Tuesday 20 November, 2007

Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan - Review

Movie
Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan
Director
Vinayan
Music
Benny Ignatious
Cast
Indrajeet, Jayasurya, Bhama, Sherin, Jagathy

By Moviebuzz

Vinayan seems to be out of form these days. His latest Hareendran Oru Nishkalangan, fails to impress even though it has timely message. The trouble with the film is that it falls between two stools, and post interval there is no real story to say.

Hareendran (Indrajith) is a software tycoon who runs Starlines a very successful listed company. His right-hand man is his childhood friend Gopalakrishnan (Jayasurya), called GK. Hareendran is a nice guy, who is straightforward and trusts people blindly, while GK is a cunning fox in sheep's clothes. His sole aim in life is to con Hareendran and take over his company one day. Hareendran's mother (Ambika) fixes his marriage to Indu (Bhama) who is in love with Alex (Manikuttan), a self styled left sympathizer who threw up his IT job for the party! And GK uses his girlfriend Pooja (Sherin) to influence Hareendran to make him the executive director in Starlines.

The villainous GK uses others like a pawn in a chess game, and manipulates them to his advantage which results in Indu running away with Alex a few minutes before Hareendran was to tie the Thali around her neck! This leaves Hareendran shattered, and he becomes an alcoholic and leaves GK to run the company. But a few days later GK is brutally murdered and Hareendran is accused of killing him, and a media witch-hunt start and he is unable to defend himself even after the court acquits him and in the climax the real murderer is found!

The media targeting innocent persons and tarnishing their image is a regular occurrence in Kerala It is a very topical subject, which could have been handled with a little more care by the director. The other message in the film is about today's youth's craze for material comforts in a society ruled by share prices in the stock exchange. Indrajith looks uncomfortable in the innocent tycoon's role, Jagathy, Salim Kumar provide their usual comedy, while Jayasurya has done a similar smiling villain in Arabikatha. Bhama who made a sensational debut in Nivediyam has hardly any role, Sherin is there to provide glamour. Usually a Vinayan film will have atleast one hummable number, but Benny Ignatious's music lacks punch.

On the whole Vinayan had a very topical issue, which after his commercial packaging for entertainment purpose lost its focus and fizzled out. Better luck next time!

Verdict: Average

Friday 16 November, 2007

SRK's Cricket Dreamz

The $3 million Indian Premier League (IPL), which takes place next year, will have Shah Rukh Khan bidding for a franchise among 90 other bidders.

However, current cricketers like Sachin will not be allowed to bid for the franchise as per the decisions made in the board. Hence players like Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly will play only for home teams.

It is said that apart from SRK, there are many other personalities and top businessmen among the other 90 bidders some of which includes the England based Lord Swaraj, business tycoon Vijay Mallya, Anil Ambani and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe. The floor price for the bidders has been fixed at $50 million.

Adnan Sami to host Musical Show

Composer, pianist and singer par excellence Adnan Sami, will now be taking the contestants through the musical journey that is, a brand new interactive and musical game show called Bol Baby Bol on Star One. The show talks about getting your lyrics right!

Adnan Sámi will be put on the role of the host. The game commences with the lead singer circulating amongst the audience, singing a song and the person who completes the lyrics following his / hers, gets selected for the next round.

So, brush up your lyrics and stay tuned as Adnan Sami dances to the tunes of this new exciting and interactive musical game show – ‘Bol Baby Bol’, this Friday and Saturday, that is November 16 and 17 at 9 pm on Star One.

Vinayan is back

Vinayan is back doing what he does, making films with the youth. His latest is Hareendran Enna Nishkalangan, which has guys like Jayasurya and Manikuttan whom he introduced. The film releases this Friday (November 16), and is expected to bring some relief to superstar controlled Malayalam cinema.

The story of Hareendran Enna Nishkalangan is about how the left forces in Kerala living in a bygone era are refusing to accept changes in the industrial and social milieu. Inderjit plays the title role of Hareendran a nice guy who runs his own IT business, and he goes by the book. This lands him in trouble with the left unions, who are against any kind of software revolution in the state.

The timely story has been written by Vinayan's son Vishnu Vinayan, and it is a youth oriented film with all essential ingredients. The film has Inderjit in the lead with Jayasurya, Manikuttan, Bama, Cochin Haneefa and others. The film has music by Benny Ignatious and camera by Venugopalan.

The industry is hoping that youth centric films like Hareendran Enna Nishkalangan becomes popular with the audiences, for the betterment of Malayalam films.

