Rajapattai – Movie Preview

Rajapattai’ tells the story of a grandfather and a grandson, a Gym instructor, who aspires to become a villain in films. But, life takes him to another job that is far bigger and a responsible one.

Vikram plays the Gym instructor and veteran director-actor K. Vishwanath plays the grandfather of Vikram’s character. This is yet another action-family drama of Suseendran, who delivered ‘Naan Mahan Alla’ with Karthi. The director has taken the support of Seenu Vasan in writing the story and Bhaskar Sakthi for doing the dialogues. The script has enough action, comedy, sentiments and romance, and fulfills a wholesome ‘Mass Masala’ entertainment!
Suseendran has included many novel features in the film including Vikram’s 10 different getups that we never have seen in any of the films. Also, there is a song that the crew is shooting in Japan that boasts beautiful lyrics and visuals. An item number featuring many top heroines of Tamil cinema is also a specialty in the film. Shriya and Reema have already agreed to do their part in the song and the director is approaching some more heroines for the song.
Deeksha Seth, a finalist in the Miss India Contest and a known actress in Telugu film, is debuting in Tamil industry with ‘Rajapattai’. She plays the female lead, an IT girl in the film, and has scenes that she could show her martial arts talents. Yes, the actress knows Karate!
Mithra Kurien, who played a vital role in Vijay’s ‘Kavalan’, is also doing a prominent role in ‘Rajapattai’. Earlier, ‘Mynaa’ actress Amala Paul was roped in for this role and due to date problems she withdrew from the film.
Hansika Motwani, with a payment of over Rs. 1 Crore, is another actress who did not accept the offer of doing a character in the film. Pradeep Rawat, who played a stunning role in A R Murugadoss’ ‘Ghajini’ has done the villain in ‘Rajapattai’. Thambi Ramaiah and Mayilsami are doing other prominent roles.
Yuvan Shankar Raja is scoring the music. A single track of the film will see its release in the first week of November. A successful strategy that films ‘Vaanam’ and ‘Mankatha’ adapted to promote the audio and the film is hoped to work for this film too.
R. Madhi handles the camera. Mu. Kasi Viswanathan has taken care of the editing department. ‘Rajapattai’ is produced with a whopping budget of Rs. 40 Crores. SP Creations’ Ramesh actually started the production but due to financial constraints he handed over the production and the film to PVP Cinemas of Prasad V Potluri.
The film is likely to get released on 23rd of December, 2011!

Low key wedding for Riteish-Genelia

With never-ending media glare on their wedding, actors Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia have apparently made a few alterations in their wedding plans! They have decided to make their wedding a very private affair, moving away from an opulent public marriage ceremony.
According to sources, the wedding will be a private affair and only people close to both Deshmukh and D’Souza families will be invited. There will be a reception bash however efforts are being made to tone down the budget.
“Right now, both the families have agreed that they don’t want a very public wedding and that the guest list will be kept limited. The wedding, as the couple wants, should be kept limited to 1,000 people and not more than that. Considering the clout of the Deshmukh family, it is a very low figure. However, there will be separate invites sent out for separate functions,” a source said.

More punches and penchant for Billa 2

When Billa 2 was announced, it was believed that the film will turn out to be the biggest blockbuster. As days passed, the shooting spree had started feeding lot of sneaks and buzzes. Initially the heroines were shuffled on the choice of the script. This followed with the change of heroines due to the thumping ovation received for Mankatha.
Director Chakri Toleti is at fast pace for this movie and he is currently in Georgia for some munificent sequences. After inserting many faces of challenging talents, now there is an another number in the cast. The last one to be included as the baddie is Vidyut Jamwal during the second phase of the shooting. Now it is Sudhanshu Pandey, a model-turned actor. He has gained more maturity to be an actor and his very physique rewards him such offers.
Toleti and Ajith have decided to have this actor’s presence in the cast for the sake of more baddies. With Don 2 slated for the release on 23rd December, many observers in Kollywood are looking forward for the betterment. According to an interview response, Shah Rukh Khan indicated that in Don 2 his character is an all new baddie. Perhaps, this might have necessitated Toleti and Ajith to have a synchronous value for the movie.

