“I was expecting a better opening for Vanakkam Chennai”- Udhayanidhi Stalin

Producer/actor Udhayanidhi Stalin in a recent interview has revealed his thoughts on the business of Vanakkam Chennai. “Although it was decent, I was expecting a better opening for Vanakkam Chennai. But the good thing is that the film got good reviews and it has picked up extraordinarily,” expressed Udhay.
 

Ask him about his wife and the director of Vanakkam Chennai, Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi’s reaction to the performance of the film at the BO, he says, “She keeps enquiring about the business. Her frequent question is that if the film would see profit or not.”
 

Although Vanakkam Chennai is not a mega budget venture, Udhay has apparently generously spent on publicity. But, he is positive that the project would be a profitable one for him and his company and credits Anirudh’s music and the awesome trailer for the decent opening.

“After Rajinikanth, only Suriya can do it!”- Ameer

The audio release of Karu Palaniappan’s Jannal Oram happened yesterday (17th October 2013) in the presence of Suriya, Vishal, Ameer, Parthiban, Samuthirakani, Cheran, Vemal, Manisha Yadav and the rest of the cast and crew of the film. The team took a trip across Chennai in a special bus and distributed their audio CDs to the public for free as a part of their innovative audio launch. The trip came to an end at Kamala Cinemas, Chennai, where an event to celebrate the launch of the music was hosted by the team.
 

Talking at the event Ameer said, “Grandeur, fun and glamour are generally the ingredients of an audio launch event. But here I sense gratitude more than anything. That said, I would also like to thank a person. Suriya! It was Suriya who believed the director in me. Back then, both me and the producer of Nanda wanted to do a film with him. We were sitting in a fruit shop in Besant Nagar and discussing our plans. Suriya then said, “If you both come together I’ll do the film happily. If you want to come separately, I’ll take Ameer’s project first”. I was moved.”
 

The Mounam Pesiyadhe director also added, “After Rajinikanth, only Suriya can draw such huge family audience. According to me, he is the Aamir Khan of Tamil Cinema. My request to Suriya is that he should do more family oriented films. I’m not asking him to do a film for me. A director like Karu Palaniappan can give a makeover for him.”
 

In response to Ameer’s speech, director Karu Palaniappan said, “I didn’t want to speak in my own event. But Ameer has forced me to speak. He knows the knack of getting someone in trouble. When I invited Suriya for my marriage, his first question was – “Love Marriage?” When I said yes, I witnessed a twinkle in his eyes and he was the first one to appear for my marriage. Suriya had also taken part in the launch of Sivapathikaram and he is here today. In fact, I didn’t invite Suriya personally for this event, my producer did. So my point is that, we both share a beautiful friendship even without doing a project together and I hope this continues even if we don’t get together for a film in the future.”
 

Suriya thanked everyone for their kind words about him and said, “I myself am a fan of Parthiban Kanavu and Sivapathikaram. Jyothika still regrets missing out Parthiban Kanavu. She was the initial choice of Karu Palaniappan for the lead role. For various reasons she couldn’t.”
 

The Singam 2 actor also added, "they say only 8-9% of Tamil films become hits in a year. I hope Jannal Oram turns out to be a big hit.
 

Parthiban, who took over, was at his eloquent best. “We all know the ‘Gnyana Pazham’ episode from ‘Thiruvilayadal’. If Ganesha was more intelligent than lord Murugan, our producer Murugan is much more intelligent than lord Shiva himself. He picked a brilliant director and let him do all the work,” he started. “The invitation for the event was exceedingly simple, but the film will be extraordinary. All extraordinary things, like our Superstar Rajinikanth are simple. This is the only film where I have completely listened to the director and I want this one to be a huge hit,” summed up the actor.
 

Vishal, who worked with Karu Palaniappan in Sivapathikaram, said that he’ll always be proud of that film. Talking about the cast of Jannal Oram, Vishal said, “I know both Vemal and Vidharth as Ramesh. We spent some time together in Koothu Pattarai. I started believing in cinema only when these people made impacts in the industry.”
 

The grand event came to an end after the music, composed by Vidyasagar was released by the entire gathering.

Azhaguraja and Arrambam on the same plane

Director Rajesh's All in All Azhaguraja has been censored with a U certificate and it has lived up to its 'clean family entertainer' billing. AAA will be Karthi's first Diwali release and he has been paired opposite Kajal Agarwal for the second time.

