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Vaaranam Aayiram is the one of the most popular upcoming films. Finally the tracks of Varanam Aayiram will be launched on the 24th of September at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai. It is a good news for Tamil music fans and those who have been eagerly awaiting the audio of Vaaranam Aayiram. Varanam Aayiram starring Suriya has musical score by Harris Jayaraj.The Varanam Aayiram movie is being directed by Gautham Menon. The movie Varanam Aayiram features Simran, Divya Spandana and Sameera Reddy as the heroines. Four tracks from the Varanam Aayiram movie have been given exclusively to four radio FMs, including Radio Mirchi, Big FM, SFM and an another station to be played on air. Vaaranam Aayiram movie is produced by Oscar films. Vaaranam Aayiram will be Harris Jayaraj’s 26th film.Songs List:1. Adiyae Kolluthey - Krish, Benny Dayal, Shruthi Hassan2. Nenjukkul Peidhidum - Hariharan, Devan, V.Prasanna3. Yethi Yethi - Benny Dayal, Naresh Iyer, Solar Sai4. Mundhinam - Naresh Iyer, Prashanthini5. Oh! Shanthi Shanthi - Clinton, S.P.B.Charan6. Ava Enna - Karthik, V.Prasanna7. Annul Maelae - Sudha Raghunathan
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Aegan Movie Stills
Ajith starrer Aegan audio was launched on October 9th. This film, which is the debut directorial venture for choreographer and actor Raju Sundaram, has generated enough hype already.
Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed the music for this Ajith-Nayantara starrer. This is the third Ajith starrer that this talented music director is composing music for. He had earlier composed the music of Dheena and Billa. All the songs of Aegan are good and some of them have the popular hip-hop touch.
Nayan is said to be at her glamours best yet again in this movie. ‘Aegan’ is ultimate star Ajith 's 48th film.
The music of Ultimate star Ajith's Aegan has been released yesterday. Ajith's much awaited Aegan is nearing completion. Aegan is under post production at present. Aegan crew will leave this Monday for the Switzerland Alps to shoot for a song in the film. Raju Sundaram the director of Aegan will choreograph this song. The rest of the portions have already been shot in locations inside and outside India.The Aegan movie also brings Nayantara and Ajith together again after the superhit Billa. Music of this Aegan movie is Yuvan Shankara Raja. The music was released under the Ayangaran music label, while the online version is brought to you by Think music.
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Vaaranam Aayiram postponed to Nov 14

Breaking News! News has just come in that that Gautham Vasudeva Menon’s magnum opus Vaaranam Aayiram, will not light up this Diwali on October 27!
This has come as a major disappointment for Surya and Gautham fans across the globe who were eager to watch the film during the festival weekend.
According to sources in the trade, the film has been postponed to November 14, nearly three weeks after the festival.
The main reason is that the trade on the film, selling of distribution areas is going slow. Added to that in smaller stations all the good screens has been taken over by Aegan and Seval.
The Telugu rights of the film are yet to be finalized. The Kerala distributor has made it clear he will release the film only two weeks after the release of the Malayalam mega multi-starrer Twenty:20, opening on October 30.
The overseas distributor of the film has to get theatres, as Aegan has grabbed all the screens this Diwali. Two big Tamil films cannot be accommodated at the same time in FMS area.
It is a very good decision taken by Gautham and his new partner in “Cloud Nine”, who will be marketing the film in Tamilnadu. A solo release on Nov 14 worldwide will ensure more screens and a bumper opening.

Audio of Anantha Thandavam launched

The lead pair of Tamannaah and new boy Siddharth along with Rishi who plays an important role (villain?), director Gandhi Krishna, cameraman ‘Jeeva’ Shankar and music director GV Prakash Kumar were present to meet the media and release the audio.
First things first- The audio rocks. The first song Pattu Poochi…. sung by Naresh Iyer is soft and melodious while the second song which is GV’s personal favourite Kallil Aadum… is hummable.
It was an informal get-together arranged by Nandini of Sony BMG at a coffee shop which was cramped but like Tamannaah said: “ Everybody is talking about space constraints but I feel nice as I feel very near to the media and there is a certain amount of closeness among all of us”.
Director Gandhi Krishna was all praise about late writer Sujatha’s story which inspired him to make this film and producer Aascar Films who had tremendous faith in him. He said: “In fact, I consider Aantha Thandavam as my first film and it is a dedication to Sujatha. I have not changed anything in his story including the names of characters and locations where the story happens from Papanasam to New York. I thank GV Prakash for fantastic songs, Vairamuthu for meaningful lyrics, and my lead actors for giving life to the characters”.
New boy Siddharth, a computer engineer was a bit tensed but thanked the entire unit especially director Gandhi Krishna for giving him a dream debut. Small screen actor Rishi gave a small speech followed by GV Prakash but it was the demure Tamannaah who took everyone by surprise by her confident speech about her experience of working with the team of Anantha Thandavam.

