Jayaprada Theater shutdown for non payment of tax

Famous Jayaprada Theater on Peters road, Chennai , owned by actor and Samajwadi Party MP Jayaprada, was shutdown on Friday by Chennai Corporation for non-payment of property tax to the tune of Rs 20 lakh.

The theater had been screening two shows a day: Paruthiveeran at 12 noon and the Telugu movie, Krishna.

Theatre complex workers pleaded with them to provide time so that they could get in touch with the owners to take steps to avoid the attachment, the officials insisted that the tax be paid immediately. According to reports squad emptied the manager’s office of all the reels of all the movie cans.

Pretty Asin as Madisar Maami in Dasavatharam

Asin, one of the most popular South Indian actresses, widely known for her intelligence and professionalism in film industry plays as Kamal Haasan’s lead lady in Dashaavtaram. It is her first experience of doing a double role.

One of these characters needed to wear a Madisar!( Madisar is the style in which the sari is worn by the Brahmin’s in Tamil Nadu). Well, guess who helped her get Madisar properly? It is Gouthami!.

Simran as Surya’s Mother

Simran and Surya made their debut in the film Nerukku Ner, directed by Vasanth in 1997. But the time passes by as the evening sky floats into the night and awaits the sunrise.

Now it is 2008. ..it is unbelievable!, the dream angel of lakhs of South indian fans is going to feature as “mother” to her first hero..

The talented actress finally settled with a mother role against Surya in Vaaranam Ayiram. Gautham Menon is shooting the scenes related with father Surya-Mother Simran and son Surya.

Sameera Reddy, Divya and Antria are featuring along with mother Simran.

A.R. Rahman in a musical show

The musical genius A.R. Rahman has been roped in for a mega musical show titled ‘Mission Ustaad’. The show is being aired on the Channel 9X.

Ten singers will participate to provide engrossing musical entertainment for a cause. ‘Mission Ustaad’ has been put together by the United Nations, Endemol and 9X. Mission Ustaad is expected to communicate the essence of UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) across the length and breadth of the country.

Rahman will be one of the judges in the show, which showcases many talents across the country. The singing sensations - Roop Kumar Rathod and Sunali Rathod, Kailash Kher and Mahalakshmi Iyer, Vasundhara Das and Mohit Chauhan, Naresh Iyer and Shweta Pandit get together and battle it out for the title of Ustaad Jodi. This noble-cause-oriented reality show will be hosted by the gorgeous actress with a million-dollar smile, Simone Singh.

Bollywood beauty Lara Dutta joins A.R. Rahman to judge the singers who participate in the show.

‘Silanerangalil’: An exciting thriller

New Light Productions Ltd, founded by 4 US based NRI, is the new entrant in the Tamil film industry which produced “Silanerangalil”, releasing this Feb 29th.

It is reliably learnt that Director Jayaraj who is a 5-time national award winner has come up with a movie with full of on-the-edge thriller mixed with romance and comedy.

The making of the movie was approached in typical Hollywood style. The US based New Light Production team sat with the director and scriptwriter and developed the complete script followed by a detailed storyboard.

The newly released posters across the city shows some interesting snapshot of what the audience can expect from this interesting movie. In one of the posters we see the retro style getup of Vineeth and Navya Nair along with Vincent Asokan in the background. In another design we have a ferocious looking Vincent Asokan along with the graceful dancing beauty Navya Nair in a 1960’s getup.

We bring you the images of the hoardings set up in many spots all over Chennai.

‘Silambattam’: Dhina out Yuvan in

Yuvan Shankar Raja, the favorite music director of Silambarasan, has been roped in for the film ‘Silambattam’. This has effectively puts Dhina, the original music composer of the film, out of the project.

Dhina however, has no regrets, as the decision was taken by Silambarasan after consulting him. Though Simbu, who has a special taste for music, has high regards for Dhina’s talents, he prefers Yuvan, as both of them work brilliantly as a team to bring out excellent stuff. So Simbu decided to go for Yuvan and he explained his feelings to Dhina, who gracefully accepted to step down.

The decision is also viewed by some as a two-in-one strategy of Silambarasan. Since Yuvan does music for ‘Kettavan’, Silambarasan might have thought that the time spent for the composing could be useful for both films.

