Tamil Movie News--Kutti Edition 1

[Sandya Sitaraman]

***Ellorukkum Vanakkam***

***1997 has begun pretty successfully for Kodambakkam.. despite a few
falls here and there.. producers and directors are smiling as much
as possible!.. Plenty of kisu kisus, music and movie news to cover!..
So, arambikkalaama?..

***Velliththirai Vambhugal***
Kisu Kisus, Major shandais, jagadaas etc..

***Nadigai Sivaranjani secretly tied the knot with telegu actor Srikanth
recently!.. Kudiyum kuduththanam-aaga 'jam-munu' irukkiraar yendru kelvi!..
"Avadhaara Purushan" padam dhaan oda-villai at least real life AP
kidai-ththu vittaar yendra sandhosham dhaan!.. Congrats Sivaranjani!..

***This 4 + 1 Gundu nadigai-kkum dum dum nadandhu vittaadham!..
Kodambakkam vattaara seidhigal say she married a kannada actor top
secretly somewhere!.. Kushboo-vin thozhi has found her kannada 'Gopala
Gopala' after all!..

***"Nattaamai" loves "Mettukkudi".. Kaadhalo Kaadhal.. avalavu kaadhal
between Saratkumar and Nagma today!.. Love muththi poyi, Nagma seems to be
in a constant daze between scenes and takes in her films!.. Podhaa
kurai-kku yekka chakka phone calls!.. Producers are crying their eyes out
paying their phone bills!.. Meanwhile, lucky for Sundhar C. who directs
"Janakiraman" with Sarat and Nags.. and T.Siva who produces "Aravindhan"
with both of them.. phone bill pozhachudhu!.. Other producers are also
following the same formula!.. "Ragasiya Police"-il arambiththa kaadhal-aa
irukkumo?.. Aaga Chaaya-vin wrath-ai paarkkaamal iruvarum kaadhal-ai
niruththa povadhillai!.. Unfortunate but true, that Chaaya Devi (Sarat's
wife) and his children are living in a seperate home, away from Sarat's
bungalow currently. Chaaya hopes avar purushan thirundhi avaridame
varuvaar!..

***The Mani story.. with not so 'mani-yaana' beginnings, middles and
ends.. It appears three nadigars are thoroughly ecstatic that "Iruvar"
mannai kavvu-vied at the box office!.. Producer Ramanathan-in dosth
oruvar!.. He nicely nazhuvified from signing the film by claiming he had
call sheets problems.. Plus, he figured he would lose the good acquaintance
of a big V.I.P., if he had accepted and acted in the "Thamizh Selvan"
role.. Add to this our "Nag" priyar, who disagreed with Mani over money
matters and refused the role! Last by not least, the man who ran to
shootings whenever he was called, only to find himself in one 'dhamma
thundu' scene in the film!.. "Indhiyan" T.V.-yil keesiyavar-aaga
irukkalamo?!..

"Iruvar" drove plenty of distributors in the red, and they have started
demanding an early release of Mani's "Nerukku Nerr" (Direction: Vasanth)
on April 14th, Tamil New Year's Day!.. Since distributors are irukki
pidichching Mani and Vasanth, they have planned a month long tight
schedule for the month of March, in order to release the film in April!
Idharkku idai-yil Ajeethkumar backed out of the film, claiming he would
have tremendous call sheet troubles especially with the 'one-month-straight'
shooting!.. Guess, who replaces Ajeeth.... Prabhudeva!.. Well, PD is no
longer in consideration for the role, as newface Surya, son of actor
Sivakumar makes his entry to replace Ajeeth in the film!..

The minute this change occurred, Vijay and daddy S.A.Chandrasekaran went
into serious discussions with Mani about pulling out of the film!..
According to father and son, the only reason Vijay went along with acting
in "Nerukku Nerr" with Ajeeth, was the great reception the team received
for their work in "Raajavin Paaravaiyile" (Wonder when this happenned?)..
Now, Paavam Mani, he not only has to deal with the 3 Crore loss he
encountered in making "Iruvar," but sari kattu-fy his distributors and
convince Vijay and his dad to stick around in order to complete the film
by the April 14th deadline!.. Well, the scarier thing is Surya (PrabhuD
tata!) has to make up 18 days of shooting that Ajeeth had completed before
this departure!..("Madras Talkies"-kkum Mani-kkum 1997 aarambam avalavu
"Anandham"-aaga illai!)

