is crossing borders hitherto not touched by any. The costliest movie ever made in India at a cost of `190 crores is breaking all records.

Reliable sources say Endhiran has been sold for`9.75 crores for Karnataka and a massive `33 crores for Andhra. Only a few days ago we heard the Telugu version ‘Yantram’ is expected to get `30 crores for the Andhra and many were in line to snap the rights. 

But now the movie has been sold at a much higher price and that tells the Midas Touch of Maran has only few challengers. 

The magnum opus is set to release by the end of September in all its three versions – Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

'Vamsam' opens big

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, along with his family members and Cabinet colleagues, watched 'Vamsam' at a special show in Chennai on Thursday.

After watching the film, he showered praises on his grandson Arulnidhi, who makes his debut with the movie, and director Pandiraj, for their efforts to come out with a meaningful and quality product.

“I am happy to receive appreciations from my grandfather who is one of the seniors of the film industry. I am hopeful that the film would be received well by the masses," says the young actor.

He adds: “I am glad I was not an actor in the ‘Manohara’ days. My grandfather's dialogues were razor-sharp and actors had to sweat it out to deliver them to perfection. He brought about many changes in the society through his works”.

'Vamsam', produced by Arulnidhi's father M K Thamizharasu, has hit screens today. It has Sunaina as heroine while A R Rahman's former associate Taj Noor has scored the music.

'Vamsam' opens big

It's no easy thing for a newcomer. But Arulnidhi has managed to achieve it. His maiden venture 'Vamsam', which hit the screens today, has been receiving a tremendous response all over Tamil Nadu.

Sources say in the trade say that the film directed by Pandiraj of 'Pasanga' fame is running packed houses since this morning. "This is no doubt a grand opening," they point out.

Explaining the reason, a theatre manager in Chennai says, "this is due to the expectations created by 'Vamsam' thanks to various factors like it is the maiden heroic venture of the Chief Minister's grandson Arulnidhi and the film is directed by Pandiraj, who made his debut with a lovely film Pasanga."

"Added to these are the aggressive promotion activities made by the film's producer M K Thamizharasu. Apart from creating a hype, the film has lived up to it. For those coming out of the first show are happy with Vamsam," he adds.

SNEHA'S ANJUGAM LIKE NADUNISI NAIGAL

Sneha had starred in the Telugu film Amaravathi a few years ago and this movie is being remade in Tamil as Anjugam. Along with Sneha, Bhoomika also plays an important role in this film.

Anjugam is directed by Ravi Babu while the dialogues have been penned by K Ravi. Chandran has scored the music for Anjugam, but interestingly, this film has no songs. Sudhakar Reddy has wielded the camera for Anjugam.

It may be noted that there is yet another film in the pipeline, Gautham Menon’s Nadunisi Naigal, which also has no songs.

VIJAY’S NEXT FIVE!

Vijay was in the eye of the storm recently for his successive failures at the box office. The actor, however, has decided to grab the top slot by carefully planning his career moves. His selection of films, directors and banners are evident that the actor is working hard on it.

Vijay’s fans are upbeat that their favorite star has five films lined up! Siddique’s Kaaval Kaadhal, which is the remake of the Malayalam hit film Bodyguard, Jayam Raja’s Velayudham, Shankar’s remake of 3 Idiots, Seeman’s Pagalavan, and an untitled venture for Lingusamy, are the five films that Vijay would be concentrating for the next few months.

MANKATHA STAR IN CITY FOR SHOOT

Director Radha Mohan is known for delivering decent, enjoyable family flicks. His films like Azhagiya Theeyae, Mozhi and Abhiyum Naanum were all appreciated by the audience. Currently he is involved in making Payanam, a bilingual in Tamil and Telugu being produced by Prakash Raj for Duet Films. This film stars Nagarjuna in lead role. Payanam is almost complete and is in its final leg now which will be shot in Chennai. To can this portion, Nagarjuna is in Chennai and would be here till the completion. It may be noted that Nagarjuna is making a Kollywood entry after a long hiatus and is also a lead star in Venkat Prabhu’s Mankatha with Ajith.

Our next heroine Gopika sister

Our beautiful Malayalam heroine Gopika who recently got married to Dr.Ajilesh last year. Gopika who is attractive girl where she given many hit films to the both Malayalam and Tamil film industry. Now Gopika is going to introduce her sister Gliny. Already Gliny enter into a Malayalam film by debutant director S. Binu Kumar. Where she play the pivotal role as actor Mukesh’s daughter.
Like her sister Gopika Gliny will be soon become popular in film industry. She is presently doing hospital management at Little Flower hospoital.Angamaly. While in the South India film industry we have seen the Travancore sister, where Nagma-Jyothika and Kajal Aggarwal-Istha Agarwal now its time for Gopika-gliny. Thus Gliny will soon enter into the kollywood film industry.

