Kettavan – From the Heart of Simbhu

Banner: Simbhu Cine Arts
Production: Silambarasan
Story, screenplay, dialogues and Direction: Silambarasan
Starring: Silambarasan, Genelia D` Souza and Lekha Washington.
Co-starring: Premji, Santhanam, Kamala, Mano Bala, Vinayak and others.
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja. Vallavan didn`t fetch favorable results for Silambarasan and wanting to make a good film, he kick-started with `Kettavan`, a year ago. Earlier, R.Viswanath of Bharathan Films produced the film and half way through the film, on account of some conflicts, Silambarasan undertook the work of producing this film. Of course, he has also eliminated his assistant G.T.Nandu who directed a few scenes in the film, and now Simbhu has decided to direct the film.
In Vallavan, Simbhu had to deal with reflections of his past, about falling in love with a girl and the torture he underwent. Well, in this film, he depicts his real life incidents about his love affair with actress Nayanthara and the break-up in reel life!
With none of the leading actresses accepting the offer of being paired with Simbhu, TV anchor Lekha Washington took up the challenge. It is not certain, whether she is still there in the film or not as the buzz states that Simbhu has got rid of her from the film.Rumours say that Genelia D Souza has replaced Lekha.in the lead role.
Vijay Milton, well-acclaimed for his cinematography in films like `Kadhal` handles the camera. Like always, in Simbhu`s flick, there are no prizes for guessing who’s composing the music! The music director is Yuvan Shankar Raja, yet again. Both Simbhu and Yuvan are already through with the recording, and the composing took place in Bangkok. Lyrics have been penned by Vaali and Na. Mutthu Kumar.
Brindha, Kalyan, Robert and Yaasin are the choreographers while Stun Siva handles the stunts.

Aegan – An Ultimate Entertainer

Banner: Ayangaran Films International
Production: London Karunaas
Direction: Raju Sundaram
Star-casts: Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara, Navdeep, Nasser, Suhasini, Suman and many others.
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Well, Aegan is the remake of the Hindi blockbuster Sharuk Khan starrer Mein Hoon Na. We are sure, this might be a well known fact for all, especially to diehard fans of ultimate star Ajith Kumar. Etymological meaning of Aegan is not God but a person.
Ajith appears in different get-ups as a serious undercover agent and a student. Ajith comes in Saddam Hussain get up in the initial sequences of the film and later with college ambience; he would come up with looks of stylish sleek get-up. Ajith is in strict diet to look youthful and slim for the role of the student.
Many of the actresses were considered to do the role of Susmitha Sen but finally Nayanthara was found suitable. Earlier, it was Bipasha Basu and then Katrina Kaif and these missies couldn’t sign up due to busy shooting schedules with Bollywood projects.
It is learnt that much will be talked about the duo Raju Sundaram and Ajith once this film is released. Normally there would be no sense of humor in Ajith’s film but this film has heavy dosages of humor. Ajith has shown keen interest in comedy in this film. Thanks to Crazy Mohan who has penned the lines for the comedy.
Navdeep is acting as a brother to Ajith and the resemblance of the brothers seems to be so natural.
Ajith commented that this film is so cute. This film has an action scene which was shot in Hong Kong. Two songs will also be shot in France. Ajith had gone to France for the recent Cannes Film Festival and was so impressed by the locations there. He had informed about this to the director and also made necessary arrangements for the shooting.
Shooting for the film would be soon completed and film will hit the screens by first week of September.
Ajith will take a two months break after completion of Aegan. His next venture will be a film produced by Shivaji Productions and directed by Gowtham Menon. Sameera Reddy will pair with him in this movie.
Ajith will also act in a film jointly produced by Warner Brother of Hollywood and Ocher Productions of Soundarya Rajnikanth. Buzzes are that it is a sequel to Billa and director for the film is yet to be confirmed…