***No more "Santhosh"am for Mohan!.. Oru kaallaththil mike-ai pidiththu
kondu kalakkiya Mohan.. decided to make his comeback into tamil movies by
directing his own film.. With these hopes, he went to sign Arjun.. Arjun,
as busy as he is.. offered a script instead of his call sheet dates.. The
deal was agreed upon that Mo. pay Arj. a sizeable sum and give him
recognition in the titles as the story writer!.. All thrilled, Mohan gave
him the promised money.. yenna script dhaan kai-kku varavillai!.. Mo. got
impatient and angry.. He barged into Arjun's house, fought with him and
walked out with his money!.. "Santhosh" stands as is.. as 'mike' nadigar
figures out what to do next!..

***Producer Henry-naale shandai dhaan endra nilamai-kku vandhu vittadhu!..
When he first began "Kolangal," the film was supposed to star Arvind
Swamy and be directed by Bharathan!.. With a few weeks of publicizing the
news, both As and Bharathan dumped the film on their own accord!.. Yedho
jagada nichchayam nadandhirikku!.. Now, Henry successfully completes and
releases "Bharathi Kannamma" which has been busting competition to pulp..
pudhu vathanthis appear!.. Director Cheran's name was left out of several
printed posters of "Bharathi Kannamma." Instead of directly apologizing to
Cheran, Henry avar mel oru paai paanju vittaar!.. Henry said: He spent too
much money and killari-fied so much more anxiety for Parthiban and some
trouble with the protesters, which Henry had to eventually settle!..
Instead of gettin angry in return, Cheran kept his cool and said: I don't
want to embarass or hurt Henry, by answering his allegations. After all,
he did introduce me as a director. I will make another hit film soon and
dedicate it to him.. (Maybe M.S.V. Murali and Director C.Ranganathan can
learn a lesson or two from this?!)..

***Thirai Isai News***
(Kutti News)

***Israth, A.R.Rahman's sister, who made her singing debut under Sirpi's
music direction in "Mettukkudi" got married to reporter Bismi, with
blessings and a large house as a wedding gift, from her bro!.. According
to Bismi, "Israth is the second best singer after Bhavatharini today"..
The happily married Israth looks forward to singing in more songs and
establishing herself. It appears that A.R.Rahman has indeed signed some
kind of record deal with Sony. A non-filmi album is expected for release
in 1997. Details on the record deal still remain sketchy.

***There seems to be some kind of pugaar against Karthik Raja recently.
Romba bandha panni kollgiraar yendru kelvi!.. With numerous music
directors, ARR, Deva, Sirpi, Vidhyasagar, S.A.Rajkumar, T.Rajendar,
R.Anand, Swararaj, Ranjeeth, Shah, and his own brother Yuvan Shankar in
competition with each other, magazines are puzzled at these types of
pugaars against a growing artist like Karthik!..

The pugaars aside, Karthik Raja is eagerly looking forward to his next
album "Ullaasam," which might make its appearance for Tamil New Year's
Day!.. After quite a lot of pidivaadham and convincing, Prabhudeva agreed
to sing a rap song with Kamalahassan's daughter Sruthi for "Ullaasam".. PD
pleasantly surprised himself when the final product was presented to
him!.. Moreover, Daddy Ilaiyaraja sings along with daughter Bavatharini in
a song "Yaaro Yaar Yaaro" under Karthik's direction, for the first time..
(Close your eyes to "Ye Vangikodi" in "Ponnumani".. it probably doesn't
qualify since Karthik was not a full-fledged music director then!)..

***Nee munaale ponaa.. naan pinaale vaaren!.. Poor Israth waited for her
bro ARR to give her a chance to sing under his direction!.. Tired of waiting,
she went and made her debut in "Mettukkudi" under Sirpi's music
direction.. Now enter Bhavatharini.. probably tired of singing only under
her brothers' and daddy's music direction.. has signed to sing with
Hariharan: "Alps malai kaattru vandhu nenjil veesudhe".. under Sirpi's
music direction for "Thedinen Vandhadhu"..

***Annamalai Cine Arts' "Arunachalam" has been in the spotlight ever since
it was launched about two months ago.. Idhil adhiga kushi-yaaga
irukkiravar Deva.. Andha kushi-yil vandha paadalgal:

In the tradition of "Autokaran," comes yet another S.P.B. solo:

"Arunaachalam Naan Dhaanda
Arunaachalam naan dhaanda
Annai Thamizh naattil naan
anaivarukkum sondhamadaa
Uppu potta aall marapadhillai-yadaa
Aana thappu senja aalla viduvathillai-yaadaa"

The other 'Deiveega' padal..

