Keerthi to debut in malayalam.............

Mammootty's Rafi Mecartin directed Love in Singapore, has changed its title to Love in Bangkok. The shooting which was scheduled to start on October 9 in Singapore has also been shifted to Bangkok.

The Mumbai model Keerthi Kulhari plays Diana who works for a software company but falls in love with Machu played by Mammootty .

Earlier Keerthi had been the model for various brands including the Taj Mahal tea with Saif Ali Khan.

MHM films are producing the film which will be distributed by Vaisakha films. Love in Bangkok is slated for release on January 23, 2009.

Suresh Gopi in a Telugu movie.........

Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi is equally popular in Andhra Pradesh. His dubbed movies like Police Commissioner set the cash registers ringing.

The top actor of Malayalam film industry has signed a straight Telugu movie for a new production company. This company which is already a well-known name in the field of movie distribution is making its foray into film production and has roped in Suresh Gopi for a main role in their maiden production.

Although Suresh Gopi is not the lead hero, he has crucial role to play and a top actress in Telugu films is playing the lead role. A new director who assisted directors like Chandrasekhar Yeleti is turning director.

Since Suresh Gopi is doing the role, it would definitely make the film hot among the trade circles as it is his straight Telugu movie. This is his second or third straight Telugu film. Earlier he was seen in Krishnam Raju starrer Antima Teerpu.

Biggies to fight..............

Now here's one week everyone's looking forward to. After a string of low-cost and medium-budget fares making a mark in the holy month of Ramzan, let's get ready to embrace the biggies, starting this week. All eyes are on Kidnap and Drona. For various reasons.

Kidnap is crucial for director Sanjay Gadhvi and his actor, Imran Khan.

Gadhvi makes his first film outside Yash Raj and naturally, people are expecting big returns from Gadhvi's new outing. Will Kidnap be as successful as Dhoom and Dhoom 2?

Kidnap is also an acid test for Imran Khan, who has been cast in a role that's in sharp contrast to the one in Jaane Tu..Ya Jaane Na.

Will it work? Will Imran stand up to a giant like Sanjay Dutt?

Similarly, Drona is crucial for Abhishek Bachchan and Goldie Behl. Abhishek has had a string of flops after Guru.

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag, produced by Yash Raj, have proved supreme disasters at the box-office, while Sarkar Raj met with average success in Mumbai-Maharashtra and South. Elsewhere, it was a flop.

Since Drona rides on Abhishek's shoulders, it'll be interesting to see if the actor pulls in the audiences in its opening four-day weekend. Also, Goldie Behl has to prove his abilities after he failed the test in Bas Itna Sa Khwab Hai. Thursday, October 2 holds the answers!

Vidya got a new teacher...........

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan is doing every bit that she can to deliver her best in Vishal Bharadwaj's Ishqiya. For this, she even joined a 10-day workshop with her co-star Naseeruddin Shah.

"The character that Vidya is playing in Ishqiya is very complex and difficult to enact. Vidya thought that the way to emote the character on screen was best learnt from Naseeruddin Shah because the veteran actor is a master at it," a source close to the actress said.

"She was ecstatic to be discussing cinema with the master himself. Though they ended up discussing the film and cinema at length instead of doing a serious workshop, Vidya treasures the experience and is looking forward to working with the actor in the film," added the source.

Vidya, who stars opposite Arshad Warsi in the film, is not only taking lessons from Naseer but also also underwent classes to speak the typical Uttar Pradesh dialect during those 10 days.

"Vidya was just not familiar with the native that kind of Hindi. She mastered it by getting a teacher," said the source.

Mohanlal to perform 10 stage shows in Europe........

Ace superstar Mohanlal will lead a team of film personalities on a month long European trip staging 10 shows.

"We are leaving Wednesday night from Chennai and would be in England, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany," said the superstar in the midst of his practice session.

The show is being organised by the Parayil Group and has been named as 'Mohanlal's Daily Delight'. The other stars accompanying him include Mukesh, Jagadeesh, Vineeth, Swaraj Venjaramoodu, Jyothirmayi and Lakshmi Gopalswami.

"There will be five stage shows in England and one each in other countries and it would be more music oriented and comedy," said Mohanlal.

The first show would be in Manchester on Oct 5 and the last one on Oct 26 in Germany.

"While from Germany, Mukesh and myself will move on to Dubai to stage a play 'Chhayamukhi', the others will return," added Mohanlal.

It would be refreshing for the superstar to return to England where his recent film "Akashagopuram" was fully shot earlier this year.

Row continues over new releases

The row following the decision of the producers of ‘Mayabazaar’ and ‘Kurukshetra' to release the movies at maximum centres have reached a new turnaround with representatives of Film Exhibitors Federation demanding full refund of advance collected from them. The federation which is the association of 'A' class centers is against the wide releases strategies of the recent movies as they believe, it will affect their revenues.

The federation holds the view that there is no justification for the producers and distributors of both the movies, as they have already collected more than a crore as advance from exhibitors under the federation.

The emergency meeting of the federation held on Monday decided not to screen the movies if the producers and distributors increase the number of release centers for the Ramzan movies. The producers of these superstar movies meanwhile are going ahead with their decision to release the movies in maximum release stations in the State.

They have the support from, the Kerala Cine Exhibitors' Association, which is the association of ‘B’ and 'C' class theatres in the State, who have decided to screen both ‘Kurukshetra’ and ‘Mayabazaar’ in maximum centers. According to them, ‘Mayabazaar’ would be released at least in nearly 80 centers while the film ‘Kurukshetra’ will be shown in about 60 cinema theatres under the association.

