Vettaikaran’s Rs. 3 cr loss

The Vijay starrer Vettaikaran was being shot in the AVM Studios and an expensive set, costing around Rs. 3 crores, was erected for the purpose. A few scenes were shot at the sets but the unit was in for a rude shock this morning when they came to know that the sets were badly damaged in a fire accident. With this, the shooting of Vettaikaran has suffered a set back apart from the huge losses incurred by the team.
Produced by AVM Productions, the film is directed by Babu Sivan. Anushka pairs up with Vijay in this film.

Nayanthara in Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavan’

These days, Mani Rathnam’s “Raavana’ has been hitting the headlines. Apart from the lancinating mishaps, Mani Rathnam’s casting of actors happens to be sensational.
Ace filmmaker Mani Rathnam has the knack of adapting the grandiloquent mythological stories. It was more illustrious with his yesteryear directorial “Thalapathy’ (featuring superstars Rajnikanth, Mammooty in lead roles) inspired from “Mahabharata’. And now the filmmaker has his “Raavana’- modernized version of “Ramayana’ rolling fast on the floors.
The latest buzz we hear is that alluring fille Nayanthara is roped for enacting the role of “Mandodari’. Sources have revealed that Mani Rathnam’s wife Suhasini reached Nayanthara over the phone last evening. But the actress seems to have been quite negligent with a big doubt– whether audiences will accept her in deglamorized role.
Bilingually made, the film has Abhishek Bachchan as Ram in Hindi version while Vikram does it in Tamil. With Aishwarya Rai enacting Sita, Mani Rathnam is likely to finalize a leading actress for the role of “Mandodari’ (mythological character of Raavan’s wife and sooner official announcements would be made.

Surya, Parvathi win 56th Filmfare awards

56th South Indian Filmfare Awards happened to be a glitzy star-spangled occasion as the entire South Indian Film Industry made its presence. It was a hand-in-hand combat between Kamal Haasan (Dasavatharam) and Surya (Vaaranam Aayiram) for fetching the titles of “Best Actor’. Finally, Surya made it through the honour of being felicitated with “Best Actor’ while Parvathi won “Best Actress’ for her astounding performance in “Poo’.
“Vaaranam Aayiram’ happens to be Surya’s marvellous milestone, as he was top-notch, with his various makeovers from a 16yr lad-to- 64 year old man. The film also won the awards on various criteria including “Best Popular Movie’, “Best Music Director’ for Harris Jayaraj, “Best Lyricist’– Thamarai, “Best Playback Signer Male’ for Naresh Iyer and ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for Simran.
Ajmal won ‘Best Supporting Male Actor’ for his debut ‘Anjathey.
‘ Subramaniapuram won the awards- “Best Director’ for Sasi Kumar and “Best Movie’.
Priyamani gained the “Best Actress’ for her mind-boggling performance in Malayalam movie “Thiraikadha’ (the film was based on the life of actress Sri Vidhya).

‘Anthony Yaar’ - a cliched orphan’s tale

Film: “Anthony Yaar”; Director: C.T. Pandi; Cast: Shaam, Mallika Kapoor, Lal, Vivek and Rajesh; Music: Dhina; Rating: *1/2

Actor Shaam has gone in for an image change — from that of a chocolate boy to an angry young man. But unfortunately director C.T. Pandi’s “Anthony Yaar” is a cliched story of an orphan brought up by a church priest.

The movie is about an orphan Anthony (Shaam), who is a fisherman brought up by a priest (Rajesh) in a church in a village. He is adored by everyone in the hamlet for his good deeds. Then enters Michael (Lal), an influential man who controls the whole village and dictates terms among the fisherfolk. As usual, Anthony opposes him.

Eventually he incurs the wrath of Michael, who with the help of his men inflicts bleeding injuries on Anthony and dumps him in the sea. The villagers gather at the church and pray for Anthony’s safe return.

Divine intervention brings a back a new Anthony — a strong angry young man. And he is back to take revenge and bump off Michael.

Shaam has tried his best to portray a rebel in the movie. Unfortunately his dubbed voice proves to be a major hiccup. He looks a mismatch in the role of a fisherman, who goes in catamarans to deep sea.