Maththaadu Maththaadu Mallige
Maththaadu Maththaadu Mallige
Ambujam.. Pankajam.. Ranjitham.. Senbagam..

"Arunaachalam" releases with another 3 songs besides these.. April 14th,
1997!.. Less than a month from now!..

***Jaaali!.. Seems like every music director in Kodambakkam has something
to smile about in 1997.. especially someone like Sirpi!.. With Sundhar C.
and R.B.Choudhri films carrying Sirpi to great heights last year.. ippo
yennadaa-na new films kuvindhullana.. including "Janakiraman" under
aasthana director Sundhar C., Gurudhanapal's "Periya Idaththu Maapillai,"
Sivashri Pictures "Thedinen Vandhadhu" with Prabhu, a film for Pyramid
Natarajan, Ibrahim Rauthar's "Dhinamum Ennai Gavani," Livingston's
"Unakkum Enakkum Kalyanam," A.L.Azhagappan's "Ini Ellam Sugame,"
Bharathiraja's "Vakkapatta Bhoomi," and "Raasi" with Ajeethkumar!.. Even
though his music in "Kaathirundha Kaadhal" went unnoticed, Sirpi does have
a lot to look forward to this year!.. "Azhagiya Laila.. thirumbi varuvaala?"

***"Achu Vellame" from the film "Sakthi" with music by newcomer R. Anand
seems to have lifted quite a few eyebrows with curiosity and excitement in
Chennai.. Though the film did not fare well at all, R. Anand might have
got his big break and will utilize it in Bharathiraja's "Siragugal
Murivadhillai"!.. Speaking of big break, Soundharyan who has been
pushed down into B and C grade films happens to be busy, regardless of
what we think!.. He composes for the "Conductor Mappillai," (Murali,
Devayani, Swathi), "Cheran Chozhan Pandian," "Pattakaran"-another Murali
flick, and the Ranjith-Vikram-Saravannan-Swarna film "Sundaram +2".. Best
of Luck for 1997!..

***Last but not least, "thaththuva paadal" sung by Actor Karthik and
Swarnalatha for "Shishya" under Deva's music direction:

"Apollo Apollo
Vinveli-kku pogudhu
Kaadhal dhaan
Aeroplane-il mei-silirkka pogudhu"

***Virudhugal***
(So early in '97?)..

***Ajantha Fine Arts and Bharath Social Cultural Academy gave out their
annual best artists' and film awards on January 1st, 1997!.. It appears
that this is an New Year tradition for these academies!.. Unforunately
they don't tell us the criteria used to judge who receives these awards..

Ajantha Fine Arts:

Best Actor: Prabhu
Best Actress: Meena
Best Actress (Spl. Award): Nagma
Best New Face (male): Abbas
Best New Face (female): Swathi
Best Character Actor: Vijaykumar (Vanitha received the award on behalf of
daddy!)
Best Character Actress: Vadivukarasi
Best Villain: Anandharaj
Best Film: Avvai Shanmugi
Special Awards: "Ullaththai Allithaa"
"Sundhara Purushan"
"Gokulaththil Seethai"
Best Director: K.S.Ravikumar
Best Lyricist: Vairamuthu
Best Story Writer: R. Selvaraj
Best Cinematographer: Ilavarasu

Bharath Social Cultural Academy Awards:

(Idhu allavaa interesting choices!..)

Best Actor: Prabhudeva
Best Actress: Ramba
Best Actor (Spl. Award): R. Pandiyarajan
Best Film: "Indhiyan"
Best Character Actor: Vijaykumar
Best Character Actress: Manjula
Best Music Director: Deva
Best Lyricist: Vairamuthu
Best Singer (Male): S.P.Balasubramanium
Best Singer (Female): Swarnalatha
Best Comedian: Vivek
Best Comedienne: Kovai Sarala
Best Dialogue Writer: Balakumaran
Best Cinematographer: Jeeva
Best Villain: Radha Ravi

***Tamil Movie News***
(Kutti News)

***Ambika is back, after almost a year of begging and pleading.. she
finally stars as one of Sathyaraj's two wives, (Kovai Sarala being the
other).. in Gurudhanapal's other 'Periya' film.. "Periya Manushan"..
Manivannan has been complaining for a while that he hasn't had time to
star with Sathyaraj in a film.. but considering Gurudhanapal cannot make
a film without the pair ("Thai Maman," and "Maaman Magal").. surely,
Manivannan-in aasai nirai-veri vidum.