Shruti Hassan has cried many times after seeing my films: Kamal Hassan

Ulaganayagan’ Kamal Hassan has revealed that his elder daughter and actress Shruti Hassan has shed tears many times after seeing his performances in films. “Yes, my daughter has cried many times after watching my films,” he has confessed.
The mightily-talented and multi-faceted Shruti Hassan debuted in films first by a Hindi flick Luck which didn’t prove lucky enough for her at the box-office. She also debuted later in Telugu but again, her debut film fizzed out. However, she had a bright debut in Tamil films as heroine through 7am Arivu opposite Surya.
The film, directed by A.R Murugadoss, has been running to packed houses all over the State and elsewhere as it nears the 50-day mark later this week. She is also happy that the song Why this kolaveri di… from her upcoming film 3 opposite Dhanush has hit the bull’s eye and has become such a rage among the youths. Shruti Hassan pairs up opposite Dhanush in this film, directed by Dhanush’s wife Aishwarya, who makes her directorial debut with this film.
Shruti Hassan has seen her father Kamal Hassan’s films like Mahanadhi and Gunaa at least 20 times. Whenever she used to watch those films, she would sob uncontrollably, apparently pained at the plight of her father (in the film, of course!). One thing is for sure: Shruti Hassan doesn’t need to go anywhere for tips on acting!

Only hero roles for me – Vadivelu

The comedian is eyeing a comeback with the sequel to Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi
It has been a year since comedian Vadivelu was seen on the big screen. He’ll be returning soon with the historical Prashanth-starrer that’s slated to release soon. But, the comedian says he will only sign films that will offer him the lead role henceforth.
“I wonder what has happened to the comedy shown in Tamil cinema these days! It’s sad. I don’t want to do that. I have decided that I need to reach the next level and it will be only hero roles for me. My talks are on with Chimbu Devan, for a part two of Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi. I am determined now that it’s high time I play lead roles,” says Vadivelu.
Only hero roles for me Vadivelu He adds, “Nothing noteworthy has come my way of late. All the films offered to me were small or medium budget films, which I wasn’t keen on doing. This is the reason why I chose not to sign any films for so long.”
Talking about his upcoming release, Vadivelu says, “After Kavalan and Ilaignan, this is my comeback on the big screen. It will be a hilarious comedy track, which will run parallel with Prashanth’s track.”
The actor-politician is optimistic that 2012 will be good for everyone, including himself. “I am waiting for this year to get over. Especially, with the transit of Saturn on December 21, the world at large seems to be drowned in problems – the latest one being the Mullaiperiyar Dam issue. It’s a bad phase, but things will change for the better in the coming year,” he signs off.

Uchithanai Mukarnthal – Tamil Movie Review

Star Cast : Sathyaraj, Nasser, Seeman, Sangeetha
Direction : Pugazhenthi Thangaraj
Music : D. Imman