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Madhavan is the golden boy of Tamil film industry. He could do no wrong after his dream debut in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthe. And after Gautham Menon's minty cool Minnale he became hot among the teen brigade. They called him Maddy and were mad about him. The college going audience liked his first four films - Alaipayuthe, Ennavale, Minnale and Dumm Dumm Dumm. They were all fun movies- pleasant, cute and fairly wacky.


But somewhere along the line, Madhavan decided to do serious roles in K.Balachandar's Paarthale Paravasam and his mentor Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal, both the films bombed at the box-office, though Kannathil Muthamittal was critically acclaimed.

Madhavan made his debut in Hindi with Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein (RHTDM), the remake of Minnale. His second film in Hindi was the musical love story Dil Vil Pyar Vyar.


Along came Lingusamy's Run in Tamil, which has become one of the biggest blockbusters of 2002. The audience loved Shiva, the character played by Maddy, right from the moment he appeared on the screen singing Theradi Veediyil Devathai... and his love at first sight with the heroine.

Madhavan proved with Run that he was not only the so-sweet-Maddy, but could also do action scenes with conviction. He was pitted against the living legend Kamalhassan in Anbe Sivam followed by films like Aethiree, Aayitha Ezhuthu, Priyasakhi, Thampi, Rendu, Arya, Evano Oruvan and Vazhthukkal.

In Hindi, Maddy had a second innings with Ramji Londonwale, Delhi Heights, Rang De Basanti, Guru and the recent Mumbai Meri Jaan. He has completed Naan Aval Athu and Guru En Aalu in Tamil and is doing Sunglass, Sikandar, Three Idiots, Teen Patti, My Name is Khan in Hindi.

Celina Jaitly is a 'Tamil babe'

It has been reported that Celina Jaitly plays a South-Indian woman, Meera Nair, in the forthcoming Golmaal Returns. If her new de-glam avatar wasn't news enough, check out the bombshell looking like traditional Tamil in this picture!

Catch: Golmaal boys crossdress


The actress has not only worked on her new look but has also delivered Tamil dialogues to add authenticity to the role she is playing.

There were no Tamil dialogues in the script initially, but later, the team decided that to add a few to give her sequences a more authentic and entertaining flavour!

Saawariya girl set to hit the ramp

Saawariya girl Sonam Kapoor will on Tuesday walk the ramp for designer Tarun Tahiliani's Levis collection at the spring-summer edition of the five-day Lakme Fashion Week that began here on Monday.

"I have designed some exclusive collections for Levis and it will be a great experience to have Sonam walking the ramp for us," Tahilani said.

Sonam will also be signed by Levis as its brand ambassador at the fashion event.

About 75 designers from across the country displaying their collections at the event in three categories: established, generation next and emerging.

The grand finale on Friday will feature renowned designer's Sabyasachi Mukherjee wedding collection.

Bipasha to break stereotype of Kashmiri women

After corporate, Bipasha Basu once again gets real for her role in Rahul Dholakia's hard hitting drama Lamha and she says the biggest challenge for her is to break the stereotypical image of Kashmiri girls in Hindi movies.
"When you think of a Kashmiri girl in our movies, what comes to mind is a fair-skinned, light-eyed girl. But I want to disprove that myth. The pre-conceived notions have to be overcome," said Bipasha, whose performance in Bachna Ae Haseeno got her much praise.
Bipasha had asked her producers to invite a born-and-bred Kashmiri girl to Mumbai to study her body language, speech patterns and mannerisms.
"I've never done a film like this before. The role requires me to be someone else altogether. I've to change my entire personality. And for this I needed help. I wanted to play the character the way girls really are today in Kashmir. Very basic.
"I've done a bit role in another authentic film - Prakash Jha's Apaharan. For that matter, Madhur Bhandarkar's corporate was very real and so is Rituparno Ghosh's Sab Charitra Kalpanik. But Lamha is something else."
The actress is hell bent to look convincing in the role.
"I think I'm going to be more keen on getting it right than the director. Going to Kashmir and getting to know the local way of life was difficult. All said and done it's still not entirely safe in Kashmir.
"My boyfriend John (Abraham) shot in strife-torn Afghanistan for Kabul Express. Now it's my turn in Kashmir."
Bipasha's co-star in Lamha is Kunal Kapoor.
"We did a film together recently, Bachna Ae Haseeno. But we had no scenes together. Still we ran into each other all the time during the shooting.
"Sanjay Dutt is also there. He's a nice man. We share a good working relationship. He's very protective and sweet," Bipasha said.
Asked how it was working with Dholakia, she said: "I've known Rahul Dholakia for years - long before he made Parzania. In fact, he had offered me his first film Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar. He's a man of a few simple words. The story in Lamha is very powerful and real. It's a hard-hitting look at present-day Kashmir."
The actress said that she had been to Jammu and Kashmir as a child, but things have changed drastically since then.
"This was long before militancy occurred. This is a different Kashmir I'm going to. We'll be learning the language and by the time I start shooting, I'm thoroughly convinced I'll look convincing. The director wants to shoot in sync sound. But I don't think that's advisable. We'll tell the story of Kashmir in a layman's language. It's not going to be an arty film."