Thursday 15 November, 2007

Diwali Releases review

The dust has finally settled down. The big hype surrounding the release of Deepavali movies too has come to close.

A total of half-a-dozen movie has hit the screens on Deepavali day creating great hype and expectations among the audience. Vijay's 'Azhagiya Thamizh Magan', Suriya's 'Vel', Sathyaraj's 'Kannamoochi Yaenada', 'Polladhavan' starring Dhanush, Jeevan starrer 'Machaakkaran' and 'Agra', a movie featuring newcomers.

It was celebration time at various cinema halls and multiplexes last week when these films hit the screens. Fans celebrated in joy the movies hitting the screens.

Let's check out the response and box office results of these movies.


'Vel'

'Vel' starring Suriya in dual roles and directed by Hari has opened in a big way. A typical Hari film with emotions, sentiments, humor woven around a couple of families, 'Vel' has managed to get positive reviews from the audience. The movie is doing well specially in B and C Centres.


'Azhagiya Tamil Magan'

Vijay's 'Azhagiya Tamil Magan' has witnessed a bumper opening. Almost all the shows in Chennai city have been running to packed houses. Vijay dons a dual role. However his role with negative shades has not gone down well with his fans. The movie features Shreya, Namitha and Ashish Vidyarthi in the cast. Rahman's music has failed to strike the right chord.


'Polladhavan'

Dhanush's 'Polladhavan', a typical Chennai film, has managed to garner positive response from the masses. Directed by Vettrimaran the movie, starring Divya and Daniel Balaji in prominent roles, has catchy songs, pulsating stunt sequences and earthy humor.


'Machaakkaran'

Jeevan's bad guy image among the audience is the USP of 'Machaakkaran'. Directed by Thamizh Vannan, the movie starring Kamna Jethamalani opposite Jeevan has witnessed a good opening. The movie has seen good crowds in Chennai city. Yuvan's songs have failed to resurrect the movie.


'Kannamoochi Yaenada'

'Kannamoochi Yaenada', produced by Radhika Sarath Kumar and directed by Priya V, is a romantic comedy, inspired from the Hollywood film Meet the Parents. Prithviraj, Sandhya, Sathyaraj, Radhika performs with ease to make the movie worth watching. A decent family entertainer sans any skin show, ‘Kanamoochi Yaenada’ is doing well among family audience.

Gods into Tollywood Movies

Younger heroes rarely play mythological characters. So it gets exciting when the senior heroes step forward to do something different from what they have always done.


We have already seen Balakrishna in mythological roles. Soon he will be appearing as Sri Krishna in Ranga Panduranga, where he will play the dual role of the God and the devotee.

Then we already know that Nagarjuna is playing God to Vishnu in his forthcoming film which happens to be a take off from the Hollywood film Bruce Almighty.


It is said that Nagarjuna will also play Sri Krishna. No, he won’t be decked in jewels and play the proverbial God. But he will play a God in suit, a la Morgan Freeman in the original. It will be interesting to see two aspects of the same God played out by top heroes!

Wednesday 14 November, 2007

Indrajith to Tamil



Indrajith has been one of the young actors in Malayalam cinema who is showing much promise with his natural talents in acting.

The actor, who finds its easy going even in short cameos in star films, has excelled in many roles in the past. Indrajith presently in the sets of Vinayan film ‘Hareendran Oru Nishkalagan’ is looking forward for chances to make his debut in Tamil.

He has recently received a call from his long time friend and Tamil superstar Vikram, to appear as the main villain in his new film ‘Kandhasamy’.

Indrajith whose immediate dates are blocked by a number of films in Malayalam has not decided yet about joining the film

Siddique go Blooywood


Director Siddique who has the most impressive records for creating hits in Malayalam has been evading the industry for a few years. He was heard to return to Malayalam with a Dileep film for Next Vishu. It was also announced that the film will take off once he completed the his recent film in Tamil titled ‘Sadhu Mirandaal' with Prasanna, Kavya Madhavan and Sheela in the lead roles.

But according to the new developments the director is all set to shift to Bollywood to make a film for Good Knight Mohan. The flick which will mark his debut in Hindi will start once Good Night Mohan's new venture 'Gouri' with new comers gets completed.

And as per his records, Sidhique will in all probabilities deliver his films as big hits which will give fewer chances for him to return to his home language.

Friday 9 November, 2007

Azhagiya Tamil Magan - Review


‘Azhagiya Tamil Magan’ banks heavily on Vijay’s charm and performance. The Ilaya Thalapathy has lived up to the challenge created by the huge success of ‘Pokkiri’. He looks stylish and handsome. He lights up the screen by his dynamic performance.

