Rajini Hospitalized and Discharged

Earlier in the day during the first shoots of Raana, Rajini had to be  admitted at the intensive care unit (ICU) at St. Isabel Hospital,Mylapore,Chennai on Friday (April 29, 2011) after suffering dehydration and exhaustion. Later was discharged in the evening.

Rajini who was doing ‘Muhurat Shot’ in AVM Studios for his upcoming film ‘Rana’ earlier on the same day started throwing up in the set. The actor was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was treated and remained under observation of doctors for a few hours .

Speaking to the reporters, Super Stars  wife Latha said, the actor is doing good and doctors have advised him to take rest for a couple of days.

Also Dhanush who tweeted to the rajini fans few hours back said “He is perfectly ok. Just dehydration. Nothing to worry at all. He will be home tonight itself!“

Karthi to marry Ranjani on July 3

Karthi - Ranjani

To break the million hearts of his female fans, Karthi, Kollywood’s most eligible bachelor, is all set to tie the knot on the 3rd July this year. His parents actor Sivakumar and Lakshmi Sivakumar who were on hunting for a suitable girl finally found the bride. They have announced the marriage officially today.

Karthi who had a great Kollywood career with all his releases(‘Paruthi Veeran’, ‘Ayirathil Oruvan’, ‘Paiyaa’, ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’and ‘Siruthai’) going on to become hits will marry Ranjani, a MA Literature gold medalist who is an alumnus of Stella Maris College in Chennai. She is the daughter of Erode Chinnasamy and Jothi Meenakshi.

The actor will enter wedlock with Ranjani in a grand manner on July 3, this year.

KO Movie Review – A Summer Treat

KO MOVIE REVIEW

Cast: Jeeva, Ajmal Ameer, Karthika Nair, Piaa Bajpai, Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Rao
Production: Kumar, Jayaraman
Direction: K.V.Anand
Music: Harris Jayaraj
Cinematography: Richard Nathan
Editing: Anthony

K.V. Anand – Jeeva duo has come up with a brisk summer entertainer ‘KO’, which has everything from action, adventure, humour, political gymnastics and romance to satisfy all kinds of audience.

Kudos to director K.V Anand, the former photo journalist who has handled the complicated working nature of the journalists in an interesting manner with enough twists and turns. His own experiences in his previous career has come really handy.

STORY LINE

Ko is the story of the entwined lives of an adventurous, honest, astute photo journalist Ashwin (Jeeva) and an aspiring young politician Vasanthan Perumal(Ajmal). Ashwin happens to be a a photo journalist with the Dina Anjal Tamil daily, and is the sought-after lensman in his newspaper for his images speak a thousand words and bring awareness. He is literally trampled on by Renuka Narayanan (Karthika), the chief reporter for Dina Anjal, who has been newly transferred from Madurai.  There’s also bubbly Saro (Piaa Bajpai), who happens to be another reporter, and has a soft spot for Ashwin.

Vasanthan Perumal is a symbol of modern Indian youth who believes in clean politics. He is the embodiment of all that is necessary to turns politics around but he lacks public support and finances

There’s Alavandhan (Kota Sreenivasa Rao), leader of the opposition party, who washes his hands discretely with dettol once he touched a baby, and tries to marry a 13-year old because his horoscope predicts a great future if he does.

Then there is a power-lust Chief Minister Yogeswaran (Prakashraj), who sets the ball rolling.

A battle begins in Tamil Nadu as Assembly elections are announced. It becomes a direct war between Chief Minister Yogeswaran and opposition leader Alavandan As typical politicians, as they are portrayed, they do everything under the sun to come to power.

Ashwin, impressed with Vasanthan’s ethics, begins to do everything he can to throw the spotlight on his newfound friend, and a third force led by Vasanthan emerges as the front-runner. Fellow journalists Renuka and Saroalso get sucked into Vasanthan’s political aspirations and election campaigns.

Of course, just when it seems like everything might fall into place, disaster strikes. At an election rally of Vasanthan, a bomb goes off killing Saro. Vasanthan goes on to win the polls.

Now the onus falls on Ashwin and Renuka to find the real culprits behind the attack. Get ready to watch an unpredictable climax.

CAST REVIEW

Jeeva stands out as Ashwin. He looks a typical photojournalist. He’s had a ball with the camera, clicking shots in almost impossible situations and making sure his trademark effervescence is present at all times. His body language and dialogue delivery are worth a watch. An intense performar, Jeeva pulls it off with ease.