Dharmendra gifts jewellery set to Hema Malini on birthday

Hema Malini had a rocking birthday with hubby Dharmendra giving her a special jewellery set and daughters - Esha and Ahana - organising a grand bash.
"I enjoyed myself thoroughly because all the people I love, my close relatives and family were there. And, of course, Dharamji. How could he not be there?"
Hema turned 60 on October 16.
Asked what Dharmendra gifted her, Hema first brushed the question off saying: "I'm too old for gifts. And still, I'm constantly getting gifts on my birthdays. The older guests gave me saris. The younger ones made cards. As for Dharamji, he has given me so much already. For this birthday he gave his gift in advance."
And what was that gift?
"Some very elegant jewellery that I really wanted. Actually, my birthday celebrations this year went on for a week. It started with a havan (religious ritual) on 14th and ended with the party Saturday night where I had a Bengali couple singing Ghazals - I like to encourage new talent. While they sang, our party spontaneously turned into a dance party. We all hit the floor."
At 60, Hema seems to have suddenly discovered her fun side in a big way.
"I was always a fun person," she protests. "When you've two growing daughters, you kind of grow up with them and learn to have fun."
Any regrets about the birthday party?
"None. But Rekha couldn't come. I always invite her for all my birthday parties. This time I also invited Zeenat (Aman). And she was kind enough to come. It's good to catch up with colleagues once in a while. I'd have invited Raakhee also. But she wouldn't come, I'm sure of that."
The actress is currently busy with Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi in which she plays erstwhile Gwalior queen Vijayaraje Scindia.

Juhi Chawla's uncle kidnapped in Karachi

Prominent Pakistani filmmaker and distributor, Satish Anand, has been kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan.
Anand, 57, a member of Muslim-majority Pakistan's small Hindu community, runs a production house called Eveready Pictures, and is a relative of the Indian actress Juhi Chawla.
City police chief, Waseem Ahmed, said Anand was abducted on Monday (October 20) while on his way home in Karachi's posh Clifton neighbourhood. Police have no idea on who has kidnapped him or why.
"We are investigating from various angles. There has been no call for ransom or any other demands," said Ahmed. Crime, including kidnapping, has long been a problem in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital.
Anand's driver told the police two men stopped their car and one of them gave him an injection and he lost consciousness. The driver said that when he awoke, Anand was missing.
Anand is a well-known figure in Pakistan's show business and recently distributed the hit Indian film Race.

Celina going places, teams up with Sean Connery

Former Miss India and Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley couldn't have asked for more. First she landed a role in Hollywood film Quest of Sheherzade and now she will team up with Oscar-winner Sean Connery in the international project based on Arabian Nights.

Images: Celina sizzles in Golmaal Returns


Quest of Sheherzade is scheduled to go on floors in January and also stars Orlando Bloom of Pirates Of The Caribbean fame. It will be directed by Ken Khan, the technical director of fantasy adventure film Lord of the Rings.

"Sean Connery is there in the film and recently Orlando Bloom was also signed. I am playing an important character of an Iranian princess," Celina said.

"The story is based on Arabian Nights and they are planning to start the shooting from January next year. I am in a contract and can't talk much about the movie," she said.

Images: Guess who's the sexiest woman of the year


Quest of Sheherzade is not her first international project. Celina plays the lead in New Zealand-Australian venture Love Has No Language by the same director.

In Love Has No Language, the former Miss India is cast as an Indian girl born and brought up in New Zealand. She is cast opposite Australian actor Ben Mitchell.

"It was very difficult to speak in Kiwi English as they speak in a completely difficult and weird accent. Neither do they speak like Australians nor like the British," Celina said.

Images: Celina fed up of glamourous roles


"It took me 10 days to sit constantly with my trainer to learn the correct accent. She sat with me day and night and spoke to me in her accent which made it possible for me to get it right," Celina added.

Celina said though she is working in Hollywood films, her first love will always be the Hindi film industry.

"For me Bollywood is my priority. This is where I was born and I want to die. It gives me maximum pleasure dancing and singing. In fact, I was missing song sequences when I was shooting for Love has..," said the actress, who debuted with Janasheen in 2003.

Images: Celina caught in Dubai (not what you're thinking)!


The film bombed at the box office but she kept getting offers and featured in films such as No Entry, Zinda, Tom, Dick and Harry and Apna Sapna Money Money.

She feels her performance in Vikram Bhatt's Red helped her bag the international projects as the makers of the movies signed her after seeing the film that also starred Aftab Shivdasani.

"I was very hurt when Red did not work. I took it personally and thought I wasn't ready for serious films," said Celina, who will also be seen in Rohit Shetty's comedy Golmaal Returns.

Celina thinks comedy is her forte and does not want to experiment much with other genres.