Mallika Kapoor dons the role of a college student who falls in love with Shaam. She adds some colour to the fare with her looks.

Lal, with his menacing eyes, fits the role well but he is fast becoming predictable. Vivek succeeds partially in comedy in the company of ‘Cell’ Murugan. Rajesh is good as the priest.

Dhina’s songs are as usual loud but catchy.

A cliched sequence of events and amateur handling of the screenplay take away all the sheen in “Anthony Yaar”.

‘Sinthanai Sei’ - interesting story, too many twists

Film: “Sinthanai Sei”; Director: Yuvan; Cast: Yuvan, Sashanth, Bala, Madhu Sharma, Madhu Priya and Kadhal Dhandapani; Music: Thaman; Rating: ***

The theme of “Sinthanai Sei”, directed and enacted by newcomer Yuvan, is like a bolt from the blue. But the amateur handling of the screenplay mars its overall impact.

What begins as an emotional tale slowly settles down to an action-flick about a bank robbery. The humiliation caused by failures of five youths manifests into violence and forces them to chart a different path in their lives.

Adhi (Yuvan), who is considered useless by his parents, comes to the city to eke out a livelihood. But to his surprise Gayathri (Madhu Priya), a rich girl falls in love with him and they get married within a month. But they get separated in a matter of days.

Yuvan, humiliated and shattered, goes in search of his lost life and meets his four friends who studied with him in school. All of them are sailing in the same boat as all are struggling to make both ends meet.

Ethics and morality are the last thing on their mind as they struggle to make a living and so they have no qualms in indulging in criminal activities as well.

Aiming big, one fine day these petty thieves plan to rob a bank. They execute the plan well, leaving the police clueless and confused. They decide to share Rs.5 crore (Rs.50 million) they stole from the bank and here begins all the troubles.

Mistrust crops up between them. Friends get killed one after another and a blame game follows. Yuvan finally manages to survive and the climax tells you what he did with the money.

Debutant director Yuvan has to be commended for his efforts to build a story based on the psychological aspect of one’s life. He has effectively shown how humiliation caused by failures gets manifested in youth taking to crime and violence.

He has presented the movie with a brisk pace till the intermission. But the second half, with some predictable turns, is relatively slow. Moreover, the director takes too much of time to reach the climax, which lacks punch despite the many twists and turns.

Thaman, a member of the group Shankar’s Boys, scores the music for the film. A couple of songs are racy and foot-tapping.

Yuvan is impressive in the acting department too as he brings out the right emotions at the right time. The rest of the cast, including Sashanth, Bala, Madhu Sharma and Kadhal Dhandapani, do the job entrusted to them well.

On the whole, the movie begins with a promise but fails to maintain the momentum in the second half.

Rahman, Stalin get honorary doctorates

Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Chandrayaan project director M. Annadurai were Saturday conferred with honorary doctorates by Anna University here.
Governor and varsity chancellor Surjit Singh Barnala gave away the honourary degrees at a special convocation.

The degrees were conferred on Rahman and Annadurai for their achievements in the realm of music and space technology respectively and on Stalin for his contribution to the state’s administration, Anna University Vice Chancellor P. Mannar Jawahar said.

This is the third doctorate for Rahman after he won two Oscars for Hollywood movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. The first was from Aligarh Muslim University and the second from London’s Middlesex University.

This is the first honourary doctorate conferred on Stalin, 56, a graduate of Madras University.

Honorary doctorates from Tamil Nadu universities are normally given to chief ministers of the state with incumbent M. Karunanidhi, as also M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalitha who have previously occupied the post, among the major politicians to have been conferred the honour while in power.

Hansika pair-up with Dhanush

Actor Dhanush seems to be in the best of his spirits after all his films Thiruvilayadal Aarambam, Polladhavan and Padikkadavan did well on the box office.
After the completion of Aadukalam, director Suraj and Dhanush will team-up once again for a romantic comedy in which Hansika Motwani will be pairing opposite Dhanush.
Hansika is said to have done a few Hindi films in the past.