Another round of meeting is being called for today to reach a final decision on the issue. If the federation of exhibitors and distributors will end up in an amicable solution then both these big budget movies may get into more than hundred centers, tomorrow for Ramzan.

Again war of two beuties...........

Its clash time again for the two beauties.

On one side is the dusky Priyanka Chopra who is back to avenge the destiny's decision to hand over the title of flop to her last big budget futuristic flick and regain her lost ground with 'Drona'.

On the other side stand the cute, talented and the latest bikini girl of B-Town Minissha Lamba.

The girl who is considered to be good enough because of her potential to be included in the top league of B-Town beauties in the future and who is on a high after the success of 'Bachana Aaye Hasino'.

It was on August 15 that 'God Tussi Great Ho' having Priyanka as the leading lady and 'Bachana Aaye Hasino' having Minissha as one of the heroines hit the big screens.

While the film of Salman Khan sank without a trace, 'BAH' went up the popularity charts.

Now the time has come again for two films of Priyanka and Minissha to face each other as 'Drona' and 'Kidnap' will be releasing this Friday.

This time it is impossible to side with either of the two movies as each has its own strong points and is totally different from each other except the common factor of some edge of the seat action sequences.

Let's wait and watch the verdict of the decisive Friday.

Arjun has conquered new heights

Arjun Rampal has finally made it.

No, it's not about any new award that has been presented to the hunk, but a recommendation by Amitabh Bachchan to give Arjun a prominent role in a forthcoming movie.

Now is there anything else that this actor who was labeled as an wooden performer by the critics long back need to ask for when the living legend and the biggest of the stars has given his appreciation in the form of the suggestion of his name.

It is now known around in the Bollywood that Big B was highly impressed with Arjun's perfect portrayal of the guitarist in 'Rock On' and 'The Last Lear' in which the former supermodel shared the screen with Amitabh doing the role of a film director.

Arjun will be playing Big B's son in the movie titled as 'Kunal Avadana' to be financed by AB Corp and Anil Ambani's Reliance group.

In the film Amitabh Bachchan will play the role of Emperor Ashoka and Arjun Rampal will portray the role of the ruler's son Veera Kunal.

The period flick to be directed by Dr.Chadraprakash Dwivedi tells the story of the relationship between the emperor and his son.

'Haji Mastan' is coming back.............

Malik with his restrained yet powerful mode of speaking, highly expressive eyes and the lips stylishly holding the cigarette intact as he speaks is still fresh in our minds.

The don from the blockbuster 'Company' could not have become such a high impact character if it was not Ajay Devgan who had done it.

A character which can be another feather in the crown of this wonderful Bollywood actor is in the pipeline.

Ajay has been fixed for the role inspired from the life of the late Mumabi gangster Haji Mastan in a movie about the underworld of the city in the 80s.

The film titled as 'Once Upon A Time In Mumbai' to be directed by Milan Luthria will be produced by Ekta Kapoor and Suniel Shetty.

The director and the producers were adamant on having Ajay Devgan for the role of Haji Mastan as they felt his physical characteristics matched that of the don perfectly.

It is heard that Ajay and Milan Luthria share a fantastic rapport as they know each other for a very long time and because of Ajay being the hero of Milan's debut film- 'Kachche Dhaage' and another film 'Chori Chori'.

The real life based role when narrated is said to have impressed the versatile actor so much that he made the decision immediately to take up the character and be part of the gangster movie.

The story of the movie takes place at a time when Haji Mastan and Varadharajan Mudhaliar ruled the underworld of Mumbai and Dawood Ibrahim was still a young ambitious gangster.

Emraan Hashmi will be playing the character of Dawood Ibrahim.

Akshay starts singing..............

Everyone among the Bollywood buffs is waiting eagerly for the release of 'Chandini Chowk To China', the next offering from the dynamic performer Akshay Kumar.

Going by the visuals released by the makers of the film for the film's promotion, the movie looks visually extremely stunning.

For the die hard fans of Akki, other than all the elements that give shape to the formula of a balanced typical Khiladi movie providing wholesome full blown entertainment and which has made Akshay one of the top most stars of B-Town, there is one additional exiting ingredient to look forward to.

Akki will be giving life to a full song which will be used as the title track.

So we can assume that the dare devil of B-Town has build up enough confidence to go to the next level in singing after his attempt in doing a rap number with snoop dog in 'Sing Is King'.

The famous pop group "Rhythm Dhol Bass" will be associating with Akshay in his attempt to sing the song.

'Chandini Chowk To China' will be getting to the cinema halls next year and the song will be recorded by the B-Town star in October.

‘Anjathey’ Ajmal denies reports

Ajmal announced his arrival as a name to reckon with in Kollywood by his breakthrough performance as ‘Kiruba’ in ‘Anjathey’.

He is currently busy with the film ‘TN 07 AL 4777’. His other ventures include a romantic comedy film to be directed by Nandini and produced by Satyam Cinemas, the filming for which would start on October 10th and another film to be directed by Venkat, an associate of Director Saran, which would start in January.

Rumors were going around that the actor refrained from the divulgence of his conjugal status and about a toddler of his own. Ajmal, dismissing those statements, said that “There is absolutely no truth in it. It is thoroughly needless to conceal my marital life. However, it’s true that a producer wanted me not to disclose about it, but I never agreed to such demands.”

The actor currently contemplates his projects in Tamil and has turned down the offers from Malluwood.

Genelia on a denial mode

Genelia D'Souza, the ‘Santosh Subramaniyam’ girl who is making it big in Tollywood and Bollywood alike, has denied reports of any relationship with Riteish Deshmukh. She teamed up with the actor for her first Hindi film 'Tujhe Meri Kasam'.