"I am good at comedy and people have also liked me in comedy films. So why should I experiment with other things? I am satisfied and happy doing comedies; so are my fans.

" No Entry, Apna Sapna Money Money, Golmaal Returns are my best films till date. In these three films, I loved my character. I feel the same for Golmaal Returns too."

In Golmaal Returns, Celina plays a de-glamourised South Indian girl, who is in love with a Marathi guy, played by Shreyas Talpade.

"I think people will definitely like and enjoy our love track as it is really funny," she said.

The other projects Celina has signed on include Mukta Arts' Paying Guest and Hello Darling, Aditya Datt's Chaai Garam, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Showman and Ashtavinayak's Run Bhola Run.

Mumbai dogs inspired Roadside Romeo

Cute pups playing by the roadside; yawning, scratching, winking at one another and chasing vehicles on the streets of Mumbai - that is what inspired actor-turned-director Jugal Hansraj to write and direct his animation film Roadside Romeo.
"I was stuck in a traffic jam in Mumbai once and I saw some stray dogs playing near a garbage pile. They were running behind scooters and seemed so happy and oblivious of the world around them. They were so involved in their own game that I thought how about telling their story and that's how the idea of Roadside Romeo came to me," Jugal said.
Roadside Romeo is India's first ever three-dimensional (3D) mainstream animation venture. Releasing on Friday, it is co-produced by Yash Raj Films (YRF) Studio and Hollywood studio Walt Disney Co. It is visualised, executed and delivered by a 150-member team of Tata group's Tech arm Tata Elxsi.
The film has eight voiceovers including Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and versatile actor-dancer-mimicry artiste Javed Jaffrey. They have lent their voice for the lead characters in the movie - Romeo, Laila and Charlie Anna respectively.
Asked the basis on which he chose these actors for the voiceovers, Jugal said: "I had Saif, Kareena and Javed in mind since the time the film was in the writing stage. The characters are like them. For example, Romeo is based on Saif - cool, rich and stylish and likewise for Laila and Charlie Anna's character that is inspired from Kareena and Javed.
Jugal started his career as a child artiste in the 1983 with Masoom. In 1994, he featured as a full-fledged actor in Aa Gale Lag Ja - he was paired with Urmila Matondkar, who played his sister in Masoom, in the romantic saga that bombed at the box office.
He was noticed in Papa Kehte Hain and Mohabbatein. But the films failed to boost his acting career and now he is trying his luck as a director.
Jugal says Roadside Romeo happened by chance.
"The movie wasn't planned actually. I love animation films and I used to be very fascinated by how they are made. I used to buy all books and DVDs on animation. At the same time, Adi (Aditya Chopra), who is a very good friend of mine since college days, wanted to make an animation film in India that was completely for the Indian audience.

"Considering my love for animation, he approached me and I wrote some ideas for him and he liked 'Roadside Romeo' a lot and asked me to start developing the project. It took me 20 drafts before the film got finalised," he said.
Despite his love for animation, Jugal did have a tough time working on the project.
"Animation can be done by someone only who loves it because it requires a lot of patience. For example, when I didn't like a particular scene or an expression of a character, it took not less than two days to recreate the whole scene. It took two-and-a-half years to shoot the 90-minute movie.
"We managed to make the film because of my love for animation and my being very patient in life," said the reclusive actor.
Apart from donning the writer and the director's cap, Jugal has also dabbled in singing and dubbing for the movie.
"I've done a couple of four liners in the dialogues for the extras and a few lines with the music director Salim as a part of the chorus in songs," he shared.
Jugal is also toying with a couple of more animation movie ideas.
He is both nervous and confident about Roadside Romeo.
"I am having butterflies in the stomach as the release date is approaching. There is fear and a bit of apprehension too as it is my debut project but still I am sure people will like the movie. It's a fun-filled movie for both kids and adults and has been made for them to have a good time," he said

After shelved Shantaram, Amelia is Mira Nair's pet project

US-based Indian director Mira Nair was disappointed when her much publicised film Shantaram was shelved, but she is now happy with her latest prized project Amelia,starring Hollywood actress Hilary Swank.
Amelia is about legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world.
"In September 2007, when I was offered Amelia, I said no because I was busy with Shantaram. Then Shantaram fell apart. They came back to me with Amelia in January. I never thought I'd ever be able to switch from my Mumbai mood for Shantaram to this project, having spent one year flying in and out of Mumbai for Shantaram. But then you know these things happen," said Nair.
The director of Monsoon Wedding fame has almost wrapped up her bio-pic on Amelia Earhart and she can't stop raving about Hilary Swank.
"She's amazing! A fantastic actress. She has an uncanny resemblance to the original character. I mean she could've been Amelia Earhart. I didn't pick her. The producers picked her. The project came to me with her already on board."
"We've three more weeks to shoot in South Africa. But before that I'm taking two weeks off to go home," Nair said.
Amelia is Nair's biggest film to date.
"A true epic in scope. We're shooting around the world. It starts in the earlier years of aviation. My film goes from the 1920s to 1937 when Amelia did her final flight around the world. And ultimately disappeared," said Nair, who has made critically acclaimed films such as The Namesake and Salaam Bombay.
She has also completed a six-minute film on love starring Natalie Portman and Irrfan Khan called Kosher Vegetarian.
"It's part of a series on love called New York I Love You. And it's got 12 directors holding forth on love. The only pre-condition was it must not exceed six minutes.
"I had this wonderful idea. Irrfan and Natalie create magic. It's a nice vigorous exercise to create a story in so little time. But we had no choice. It had to be six minutes. I finished it in February and moved to the bigger picture," Nair said.