Banner: Aascar Films
Production: V.Ravichandran
Story, screenplay, dialogues and direction: Gowtham Menon
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography: Rathnavelu
Editing: Antony
Following the grand success of Kaakha Kaakha, the duo combo of Gowtham and Suriya are joining hands once again for the film Vaaranam Aayiram. Well, as you all know he played the role of a cop in the film and in Vaaranam Aayiram, you will see him in the role of a Naval Officer. The film is about the bonding between father and son, while a parallel story revolves around a man’s life from the age of 14 to 64.
As in all of the Gowtham`s flicks, the story is simple but the delivery is powerful. One can expect the same in Vaaranam Ayiram- an action-thriller with loads of twists and turns. The film also sounds lively and youthful.
Actress Divya and Simran star opposite Suriya in the female lead roles. Are you wondering how Simran is pairing up with Suriya? The reason is simple: Suriya plays a double role in the film.
Gowtham`s directorial expertise ensures meaty roles for the actresses, unlike most films. The magic of Gowtham Menon and Harris Jayaraj working together is visible. All the songs have turned out well, and some have already been released ( illegally, of course) on the Internet. Shooting for the film is comple and post production work is in process. With the film slated to hit the screens by next month, the buzz is, that the audio will be launched by end of this month.
Rajeevan, the most fabulous art director, has decorated the shooting sets for this film and you may remember him for the beautiful wood house he erected, on the back waters in the film Kaakha Kaakha. Antony, who is Gowthami’s favorite, handles editing, while Rathnavelu has cranked the camera (He is the cinematographer for Shankar`s Robot too)

Poi Solla Poram – Dawn of the New Line

Banner: Four Frames and UTV
Producers: Ronnie Screwala and Director Priyadarshan
Starring: Karthik Kumar, Piyaa, Mouli, Nasser, Nedumudi Venu, Bosky and many others.
Music: M.G.Kumar
Cinematography: Aravind Krishna
Vijay who directed Kireedom has directed his second film Poi Solla Poram
Veteran director Priyadarshan is producing the first Tamil film under his banner Four Frames. This is a joint venture with UTV.
Karthik Kumar who had earlier acted in films like Vaanam Vasapaddum and Kanda Naal Mudhal is doing the lead role. He had acted also in small roles like American bride etc. In this film his role will be of a strong character,
Preethi is doing the female lead role. She had been selected by the director of this film who was walking in Mumbai. He felt she was apt for the role.
Nedumudi who acted in Anniyan and Indian is doing a pivotal role in this film. His action will be acclaimed by the critics.
Nasar in this film is like the second hero. He is doing a meaty role of a comical villain. His role will be talked much more then the film Magalir Mattum when this film releases.
Mouli, Haneefa, Bosky, Delhi Ganesh,Balaji,Justin and new face Umar are also in the cast.
This film is based on the crisis faced by the middle income group in a serious manner. But the audience will enjoy this comically.
Vijay was applauded by his mentor Priyadarshan for completing this film in a record time of 33 days in and around Chennai.
Arvind Krishna has wielded the camera for this film. Popular Malayalam film music composer M.G.Kumar has composed the tunes to the lyrics penned by Na Muthukumar
Seven Arts, Vijayakumar who jointly produced Kuselan with Kavithalaya, is the production executive of this film.
Priyadarshan has been appreciated by the directors for producing a film on par with Manirathnam and Shankar.

Trisha and Shriya in Marmayogi

Wow! The hot missy girls are finally shoring on for a big project. Pursuit of heroines for the film `Marmayogi` started all the way soon much before the release of Dasavatharam. Hema Malini was the first one to be signed in for the project while the rumors about other heroines getting in where published. But, Kamal Haasan had his hopes dashed with most of the leading heroines refusing his offer including Bollywood`s Kajol and Shriya Charan. Finally, Trisha was roped into the project signing her call sheet for continuous 100 days and Shriya has confirmed. Shooting for the film will hit the floors of Sweden by next month and Kamal Haasan is in talks with other heroines too. Rest of the star-casts and crewmembers would be soon specified. A.R.Rahman has started composing background score to the film as well working parallel on Rajnikanth`s Endhiran.