 

Santhanam continues his association with Director Rajesh for the 4th time in succession while the likes of Prabhu and Saranya complete the cast list. Thaman's scores for the movie were released last week along with the trailer, which showcased a stunning new face, Kareena Chopra (Santhanam's female avatar).

 

With Arrambam also being censored with a U earlier in the day, we have one more on the 'U'wagon in the form of Azhaguraja. Both these Diwali biggies are now all set to release - Arrambam on 31st October and Azhaguraja on 2nd November.

Kochadaiyaan Release Date

Kochadaiyaan has been garnering the spotlight today as the teaser of the movie is getting all sorts of response from fans in the social media space. Everyone is unanimous in agreeing that this is a pioneering attempt for Indian cinema. The music of the film will be launched in the month of October while the film is set for release on 12th December this year, the day Rajini turns 63.

 

The co-producer of the movie, Dr. Murli Manohar confirmed this "We are aiming at a 12 December, 2013 release for the film, finally. It's been a long struggle. But we wanted Rajiniji's fans to get the most perfect film after a 3-year wait. I think we've achieved what we set out to do."

 

Enthiran was released 3 years back and Rajini also had to battle health issues over the past few years. Now, the Superstar is back to his healthy best and his fans need to wait for just a few months more for his 'darshan' in a brand-new young avatar.

Kochadaiyaan will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi as well as in foreign languages such as Japanese. It is assured that Kochadaiyaan would see among the widest releases ever for an Indian movie.

Arya's romance or Vijay Sethupathi's comedy ?

Vijay Sethupathi's next release Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara will be releasing in all probability on the 27th of September. The first copy of the movie is expected to be ready by the 19th of this month with all post production processes complete by then.

After that the movie will be sent for censoring. Ashwin K, Swati and Nandita are also cast in this comedy entertainer by director Gokul which has music by Siddharth Vipin. It must be noted that the music of the movie has been met with good response.
 

The Arya, Jai, Nayanthara, Nazriya Nazim romantic caper Raja Rani is also targetting a September 27 release, as reported a few weeks back.

Mr. and Mrs. Bharath are coming to town

Actor Bharath got married to Dubai based Dr. Jesslie on the 9th of September 2013 and their reception ceremony would be held on the 14th of September in Chennai's Leela Palace Hotel from around 5 pm.

Many biggies from the industry including top actors, actresses, directors, producers, technicians and musicians are expected to take part in this reception and wish the newly wed couple.
 

Behindwoods wishes the newly wed couple a long and a happy married life ahead. Their reception promises to be a memorable event in the making. 

The Thanga Meengal story to be published

It's been 5 days since the release of Thanga Meengal and the reviews that the film has received till date, have been overwhelmingly positive from all quarters. Director Ram is a contented man and in a conversation with Behindwoods, he was free-flowing in his thoughts.

 

"Many teachers have called me and have said good things about the film. Kids are in love with the 'First Lastu' song and they also seem to like the Evita Miss character and the idea of a dream school. I also plan to release the 35 - 40 pages long foundation story of Thanga Meengal, which was developed based on the conversations that I had with my daughter"

 

"The trade is happy with the response to the film in the A and B centers in particular and though shows would be reduced in the second week, the film is expected to sustain for up to 50 days. Weekdays are also sustaining pretty well in main centers like Chennai", says a happy Ram.

Dhanush helped Sivakarthikeyan with his college fees

The anchor turned actor, Sivakarthikeyan appears to have fixed an escalator to the ladder that takes you to stardom. The actor first appeared in Marina, directed by Pandiraj. He later appeared in Dhanush’s 3, before being roped into Ethir Neechal which was produced by Dhanush under the banner Wunderbar films.
 

Siva has just completed promotions for his upcoming movie Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam, which is set to hit the theaters on the 6^th of September 2013. He is currently working on the project Maan Karate that has Hansika Motwani in the female lead. Siva in a recent interview mentioned that the movie would be a humorous cracker. The actor, who admits that he gets nervous during intimate scenes with heroines, appreciated the professionalism of Hansika and that he was happy to have met her.
 

The jovial young actor has got good industry friends like Dhanush and Anirudh to name a few. The actor recalled an occasion where Dhanush asked him why he mimicked him in a television show. Siva had jokingly replied that he did not have money for his college fees and that that was the only way he could earn some money.
 