I wanted to tell a fun story with Romeo: Jugal Hansraj

Dressed in a white shirt and blue jeans, Jugal Hansraj looked as Masoom as ever. The actor-turned-director came out of the studios, after camping there day and night for two years working on his directorial debut Roadside Romeo, for a night of fun. And where better to let your hair down than on Indian Idol Rubaroo?
Are you a fan of Indian Idol? Have you been watching it on TV?
Yes, I really like the show a lot and so does my family. I have been following Indian Idol, but not as much as I would have liked to because I was busy with Roadside Romeo.
How was your experience on Rubaroo?
Rubaroo was fantastic. I was in the midst of so many talented young people. It was also great because this was an episode without any pressure—one in which they could let their hair down so to speak.
The show was also an opportunity for me to see the other talents of these kids. I really enjoyed the fact that they are all so united—encouraging and supporting each other—when, the rest of the week, they are competing against each other.
So, would you like to come back as a judge on Indian Idol?
100%. I would definitely love to come back to Indian Idol.
Now, coming to the reason why you are here—to promote your film Roadside Romeo. How did you come to direct an animation?
The idea to produce an animation was Aditya Chopra's. He is an old friend of mine, and he approached me for a story because he knows how crazy I am about animation. And he loved the script I came up with so much that he asked me to direct it.
Were you hesitant at all in accepting his offer?
Not at all. I love animation. So when I got this opportunity, I just jumped in. I realise I've been doing research for Roadside Romeo even without realising it—I’ve been watching animation all my life, and I’ve been buying books on the art of animation and watching the director's comments, etc.
And because I loved it so much, I didn't really feel any pressure at all—I was doing it from my heart. It’s now that I feel the pressure—now that the film is complete and up for release.
Were you influenced by anything when you were creating the plot?
I wanted to tell a fun story. I kind of put together all the things that I have been enjoying in movies since I was a child. I mean, I love mainstream Hindi films, I love the songs—so in Roadside Romeo I thought let’s combine that with a lot of animation and just have fun.
What made you choose Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Javed Jafferi for the main characters?
When I was writing the three main characters, I had Saif, Kareena and Javed in my mind all along. Romeo is based on Saif—cool, rich and stylish—and similarly the characters for Laila and Charlie Anna are inspired by Kareena and Javed.
I was hoping they wouldn’t say no when I approached them, otherwise I would have been stuck. But all three of them immediately said yes. They dubbed for it two years ago and they had a lot of fun doing it. I was lucky to get such good actors.
You’ve got Saif and Javed to sing a hip-hop song in the film.
[Laughs] Yes, I got Saif and Javed to sing. Saif is a very good musician and he plays the guitar, while Javed is a good dancer and he has sung before. So getting them in was not a problem at all.
In fact, they went to town with the song. They had a great time and they brought a lot of their attitude and character into the song. I feel that the way we've had fun has come across in the song.
How was the experience working on Roadside Romeo?
It was very different. I've been working on live action movies since I was a child. Though the basic principles for an animation film are the same—it's a story with performance, dance and choreography—the techniques are completely different.
The whole experience was new and different for everyone working on the film, because it was everybody's first animation. We had a big team of about 150 people and their positivity and enthusiasm pulled us through these last two years.
How different was it working on an animation?
Well, for starters, you work in reverse. [Laughs] You dub with the actors when the script is ready and you also shoot them on camera while they are dubbing. In this way you get their expressions, their gestures of hand and face. These form the base for the visuals. Then we storyboard the film and we add the audio onto the storyboard. We edit the film also at this stage.
Any favourite animation films?
My all time favourites are Ratatouille, Finding Nemo and Jungle Book. I also love Madagascar and a Japanese animation film called Spirited Away.
So what’s planned after Roadside Romeo?
A nice long breather [laughs]. I have been completely into Roadside Romeo for the last two to two-and-a-half years. So now I’ll sit back, see how the reaction is and then plot my future course of action.

Imran Khan and Shruti Hassan's story

Bollywood's new heartthrob Imran Khan says his Luck co-star Shruti Haasan's real-life singer image is now being incorporated into the film by director Soham Shah.

"I've discussed the idea of Shruti singing in Luck with my director Soham, and he's kicked by the idea. So Shruti will be singing in Luck. In fact, Soham and the music director Pritam Chakraborty are having music sessions right now. A song is being designed for Shruti," Imran said.