What’s common between Sathyaraj, Seeman and director Pughazhendi Thangaraj? All the three never shy away from voicing for the cause of Tamil Eelam Tamils.
When the trio come together for a movie, obviously it has to speak about the conflicts and atrocities of Sri Lankan army in the neighboring island nation.
The movie harps on the sufferings of a 13 -year-old girl, who was allegedly gang-raped by Sri Lankan military men. Though it speaks about the sufferings of a girl, it throws light on the ways and means adopted by Sri Lankan army to wipe out Tamils.
Pughazhendi Thangaraj had handled a similar theme in Kattrukenna Veli before. But Uchithanai Mukarnthal is more bold and sound.
Professor Natesan (Sathyaraj) voices for the cause of Tamil Eelam Tamils in Chennai. He goes out of the way to help a 13-year-old girl Punithavathay (Neelika), who hails from Batticoloa in Sri Lanka.
She is reportedly gang-raped by Sri Lankan Army on 1 March 2009 and is on the family way because of it. Natesan taking pity on her, brings her to his house illegally and nurses her with the help of a doctor (Lakshmi Ramakrishnan). Natesan’s wife (Sangeetha) too helps him in the mission. The atrocities of Sri Lankan army are brought to light through Punitha’s words. Fate strikes in a different way in their lives.
More a documentary, it chronicles the sufferings of Tamils. The director has sounds loud and used news reports and statements from refugees to make the movie.
Neelika, the bubbly young girl is the apple of the eye in the movie. She breeze walks into the role and gives best performance.
Sathyaraj plays a Pro-Tamil with ease. His emotions and sufferings at seeing the young girl suffer is brought out well. Sangeetha, Seeman, Nasser and Lakshmi Ramakrishnan form part of the cast.
At places, the movie goes little crude. The director carried away by the sufferings of Tamils have tried to capture everything on screen that becomes preachy.
But dialogues comes to his rescue. Kannan’s camera and D Imman’s music go hand-in-hand. However the slow script and a documentary feel could have been avoided.

Mouna Guru Review

Directed by Santha Kumar
Produced by M. K. Thamizharasu
Starring Arulnithi, Iniya, John Vijay, Uma Riyaz Khan, Krishnamurthy, Sujatha
Music by Thaman
Mouna Guru is a Tamil Movie in which Vamsam fame Arulnidhi plays the lead role and the movie is directed by Shanthakumar. Mouna Guru’ has an off beat theme with all commercial elements thrown in.
More and more cliched Masala from the A-league actors and very few films manage to come up with brilliant stories in hand and indeed showcased their adeptness. Say for instance, ‘Kattradhu Kalavu’, ‘Ali Baba’, ‘Aaranya Kaandam’, etc, etc… were more off that genres. These films didn’t perform well, but were standouts as taut thrillers.
To start off with, ‘Mouna Guru’ falls into this category and its filmmaker Santhakumar kick-starting his directorial venture with this film. Indeed, it’s a promising debut and this auteur has a long way to go. Let’s rub off the statements claiming it to be an inspiration or a replica. Overall, it’s a neat work by the entire team and Arulnidhi has chosen an apt script to suit his image. Simple words to mark the verdict – Mouna Guru is an edge-on-seat thriller, though not with more twists and turns, keeps you engaged in many parts.
First 10minutes into the film, the howls and comments for not so famous league of actors is blurred. Yes! An accident followed by group of cops looting a big money. A girl with unknown identity makes a video recording of their plans through the camera, which in turn falls into the hands of another man. Unexpectedly Karunakaran (Arulnidhi), a calm student is linked to the mysterious proceedings and what unfolds next is a racy drama of combats between the characters.

Revealing more than these sentences would naturally become an absolute spoiler.
It cannot be meant that Arulnidhi has done a remarkable job, but has done what is exactly required for the role. Usually, his style of rendering dialogues stand ahead as a little minus. Over here, he remains calm throughout many portions and of course spells the best with the action sequences. Iniya looks gaudy with her makeovers. John Vijay far-famed for his ability to perform comical or villainous roles does his best here with the latter one. Though Uma Riyaaz was capable of performing such powerful roles, she hasn’t been offered such ones till the date.
What starts on a thrilling note proceeds with the same tempo till the end, but spare for few slow and sluggish moments that could have been trimmed in second hour.
Technically, the cinematography brings some best visuals and Thamman adds a depth of intensity with his background score.
Overall, it’s a worth watching movie for the pennies you pay. Don’t go for references looking out for similar tales in Hollywood or international cinemas. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the flick.
What works: Narrative aspects, Background score, Characterization
What doesn’t work: Slow moments in second half, unwanted portions could have been avoided.