Vijay to connect with Sun TV?

Vijay’s last two films Thuppakki and Nanban had their satellite rights sold to Star Vijay but prior to that Vijay had a long standing relationship with Sun Pictures and Sun TV which owned the rights of number of his films.

The latest we are hearing about Vijay’s film Thalaivaa is that talks are supposedly taking place to ensure that this director Vijay’s project goes to Sun TV. It is always apparent that the visibility on Sun TV is the highest amongst other regional channels, so the film can be assured a good boost before its release if acquired by the TV channel.

Meanwhile, the production is underway in full swing, with Thalaivaa’s Bollywood connection Ragini Nandwani having swiftly completed her entire portions of the film.

Narain joins ‘All in All Azhagu Raja’ cast

Tamil actor Narain, known for films such as “Mugamoodi” and “Anjathe”, has joined the cast of Karthi Sivakumar-starrer comedy “All In All Azhagu Raja”.

“Narain, Prabhu and Saranya join the cast of ‘All In All Azhagu Raja’,” a statement from the production house said.

The film, helmed by M. Rajesh, went on the floors March 1 with a photo shoot here. Kajal Aggarwal is paired opposite Karthi in the movie.

The shooting of “All In All Azhagu Raja” will take place in and around Kumbakonam, Pollachi Gobichettipalayam, Tenkasi, Ambasamuthiram and other places of Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, Karthi who recently stopped shooting for upcoming Tamil romantic-comedy “Biriyani”, has now decided to film it side by side with “All In All Azhagu Raja”.

Sixty percent of shooting for Venkat Prabhu-directed “Biriyani” has been completed. It also features Hansika, Premgi Amaren, Ramki, Mandy Takhar, Vaibhav Reddy, Sampath Raj and Sam Anderson.

Taapsee to learn Tamil and Telugu languages

Taapsee Pannu, a Punjabi girl who is popular in southern movies, feels that promotion of films in the language you know is fun and, therefore, she now wants to learn Tamil and Telugu.

“Realising how much fun it is to promote your movie in the language you know. Even more driven to learn Telugu and Tamil now,” Taapsee posted on Twitter.

She is currently busy promoting her Hindi debut “Chashme Baddoor”, in which she is paired opposite Siddharth, Ali Zafar and Divyendu Sharma.

Taapse debuted in Telugu romantic-drama “Jhummandi Naadam”, and since then has acted in a series of Telugu and Tamil films.

Meanwhile, Taapsee is busy filming for Telugu films “Shadow” and “Jackpot” and Tamil films “Valai” and “Muni 3: Ganga”.

Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor in Mani Ratnam film

Mani Ratnam, in the recent years, seems to have lost his midas touch. The maverick filmmaker’s last two movies – Raavanan (Ravan in Hindi) and Kadal starring newcomers Gautham Karthik and Thulasi Nari – have bombed at the Box Office. With critics and audience wondering about his below-par films, the director is reportedly getting ready for a biggie.
The buzz says that Mani Ratnam has taken up his long-pending project for which he has opted for big names of Bollywood. Well, the actors are none other than Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The director is ready to leave the failures behind and planning a movie based on the India-Pakistan partition. It is said to be a bilingual movie and the filmmaker has started working seriously on the project.
If reports are to be believed, he has also roped in Rensil D’Silva, who had written script for Aamir Khan’s earlier Hindi movie Rang De Basanthi. However, it is not sure whether the talks for the project with Aamir Khan and Kareena have started or not.

Naangam Pirai Movie Review

Bram Stoker is credited for reeling out the character of Dracula from the depths of folklore and bringing it forth to the mainstream through his novel, simply titled ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’. His novel has influenced many writers and filmmakers and has spawned many off-shoots in the Vampire genre. Director Vinayan is one such filmmaker who’s taken the effort to bring the Prince of Darkness, Count Dracula to the Tamil audience. The director has dwelled on many fantasy films in the past in Malayalam, and later presenting it in Tamil, and he continues that trend with Nankam Pirai.

Naangam Pirai is about the resurrection of Count Dracula from his Transylvanian home and his bid to be reunited with his long lost love.

Despite adding elements pertaining to the local sentiments, such as the presence of Hindu mythology and replacing the Count’s pack of wolves with homegrown Alsatians, the director does make an honest effort to stay faithful to the novel. He’s rightly labeled the Count’s love interest as Meena, there is also the presence of Dracula’s dreaded ‘Sisters’ and he’s even considered featuring a local representation of the Count’s greatest loyalist and patron, Igor, who remains unnamed in this movie and is played by the late Thilakan.

