Tabu to turn producer?

After the success of Pandurangadu, in which Tabu played a villainous, immoral woman, she has decided to produce a film very soon. She has decided to concentrate on her native Hyderabad and produce Telugu films in collaboration with UTV Motion Pictures.

Tabu has had a great run in Bollywood, but decided to move base to Hyderabad and has done quite a number of movies in Telugu, like Idi Sangati. In spite of being from the senior ‘crop’ of heroines, she has plenty of oomph to beat younger actresses hands down.

Her maiden movie, now in the pre-production discussion stage, will mostly be a small budget or ‘multiplex’ movie.

Vijay in a movie titled 'MGR'

Actor Vijay is playing the lead role in a movie titled 'MGR', directed by Perarasu. Hold your horses and don't jump to conclusions. This is a film within a film.

Vijay's dad S. A. Chandrasekhar is directing a film called 'Pandhayam' with Nithin Sathya donning the lead role. Vijay will be playing himself in the film as a guest performer. Since he plays himself, he will be depicted as though he is shooting for a film under the direction of Perarasu. And that film's title is 'MGR'.

The scene was shot in Chennai recently. Nithin Sathya, the hero of 'Pandhayam' plays a die-hard Vijay fan in the film and so goes to see Vijay shooting for a movie. Prakash Raj and Sindhu Thulani also are in the cast. Vijay Anthony has scored the music.

It may be recalled that Vijay had earlier acted in a guest role in S A Chandrasekhar's 'Sukkran'.

Vijay is meanwhile busy with 'Villu', directed by Prabhudeva and the shooting for the film, produced by Ayngaran Internationals is on at a rapid pace.

Saroja Photo Gallery

Cheran Lashes Priyamani

Director-turned-actor Cheran is currently working on his forthcoming project Pokkisham. This is a sequel to his mega hit film Autograph. Speaking about Padma Priya's selection, Cheran said that he found her to be the only actress who was bold enough to sign a film that gives importance to the female lead. The actor rued that most heroines lament

that women are not given importance in films but when actually offered meaty roles on a platter they refuse it for obvious reasons. Lashing out at the National Award winner Priya Mani, Cheran said that he had offered the role in Pokkisham to her initially, but the actress evaded giving him a reply. He also added that the actress refused to accept his calls. On a final note, Cheran said that Priya Mani, rather than relying on her capabilities is banking on her pride.

“Mistakes in Dasavatharam will not be repeated in Marmayogi”

Kamal Haasan’s Dasavatharam has created waves in the tinsel town with the film proving to be a hit among the masses, cutting across all barriers. It is even more surprising that Dasavatharam is still a hot favorite among the critics though Kamal has moved on to his next project Marmayogi.Speaking about Marmayogi, Kamal had said that it would also be made in such a way that people from all walks of life would find it easy to understand. He also acknowledged that there were some mistakes in Dasavatharam, but it would not be repeated in Marmayogi. Tipped to be a period film, Marmayogi’s shooting will commence from August onwards in various locations around the world. According to the sources close Kamal Haasan, the actor is working hard to attract a large audience for Marmayogi. He also has plans to make the storyline as simple as possible.

Cutout Culture in USA-Superstar

Dham Dhoom guls

Rajadhiraja Movie Gallery

Sarathkumar’s daughter in Poda Podi

Actor-politician Sarath Kumar's daughter Varalakshmi is making her debut as a heroine in Simbu's next film "Thiru Poda.. Thirumathi Podi". The formal announcement was made on July 14 to coincide with Sarath Kumar's 54th birthday celebrations.

"Poda Podi", a musical love story, will be directed by Vignesh Shiva, a close of friend of Simbu, and produced by Gemini Film Circuit and Shanaya Telefilms of Mumbai. The film will be shot in Toronto in Canada. The shooting is expected to commence at the earliest and last 60 days.

Tall and pretty Varalakshmi gave her nod when Padham Kumar, one of the producers of "Poda Podi" approached her with the 'interesting' script that gives equal footage to the hero and heroine. She plays a dancer in the film.

Varalakshmi or Varu, (Sarath Kumar's daughter from his first marriage to Chaya, a designer and social worker), has done her PhD in microbiology and has an MSc in management from the Edinburgh University in the UK. She has also done a six-month acting course at the prestigious Anupam Kher's Academy in Mumbai. She is a salsa and ballet dancer.

She has done some stage shows. "I think that must have impressed my dad, who agreed to launch me in movies," She says.

According to Sarath Kumar, acting is his daughter's passion. "Her stage show impressed me a lot. I know she has it in her to make it big in cinema."