Director Bharathan has exploited Vijay’s strengths well. He has provided a perfect entertainer for Vijay fans by giving ample chance, including dual role, to Vijay to come up with a stylish, action packed, romantic heroism.

Vijay plays both hero and villain. The first half is filled with romance and a mystery surrounding Vijay’s Extra Sensory Perception (ESP), while the second half is dominated by the tug of war between the two Vijays.

Let us first look at the storyline. Guru (Vijay) is an athlete and business management student. Abhinaya (Shreya) is the daughter of a business baron (Ashish Vidyarthi). They meet and, what else, fall in love.

The movie goes on to show how the lovers manage to get the permission of the parents. In the meantime, you get to see a different dimension in the tale while the romantic drama is unfolding. Vijay visualizes some bizarre scenes inside his mind. The scenes are disturbing and worse, they become true in the real life.

A psychiatrist (played by Dr. Rudran, a professional psychiatrist) confirms that it is ESP power and says that the imageries visualized by Guru would actually happen sooner or later. Unfortunately Guru visualizes another scene which he would never like to see happening. Sensing a danger to his sweetheart, he runs away to Mumbai from her to save her.

In Mumbai he stumbles upon a person, who looks alike himself. This gives him a different meaning of the horrible incident visualized by him. Before catching the man, played by Vijay again, Guru gets into an accident and the new man moves to Chennai where he is mistaken as Guru.

Stylish and care free Prasad, the look alike Guru, is a greedy person, who would do anything to earn money and enjoy life. Abinaya mistakes him for Guru and gets him to her house. Sensing his strength, Prasad decides to act as Guru and marry the rich Abhi.

The real Guru comes back and tells everyone the truth. But no one is ready to believe him, as he is outplayed by the wicked Prasad in each and every move. Finally the truth prevails but not before the tensed battle between the two with lot of twists and actions.

Before going in to details we must say that ESP is not a proven scientific fact and hence the director putting it as a matter of fact is unacceptable. We could have digested it if the director had presented it in a different manner without pretending to be scientific.

Coming back to the script, the director has come up with a new idea in form of ESP to provide twist in the tale. Though the idea of double role is not new, Bharathan had made the tough of war between the two interesting by conceiving a few interesting sequences.

The first half however, is dragging too much to the comfort of the audience. The efforts to convince the father and mother, one by one, play as speed breakers. The way the girl falls for the hero lacks imagination. The ESP imageries and Vijay fighting with Vijay have been executed well.

The director has done well in presenting Vijay - the USP of the film. The hero looks handsome, and stylish. The second Vijay in particular, is simply awesome in his styles. Vijay has presented a virtual treat for his fans by his mannerisms, actions, voice modulations, and body language.

Shreya, arguably possessing the most stunning and sexy figure among today’s heroines is simply ravishing. She and the director, of course, pretty well know that acting is not her forte and hence bank on her USP, which is her curvaceous body, to make the proceedings, especially the songs attractive. Namitha is effectively used for a scintillating song.

Santhanam as Guru’s friend doesn’t go overboard and provides some comical relief. Good performers like Sayaji Shinde and Ashish Vidyarthi are wasted in insignificant roles.

A.R. Rahman’s music is outstanding. In fact that songs sound better when heard – and seen – in the movie. ‘Maduraiku Pokaathey’ and ‘Valaiyapatti’ are quite attractive. The remix version is more convincing when seen in the context. The background score is effective in the scenes when Guru gets ESP images.

Balasubramaniam’s camera work is spectacular, especially in song sequences. The scenic beauty of Phuket Island and other locations are amazingly captured. Larencce has made wonders in choreographing. Vijay’s dancing movements are quite stylish. Overall, ‘Azhagiya Tamil Magan’ has nothing new to offer but the movie definitely entertains.

Vel - Review

Hari, one of the best commercial directors in Tamil, has lived up to the expectations in 'Vel'. He has presented a racy film that provides a perfect entertainer. The movie has action, sentiment, and romance. The script, which is compact, is well complemented by the performances.

The two layered story unfolds nicely. The story opens with a family with a twin children losing one. The separated boys grow up in different environments. The one grows in Chennai becomes an officer (Vasudevan) in a private investigative agency and the other grows in Dindukkal becomes a typical rusty young man (Vetrivel).

The city bred Suriya charms VJ Asin through his professional ethics. Rusty Vel is engaged in the bloody tussle with Kalabhavan Mani, who has deep rooted enmity against the family. Vasu is full of brains and smile while Vel lives with sickle and dangerous duels.