Ajmal is equally good. He is a perfect choice to play an aspiring politician – his looks, build and dialogue delivery elevates the character he plays. In fact, his role clocks in almost as many minutes as Jeeva’s himself.

Its Piaa, however, who happens to be the surprise package. She does the part of the bubbly enthusiast well.

The same goes for the striking Karthika, yesteryear actress Radha’s daughter. She brings out the nuances needed for the role well. With her dark eyes and well-made up face, she displays a confidence in front of the camera that makes you forget she’s debuting in Tamil.

The veterans Prakash Raj and Kota Srinivasa Rao have played their part well. You wish they had been given more screen space.

Harris Jayaraj’s numbers are already chartbusters but Yennamo Yedho is obviously the pick of the lot.

Yennamo Yedho, Amali Thumali and Venpaniya songs are visual treats from cinematographer Richard.

POSITIVE POINTS

The film making is nearly flawless and excels in places where he brings in slice of life incidents to invoke humor. The events that hold the film together are fresh and albeit a straight forward story, it offers some interesting twists and turns that makes the audience eager for more.

Jeeva’s acting – once again proves that he is a versatile actor.

Dialogues are one of the strong points in the film. Writer duo Suba have come up with the screenplay in conjunction with the director, as well the dialogues. And to give credit where it’s due, much of it sparkles with wit, humour and targets today’s issues straight on the head.

Harris Jayaraj is another hero. His smooth and catchy tunes coupled with racy background score peps up the proceedings.

Editor Anthony is the star, though: the shots flip by at amazing speed or linger as necessary, and he’s shown an instinctive understanding of them which helps the story.

NEGATIVE POINTS

The narration of the film is a bit slow and at times you do, feel that the placement of some of the numbers hamper proceedings, making the audience impatient for the scenes to resume.

Though K V Anand’s screenplay moves swiftly during the first half, courtesy the dialogues, it lags slightly in the second.

Cinematic liberties are allowed but the director has slightly overdone it. The very beginning where Jeeva does somersaults in his bike to capture photos is an overdose of cinematic liberty.

VERDICT

K.V Anand has proved his mettle again coming with intense thrillers with great detailing. The deadlines, pressure and the desire to break out new stories that is driving the scribes, are well captured. The film manages to do one very crucial thing: it evokes your sentiments. You feel empathy, rage, helplessness, and triumph at every step of the way with the journalists. The twist in climax is the biggest plus.

KO – A Summer Treat!!!

Rajini unhappy with Deepikas non-ethnic looks for Rana

Of late, Superstar Rajinikanth has been spotted at public events with a majestic moustache that has added to his ‘looks’ for sure! Rajini’s moustache has been especially grown for one of his triple roles in his upcoming film ‘Rana’ which is to be directed by K.S. Ravikumar.  It’s very well known that Rajini and Ravikumar have together delivered colossal hits such as ‘Muthu’ and ‘Padaiyappa’ in the past.

The script of the film, which is said to be occurring in the 17th century, necessitates erection of huge and grand sets for which work is presently going in in the AVM studios. The story is reportedly based on a one-liner narrated by Rajini to Ravikumar. Both are busy preparing the script, it is learnt. Major portions of the fillm would be shot in England and various countries in the Europe, it is reported. ‘Rana’ would be simultaneously shot in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, it is informed.

Bollywood’s Deepika Padukone has so far been confirmed as Rajini’s heroines in the film, which is likely to feature six other heroines in significant roles. Deepika has already started brushing up her martial art skills including sword-fighting and is also reportedly learning bharatanatyam (the classical dance form) and Sanskrit, 

The photo-shoot involving Rajini and Deepika was held very secretly in Chennai a fortnight back. Rajini, though, is said to be somewhat ‘dissatisfied’ after seeing the photographs as he felt that the ‘ethnic’ look was badly missing in Deepika’s make-up. He is said to have insisted on the make-up artistes to bring the ‘ethnic’ look in Deepika’s outfits and facial appearance to suit her role in the film.

Stone-pelting incident urges Vijay to enter Politics

Ilayathapathy Vijay’s fans are obviously upset at the stone-pelting incident which took place at the actor’s house few days back(Read More…). The house, belonging to Vijay, has been rented out to music director Vijay Antony. Miscreants threw stones at the house, sending painc among the in-mates of the house and creating wide-spread irritation among the actor’s fan-base.