***Actress Jayashree is also making a comeback (though Ramarajan wishes
to call it just an "udhavi") in "Vivasaayi Magan".. Who knows what has
happenned to old actresses in recent time.. they seem to be coming back in
hoards all of a sudden.. Whether inspired by Jay, Ambika or Jyothilakshmi,
actress Latha returns to the silver screen in "Ponn Villaiyira Bhoomi" and
'Venniraadai' Nirmala has all the luck, as she stars in P.Vasu's "Vaaimaye
Vellum" and Rajini's "Arunaachalam"..

***T.Rajendar is back in the news, as well!.. After a few dismal films
like "Thaai Thangai Paasam," T.R. has gone back to ilamai.. ilamai..
ilamai themes again.. He seems to have signed Prabhudeva, Manthra, and
Kalyankumar's son (name unknown) for his film "Ilam Kaadhalargal"..
Aanaalum idhu podhaadhu polirrukiradhu!.. T.R. is seriously trying to sign
Manisha Koirala to star in the film!.. He has also begun another project
titled "Monisha" with one hero and three heroines.. As usual, the
astaavadhaani is at work: Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, Cinematography,
Music Direction, Lyrics and Direction by T.Rajendar.. His son Chilambarasan
has already sung a song "Monalisa unakku kissu tharuvala" under his
father's music direction!..

***R.V.Udhayakumar is recovering from his losses in "Subaash" in a nice
way.. He is trying to sign Vijayashanthi to star in his film.. It just so
happens Vijayashanthi is up to her neck in film making with not much spare
time!.. Interestingly, people still don't know why Arjun neeki-fied her
from "Thaayin Manikodi".. Sathyaraj has recently declared that he feels
really old compared to all these newcomer 'ilam' nadigargal!.. He has
changed his policy.. From now on, he wishes to stay with the youthful
trend and have at least one 'young one' in each of his films co-starring
with him!.. Abbas will co-star in M.G.Pictures' "Unnai Vida-maatten" and
Ajeethkumar in "Pagaivan" with Sathyaraj!.. Market-ai eppadiyaavadhu nilai
niruththa vendaama?!..

***Eeshwari Rao isn't too thrilled today.. not because she debuts in Balu
Mahendra's "Raman Abdhulla".. but because she was tossed out of John
Amritaraj's "Koottaali".. Everybody's guess is the 'kavarchi' factor.. and
she refused to expose.. or so it appears!.. Rajshree has been signed for
the role.. though some predict that she might also be kicked out too and be
replaced by Heera.. Rumour.. rumour.. everywhere!.. Incidentally, Heera
stars in a Balu Mahendra film, which is scheduled to begin soon after
"Raman Abdhulla" hits theatres in Feb '97!..

***Vinitha has finally found her way to Chennai again!.. Jujulipaa had
spent quite some time in Kannada films, before tamil offers brought her to
Kodambakkam once again!.. She currently stars with Mansoor Ali Khan in
"Vettu Onnu Thundhu Rendu" (Director C. Dhinakar), "Vidivelli" with
Surya, "Samrat," "Sivappu Nila," "Naan Oru Indhiyan" and "Ponnuvilaiyira
Bhoomi." Vinitha sila very interesting matters discuss pannar, in her
interview with Cinema Express recently. She said another poraamai
pidiththa nadigai had declared that Vinitha could only do glamourous roles
and could never do good roles ever!.. Incidentally, this nadigai has a
reputation for extremely skimpy clothing in tamil cinema.. In some ways,
she was the one who set the 'kavarchi' trend!.. Though Vinitha hesitated
to divulge her name.. kandu pidikkardhu romba simple.. "Sa....." nadigai!..

***Special Thanks to Sridhar Seetharaman for his information on the
ARR-Sony Deal and Satish Subramanian for his info on the Sarat-Nagma love
affair!..

TO BE CONTINUED..

My Sources: Cinema Express, Anandha Vikatan, Kumudham..

Sandya..

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Tamil Movie News can also been seen at:

http://www2.ntu.ac.sg:8000/~sf918168/mayajaal.html

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