Although Dhanush is Siva’s friend, he calls him ‘sir’ due to the respect he has for him. He also uses the term ‘sir’ when he addresses Anirudh. But that is just to tease him. The actor joked.

Nani replaces Vijay Sethupathi

The audio launch of Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum will happen this September.  Since the movie is based on a Padmini car, the team has planned to conduct a road show with two Padmini cars. One of these cars will start from Nagercoil and the other from Coimbatore. It is said that the cars will be given a grand welcome as it enters each town. The buzz is that the welcome will be according to the respective town’s culture.

The cars’ final destination would be Chennai where they would receive a warm welcome from the Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum team.

The movie is a Vijay Sethupathi starrer and Iyshwarya Rajesh will be the leading lady. The movie will also feature Sneha as Pannaiyaar’s daughter and Attakathi Dinesh in a cameo. The addition of Sneha to the cast is an added advantage for the movie.

The film is directed by Arun Kumar and produced by M.R Ganesh under the banner Magicbox films. Actor Nani, who played the lead in Naan Ee, was impressed with the movie and has grabbed the Telugu rights for the film. It is said that Nani himself will play the lead role for the Telugu version.

G.V Prakash in Hollywood?

G.V Prakash has been having a ball in the industry at the moment. At a very young age, he has taken up various roles from a singer to a music director to a producer.
 

He ventured into Tamil Cinema as a composer in Veyil and has given us beautiful albums ever since. It should be noted that GVP was used as a singer by AR Rahman for Palakattu Machanukku and Chikku Bukku Raile at a very young age.
 

The composer is now enjoying his new role as a producer for Madhayaanai Koottam and GVP is happy with the way the movie is shaping. He will venture soon into his acting endeavours and mentioned that he is listening to stories from a couple of big film makers and that he will take up the new role by next year.
 

It is also said that the composer has been roped in for a Hollywood movie. When quizzed about the same, he reiterated that it is too early to talk about it and that he will let the world know about it as soon as things are confirmed.

Just In - Selvaraghavan joins Ajith in the ring

So, its a triple dhamaka this Diwali. Earlier two films were confirmed for release this Diwali, Ajith’s Arrambam and Karthi’s All in all Azhaguraja. Now news breaks in, with the confirmation of the release of Selvaraghavan’s Irandam Ulagam which stars Arya and Anushka.
 

Irandam Ulagam is a 60 crore mega budget movie with cutting edge special effects shot in multiple locations of Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa, Georgia and Tashkent.
 

PVP Cinemas have confirmed that Irandam Ulagam will be releasing in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Georgian, Russian, Uzbek, and Turkish languages.
 

With the music and trailer already being a hit, Irandam Ulagam is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. The release of the movie with two other heavy starred movies will make this Diwali a big blast for the audience.

We have to see how the trade is able to slot three high-profile movies around the same time. Will all the three make it to theaters for Diwali as planned or will there be a pull-out or two? Interesting days ahead.

AJITHS ARRAMBAM WILL RELEASE FOR DIWALI

This is a good news for Ajith fans `Arrambam` will release  for this Diwali.`Arrambam` executive producer A.M.Rathnam has officially confirmed that the film will release this Diwali, adding that though the shooting process of the film is complete and the post production work is going on.The date of the audio release will be declared in a couple of days, Rathnam clarified.

Festival of Indian films in Pondy

 Puducherry, Sep 5: The 'Indian Panorama' 2013, a festival of Indian films would be held here from tomorrow to Septemebr 10. According to an official release here today, the film festival for the 31st year in succession will commence with the screening of a Tamil film 'Vaagai Sooda Va'.

The film was adjudged as the best for 2012 and won the Sankardas Swamigal award comprising Rs one lakh in cash and a citation. They would be presented to its Director Sargunam at the inagural function. This is the first time a cash award of Rs one lakh would be presented. Till last year the cashaward was Rs 50,000.

Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy will inaugurate the festival, which is being jointly organised by the Directorate of Information and Publicity, Government of Puducherry, Films Division of Central government, Navadarshan Film society and the Alliance Francaise here.

Besides 'Vaagai Sooda Va', Malayalam film 'Ithramathram' and 'Ozhimuri', 'Elar Chaar Adhya' (Bengali) and 'Gangoobai' (Hindi) would be screened during the five-day festival.