It was childhood friend Imran who had recommended Shruti as an actress as well to Soham, who has earlier directed Kaal.




Imran and Shruti go back a long way. Shruti, her younger sister Akshara and their mom Sarika were regular house guests in the Khan household at a time when Sarika was based in Chennai with her ex-husband Kamal Haasan.

"That's right," concedes Imran.

"We almost grew up together. Initially Soham wanted to sign a new girl opposite me in Luck. I recommended Shruti. And I'm glad I did. Shruti has turned out to be wonderful in Luck.

"In terms of her look, talent and body language, Shruti is not your conventional heroine at all. She's very unconventional," he said.

What about Imran singing for himself? Not too many people know that the actor sings quite well and entertains family friends and his girlfriend with his singing.

"You've seen Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na. You've seen how badly I sing in the climax? But I do have a steady voice. I sing the lower notes well. So with a little bit of training, I may be able to sing for one of my films," Imran said.

For now he is happy doing all the rugged outdoor sports with Shruti in Luck.

"I think it's a helluva concept. No one has done any film like Luck before."

In fact, Imran would love to be part of the sports film that Soham will now be directing for Sanjay Dutt Productions.



"I love outdoor sports, Sanju baba and I love working with Soham. So there's no reason why I wouldn't want to be part of Soham's next."

Imran has got along well with all the directors and co-stars he has worked with so far.

"I do have an immediate and easy connectivity with people. I guess that quality works for me on screen. My aim is to play characters that people can easily connect with. That's true of Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na, Kidnap, Luck and Delhi Belly. These are the only films I've signed so far."

iIleana is busy till 2010

Ileana is the busiest star in Tollywood. After her glamorously silhouetted performance in Pawan Kalyan's Jalsa, silence did reign over her career for a while.

Even rumors were out that she tried a suicide attempt in Goa, after reaching out to their relatives over there. But, all of a sudden she made a gashing appearance and built for herself an impregnable fortress.

Currently, she holds eight projects at hand, which is a rare phenomenon in the career of any Indian actress. Industry sources say that unlike her previous figure of remuneration crossing Rs. 1 crore and above, she has come down slightly, doing a big favour to the producers.

Of the eight projects, she has already been taking part in the shoot of one film. That is Saleem, with Mohan Babu's son Vishnu as hero in the direction of YVS Chowdary (Ileana's mentor in the industry as he introduced her with Devadasu film).

The remaining are with Nitin, NTR, Venkatesh, Ram and Pawan Kalyan (again next year). Two more big producers are said to have paid advances to Ileana. With all these, Ileana has absolutely no dates left with till 2010.

