Today News 10.12.2008

Ajith's Asal – will it or wont?

While the media went crazy writing about Ajith's next movie with director Charan, the actor and the director remain tightlipped about the issue. The movie is said to be produced by Sivaji pictures since the company has officially acquired Ajith's call sheets recently.


While numerous news sources state that the movie is named Asal and Sameera Reddy has been roped in to play the lead, no official confirmation in this regard has been released by Ajith, Sivaji Pictures or Charan so far that does not completely rule out a possibility of such a project. Grapevine also has it that the movie is scored by Harris' music.

Karthi’s heroine dilemma

Looks like the heroine hunt for Karthi’s Payya seems to have hit the road to nowhere. After Nayan refusing to come down from her 1 crore mark, Trisha was approached. While initial reports averred that Trisha was booked for 80 lakhs, lesser than Nayan’s remuneration, news from the director’s stable state otherwise.


Industry sources, citing the director/producer’s close allies reveal that Lingusamy is resorting to his third option in the list, which is Tamanna. Incidentally, the Punjabi lass’ pay check is way lesser than that of Nayan and Trisha. Besides, she also joined the elite league recently after having been starred with Surya for Ayan. More news in this regard awaited.

Villu resumes!

Prabhudeva is not letting his personal grievance pull down his responsibilities at the professional front. The director turned actor, who lost his eldest son to a mysterious form of cancer, a few days back is back at the sets of his upcoming project Villu with Vijay in the lead.

Vijay, Nayan, Ranjitha, and Geetha

participated in the Villu shooting that resumed recently. The shoots were held in a private bungalow near Meenambakkam. A song sequence with Nayan and Vijay was also shot in Binni Mills, as part of the shoots.

Lawsuit against Ghajini

The posters of Ghajini pasted across the country have stirred a lot of controversies. Only recently, a Mumbaiu-based doctor alleged that she has been receiving numerous calls and SMSes after mobile number was displayed on the posters. As per the story, Aamir Khan suffers from short term memory loss and hence to remember the phone numbers he

would have tattooed the most important numbers on his body. One such number happened to be Dr. Surekha Varma's.

Now a business man, Trilochan Singh, has complained that he is also receiving several calls day in and day out. According Mr. Singh's advocate, his client is a BP patient and such calls are detrimental to his health. Moreover, Singh is not able to distinguish between personal call, business call and Ghajini calls, he says. A lawsuit has been filed seeking a compesation of Rs. 50 lakhs, he added.

Rahman's Puli – redefining deals

As it seems the Madras Maestro Rahman is redefining music right deals in Tollywood. His latest soundtrack album for the movie Puli in Telugu has been sold for an enviable sum of 2.5 crores to Sony Corporation. This is said to be a record quite unseen in the history of music deals in Tollywood. Puli stars Pavan Kalyan in the lead and is

directed by S J Surya. Puli's music is expected to be out soon.

With this deal, Sony will have exclusive access to the release and publicity of the soundtrack of the movie. This deal also includes access to a handsome profit obtained from selling caller tunes and dialer tunes supported by cellphone network providers.

Aishwarya Rai - No expectations!

Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan starrer The Pink Panther is ready to hit the screens soon. The gorgeous actress disclosed to the media the reason for accepting to star in the film. According to Aishwarya, Peter Sellers, the British comedian who has starred in four of The Pink Panther films was her favorite actor.

Ash disclosed that she grew up watching The Pink Panther and the films were such a comedy and never failed to at least bring a smile on one’s face. Ash added that she knew well that the film is all about Steve Martin and The Pink Panther and does not expect to be critically acclaimed for her role in it.

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Good news to Ajith fans!

Director Saran, who is currently working on Modhi Vilayadu starring Vinay and Kajal Agarwal, has been signed up to direct Ajith's next. Only recently there was a buzz in Kollywood that Sivaji Productions have been scouting for a director for their next venture with Ajith. The film has been titled Asal.


Saran and Ajith had earlier worked together in films like Kadhal Mannan and Amarkalam. The lead lady for Asal is yet to be finalized and the shooting is expected to commence from February 2009 onwards.

Nayan opts out of Payya?

The recent buzz in Kollywood suggests that Nayanthara may not star in Lingusamy's Payya. The actress was reportedly paid a salary crossing over Rs. 1 crore to feature in this film opposite Karthi. Nayan, apparently, is upset over the delay in the commencement of this project. Payya was to have hit the floors a couple of months ago but was

postponed for various reasons including Karthi's non-availability as he was held up in Aayirathil

Moreover, sources close to the actress say that the producers started negotiating over her salary after agreeing to pay Rs. 1 crore. The perturbed actress stated that it is doubtful if she would star in the venture after all.

AR Rahman in a state of shock

AR Rahman left Chennai abruptly leaving behind all his assignment hanging in balance. The ace music director flew to New York to spend some time there and his return date remains uncertain. Sources in Kollywood indicate that Rahman was disturbed after his long time friend and sound engineer H. Sridhar's untimely demise.