'I'm very much single. Riteish is my friend. But that's it. I've no idea where these rumours emerge from. We're both very busy. When we occasionally meet up, we're normal with each other,' says the actress about the gossip on their relationship.

Stating that she was never that keen on an acting career, Genelia says, “But when I saw how I was appreciated down south, I fell in love with the industry. I've been lucky. I didn't plan anything. So far it's been an awesome journey.”

A proud father...........

Veteran director SA Chandrasekhar is happy with his son and popular actor Vijay who is close on completing a noteworthy number of 50 films in the industry.

Happy at the way his son's career has shaped up in the industry, he is planning to produce Vijay's 50th film. “It will be a milestone for Vijay. Our production house (VV Creations) will be happy to be associated with the film, but nothing has been finalized as of now,” preens the proud dad.

Speaking about Vijay's decision to use his fan clubs as a platform to carry out social activities, he says 'there is nothing wrong in it'.

“They are not fan clubs. Vijay has renamed them as welfare associations. He believes that fan clubs are not just for boosting the popularity of the hero. He wants them to be socially responsible and do their part even if it is tad less for the welfare of the people. I am really proud of him,” he says.

'Arya 2' coming soon........

Starring Allu Arjun and Anu Mehtha in the lead cast, ‘Dil’ Raju produced the most popular hit ‘Arya’ on Sri Venkateswara Creations.

The hit flick was directed by Sukumar, is a well known fact. Lately, Sukumar did not make any commercial success after this film. Consequently, he planned to make a sequel to ‘Arya’.

Allu Arjun dons the protagonist once again in this sequel for which Kajal and Shraddha Arya serves the love quotient for ‘Arya-II’. BVVSN Prasad and Aditya Babu are producing this film in an amalgamated effort.

The film which was launched a while back has not yet started the regular shooting. The main reason for this is said to be the cinematographer Rajasekhar, for whom Sukumar to waiting to start the shoot.

Joshy with another Telugu..............

Veteran director of Malayalam, Joshy who is presently into the last phases of the AMMA's big budgeted movie ‘Twenty Twenty' , will start working for another Telugu movie, in a short time. The director had been to Telugu before, for a couple of movies like ‘Anthimatheerpu’.

Apart from a song that is to be shot on Dileep and Bhavana, the major parts of' ‘Twenty Twenty' is over. The movie is currently in the final phase of its dubbing. Expected to be on theatres by the 24th of this October, the movie will have the best of the release in more than hundred theatres.

Meanwhile, the director will be back to Malayalam in January for another movie featuring Jayaram and Prithviraj in the lead.

Priyanandanan 's ‘Sufi Paranja Katha'

The year's national award winning filmmaker Priyanandanan is on to his next venture based on a famous Malayalam novelette.

His next movie titled 'Sufi Paranja Katha' will be a cinematic adaptation of the novel by K P Ramannunni, with the same title.

The writer will himself pen the script for the screen version too. The movie will be produced by a group of NRI's who are planning to recreate many of famous Malayalam literary works into cinema.

The other cast and crew of the movie are yet to be finalized.

'Kadhalil Vizhunthen' sweeps the box office

With just three days of its release, 'Kadhalil Vizhiunthen' has made a bumper collection across the State. Though it has not been released in Madurai (allegedly due to political reasons), the movie has witnessed a fantastic opening in Chennai, Salem, Coimbatore and several other centers.

Directed by debutant Prasad, the movie has hit the bull's eye thanks to the catchy and peppy number 'Nakku Mukka'. Also the initial reviews and word-of-mouth publicity for the movie has been encouraging and draws a mass number of audience to the theatres.

Nakul's bold performance and Sunaina's good portrayal has won the approval of the audience. In Chennai, all the shows for the week-end witnessed packed houses. Thanking the audience, director Prasad says,"We feel elated to see the movie witnessing good crowds. Our hard work for over a year has been rightly rewarded. I thank my whole cast and crew for making the movie a big success".

The movie is produced by Umapathy and distributed by Sun Pictures. According to industry men, the good run of 'Kadhalil Vizhunthen' has sent positive signals to the whole industry.

A movie with lesser known star cast and a new director has gone on to become a big hit. It renders courage to aspiring film-makers and young actors.

‘Kuruvi’ flies high ...............

Vijay starrer ‘Kuruvi’ has managed a 150-day run across theatres in Tamilnadu. Produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin and directed by Dharani, the movie featuring Vijay, Trisha and Suman in the lead roles, witnessed mixed reviews at the box office.

However, thanks to the racy script and Vijay's popularity among the masses, the movie opened big and gradually settled down to do a decent business at the box office.

The cast and crew thanked the film-buffs for helping the movie complete a 150-day run. According to director Dharani, "I thank the producer Udhayanidhi Stalin, actor Vijay and the rest of my crew for the successes”.

Post ‘Gilli’, Vijay-Dharani-Trisha and music composer Vidyasagar tag teamed for 'Kuruvi'. Fortunately, they succeeded in their attempt.

Puri – RaviTeja's 'Neninthe' on December 18th

Director Puri Jagannath earlier gave hatrick hits like 'Itlu Sravani Subrahmanyam', 'Idiot' and 'Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammai' with Ravi Teja playing the lead roles. After a gap, the director has come together with Ravi Teja to make a new film titled 'Neninthe', on Universal Media banner, produced by DVV Danayya.

Ravi Teja plays the character of an assistant director in this film, while the debutant heroine Siya plays the role of a side-dancer. The final part of canning work is under progress currently at Annapurna Studios. The director and producer are planning to release the film on the 18th of December.