He along with Varalakshmi attended the 55th Tiger Balm Filmfare Awards (South) on July 12. They were invited on to the stage to present Priyamani with her award.

Rajinikanth is bit nervous about Kuselan

Superstar Rajinikanth appears for a few minutes in Kuselan but in the movie’s posters and promotion he looms large. That’s because a Rajinikanth appearance even for a minute can set the box-office on fire and so the makers of Kuselan are all set to cash in on the superstar. Rajinikanth says the hype is making him nervous and people shouldn’t call it as his film because he is playing a cameo role.

“There’s already a lot of hype about the movie. I’m very nervous with everyone expecting it to run to a silver jubilee,” he says.

For the film’s makers though a bit of Rajinikanth is quite a lot. Distributors have sold Kuselan as a ‘Rajinikanth film’ for Rs 64 crore – more than what the superstar’s movie Sivaji was sold for.

“Today Rajnikanth’s market is such that even if he comes for one scene or two in a film he will still be the superstar,” says P Vasu, director of Kuselan.

People who have bought the film’s rights know that and fans know it too: Rajinikanth in a bit role is big deal still!

Rajinikanth is bit nervous about Kuselan

Nayan to flag off Kuselan promo event?

Rajinikanth starrer Kuselan, in which Pasupathy plays the lead role, is due to hit the silver screens within a few days from now. The team is now gearing up for promoting the film. Only a few days earlier it was announced that Kuselan's music director G.V. Prakash would hold a music concert to promote the film's music. The latest buzz is that the Kuselan team is planning to flag off a bus, which is expected to travel in and around Chennai. The bus, which would be flagged off by Nayan, who incidentally dons a major role in Kuselan, will showcase some of the rare pictures of Rajinikanth. Moreover, contests are also on the anvil and winners will be given Kuselan T-shirts as prizes, says sources.

Ladam Movie Gallery

55th Tigerbarm Filmfare Award

CHENNAI, JULY 13 (INDIATIMES MOVIES) The stars descended in Chennai’s Nehru Indoor Stadium to celebrate the hard work the film fraternity had put in the year gone by. With Mohanlal holding the Malayalam film industry flag high, actors like Tabu, Venkatesh, Junior NTR and Nayantara kept the Telegu film fans ecstatic, the Kannada film industry was represented by Vijay and Rashmi and it was Khushboo leading the path for Tamil cinema alongwith Madhavan, Karthik and Suriya.




















While Telegu Film Happy Days walked away with the highest honours of 6 awards, it was music maestro, AR Rahman who had much to cheer about. Although missing from the action, Rahman collected his 22nd Filmfare award for best music, which is a record.

Tamil superstars Suriya and Karthik celebrated a double whammy when their father Siva Kumar was honoured for his lifetime achievement award and Karthik took the coveted best actor award for his film, Paruthiveeran. The best actor for a Malayalam film when to Mohanlal for his Paradesi. An emotional winner, Mohanlal said, “I consider Paradesi as a landmark in my filmi career.” Kannada actor Vijay collected the best actor award for Duniya while Telegu superstar Junior NTR for hisYamadonga. In his inimitable style, Junior NTR said, “I think these are blessings from my grandfather, who is looking after me from top.”












The South Filmfare awards always decides the fate of actresses and those who celebrated their success were Kannanda actress Rashmi for Duniya, Malayalam sensation Meena Jasmine for Orekadal and Tamil film’s current favourite Priyamani for Paruthiveeran. Celebrating her third best actress Filmfare award was Telegu’s Trisha. She received the award from none other than her co-star, Venkatesh. Trisha gushed, “I want to thank my fans, co-stars,director and most of all to the Telegu film industry for some of my best films till date.”





The night was made special by several dance acts. A riot of colour, vigorous dance movements to thumping music and excited shrieks of fans were seen and heard as dancing divas like Rambha, Divya, Hansika, Mamika and Shreya Sarin took the stage by storm. Adding to the variety was a classical dance act by Shobhana and Vineet, who planned their own choreography. Also awarded for her contribution to Indian cinema was actress turned politician, Jaya Pradha.













But the night belonged to the dashing Maddy. As the anchor of the show, he was quick with his repartees, jubilant with the success of his friends and charming to his heroines. Getting special attention was the lissome Tabu, whom Maddy actually convinced to sing a line on stage.

Katrina Kaif, the sexiest woman as was declared by a popular fashion and style magazine, attended the event to add the Bollywood zing. A four hour spectacle that was special in its celebration of unity of four different film fraternities.