Ram Gopal Varma on Shiva

Ram Gopal Varma, the man who changed the course of Telugu Cinema with Shiva, writes how the film's idea took off and other trivia about Shiva. It is written by the maverick director himself in his blog and we are reproducing it here.
Right from my childhood I had a fascination for tough guys. I used to look up to the bullies in school as they were my earliest exposure to violent power which slowly graduated to street toughs. When I was doing my B.Tech in Siddharth Engg. College in Vijayawada I had a pretty tough guy reputation. The irony was that I never beat-up anyone myself but I managed to create an illusion that if need be I can. Around 6 really tough guys who used to be with me knew that I am not even worth a punch in a real fight. But in spite of that they used to be under my command and the reason for this was I made each one of them believe that the other 5 will violently defend me come whatever. So for the outsiders, because of those 6 guys, I was a formidable force and for each one of the 6 because of the other 5 together being with me, I was a formidable force.
All I used to do was to take care that they won’t have a reason to get together behind my back. Anyway, pretty much this is the basic principle on which all street gangs, underworld factions, political regimes etc operate.
Most of my understanding of politics of violence and criminal psychology which I extensively applied in Shiva, Satya, Company, Sarkar etc primarily came from my experience in Siddharth Engg.College and not from my underworld contacts as popularly perceived.
The opening scene of Shiva where they come in a car and bash up some students in front of the college actually happened in front of my college. That atmosphere of Shiva primarily came from my engg college and the protagonist I based it on a person called Golla Ravi who used to live in Punjagutta area in Hyderabad. He used to have a combination of a super tough and a super nice guy image.
The plotline of Shiva was a direct rip-off from Bruce Lee’s Return of the Dragon in which Lee comes from Hong Kong to work in a Chinese restaurant in Rome where the local goons are trying to intimidate the owners. As he tries to take care of them and fight the goons, they get tougher and tougher and in the end he has a one-to-one fight with the toughest Chuck Norris in the coliseum. Likewise Nagarjuna comes from another town to attend a college where the local goons are intimidating the students. As he tries to take care of them and fight the goons they become tougher and tougher and in the end he has a one-to-one fight with the toughest Raghuvaran on top of a terrace. Ha! Ha! So much for originality!
Taking such a simplistic plot line I wanted to create characters and scenes and present them in a way as never been seen before, though there were quite a few scenes I copied from various films. A few examples are; the Ganapati chanda collection scene has been taken from Dilip Shanker’s Kaalchakra, Amala giving coffee to Nagarjuna before the song is from Sanjeev Kumar’s some film, the cycle chase is from Rahul Rawail’s Arjun and the scene where Nagarjuna’s dead friend’s mother slaps the inspector is from Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, to name a few.
The shooting went quite well and uneventful mainly because of my extreme clarity in what I wanted to achieve. Only after the final edit trouble started. When we arranged a projection two outside people who were not involved in the making saw the film, said it’s too slow and boring with no drama. The excitement in all concerned came down quite a bit in spite of me saying that it is the lack of background score and sound efx which is making them feel that. Without them it looked like a silent film. In those days they were not used to such underplayed performances and subtleties and hence understandably disturbed. Nagarjuna was the only guy who understood and stood by me like a rock in that entire period.
When the films first trial happened many distributors felt it was too violent and feared that women and family audience will stay away as the industry generally believed that they constitute the majority.
Surendra and Venket felt that at best the film will do a very average business and I told them that it will be big hit.
The film released and the first day report Venket got from a distributor was that the audience was watching the movie silently without any reaction. We couldn’t make out what the means, till the same guy called again in the night and told us that he finally figured out the reason for that and told us the audiences are simply stunned.
It created a furore at the box-office and for the sheer impact I became a household name in Andhra Pradesh.
I was very glad that my confidence proved the distributors, Venket and Surendra wrong.
P.S: I was even more confident of ‘Raatri’ (Raat) and it became a disaster.
Some trivia of Shiva: 1). Originally `Shiva` was the name of the villain in the script. In the narration Nagarjuna used to like the name so much he asked me to name his character as Shiva.
2). I named the villain Bhavani because I based his character on a guy called Radha with a very violent reputation in Vijayawada. Since Radha is a girl’s name, I named him Bhavani which is a girl’s name too.
3). Initially I had a scene of Shiva’s first fight with J.D when he is playing football which I wanted to loosely model on a similar scene of ice-hockey in Damien (Omen II). When Venket didn’t react to it much, I came up with breaking the cycle chain idea. Throughout the shooting I wasn’t too sure how that would be received because after Venket liked it very much I went home and tried to break the cycle chain and realized the impossibility of it. But I told myself that since nobody would have tried it, it just might look believable. But now after all these years the sheer number of people who come and claim to me that they broke a cycle chain after watching Shiva is the ultimate example of how imagination can take over and become a reality in time.
4). I read about the steadicam in the American Cinematographer magazine and I was talking about it to a camera assistant in the studio that something like that exists in Hollywood, when he shockingly revealed to me that there is one even in Chennai for the past 4 years but nobody uses it. I tested it out and wanted to use it but my cameraman was reluctant saying that one can't center it or balance it, to which I said if we are using it in a chase scene as a point of view why should that matter. Thus I became the first Director ever to use a steadicam. Within a year of ‘Shiva’s release more than 10 steadicams were imported.
5). Most fight sequences were choreographed by me in Shiva and that is why you see Nagarjuna hitting mostly with a hook or a stomach punch. That’s because I knew only those two from my boxing days.
6). The first ever compliment I ever got in my life as a Director from an outsider was when Ilayaraja was doing the background score for Shiva in Mumbai due to some strike in Chennai, a violin player walked up to me and said, “The film is fantastic”. His name was Ismail Durbar and he went on to later do music for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.