Ali is playing a supporting role in this flick. Chakri has composed the musical score. Being made by this successful duo, the movie is expected to strike it again.

Aishwarya Rai owes one to Shankar

A couple of songs set to tunes by A.R.Rahman for 'Endhiran' were shot in U.S.A., Peru, and Brazil. Rajnikanth returned home from U.S.A on September 27 after the first schedule of filming was over. But then director Shankar wanted to continue filming in Brazil and required Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to stay back as many of her shots were to be canned.

Incidentally, hubby Abhishek's 'Drona' releases on the 1st of October. Aishwarya expressed her desire to take part in the preview show of the film and also made it clear that her being alongside her husband would immensely add on as moral support.

Following this, the shoot in Brazil has been completed at a brisk pace and the numero uno actress will be returning to the Bollywood capital Mumbai tomorrow, September 30th.

Saif Ali Khan in trouble ...............

Well, tiff between most of the Khans and journalists doesn't seem to end and here shoots up one more issue. Bollywood's super actor Saif Ali Khan is drenched in troublesome moment as his security guards manhandled the journalists. Saif was busy shooting for his forthcoming flick Three idiots at Railway Station in Patiala and things baffled up when a journalist clicked photos at him. According to the sources, two photo journalists, one from local TV news and another belonging to newspaper tried taking shots and Saif objected it.

Speaking on this, one of the photo journalists uttered that he finished taking photographs once Saif insisted them to do so. "But then, the star asked his security men to take aside and beat me up" added photographer Pawan Patialvi. Apart from this, actor himself lodged complaint at Patiala Police Station against both the journalists for getting him obstructed while filming.

Almost, the entire media personalities of city gathered across the Mall Road on Sunday night demanding for the right action to be taken against Saif. Immediately, Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, who incidentally had made his presence for an event there in the city, sent his party members Prem Singh Chandumajra of Shiromani Akali Dal and Raj Khurana to settle down the issue amicably. Finally, the journalists dispersed withdrawing their protest.

Nevertheless, both the journalists have lodged case against Saif Ali Khan. Railway Police have now registered a case against the actor under respective sections 506 (threatening to kill), 341 (assaulting), 536 (cause of damage) of IPC.

Padmapriya attempts stunts without dupe

Padmapriya is slowly but surely becoming an actress of substance in Mollywood. In fact she is the only heroine who had the honor of being directed by top trio of directors of Malayalam cinema.

She is now working in award winning director T.V Chandran’s Bhoomimalayalam Priya becomes the only heroine ever to have worked with world renowned directors like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N.Karun, Hariharan and now T.V Chandran.

Recently for her Hariharan directed Pazhassi Raja the actress went ahead and did a risky stunt including jumping from a tall tree without using a dupe. The shoot was held at Thalakonam near Tirupati and she sustained some minor injuries, but she continued with her shoot!

Roma –Wedding bells??????

The upcoming young heroine Roma has fallen in love, upsetting her producers who were betting big on her. The bubbly heroine has fallen in love with Anish, a young businessman from Kottayam in Central Travancore.

Recently on the location of her new film with Pritviraj titled Lolipop, Anish was hanging around and keeping an eagle eye around her. When asked about this, Roma’s mom said: “My daughter is 25 and is old enough to take decisions on her own. If she feels that Anish is the right guy for her we will give her all the support”.

So it looks like Roma is following the footsteps of Manju, Samyuktha, Gopika and settling for marital bliss.

30 days for Diwali

Diwali- 2008 is hardly a month away, but the trade is unsure of what film will release for the festival of lights. A few weeks back the producers of Aegan, Abhiyum Njaanum, Guru Enn Aalu, Njaan Kadavul, Seval, Silambattam, Vaaranam Aayiram, confirmed that they are targeting a Diwali release.

But as of now (Sep 26), only Ayngaran International has confirmed booking for Ajit's Aegan and Bharath's Seval with theatres across the world. KRG producer of Guru Enn Aalu has said that he will be confirming the theatres by Monday, after the film's audio launch.

It looks almost certain that Njaan Kadavul will not make it for Diwali as negotiations between Zee TV, Pyramid Saimira the original producers and producer director Bala is yet to reach the final settlement.

Abhiyum Njaanum has got confirmed booking only at Sathyam Cinemas (maximum two shows in small screen) and Inox, while in rest of Tamilnadu nobody has dates for the film!

The producers of Silambattam are yet to confirm a Diwali release though Simbu is pressing them to release the film on his lucky date. The biggest setback has been for Vaaranam Aayiram, as producer Aascar Ravichandran and the film's Tamilnadu distributor Gemni Film Circuit, are yet to sort out their differences.

Meanwhile Ayngaran has got all the prime screens in Tamilnadu and overseas to screen their Aegan and Seval for Diwali. For example Sathyam Cinemas big screen has signed up to screen Aegan four shows, and the smaller Shantham will screen two shows of Seval for Diwali. In smaller stations too both these films have got prime theatres.

Theatres across the world are willing to roll out the red carpet for Ayngaran International, as they have Rajinikanth's Enthiren and Vijay's Villu and half a dozen other films lined up for next year!

This week's Top 5 in Mollywood......

In another nightmarish week after Onam, none of the films released for Onam maintained the interest among the viewers. While ‘Thirakkatha' after its intense publicity campaigns through print magazines could tap in some of the prospective audiences, all the other films registered great fall in collections. The top five movies in the Box office are,

1. 'Veruthe Oru Bharya' - Jayaram’s comeback movie, continues in 25 release centers with encouraging collections. This clean family entertainer registered its biggest return in the Onam week, but again fell to 40-50 percent in big centers, all through the week. The movie has already made two times the profit than the investment made on it.