Rahman has been finding it difficult to come to terms with Sridhar's death and his memories of working together at the recording studios seem to be haunting him. Rahman, apparently, wanted to stay off from his recording studio for a few days to get out of the shock. The music director was also not his usual self and has not been interacting with his colleagues

Rajini, Kamal offer condolences to Prabhu Deva

It was a sad day for actor-director Prabhu Deva's family yesterday (4th December 2008). The 13-year-old son Vishal of Prabhu Deva breathed his last during the early hours. Vishal had been suffering from cancer for quite sometime and his health started deteriorating lately.

Those who visited the family to offer

their condolences include Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Ajith, Vijay, Kushbhu, Nayanthara and Prakash Raj. Vishal's body was cremated at the Besant Nagar crematorium at around 3 pm yesterday.

Rajini's favorite comedian?

Comedian Karunas will feature in director Shankar's film for the first time! Yes, he has been offered a role in Endhiran. Earlier Shankar offered him Vivek's role in Sivaji but Karuna's could not take it up due to call sheet issues. Eventually the role was bagged by Vivek.

However, this time around everything

seems to have worked out well and Karunas has been signed up. It may be recalled that Karunas has already starred with Rajini in Baba.

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What happened to Ajith's film?

A couple of months ago Sivaji Productions had announced that it will produce a film with Ajith in the lead. Sameera Reddy was signed up to play his on screen pair. But, unfortunately, director Gautham Menon, who was supposed to have commenced the film in September, was tied up with Vaaranam Aayiram and Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikalam.



Later on he also returned the advance paid to him by Sivaji Productions. Due to this, Ajith's project was left hanging in the balance.

Meanwhile, the production house is scouting for a suitable director to take up the project. Vishnuvardhan, the director of Billa, was a strong contender in the race, but his present commitment with Sarvam seems to halt the progress as he will be available only after March. Other established directors like Prabhu Deva and KS Ravi Kumar are also busy with their own projects and are not in a position to take up Ajith's venture. It now looks like that all Ajith just needs is a suitable director.

Compares Nayan with Sridevi

The forthcoming Nayanthara-Karthi starrer has the fans' expectations soaring high. The film, titled Payya, will be directed by Lingusamy. Speaking about the film and Nayanthara in particular, Lingusamy said that Payya's storyline revolves entirely on the highways of Bangalore-Mumbai route. What happens in a car forms the crux of Payya, he elaborated.


On selecting Nayan for the role, Lingusamy said that she is the best actress who has all the qualities that Sridevi had. He added that Nayan's acting skills will be showcased in Payya. The actress might even be paid a crore for it

The film's shooting will commence on December 15th in Bangalore and go on for 20 days. Lingusamy is teaming up yet again with music director Yuvan Shankar Raja after their association in Sandakozhi.

This icon finds his pair

The 3-D animation film titled Puratchi Thalaivan, which will bring to life the icon of Tamil cinema and the Tamil people, Dr. M.G. Ramachandran, is being produced by Maya Bimbangal. The film will have MGR in the animated form. Any guesses who will be his heroine in the film? Well, it is none other that Saroja Devi. This on

screen pair remained a favorite for many years among the audience.

It will indeed be a treat for the present generation to watch them back. According to the producers, the film's trailer will be released on January 17th to coincide with MGR's birth anniversary.

Bharathiraja:“Corporate producers are crocodiles”

Bommalattam, Bharathiraja’s latest, had long been delayed but will finally get a release on the 12. It’s press meet was held this evening at Four Frames, Chennai, where the director vociferously spoke against corporate companies involved in producing cinema today.

The movie is based on a real story,

and he has used actual people from the locations instead of actors. The last time he did a true story was Manvasanai. It’s about three murders and a murderer who was never caught by the police. However, in the movie, he will show the murdered being caught by the police. Raja said the climax of the film is unique and no one will be able to guess it.

Bommalattam had been screened at German film festivals where it was critically appreciated. One German film institute has even included the film as a text to be studied in the course. Raja said the movie had been delayed because of corporate companies not supporting the film enough. They felt it did not have a wide market and so did not promote it. He went on to say that in the years past, distributors would fight a lot to get a market and take a great deal of trouble to make the film a success, but corporate companies don’t take much trouble.

These distributors today have become as thin and invisible as lizards, he said. But they are good people. But corporate companies are as predatory as crocodiles and will eat you up. Now because of the economic recession they are laying low, he added. And this was a good thing, and it would be good if they continued to be low key.

Nadigar Sangam takes a strong resolution

This morning (December 2), several stars and actors from the Nadigar Sangam met to offer condolences and prayers to those affected by the Mumbai tragedy. Present were Dhanush, Karthi, Bharath, Sathyaraj, Sibiraj, Radha Ravi, Sandhya, Keerthi chawla and many from the industry. On a large table strewn with rose flowers, the actors planted candles to

commemorate each life that was lost. They observed silence for a while and then began to deliberate on what had happened and how they could be involved in the future to offer support to victims. The resolution passed and the oaths taken were clear: the Nadigar Sangam will come out strongly against any terrorist activity.

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