Vijay was widely expected to take the plunge into the world of politics during the just-concluded elections to the State Assembly. As a prelude to entering politics, Vijay had held ectensive discussions with the members of his fans’ clubs. Bowing to consensus among fans, Vijay announced that the People’s Movement founded by Vijay would soon be converted into a political outfit. He even organized a public meeting in Nagapattinam to condemn the frequent attacks on Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy.

Yet, he soon backtracked on his decision even as his fans believed that his outfit would enter into ‘electoral understanding’ with the opposition AIADMK alliance. Instead, Vijay announced that his movement would be campaigning in favour of ‘Amma’ and that his father SAC would lead the campaign on his behalf.

The news that the house attacked belonged to Vijay was enough to spread unrest among his fans. Many organizers of those Fan Clubs have been urging him now to take the plunge into politics and ‘not delay it’ any further.

Vijay, meanwhile, is said to be consulting with his family and close circle of friends about his next mov(i)e!

Surya says No to Tapasee and OK to Kajal Aggarwal

Actress Kajal Aggarwal is likely to be cast opposite Suriya’sheroine in his next film after A.R. Murugadoss’s ‘Ezhaam Arivu’, sources close to the actor say. The film is likely to be directed by cinematographer-turned-director K.V. Anand, whose ‘Ko’ hit the screens yesterday.

It is said that though Meghna Raj (of ‘Kaadhal Solla Vandhaen’ fame) was considered initially as Suriya’s heroine, the latter didn’t evince much interest in her.

When Tapasee, Samantha and Kajal Aggarwal were mentioned to Suriya, he is said to have asked his director to try to rope in Deepika Padukone, who is set for her Tamil debut opposite Rajini in ‘Rana’. After Deepika demanded around Rs.6 crores to star in the film, the choice has now fallen on Kajal Aggarwal after Suriya had strictly said ‘no’ to starring opposite Tapasee, it is learnt.

Readers might recall that Kajal played opposite Suriya’s younger brother and actor Karthi in ‘Naan Mahaan Alla’ late last year and if she is finalized for Suriya’s new film, she would be following Tamannaah, who too has starred opposite both the brothers.

The last time Anand and Suriya came together, they created a box-office record with ‘Ayan’. As such, expections have only gone up this time for the film which is produced by Kalpathi Agoram’s AGS Entertainment.

Sreesanth to marry Riya Sen ????

Sreesanth to marry Riya Sen ????

Young Indian fast bowler Sreesanth’s parents have been constantly pressurizing the cricketer to tie the knot as early as possible and as a result, Sreesanth too has decided to fulfil his parents’ wishes!

According to the latest buzz, Sreesanth has decided to marry Bollywood actressRiya Sen, whom he has been dating for a while now. Reportedly, Riya and Sreesanth came closer while doing a commercial for a jewellery brand.

However, Sreesanth has denied the rumour of his affair with Riya Sen. “I am not seeing Riya Sen. There is no romance between us. We have been hanging around together and I enjoy her company, but only as a friend,” Sreesanth said. Riya also rubbished the rumours on her Twitter page, saying that Sreesanth is “just a good friend”.

Notably, Riya, from the famous Sen family of Kolkatta, was spotted supporting Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) at the DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai, on April 13, instead of supporting her home team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). It is said that the ‘Sreesanth factor’ had drawn her to support the Tuskers.

Riya Sen made a sensational entry in Kollywood with ace Bharathi Raja’s Taj Mahal and she has also acted in a few Malayalam films, including Santhosh Sivan’s Anandhabadram.

Vivekh turns Phsyco while M.S. Bhaskar tests villain

It could be unbelievable but it’s true: ace comedians Vivekh and M.S. Baskar are playing roles with ‘grey’ shades in their upcoming films. It’s a mere coincidence that both the films of the stars are currently under various stages of production and have them playing the ‘negative’ roles for the first time in their respective careers.

Baskar plays a typical, conventional villain (with big, scary moustache) opposite RK in director P. Vasu’s upcoming venture titled ‘Puli Vesham’ which has the picture-perfect Sadaa as the female lead. Vivek, on the other hand, would play a ‘psychopath’ in a yet-to-be-titled film by debutant director Anbuchezhiyan.