Film fest: Louis Malle retrospective

A festival of Louis Malle’s films will be held from September 15th to 19th, at 6:30 p.m. This festival is an Alliance Francaise of Madras endeavour in association with NDTV and ICA Foundation. The film fest will be inaugurated in a grand function to be held on September 15th at South Indian Film Chamber Theatre. The eminent guests who will attend this function include Marie-Paule Serre, director of Alliance Francaise; Mr. Kannan, president of ICAF; Mr. T.S. Rajagopalan, vice-president of Finance, Sundaram-Clayton Ltd; Rohini, cine artiste; and Mr. Sriram, eminent writer and film critic.
Louis Malle was a French film director who worked both in English and French. An incredibly talented filmmaker, he had the capacity to present the vagaries of life in a succinct and appealing manner. His films explored the “methods of the society”, briging out on the silver screen what life meant to various people. But it does not take high discerning capacity to understand his ideas. His films are based on dark truths of everyday happenings of life, simple and succinct, but effective.
The Itinerary:
September 15th: Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle’s first film) is a well-made murder mystery in which a woman wants to kill her husband, for which she connives with her lover.
September 16th: In The Lovers, the life of a fashion-obsessed and materialistic woman changes forever when she meets a simple and non-hypocritical man.
September 17th: The Fire Within is a striking tale about a depressed man who withdraws from a suicide attempt to meet his old friends one last time in an attempt to find out if there is any reason to continue living at all. September 18th: Goodbye Children is about the life of a Jewish boy living under a false identity in a Jew-hating society.
September 19th: Zazie in the metro will take you for a trip down the memory lane, when you longed to travel in train. The film showcases life through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl, forced to spend her weekend with her uncle so that her mother could be with her boyfriend. Zazie tries to realize her long-cherished dream of travelling on the metro this weekend, but it is on a strike. Her reactions to the situation form the crux of the film.

New Genres, New surprises

For me and you, who ever yearned to watch good films with different and innovative themes, it`s a happy time now. Be it Bollywood or Kollywood: at present, none of the films are really made noteworthy. An itching C-Rated comedy films in Hindi that breaks your heads and annoying masala films in Tamil. But here comes, the new generation of directors who are swaying down with new themes assuring that Indian Cinema would surely attain greater heights in the international standard. Be with Khans and Kumars ruling in Bollywood, here came one fine director venturing with a first ever film based on Rock Music titled `Rock On`. The film is about group of youngsters organizing a rock band and seeking for great opportunity. They have no great exposure and keep playing in local for Navarathri festivals and finally they make it big. It`s not about their intelligence of scoring excellent music, but a great sort of unity they possess among themselves is what the film highlights about. `A Wednesday` directed by debutant Neeraj is really a masterpiece. Yeah! This has taken me to the complete surprise of how worst were the other senior directors, since none of they picked up such a great appealing them. This film is about an unrecorded event in the history that affected a lot for those who were involved in it. The event takes place between 2 – 6 P.M. on one fine Wednesday where a police officer (Anupam Kher) receives a phone call from anonymous caller (Naseerudin Shah) that four militants have to be released or else bombs planted by him at various places in Mumbai would be shattering down. The most shocking twist in the film is that 4 militants are in no way related to the anonymous caller. And come to Kollywood: We have our finest Director Venkat Prabhu, perhaps we feel entitling him as `The Best Trendsetting Director of Tamil Cinema`. How can a man churn out consecutive hits with new genres that has no A-rated star-casts and really it`s a great talent. Chennai 600028 and Saroja…. So, what the earlier generation of directors hasn`t done has been achieved by young energetic filmmakers…

Can Paruthiveeran be remade?

It takes lots of boldness in remaking a masterpiece and probably, we believe `Paruthiveeran` of that sort. The film made with the shooting schedule for more 290 days isn`t something easy to carry on and the hard work of entire team had its result. The film has been winning rave reviews across the globe for the astonishment. Starting from local award to the international standard, the film has many felicitations. Now, `Collection King` of Telugu Box-Office wants to remake the film in Telugu with his son Vishnu playing lead role. But, Director Ameer hasn`t responded to his call for he is quite busy shooting for Yogi…