Balachander comes in rescue of Rajini!

An event to honor the technicians of Kuselan financially, as promised by Rajini during the movie’s audio launch, was held today at the Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam. A total of Rs. 40 lakhs was distributed among the technicians, of which the superstar contributed Rs. 20 lakhs and the producers, the rest.Addressing the occasion, Rajini announced that the financial assistance would continue in his future movies as well. He said that this has been discussed with Shankar, with whom he is working next, and his daughter Soundarya.

He also explained his stand in the apology issue and stated that the whole issue was a lesson for him. “Had I mentioned that my remarks on the Kannadigas do not apply for people in Karnataka in general and only to the miscreants, this issue wouldn’t have cropped up,” Rajini clarified.

K. Balachander, who also attended, spoke in the event and remarked that the issue was blown out of proportion unnecessarily. “I have been watching the issue for some time now and did not comment on it since I did not want to add fuel to the fire. In my opinion, Rajini did not apologize and has only expressed regret over the issue,” KB added.He also mentioned that since Rajini’s life is closely intertwined with the producers and people, it became necessary for him to issue such a statement. “Apologizing and expressing regret are two different things. I would appeal to friends of Tamil cinema not to build a dividing wall inside the community by raising such issues. Let the bygones be bygones,” he stated.

KB added that at a time when Tamil talent is being receiving nationwide recognition, especially in Bollywood, it is essential that Tamil cinema maintains its unity.

Katie Holmes Pics

Kuselan Premiere Show

The premiere show of Kuselan was held yesterday at Sathyam Cinemas. The speciality of the show was that it was screened on all the five screens of the cineplex.

The show was attended by director P. Vasu, Producer Council President Ramanarayan, Laksmi Movie Makers Muralidharan, Pyramid Saimira's Swaminathan, actor Pasupathy, lyricist Na. Muthukumar, actors Prem, Navdeep, Vijay and Jai, director Hari and his family, director K. S. Ravikumar, producer Ramkumar and son Dushyanth, producer Mohan Natarajan, directors Ameer, A. L. Vijay, Karu Pazhainappan, music director Yuvanshankar Raja, director Jayam Raja with his family, director-choreographer Raju Sundaram, director Venkat Prabhu and actor-singer-producer SPB Charan, cinematographer Aravind Krishna, actor-director Praveenkanth and several techinicians from the industry.

Nayan sizzles in Kuselan!

Whoever saw the movie Kuselan at the special screening held last evening has come away raving about it. Kuselan is very different from the usual Rajni masala entertainer, in that Rajni comes for only about 60 minutes or around 3 reels.

Nayantara, who is the superstar’s jodi, has sizzled on the screen, giving one of her best performances to date. In her meteoric rise to fame as the highest-paid South Indian actress so far, Nayantara’s first movie that Tamil moviegoers remember her by is Chandramukhi where she was Rajni’s love interest. After that, there has been no looking back for the starry-eyed Malayalee beauty.And now again, she is back with the Superstar in Kuselan. In the many publicity stills of Kuselan that we have all seen so far, Nayantara exudes a sensuality and confidence that most heroines are still struggling to perfect. She has been the perfect foil for the superstar without fading into the background.

Watch out for Nayan in the ‘Saaral Oh Saaral’ song. There will be plenty of whistles and catcalls in theatres during that song!

Kuselan Review

Starring: Rajini, Pasupathy, Nayanthara, Meena, Sona, Vadivelu, Vijayakumar

Direction: P Vasu

Music: G V Prakash

Production: K Balachander
Director P. Vasu’s take on Srinivasan’s Kathaparyumbol attempts to show Rajini in a different light, only with a different screen name. Forty minutes into the movie, Rajini appears, bringing with him the glitz and glamour of movie making. He delivers punch dialogues, duets with Nayanthara, and shows that he can still pull in a crowd by playing himself without having to hype up his image. However, in the process, and probably due to the overwhelming presence of the superstar, the delightful story about two friends is regrettably lost.
Kuselan follows the story of Balu, played by Pasupathy, who is more often than not addressed cynically as Barber Balu by his village men. He is down in the dumps because his business is going downhill and is in an attempt to revive it from slumping by applying for a bank loan. His short term goal, however, is to buy a new wooden chair and get rid of his dilapidating old one.

In the mean time, there is hullabaloo in the village owing to a shooting unit that has camped in the neighborhood. Balu gets to know that his childhood friend Ashok Kumar is part of the cast. When the news about Balu’s friendship with Ashok Kumar is let out by his wife Sridevi, played by Meena, the reluctant Balu is burdened with requests from many sections of the village. They want to use Balu’s friendship as a ticket to get near Ashok Kumar for reasons ranging from meeting him in close proximity to inviting him for the village school’s silver jubilee anniversary.

The first forty minutes of the movie, intended to be down-to-earth and unpretentious village comedy, is a classic case of Lost in Translation. Vadivelu’s earsplitting comic act, especially dialogue delivery, steals away the possibility to have a few laughs at the

naivety displayed by Pasupathy. Besides, lack of sharp-witted dialogues also contributes to the tedium. Although Vadivelu’s hiding-and-watching-wife’s-exercising-with-villagers is in bad taste, his shaving-the-balloon act while apprenticing with Pasupathy is hilarious. That apart, Livingston, Santhanam, Manobala, and R. Sundarrajan also contribute to the laughs.Although Rajini remains the main focus of the movie, Pasupathy wells many eyes with tears often. His inability to express his family about his unwillingness to visit Ashok Kumar, his helplessness when he could not pay his daughter’s school fees, and his emotional turmoil when encountered by his friend’s speech – Pasupathy proves to be the saving grace of the movie at times. Meena, as his unassuming wife, has done an okay job despite having been decked up with brand new saris and costumes as a poor man’s wife.

Nayan plays herself and is oozing with oomph, courtesy, her barely-there costumes. If that’s not enough, she’s also drenched in the rain and caught in different angles for a song that appears like a bolt out of the blue – it also seems to be the case for most of the songs. But who cares, as long as Nayan is there. The focus of the movie quite often shifts to Vadivelu and Livingston who tickle a few funny bones with their unsuccessful attempts to meet Rajini
G. V. Prakash’s music and rerecording flows with the tide. The art department seems to be screaming for attention for all the sets look plastic and non-natural.

On the whole, Kuselan is a friendship tale worth giving a shot. For it is not too often that you get to see Rajini playing himself, the superstar. Not to say, the fifteen minute climax which is the only high point of the movie.

Swathi-Subramanipuram heroin

1977 images