Vivekh (not Vivek) says that he wanted to do something ‘different’ from the usual comedy stuff he has been for more than two decades now. “The script narrated to me by Anbuchezhiyan was very nice and inspired me to take up the role of a ‘psycho’ for the sake of doing ‘different’ roles. After all, life has to have some changes here and there from the usual routine, isn’t it?” asks Vivekh.

For Baskar, who played the priest in Prakashraj’s ‘Payanam’ and managed to strike an emotional cord with the audience, his role in ‘Pulivesham’, it was a challenge to play a full-fledged villain. “I had played good roles in ‘Mozhi’ and ‘Irumbukottai…’ but I felt that playing a villain would give me a chance to prove my versatility and took up the role,” opines Baskar.

One of the leading directors in Kollywood, however, fear that it might not work. On condition of anonymity, he remarked that “Comedians turning villains has happened before but they have failed because people basically view them as comedians, irrespective of their novel and new attempt. Yet, Vivekh and Baskar deserve appreciation for their courage,” he said.

Kamal to release audio of dubbed ‘Maaveeran’

Udhayanidhi’s Red Giant Movies has acquired the dubbing and distribution rights of the Telugu superhit ‘Magadheera’. The film, which stars Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan Teja and Kajal Aggarwal in lead roles, was the blockbuster movie of last year and broke many box-office records in Andhra.

The Tamil-dubbed version has been given the title of ‘Maaveeran’, a film of the same name which starred Rajini (it was his home production too) and released in the late eighties. Usually, no function to mark the audio-launchs of dubbed movies are held in Kollywood; but Udhayanidhi is planning a grand one to release this movie.

The audio was to be relesed by superstar Rajinikanth himself but due to the ‘faux pas’ which occurred during the time of casting of vote of by the star and the events which followed soon after has reportedly made him undergo a change of heart and he has told the organizers that he won’tbe attending the function. It could also be that Rajini wanted to avoid media-persons at the event who might ask him in detail as to what transpired on the polling day.

Kamal Haasan has now stepped into Rajini’s shoes and agreed to release the audio. The function would also be attended by Chiranjeevi, ace director Maniratnam and some other VVIPs in Kolywood and is likely to be held on 24th April (Sunday).

Vazhakku Enn 18/9 from Balaji Sakthivel

In 2002 – Samurai

2 Years break

In 2004 – kaadhal

3 Years break

In 2007 – Kallori

4 Years Break

In 2011 – ?

hmm.. Balaji Sakthivel is gearing up with the final touches of ‘Vazhakku Enn 18/9’ a ‘teenage Love thriller’, an yet another flick where his cast see more of new comers in Mithun, Sri ,Urmila and Manisha as he lead.

Vazhakku Enn 18/9 will be Produced by Lingusamy’s Tirupathi Brothers, cinematographer Vijay Milton’s has made an unique attempt to shoot the movie with Canon EOS 7D digital camera,(an 18.0 effective megapixel Advanced Photo System type-C, also an affordable alternative to digital cinema cameras).While Joshua Sridhar scored for his last two films, might not be a surprise if he is replaced with guitarist Prasanna.

Ameer questions Vaigaipuyal Vadivelu

Director-actor Ameer has come down heavily on the derogatory political campaign indulged in by comedian Vadevelu prior to the just concluded elections to the State Assembly. Vadivelu, campaigning on behalf of the ruling front in the State, took to task Vijaykanth and his style of ‘functioning’ at each and every public meeting of his, commenting at will about the actor-turned-politician.

In an interview to a leading regional weekly, Ameer has said, “Collecting crowds is not a big deal in our State….crowds throng the place whether it’s a Temple car festival or a funeral procession…Our people have this irresistible culture of crowding up at any place to observe what’s happening. It is, therefore, not a big thing that people thronged Vadivelu’s election meetings.

“Vavivelu, Singamuthu and Senthil managed to draw crowds mainly due to the curiosity factor. If Vadivelu questions the ‘Captain’ title of Vijaykanth, can he explain how the title of ‘Vaigaipuyal’ is justified as a prefix to his own name? What calamity did this ‘Puyal’ (storm) inflict on men and properties? Again, giving title to politicians and filmstars is an unwanted but  inseparaple trait of the Tamil culture.

“Vadivelu is apprehensive that Amma might stage a comeback and that’s why he is not saying anything about her. Even a child can see through his mind,” said Ameer.