While the intentions of carrying forward Dracula’s legacy is made clear through the story, the film lets itself down for the most part in the first half. Character establishment and some of their motives are callow. An unimportant comedy track featuring Mano Bala and Ganja Karuppu does little to help the film’s cause in being engaging. But what the film lacks in the first half is almost nearly salvaged after the interval as the screenplay gets racier and interesting with no songs to serve as roadblocks. The sequence of events that lead to the build-up of the climax manages to draw you into the movie.

Performance wise, the film has a mix of fresh faces and seasoned actors. Sudheer, who plays Dracula, is more of an anti-hero and does well with his towering presence and the fact that he’s built like an ox adds to his menacing demeanor. Nasser as the powerful priest is theatrical in his portrayal but it works well for the movie. Prabhu appears to be a tubby version of the beast-slaying Prof. Van Helsing, also providing comic relief. The other hero Aryan is well built enough to pass off as Dracula’s opponent. Monal Gajjar’s role is meaningful while it seems like Shradda Das was included to up the glamour quotient.

Technically, the film in the 3D format is a disappointment and at times even a strain on the eyes. The visual effects and graphics are left wanting considering the standards that the public have witnessed in the recent past. Music by Babith George is average but the background score is well done. Sathish G’s camerawork is compromised because of the jarring 3D effects. The film, originally in Malayalam, has a strong dubbing feeling throughout despite having a native comedy track.

Usually, fantasy films and those coupled with 3D would be inviting for children but sadly Nankam Pirai isn’t for the young audience. The U/A certification is rightly justified and should be reserved for young adults and adults only.

Verdict: Hardly any horror or 3D to feast upon.

Chandamama Movie Review

Cast : Karunas , Shwethabasu

Music : Srikanth Deva

Direction : Radhakrishnan

People say so much about novelists. A dead wise man, probably a novelist too, once said how creative, aware and engaging a novelist and his works should be. Chandhamama aka Santhanakrishnan (Karunas) is a novelist too, but without even the smallest trace of any such characteristics.

In fact his literary works kill people or at least achieve in making them very sick. Chandhamama, directed by Radhakrishnan, narrates how this poorly skilled writer becomes a famous and a favourite one. The story is about what takes him to become a good writer and to what extent this eccentric writer goes to achieve what he intends to. The other ingredients in the film include a love angle with a young beautiful woman (Shweta Basu), parents sentiment, passion, a mysterious past and more melodrama.

When people come for a movie with Karunas in the lead, they look for comedy. But Chandhamama is full of melodrama. Even at places where humour is attempted the completely non-synchronous melancholic BG scores achieve in bringing up the melodrama back in full flow.

The overall performances are noteworthy. In fact, the leading lady, Shweta Basu is impressive and shows lot of promise. Karunas, Ilavarasu, MS Baskar and all others are barely challenged at their task. But the story and the screenplay make the performances uninteresting.

To book an author for his work and the court ordering him to clean all the Mahatma Gandhi statues in the state as punishment is not something the audience is expected to tolerate. Then there are the song sequences, which are unromantic and forgettable, especially the song ‘Yarodi’, in which Karunas’s efforts at dancing go invain.

Srikanth Deva’s melodies are good but the BGMs are repetitive and vintage. The cinematography is adequately good.

On the whole an ordinary effort, delivering nothing new or entertaining to the audience.

Verdict: An unimpressive story of a creator

It’s an honor to work with Ajith – Ashwin

Ashwin K or ‘Mankatha’ Ashwin as he’s known to some, has had the privilege of working with some of the industry’s biggest names in Gautam Menon, A.R. Murugadoss and Venkat Prabhu at such an early stage in his career. Apart from his charming countenance he gained prominence with his role as S.I Ganesh in Mankatha, which showed him in shades of grey.

After bagging the award for Promising Newcomer of 2011 for Mankatha, Ashwin is currently filming for his maiden solo hero project titled ‘Megha’, directed by Karthik Rishi – a former assistant of Subramaniam Siva.

Being fully aware of the weight of the expectations, Ashwin is enjoying the responsibility of playing the lead hero. Despite his aspirations to make it to the top as a lead actor, Ashwin is not averse to playing supporting roles, especially if it’s alongside the likes of Ajith, as in the case of Mankatha where the two shared ample screen space. Ashwin says it’s an honour to be working with someone like Ajth and he would love to do it again.

As for the director of ‘Megha’, Karthik Rishi, Ashwin is highly impressed with his attention to detail and the confidence with which the director is driving forward the project. The film also boasts of maestro Ilayaraja’s involvement in the music department.