2. ‘Thirakkatha' - At number 2 is Renjith's movie, 'Thirakkatha' set in the backdrop of tinsel town. The movie averaged around fifty percent collections in metros and bigger centers. ‘Thirakkatha' is expected to survive the biggies that will arrive for the Ramzan season, next week.

3 'Thalappavu' - Prithviraj's second release of season have some scintillating visuals, good narratives, and off course, good reviews. But the movie remains in 24 release centers with below average collections.

4. 'Thavalam' - Suresh Gopi's new movie, presenting him in a fresh role of a cobbler, continues with its weak run .By the end the second week, the movie stands removed from half of its 38 centers. ‘Thavalam’ is a flop by all means.

5. 'Madambi' - Through its good scheming of run, the movie continues in a three release centers in Kerala. Nearing hundred days, the movie will be brought back to a few more centres to celebrate the Silver Jubilee days. The movie is a second continuous hit for Mohanlal.

Mohanlal's' 'Aakashagopuram' has been erased from all releasing centers. Nithin Ramakrishnan's 'Apoorva’, Krishankumar's ‘Chitra Salabhangalude Veedu’ and Santhanu's Tamil movie 'Sakkarakatti' are the other new releases in the theatres.

T.V.Chandran's new flick - ‘Bhoomi Malayalam'

If Adoor Gopalakrishnan came up last year to mesmerize the audience with the tale of four female protagonists in 'Naalu Pennungal', how can his strong competitor T V Chandran stay behind? The master filmmaker has already started shooting for his new film ‘Bhoomi Malayalam' which tells the story of five ladies who fight against the society that is chauvinistic and unsupportive to the core.

The movie will have Samvurtha Sunil as a factory worker, Priyanka as an aspiring athlete, Padmapriya as a bold TV journalist and Lakshmi Sharma as a house wife. Also in the cast are Navya, Kripa, Roselin, Lekshmy Priya, Jasna Jayaraj and Charulatha who will also have their share of stories to tell.

The other highlight of the movie is that Suresh Gopi who is for the first time appearing in the lead role of a TV Chandran film will be in a double role. The movie will tell the less known aspects in the development of the social atmosphere for the post independence period to that of the present day Kerala.

Cinematographed by K G Jayan, the movie will also feature music by Issac Thomas Kottukapally. The movie, which has already started its shoot at Kannur will also have Arun, Govind Padmasuriya, Nedumudi Venu, Irshad, Adnop Chandran and Kalabahavan Navaz in its cast lines.

Abhi-Ash in the remake of 'Abhimaan'

Years before, say 3 decades ago, Amitabh and his wife Jay Bachchan swayed with their scintillating performance in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic 'Abhimaan'. The auteur had centered on the professional contention between a married couples. And now, Rajiv Menon one of the versatile filmmakers from South India remakes this flick starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in lead roles. Rajiv Menon had cranked camera for Mani Rathnam's previous venture of Guru starring the same pair Abhishek and Aishwarya. Cinematographer turned filmmaker Rajiv had churned the best television commercials including Airtel featuring A.R.Rahman. His directorial venture in Kollywood was quite commendable with both his flicks 'Minsara Kananvu' (Dubbed version in Hindi titled 'Sapnae' and Kandukondaen Kandukondaen won laurels.

In the interim, Abhi and Ash have been offered to play Shah Jahan and Mumtaz, the main characters of Taj Mahal. Talks are on the verge and soon official announcements would be made.

John and Bipasha to team up again

The sultry bong beauty Bipasha Basu will be teaming up her lover John Abraham again for a flick based on sports.

The last time we saw the real life couple on reel was for 'Goal' which had a story based on football.

Reportedly the new film revolves around the game of Basketball and John will be seen in the role of a basketball player trying to woo Bips.

Every time the couple has come together on the big screen, they have made sure the audience goes ecstatic over their amazing screen chemistry.

Let's hope this time it gets even better.

Kareena's unforgettable Birthday

Kareena feels it to be the most wonderful gift she had incurred for her birthday. It all happened on the eve of Kareena's birthday, her mom Babita felt that her birthday should be somewhat different and special. It wasn't just about her fiancé Saif Ali Khan joining for her venture across the cold hilly regions of North India, but Kareena had something more. She spent her birthday with our soldiers working on duty at Kargil.

With Cheerful moods, Kareena said both herself and Saif were elated to spend their gracious moment with devoted and brave soldiers defending our Nation. Speaking about this, Kareena says, "We weren't just surprised to see Jawans working for our Country, but astonished to see that they were comfortable under such drastic climatic conditions.

Both of them conveyed their heartiest wishes that the soldiers may continue striding with pride for being an Indian.

'I want to act with Suriya' - Mandira

Mandira Bedi, who was in Chennai recently, said that she wanted to share the screen space with Suirya. "I would like to act with Suriya. I watched the film 'Khaakka Khaakka' and just loved it," she said.

On not acting in Tamil films after her cameo in 'Manmadhan', the first lady of Indian cricket said, 'I have got many offers. However, I want to do films that excite me and not every movie that comes my way.'

A victim of controversies, Mandira says, "They have now become a part of my life. When I am in distress, I simply keep away from the media."

Siddhardh's new movie for a january release.....

The youthful movie titled as 'Konchem Ishtam, Konchem Kashtam' is shaping up well. Till now 50% of the production work which also includes 3 songs has been wrapped up.

Siddharth and Tamanna are doing the lead roles in the film which is the first independent movie of director Srikant who was an associate of V.V.Vinayak.