Kajal agarwal Latest Stills

Kajal agarwal Cute Smiling Stills

Nazriya Nazim is scared

Nazriya Nazim is considered the little heart throb in Tamil Industry at the moment. Her charming appearance and her cute nuances have gained her a lot of fans. The actress initially appeared as a television anchor in a popular Malayalam show before she was spotted by director Anees, who roped her into Thirumanam Ennum Nikkah opposite Jai.
 

Nazriya is being grabbed by directors and producers ever since. She acted in Alphonse Putharen’s Neram which fared well in the box office. She has also completed acting in Naiyaandi and Raja Rani which is set for release soon.
 

The actress was quizzed in a recent interview about how it feels to be accepted and loved by the audience
 

“I’m happy. A bit scary too, as they have accepted me so fast with just one film. Expectations are high on me, and I fear at times whether I will be able to fulfill those expectations in my upcoming films. But I want to do my best, that’s all.”

Amala Paul and Akshay Kumar? What a jodi !!!

Amala Paul is all set to extend her territory to Bollywood, if the current industry buzz is to be believed. When we investigated, we heard she is in talks for the Hindi remake of Ramana, starring Akshay Kumar in the lead and to be directed by 'Vedam' fame Krish. Amala is in Mumbai currently and a script narration was recently given to her. 

 

The original version of the movie had Vijayakanth, Simran and Ashima in prominent roles and Amala will probably sign up for a pivotal role in the Hindi remake, for which the script has been modified a bit.

 

After acting in successful films down South with most of the prominent stars, this young starlet looks set to reach for the skies. 

Leading Television Channel to apologize to Ranjitha

Ranjitha who was last seen in Mani Ratnam’s Raavanan had got the going in her favor in a ruling which is very significant in safeguarding the privacy of an individual. This was issued by the Broadcast Content Complaints Council (BCCC), a self regulatory body of entertainment channels, which has asked a private television channel to issue an apology to Ranjitha in a form of a scroll every two hours till September 9^th, 2013.

The program in question was telecast in the channel on 21^st March 2012 where some of the clippings showed Ranjitha in a bad light. Ranjitha filed a writ in th High Court of Karnataka.

The order delivered on Monday by the BCCC said, “In the Council’s opinion, the channel is guilty of violating the complainant’s privacy and dignity and is consequently liable to apologise to the complainant, Ranjitha Menon. This program was found to be in violation of the self-regulatory guidelines of Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). The channel has clearly undermined the basic rights of the complainant.”

Ajith gets hold of another beast!

Thala Ajith recently bought a BMW motorbike and took it for a long drive to Bangalore to create awareness on safe driving. Now the actor is also a proud owner of an Aprillia Caponord travel pack fully loaded super bike. This particular machine seems to be the more travel friendly option during road trips compared to his BMW. This latest purchase from Ajith may indicate that the actor is considering of undertaking longer road-trips.

The vehicle has a 1197 cc engine, 6 speed transmission, 11.7 kgm torque and a maximum power of 125 cv. The photo of Ajith with his new silver coloured beast was posted on net recently and is going super viral.

So if you witness a silver Aprillia being cranked by a fully geared rider on the streets of Chennai, be sure that it is our own Thala Ajith. Stay alert folks!

The Vengeance of Vijay Sethupathy

Vijay Sethupathy surely is one of the most sought after actors in the industry, with a number of projects in his kitty. His long list of upcoming films includes Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum, Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara, Rummy, Sangudevan, Vasantha Kumaran and Purampokku.
 

Now, an official release from his side confirms that he has added one more project to this long list. He will do the lead in Vanmam along with actor Kreshna. The title, which translates to Vengeance, gives an impression that this might be an action film.

Helmed by Jai Krishna, the project will be funded by Nemichand Jabak Productions. Bala Bharani will crank the camera and NR Raghunanthan will score for the film.  

More exciting news on Mundasu Patti

More details about Mundasu Patti, the movie that is being produced under the part of the deal signed between Fox Star Studios and C.V.Kumar of Thirukumaran Entertainment, are evolving now. Vishnu plays the lead in the movie that is directed by D Ram, who was earlier seen in the Nalaya Iyakkunar series directing a short film of the same name. Nandita of Attakathi fame will be the female lead. Ram is expanding his boundaries with Mundasu Patti and will adapt the short film for the silver screen.

Cinematography is done by PV Shankar with art direction by Gopi Anand. The movie is scored by Raghavendra and lyrics are penned by Muthamizh. Editing is by Leo John Paul, stunts by Billa Jagan, executive production by Rakesh and public relations by Nikhil Murugan.