Actor Jeeva in new film

Our cute young hero Jeeva who show his debut in the film ‘Thithikuthae’ with the beautiful actress sharmi. Now his latest release Siva Manasula Sakthi is reached the people very well and become famous. He is doing his next flick titled ‘Vithai’ where the film is produced by Baburaja for JJ Good films.
The movie is directed by Thiravaanan who worked as assistant to see man and Boopathi Pandian. Jeeva who is an active hero is showing his excellent performance in this film. Already the shooting of the film is going on where the financier also said that he paid advance cash to the director and music director. But they walked out of the movie because of some misunderstanding. The music is composed by D.Imman. Thus the movie hit the screen as soon as possible.

Kadhal Solla Vanthen - Love in the air

Director Boopathy Pandian is known for commercial pot-boilers. His movies ('Devathaiyai Kanden', 'Thiruvilayadal Aarambam', 'Malaikottai') have had loads of humour and action.

This time however he has opted for a different route with 'Kadhal Solla Vanthen', which is a romantic entertainer. Scripted and directed by Boopathy Pandian, the movie speaks about a youth's desperate love for a girl. Though it begins as a routine commercial cliche set in a college campus, it takes twists and turns and ends on an interesting note.

Romance always sells. The success of recent flicks like 'Vinnaithandi Varuvaya' proves this point. Keeping this in mind, the filmmaker has opted to go for the theme. More of '7G Rainbow Colony' meeting 'Kadhal Konden', the movie has smart one-liners that evoke instant humour, quite typical of Boopathy Pandian's films.

'Pattalam' fame Balaji plays the male protagonist and newcomer Meghna as his love interest. The latter has some resemblance to Nayantara and carries herself well onscreen. Balaji is cool and comfortable before the lens. He is good in both emotional and comedy sequences. A welcome addition to the set of young heroes who have been making a mark in Tamil cinema.

Equally impressive is Sabesh Bobby who is a refreshing relief from regular set of comedians on screen and brings the roof down with laughter. His body language and dialogue delivery evokes instant laughter.

Giving able hand to the script is Yuvan Shankar Raja's musical score. The songs are peppy and youthful and so are the background score. Na Muthukumar's lyrics oozes with energy and youthfully vibrant. Rana's cinematography is another highlight. It captures the Tiruchy town in fresh and a new colour.

The movie begins with 'Nanu' Prabhu (Balaji) who joins an arts college in Tiruchy. He comes across a final year student Sandhya (Meghna) and is love at first sight for him. They become friends and spend all time together.

Prabhu along with his friend (Bobby) wins the hearts of everyone in the college. When he tries to open his heart out to her, she walks away from him. However Balaji is determined to win her heart. But fate has it that she walks away from him.

Turn of events leads to Prabhu's parents coming to know about his son's affair and ensure that he gets his TC from college and leaves his studies. However Prabhu is still confident of wining her heart. As it happens, the movie ends with a twist.

All said, the movie has been made targeting youngsters and dialogues do help the director achieve it. However a lengthy second half and scenes resembling few earlier films takes away the sheen. The movie is a treat for youngsters.

Boss Engira Baskaran - Middle class romantic comedy

Boss Engira Baskaran’ is a forthcoming film of Red Giant Movies. The film was actually started by Vasan Visual Ventures that produced Bala’s national award winning film ‘Naan Kadavil’. Later actor Arya undertook the film under his home banner ‘The Show People’ even as the film was under production. But in the end ‘Boss Engira Baskaran’ was lapped up in total by Udhayanidhi Stalin of Red Giant Movies.

Rajesh. M of the cute romantic comedy ‘Siva Manasula Sakthi’ is the director of this film. While ‘Siva Manasula Sakthi’ was a city based romance director Rajesh has made his second film a romantic comedy happening mostly in a country back drop, although it travels to city in some parts.

The story is about an ever obliging guy Baskaran (Arya) who is always busy doing odd jobs for other people. In the process he misses a lot of his personal life and doesn’t seem to embark on a useful career. When things almost go out of hand, a no-nonsense young girl Chandrika (Nayantara) enters his life and puts him on right track. A middle class love also blooms on the way.‘Boss Engira Baskaran’ was launched in November 2009 and finished the entire shooting in August 2010. The film was largely shot in locations like Thanjavur, Mysore and Trichy. A major portion was also film in Kumbakonam and a few in Chennai as well. While for the story they remained in and around Tamil Nadu, Rajesh and his team went to Switzerland for the songs. True to Tamil film culture.