Ramyakrishna plays the role of Siddharth's mother in the movie being produced by Nallamalapu Srinivas under the banner of Lakshmi Narasimha Productions in association with Suresh Babu's Suresh Productions.

Currently Siddharth, Tamanna, Vijay Samrat and some other cast members are finishing up the canning of a rain song at Saradhi Studios. After the shooting of this song gets over, the cast and crew will move on to Shamshabad International Airport or Ramoji Film City for further shooting.

The makers are planning to complete the production by December and release the movie as a Sankranti gift in January’09.

'Kotha Bangaru Lokam' on October 9

It is heard that Dil Raju is trying to keep up his image of a producer who likes to offer something new and refreshing in each of his films with his latest product also. 'Kotha Bangaru Lokam' is the latest film which he is producing.

The film is being directed by Srikant Addala and has Varun Sandesh and Swetha Prasad in the lead roles.

Only when the movie hits the screens on October 9, we will be able to make out what new Dil Raju has to offer this time.

The only information that has come from the location of the shoot is that the climax scenes featuring Varun and Prakash Raj have been created to give the same kind of intensity which was provided by the last scenes of 'Bommarillu'.

Work of 'KING' in progress.........

The soon to be released movie 'King' having Nagarjuna in the lead role and directed by the super hit director Sreenu Vytla is being wrapped up fast. Around 60 percent of the shooting has been completed.

The next schedule for canning a song and a chase sequence will start today and will continue till October 4 in Ooty. After that Bangalore will be the location for the next schedule from 5th Oct to 4th Nov, in which all the cast members will be involved. Some songs are also being planned to be shot in Turkey and Dubai.

There is no need to say about the expectations of the film lovers when the movie's hero is Nagarjuna. But one another reason that has fueled the rising expectations is the first time pairing of Trisha with the Tollywood hero. Dr. Srihari will be seen in the movie in a special role.

Brahmanandam, Venu Madav, Deepak, Suneel, Dharmavarapu Subrahmanyam, Chandra Mohan, Krishna Bhagvan, M.S.Narayan, Shayaji Shinde, Jaiprakash Reddy and AVS are the important actors in 'King'.

Devi Sri Prasad is the music composer for the songs written by Sahithi and Ramajogaiah Sastry. Prasad Murella is the cinematographer, Ramlakshman is the fight master, M.R.Varma is the Editor.

'King' which will hit the cinema halls on December 18 is being produced by D.Sivaprasad Reddy under the banner of Kamakshi Kala Movies.

Rajnikant gets back home..........

Spurred by reports of a dip in his popularity, Tamil thespian Rajnikant has shortened his "Robot" shooting stint abroad and returned home Saturday.

The star is scheduled to prepare for a series of meetings with the organisers of his fan clubs, All India Rajnikant Fans' Association president satyanarayana said in a pressnote.

Sources close to Rajnikant's family said his wife Latha was mulling a more active role in organising the fan clubs a la Premlatha, actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth's wife who controls her husband's DMDK.

Meanwhile, posters exhorting the matinee idol to start a political career were all over the city.

In a recent interview, Satyanarayana denied rumours indicating that he was a stumbling block in the path of the movie icon's entry into politics.

The ruling DMK's victory in 1996 is largely attributed to Rajnikant who had contributed sizeably to electoral alliance of the late G.K. Moopanar-led Tamil Manila Congress and M. Karunanidhi.

The Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) also procured the cycle symbol to cash in on the popularity of a 1996 release "Annamalai" starring Rajnikant. The star had agreed to the use of photographs of him riding a cycle in the movie election posters of the TMC.

The AIADMK was routed in the elections. Then chief minister Jayalalitha lost her seat in the 1996 assembly elections.

Vijay getting much popular than Rajnikant..........

Tamil superstar Rajnikant, presently the highest paid actor in India, came a poor fourth in a state-wide opinion poll conducted by students of a private educational institution.

The poll was conducted by Loyola College students and late thespians M.G. Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganeshan came first and second.

Vijay, relatively less known than Rajnikant, has ranked third in the poll by getting 16.4 percent votes, while Rajnikant got 16.2.

Last year, Rajnikant had topped the list followed by Vijaykanth.

The pollsters attributed the matinee idol's fall from the top position to his latest flop "Kuselan". The star is presently abroad shooting for Shankar's "Robot".

Actor-turned-politician Vijaykanth came fifth by getting 10.7 percent of the votes.

Amongst actresses, National Award winning B. Saroja Devi topped the favourite list, while J. Jayalalitha, AIADMK leaer, former chief minister and current leader of opposition, was ranked number two.

The third and fourth positions amongst former femme fatales were taken by the faded out K.R. Vijaya and recent retiree Jyothika Surya.

Controversial actress and television host Khushboo Sundar came fifth.

None of the current female heartthrobs including Trisha, Shreya Saran and Nayanthara came anywhere close to their seniors.

Padmapriya in Malayalam magnum opus

'Pazhassi Raja' is a movie on the life of one of the greatest of the rulers of Kerala that has been in the rounds for the last two decades. 'Pazhassi Raja' is slowly but steadily shaping up under the directorial ship of ace director Hariharan while the screenplay is by M.T.Vasudevan Nair, to become the biggest epic movie of our times.

This magnum opus is expected to bring out the story of the first organized revolt against British rule, led by Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of the Padinjare Kovilakom of the Kottayam family near Thalassery in Kannur district.

It stars Mammootty, Manoj K. Jayan, Thilakan, Padmapriya and Sarath Kumar in the lead roles with Kanika Subramaniam, Peter Handley Evans, Harry Key, and Jagathi Sreekumar in other pivotal roles. The film's score and soundtrack is written by maestro songster Illayaraja.