The teaming up of the successful combo of Simbu and Yuvan has undoubtedly increased the expectations of ‘Silambattam’, which is growing on a steady pace.

‘Vannathuppoochi’ - A movie on children

Amidst a lot of mega budget extravaganzas that revolve around action, sentiment, and romance, here is a man, who tries to turn our attention towards finer elements of life. Finer elements like flowers, butterflies and children.

C. Azhagappan, who has been working as an assistant to Kamal Haasan, has been making a film titled ‘Vannathupoochi’ on children with a story that sensitively focuses on their world. He also looks into the way we treat the children and how we relate with them.

The movie, according to him, would make us rethink the way adults with busy life style treat and move with the youngest generation.

Azhagappan has the guts to cast Balasingh, a distinguished character artiste of contemporary Tamil film world, in the lead role. Bala dons the main role as a grandpa in the movie that deals with the relationship between a girl and her grand father. Srilakshmi, a third standard student living in Thirupur, plays the role of Divya Bharathi, the central character of the film.

Veteran Revathi adds value to the film by playing an important role in the film. The director informs with gratitude that the actress has accepted to act for free of cost in this sensitive movie.

Azhagappan introduces a new music director Rehan in his movie, which is growing fast and is set to be a summer release.

Vikram in Mani Rathnam Movie

Vikram has told several times that it is one of his dreams to act in ace director Mani Rathnam’s film. Now the dream has come true. It is learnt from reliable sources that Madras Talkies has roped in the talented actor for a film

The exciting combination of Mani - Vikram, however, will not take place in the near future. We have to wait for at least one and half years to see them coming together. Mani Rathnam is now busy shaping up the script of his Hindi movie featuring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in the lead while Vikram is busy with ‘Kanthaswamy’. He will have to finish two projects with K.S. Ravikumar and Ameer before coming to the movie made by Mani Rathnam.

Come 2009, we will see the outstanding director and an amazing actor joining hands. It is needless to say that the wait is worth it.

‘Dasavadharam’ audio launch postponed

The much awaited audio launch of ‘Dasavadharam’, which was scheduled to be held in March, is now postponed to April. The venue too has been changed. Earlier, producer Oscar Ravichandran planned to stage the mega show in Nehru Indoor Stadium. Now it is decided to be held at Nandanam YMCA Ground.

However, there will be no change in the grandeur of the function. The big weights from various languages would attend the function. Apart from the chief guest Jackie Chan, the superstar studded event will have Mammootty, Mohanlal, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, and Amitabh Bachan. Talks are on to bring two superstars from Kannada industry. Sony Audio Company, which has bagged the audio rights, is coordinating the arrangements for the function.

The audio rights have been sold at an unprecedented rate. The amount, it is said is something, which no Tamil audio track has ever fetched.

‘Dasavadharam’ has broken the record in terms of TV channel rights as well. It has been sold at a rate of Rs. 10 lakhs higher than that of Sivaji!

Ajith and Nayantara: Official Information

It is official. It is confirmed that Ajith and Nayantara are doing a back to back movie after ‘Billa’. They come together again for ‘Aegan’, produced by Ayngaran Internationals.

Raju Sundaram, who has choreographed for more than 1000 songs in his career as a dance master, handles the script and direction departments. S. Ramakrishnan, an eminent writer turned dialogue writer writes the dialogues for Aegan. He has recently written dialogues for films like ‘Sandakozhi’ and ‘Bheemaa’.

Details of more actors who participate in the movie have been officially announced. Veteran actors Suhasini Manirathnam, Jayaram, Suman, Nasser, M.S. Baskar and Sriman don important roles in the movie. ‘Arinthum Ariyamalum’ fame Navdeep too plays a crucial role.

Arjun Jana, one of the top cameramen in Tamil and Hindi film industries, will handle the camera for ‘Aegan’ and Yuvan Shankar Raja, who scored for highest number of films in 2007, scores the music. It may be recalled that it was Yuvan, who did music for ‘Billa’.

Fifteen days of shooting has been taken place in Hong Kong and the unit will be shooting later in Australia, New Zealand and England.

Ajith believes that the movie would propel his career to another level.