The lead artistes’ words “There was not a single moment when we were stressed out,” that vouch for the clean entertainer. Santhanam plays a friend of Arya and that also ensures good comedy in the film.

Music of the film is scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja who gave some great songs in ‘Siva Manasula Sakthi’ with the help of words from Na. Muthukumar. Remember the song ‘Oru kal, oru kannadi udaiyamal modhikondal kadhal’? The same musician-lyricist-director combo is working magic in this film too. The film has five songs.

Yuvan Shankar Raja is composing the musical score of ‘Boss Engira Baskaran’, too. The film has 5 songs all written by Na. Muthukumar.

Other credits for the film are; Cinematographer Sakthi Saravanan, Art Jacki, Editing Vivekharshan, Choreography Dhinesh, Stunt Rajasekar,  Costume Designer Nalini Sriram (Nayantara) and Dheepali (Arya).

‘Boss Engira Baskaran’ is looking for a September release.

Aravaan

Making period movies is no easy task. But filmmakers like Vasanthabalan could be an exemption to this, for he managed to capture even the busy Ranganathan Street with all its liveliness in his last venture ‘Angadi Theru’, which is tougher than making a period film.

Gaining strength from the movie’s success and the appreciations it won from all sides, the former associate of director Shankar has started ‘Aravaan’, a film set in the backdrop of rural Tamil Nadu in the 18th century.

Produced by T Siva of Amma Creations, the film has Aadhi of ‘Mirugam’ and ‘Eeram’ fame in the lead role, with Dhanshika (of ‘Peranmai and ‘Maanja Velu’) and Mollywood import Archana Kavi as heroines.

Pasupathy is playing an all-important negative role in ‘Aravaan’, based on a critically acclaimed novel, while the film marks popular singer Karthik taking the avatar of as a music composer for the first time.

“Aravaan means an all-powerful person, who possesses 32 features in him. He is capable of doing anything. Aadhi is tailor-made for the role since he is the Hrithik Roshan of Tamil cinema,” says Vasanthabalan.

Baana Kaathadi

Expectations ran high for 'Baana Kaathadi' as Atharva, son of popular actor Murali, is making his debut in Kollywood. Thanks to pacy screenplay and the good performance of the lead cast, the movie directed by Badri Venkatesh (a national award winner for one of his short films), ends up as an engrossing fare.

The debutant filmmaker has chosen to do a movie around kite-flying that is considered a passion in some parts of the country. At a time when Madurai has become a preferred destination for movie makers, Badri Venkatesh has narrated the story in a Chennai slum.

His detailing of life in north Chennai is realistic. The director should also be complimented for getting the best from all stars. Equally deserving credits is T G Thiyagarajan's Sathyajothi Films, for 'Baana Kaathadi' is whiff of fresh air among commercial cliches.

Ramesh (Atharva) is a plus two student living in Chennai slum. A passionate kite-flier, for Ramesh his kites are everything in life. He along with his group of friends spends all his time flying it.

Once when he goes running after a 'Rajinikanth' kite that flew off, he comes across Priya (Samantha), a fashion technology student. Interestingly her pen drive gets misplaced and goes with Ramesh.

Severely reprimanded by her college for losing the pen drive which has her project details, Priya manages to trace Ramesh. What begins as ruffled encounters between them ends up in friendship.

Eventually realising that he is in love with her, Ramesh goes to propose Priya. But an unfortunate incident leads to more trouble and Priya decides to leave him and go.

Meanwhile, more trouble awaits Ramesh. He witnesses a murder committed by local goon Ravi (Prasanna). Ravi is a good-natured youth, who warns Ramesh to leave the place and go elsewhere for he had now become a witness to the killing of an ex-MLA. What happens then in his life forms the rest.

Atharva deserves all credit for making a decent opening. He looks comfortable in front of the camera and does the job, that was expected of him, well. Samantha as fashion technology student is there to deliver a good performance. She looks pretty and does have more scenes to perform.

Prasanna as the menacing goon is a scene stealer. Karunaas as Kumar (friend to Atharva in the movie), evokes fun and laughter, while the likes of T P Gajendran and Monica as Atharva’s mother are adequate.

Yuvan Shankar Raja's songs are hummable while his re-recording sets the tone, especially for the kite flying scenes. The seasoned composer seems to have tried variety in terms of music and does bring out one of his best.

Due credit should be given to cinematographer Richard Mahesh, who captures the slums of Chennai well. The kite-flying scenes especially the ones at Gujarat have been canned colourful and catchy. What starts off as a breezy entertainer ends as an emotional pot boiler. 

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