Vinoo with Dileep, Roma.....

Young actor Vinoo Mohan who has started off a flying career with hit films like ‘Nivedhyam’ and ‘Cycle’ will team up with Dileep and Roma in the near future.

The new film by Raj Babu titled ‘Colours’ will feature Dileep and Vinoo in the lead roles. An Army based story, the movie will pair Roma with Vinoo for the first time.

After completing ‘Colours’ Vinoo will don the lead in the new movie by Kalavoor Ravikumar. This will be a humor based subject which will have Innocent in another prominent role.

Vinoo's new movie that is all set to grace the theatres next season is ''Sultan''. The movie directed by Sreeprakash have a youth oriented subject, with plenty of youngsters in the cast lines.

Baby Shyamili becomes heroine ..............

Famous child artiste baby Shyamili who mesmerised the audience with her great performances in many films of nineties, is turning heroine.

The star who bagged the prestigious national award even in her debut performance in Manirathnam's ''Anjali '', will now get a chance to play the heroine in the new film by Telugu director Anand Renga.The movie will have Boys fame Siddharth as the hero to Shyamili.

The actress was last seen with Mammootty and Mohanlal in the film ''Harikrishnan's'' where she played the youngest sister to them .

‘Kuttyshranku’ started it's second schedule......

Mammootty has started shooting for the second schedule of 'Kuttyshranku' - a movie in which the master actor is teaming up with the world famous director Shaji N Karun.

This schedule of the movie will be shot entirely at Kollam. Mammootty dons a totally different makeup and looks in this schedule than the one that he had in the first. He will be on the sets of the movie till next week. The megastar is poised to join the movie ‘Love In Singapore' directed by Rafi Mecartin, which will start its shoot by Vijayadashami days.

‘Kuttyshranku’ will need one more schedule to wrap up its shoot, which will happen by the end of November. Bengali actress Kamaline Mukerjee, Padmapriya and a Sreelankan actress will appear as the three heroines of the title character 'kutty' played by Mammootty.

‘Twenty-20' into final patch ups .........

The shooting for the final patch ups of the AMMA movie ‘Twenty-20'restarted at Kochi. The movie featuring all the important stars from Mollywood is directed by veteran director Joshy.

The crew is shooting at nights for the last couple of days for a few sequences, with Suresh Gopi and another fifteen artists. The patches shooting will get completed by tomorrow. The crew is planning to shoot the only remaining part to be added to the movie, a song with Dileep and Bhavana, at some exotic locations, outside India

‘Twenty-20' is expected to reach the theatres by the 23rd of October

A baddie to watch out for..................

K.K.Menon is today considered to be an actor who can handle any kind of role with ease and give performances that can go beyond the expectations of the director.

Till date, no other character played by this actor has generated more interest than his role in the forthcoming much awaited movie 'Drona'.

K.K. plays the main villain with a strange but a catchy name- Riz Rizada.

The director of the movie Goldie Behl is so confident of the villain character and K.K's portrayal that he feels; Riz Rizada has the potential to be counted along with the legendry villains like Mr.Mogambo of 'Mr.India', Shakal of 'Shaan' and Gabbar Singh of 'Sholay'.

When a writer devotes one whole year to build up a character, he is bound to be extremely convinced and that has been the case with Goldie Behl and his creation Riz Rizada.

What exactly made Goldie to choose K.K.Menon for the role of the villain in 'Drona' is something that only he can answer, but now it is known that an astonishing amount of Rs.20 lakhs was pumped up for creating the perfect looks and atmosphere for Riz Rizada.

K.K. also had to overcome his fear of riding horses and perfect the task for 'Drona'.

Such massive efforts by everyone involved.

Let the movie when released not disappoint the makers and the audience.

Katrina silences the gossip makers

Destroying all the talk of she being thrown out of Shah Rukh Khan's Temptations Reloaded World Tour after the relationship of Salman and Shah Rukh went sour at her birthday party and Salman Khan not allowing her to be part of any film having his rivals, Katrina Kaif has shown that she is a hardcore professional.

Katrina has gone ahead and agreed for a Yashraj flick having SRK in the lead role.

The untitled movie to be directed by Yash Chopra also has John Abraham in a prominent role.

She will also be sharing the stage with Shah Rukh for a performance at Bhutan during the coronation day of the new king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk.

Both the top stars of Bollywood have been invited to Bhutan as the king in waiting is a big fan of Hindi films and he wanted SRK and Katrina to be present during the ceremony.

Why was it a delayed Kidnap?

Years before, around 2003 Director Sanjay Gadhvi had penned the script for Kidnap. How come it got so delayed to complete it? Are you gauging the rigid cause for it? Well, we have Gadhvi revealing the reason lying beneath it. Kidnap was supposed to be second flick to be listed his directorial graph and things were started rolling out getting more fortunes for Sanjay Gadhvi. "It nearly took 8 months between mid-2002 to earlier months of 2003 to complete script works. With Sanjay Dutt not able to sign for proper dates, we decided to postpone the project" says Sanjay who continuously churned out chart-topping films Dhoom and its sequel. That had gradually led to the shelving of Kidnap for over past 5 years. Recently, after signing up with Ashtavinayak, Sanjay Gadhvi suggested Kidnap and it all started rolling with it.

"If not, Imran Khan it would have been Shahid Kapoor" says the Director who is elated that Imran Khan would fetch more credits for Kidnap as he has won laurels with Jaane Ya Tu Jaane Na.