Trivia about Ram Gopal Varma's Shiva

Shiva (1989)
Story
Shiva (Nagarjuna) comes from another town to attend a college where the local goons have been intimidating students. As he tries to take care of them and fight the goons, they become tougher and tougher and in the end, he has a one-to-one fight with the toughest Bhavani (Raghuvaran).
About the film:- Debut film of Ram Gopal Varma- The only film in the combination of Ram Gopal Varma and Ilayaraja.- RGV was paid Rs 50,000 and got five percent of profits as part of the remuneration for Telugu version- This was the first film to collect Rs One Crores in Nizam area- The producers distributed on their own in four centers (Nizam, Vizag, and Godavari areas)- Before the film was released, the remake rights were asked for one lakh rupees. After film became a super hit the producers dubbed it into Tamil and sold it for eighty five lakh rupees. The Tamil version Idayam (released on Jan 12, 1990 in 24 centers) collected more than two crore rupees!- The Hindi version costed around 1.15 crore rupees as Ramu wanted to change some scenes in Telugu. Except for the Botany paaThamundi... song, the rest of the songs were used as is from the Telugu version. Only Botany paaThamundi... song was shot separately in Agricultural College in Rajendra Nagar.
Raghuvaran in Siva - The Hindi version was released on December 07, 1990. The film was made in association with Atluri Purnachandra Rao. It did extremely well in Mumbai and Kolkata.- Director Puri Jagannath played as one of the student roles in the Hindi Version.- Rohini dubbed for Amala in Telugu - The film gave life to many newcomers like Chakravarthy, Jithendra, and Naresh, who were rechristened by their character names in real life - J.D., Chinna, and Jagan, respectively! - Raghuvaran took 20 days to study how the dons in Mumbai live before accepting the role of Bhavani. - RGV won his first two Nandi awards for the film, as the Best Debutant Director and the Best Director. - Shiva is the only south Indian film selected for the 1990 International Film Festival held in Kolkata (screened on January 19, 1990 at 8:30 a.m. in Empire Theatre).
LocationShiva was almost completely shot in Andhra Pradesh, with only three days shooting done in Madras. `AanandObrahma...` song was shot in Borra Caves near Araku. The crew even crawled to reach interior locations of Borra Caves, and thus Shiva is the first movie to be shot in such interior-most areas in Borra Caves. For the Telugu version, all the college scenes were shot at Keyes Girls High School, Secundrabad, even breaking the rear wall and erecting a gate there for the opening shots. For the Hindi version, these scenes were shot at A.G. College, Rajendra Nagar. Sudhakar's death scenes were done near Keesaragutta, while Ram Jagan's death scene was shot in Vengalarao Nagar. The cycle chase scene was shot near Somajiguda, behind the present Yashoda Hospital slum area and Yousufguda basti (At the end of the chase, the bus he catches is in Krishna Nagar.) The climax was shot in Swapnalok Complex, while the lift scene was shot in a specially erected set in Venus Studio in Madras.
The hand that holds the cycle chain?Who can forget the famous cycle chain scene in Shiva! There is an interesting thing about it. The promos has the hand of Akkineni Venkat, shot by Gunnam Gangaraju who had Fountainhead Advertising Agency at that time! The same one was used in posters too. In the film, the hand which snatches the cycle chain is Cameraman Rasool's. After the shot, the hand which holds the chain becomes Akkineni Nagarjuna's.

Lara opposite Rajashekar

Is Lara Dutta all set to romance with Rajashekar in his current film? Well, it is unlikely that Lara Dutta will act with the star but there will be a song featuring the sexy beauty in his present film – Satyameva Jayate. The film is a remake of Khakee (Hindi) in which Lara Dutta played an item song.
Hence, Rajashekar wants to use the same song for the Telugu version. Currently discussions are going on whether to use the original song as it is in the Telugu version or re-shoot it again with Lara Dutta.

Gopichand: The new icon

While the big stars are not releasing their films regularly, the mass audiences in B and C centers are looking towards new icons. Gopichand seems to be the poster boy for them. He has already won their hearts with his mass-oriented flicks like Ranam and Lakshyam but the success of his recent film – Sowryam reinforces the fact that he has finally arrived.
Of the recent releases - Chintakayala Ravi (can be average grocer), Kotta Bangaru Lokam (just an above average flick in terms of business), etc, only Sowryam is doing extremely fine business in small towns and rural areas. Although Sowryam is not a sophisticated flick and lacks novelty, the film’s rock steady business surprises even trade pundits.
From ‘average talk’ to it has now graduated to ‘hit’ range. Despite the competition from Venky and Dil Raju, Gopichand has emerged as the winner. That only proves that he is now the big star!
Sowryam can be a very decent money spinner in these hard times. “Now we can easily bet Rs 15 Crores on Gopi’s film without thinking much,” says a producer. Is Gopi the new icon for mass audiences? It remains to be seen.

Raja, Manjari pair up together

Manjari of Jaane Tu and Siddu From Seekakulam is on a roll. She has signed another Telugu film. Manjari has paired up with the young hero Raja in his new film to be directed by Suman Paturi and produced by Kalyan Palla.
Suman Paturi acted as the co-director for the successful film Vennela which also had Raja as the lead actor. He then left for San Francisco to study filmmaking for a while. Kalyan Palla has made a name for himself as a distributor and exhibitor of Telugu movies in USA.
This new movie with Raja and Manjari also has Richa Pollad as the second female lead. Story and screenplay is provided by Raj & DK and Mahesh Shankar of Vennela is scoring the music. Nagaraju Gandham of Gamyam fame is writing the dialogues. Cinematography is handled by Ranga who studied in the Pune Film Institute and worked under Santosh Sivan in the past. Shooting starts on December 2nd, and the movie is tentatively scheduled for a May 2009 release.

Twenty:20 audio launched

The audio of AMMA’s multi-starrer Twenty:20 was launched successfully last week in Kochi.
Innocent the President of AMMA, gave the first CD album to Manju Dileep.
The audio has been purchased at a record price by Manorama Music. The audio has all the four songs from the film. As a bonus along with the music CD, a video CD of the ‘Making of Twenty: 20’ is also given free with the album. It is for the first time a video CD has been given along with a Malayalam film audio CD.
Those who attended the audio launch included Dileep, Shaji Kailas, Siyad Kokker and Manorma Music chief Sivaram Srikanth.