'Shivaji' inspires 'Golmaal Returns'

People who have seen the clippings of the song 'Karke' from the forthcoming film 'Golmaal Returns' and also a particular song titled 'athiradee' from Tamil Superstar Rajnikant's super hit film 'Sivaji' directed by Shankar will find a great deal of similarity in the style of visualization as well as the sets used in the songs.

This striking similarity did not happen like a coincidence but was deliberately planned.

Rohit Shetty, the director of 'Golmal Returns' was shooting the movie 'Sunday' in Hyderabad when he decided to just go and see the shooting of 'Shivaji'.

He was very impressed by the sets of the Tamil song and thought of using the same style and design as there was a space for a song of a same kind in 'Golmaal Returns'.

The song is touted to be one of the highlights of the film because of its lavish sets, a big star cast, a large number of dancers and a combination of dance and action.

Shot in a studio in Mumbai at a mind blowing budget of Rs.6 crores and having 1000 dancers and fighters, "Karke" is choreographed by Ganesh Acharya.

The stars of the film toiled hard for 12 days to complete the shooting of the track.

Suriya starves for 'Varanam Aayiram'

The audio launch of the much-awaited 'Varanam Aayiram' was held at Satyam Cinemas, Chennai on 24th September. The movie produced by Aascar Ravichandran and directed by Gautham Vasudevan Menon features Suriya, Simran, Divya Spandana and Sameera Reddy in lead roles. Music by Harris Jayaraj was formally released during the ceremony.

The grand function was graced by actors Sathyaraj, Sivakumar, Prakash Raj, directors K.S.Ravikumar, Ameer, Radha Mohan and many more.

"Varanam Aayiram is a chaste Tamil word, which means thousand elephants. Surya does a variety of roles in this film and he starved for 14 months and followed a strict diet to lose his weight tremendously to attain an apt physique for the role of a teenager." says Sivakumar who spoke at the function.

K.S.Ravikumar next to join with Surya........

Rumours are that K S Ravikumar would join hands with Suriya for a movie shortly.

Considered the king among commercial directors, K S Ravikumar had been part of several blockbusters in Tamil cinema since he began his journey with 'Cheran Pandian' almost a decade ago.

His latest 'Dasavatharam' featuring Kamal Haasan in ten different roles has been critically acclaimed and raked in moolah at the box office. The director is currently working with Sarath Kumar and Shriya for 'Jaggubhai'.

Close on the heels of completing 'Jaggubhai' in Bangkok, Ravikumar will be back in Chennai to work with Suriya. According to reports, Suriya and Nayantara would come together for the movie which would have musical score by A R Rahman.

Suriya is eagerly awaiting the release of his movies including 'Ayan' and 'Varanam Aayiram'.

Ajith is Thalaivan now

Director Madhesh who churned out the Vijay flick 'Madura' is all set to team up with Ajith for a film titled 'Thalaivan'. Though 'Madura' went on to be a commercial success, Vijay fans felt there was something missing. This reportedly has wedged a wall of professional silence between Vijay and the director.

Madhesh however went on to direct Vijayakanth in the film 'Arasangam' which was well received by the public. Buzz is that Madhesh wanted to team up with Vijay once again but then has met with stony silence from the other end. This probably made the director approach Ajith. The actor fondly called 'Thala' by his fans is reportedly happy with the story and has given a go-ahead to Madhesh.

In all probability, once 'Aegan' is released, work on 'Thalaivan might start. Reports also suggest that Madhesh is currently abroad scouting for locations to film the song sequences.

When every actor tastes success, they are referred to as Thalaivan in publicity materials and by fans. Interestingly, the name 'Thalaivan' may be used as the title of a film for the first time. Something Ajith fans would simply love.

Asin got Onam gift from Salman........

Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan are featuring in a movie titled 'London Dreams'. The film is to be produced by Vipul Shah and South Indian sensation Asin has been roped into the project.

Asin, who has a pan-Indian-look is familiar to North Indian audiences due to the many product endorsements she has indulged in and is making waves in Bollywood too.

Asin is currently busy in London for 'London Dreams', where she celebrated Onam, the biggest festival of Kerala. It is abuzz that Asin shares a cordial friendship with Salman Khan. A few days back, Salman Khan had surprised everyone in the shooting spot by presenting a glamorous glass doll as a belated Onam gift to Asin.

We can take pleasure in knowing that Salman Khan who has rifts with some Bollywood actors shares a comfortable, enchanting relation with Asin, one of the most popular south Indian actresses, who has traveled from Kochi to the pinnacles of celluloid perfection.

Dileep in M.G.Sasi's next?

There are reports doing the rounds that Dileep has been signed for the next film by director M.G. Sasi. The director may not be a very well known name in popular mainstream cinema.

Sasi, who had been an associate to renowned filmmakers like T.V. Chandran, Shyamaprasad etc, made his directorial debut with the recently-released Adayalangal, a film that bagged five state awards.

More details about the M.G. Sasi-Dileep venture are not available at the moment and the news itself is yet to be confirmed. It is also not known whether it will be a commercial venture or an offbeat one.

Let's wait for confirmation and more news.

Tamanna opts out..........

Tamanna has declined an offer to act opposite Mahesh Babu in a Telugu film to be directed by Trivikram, one of the happening directors of Andhra Pradesh.

According to sources, the trouble is that she was promised the heroine's role, but it now looks like Parvathi Melton, the other heroine has more scenes and songs with Mahesh. Following this, Tamanna has reportedly decided to opt out.

The petite actress is currently playing the female lead role in three Tamil films- Ayan opposite Surya, Padikadhavan opposite Dhanush and Ananda Thandavam, which has the story of Sujatha and directed by Chellamay fame Gandhi Krishna.