Vasu’s mother (Saranya) could not forget her lost son. She is longing to bring him back to her home. But she couldn’t find his whereabouts. The family, in which Vel lives, is so affectionate with him. Especially the grand mother (Lakshmi) is emotionally dependent on him.

VJ Asin accidentally finds Vel and informs Vasu. Vasu goes to the village and meets his brother. The family refuses to send Vel to his original family. Vasu, understanding their unadulterated affection towards Vel, agrees to give up his claim.

But he has one request. Vel should go to Chennai pretending as Vasu and live with his mother. Vasu in turn would act as Vel in the village. Vel accepts.

Vasu continues Vel’s struggle against powerful Kalabhavan Mani but with a different approach. Vasu uses his brain and investigating network instead of muscle power. The rules of the game changes, and Mani finds himself cornered.

The movie goes on narrating fierce fight and sentimental drama between the two families over Vel.

Director Hari is known for his compact script and smart execution. Though he has proven his caliber in a few films life 'Samy', 'Vel' is easily his best film. It showcases his ability to create a racy entertainer. He has treaded in a safe path to make a commercially viable film by choosing a routine theme based on sentiment and action. But the treatment he has given to the story is commendable. You cannot single out a scene that is boring or redundant.

He has conceived and executed the action and romantic sequences equally well. The pace is ensured from the word go. The two dimensional climax – action and sentiment – is quite appealing.

For Suriya, the roles are not as challenging as the ones in 'Pithamagan', 'Gajini' or 'Perazhagan'. He gets routine roles but his handling makes them look special. He breathes fire as 'Vel' and spreads charm as Vasu. Though there is no much difference in the get ups, he has differentiated both roles by his body language and dialogue delivery. His action in emotional sequences is touching. His on screen chemistry with Asin clicks once again.

Asin doesn’t have much to perform but she does have her moments. The initial roles showcase her magical charm. She has handled her role with amazing ease and brilliance. She shows her caliber when she looks at her lover in the village house with admiration and love.

Kalabhavan Mani, as villain with comical traits, rocks. The man adds life to the proceedings by his inimitable style. Vadivelu’s comedy is simply amazing. The man is definitely one of the major assets of the film.

Saranya and Lakshmi do their parts well. Raj Kapoor as the uncle of Vel and Charlie as Vasu’s friend are competent.

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s music is soothing to the ears. The songs sequences, however, are not among the pluses of the movie. In fact, songs do weaken the pace of the movie.

The bottomline: 'Vel' rocks with racy script and powerful performances. Surefire entertainer to brighten up the festival season.

Director: Hari

Producer: M. Chinthamani

Cast: Surya Sivakumar, Asin Thottumkal, Vadivelu, Aishwarya,

Kalabhavan Mani, Nassar, Charan Raj, Lakshmi, Saranya

Raj Kapoor, Charlie

Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Telugu Stars in to business

Venkatesh’s Adavari Matalaku Arthaleverule was made with a call centre backdrop.

Now, yet another film with a corporate backdrop is being made titled Mr Medhavi. The film has Raja and Genelia in the cast.

While Raja plays a corporate employee in the film, Genelia plays an NRI, who comes to India and falls in love with the hero.

The film is being made by Neelakantha, who had earlier made films like Show and Missamma.

The film’s audio release is slated for November and the release date is being set for December.

Dileeps New Flick

Shafi, the most sought after director of Malayalam cinema, who has made it a habit to deliver continuous hits, is planning another film with Dileep.

Shafi is in the lookout to shoot the entire film in Malaysia. The project which will be funded by Vaishakha Movies is in the scripts of Benny P Nayarambalam.

Shafi and Benny had earlier associated together with Dileep to create a big hit, four years back, in 'Kalyanaraman'.

This new film by the same team which is planned to be in theatres by the July of 2008 will start its shooting only by the month of April.

Tuesday 6 November, 2007

M G Sreekumar debuts as music director in Tamil

Malayalam playback singer M G Sreekumar is debuting in Tamil as a music director at a time in three different films.

The first to get released will be ‘Kanchipuram’ - an off beat film starring Prakash Raj, directed by Priyadarshan. The second film will be ‘Paraya Paraya Pattanam’ produced by U TV, directed by Vijay. Sreekumar will also be giving music to a Tamil film which is produced by the Malayalam banner Seven Arts.

Sreekumar debuted into music direction in Malayalam with films like ‘Achanayaanenikkishtam’ and ‘Thandavam’.

The national award winning singer has created a few good songs in these films.

'Raudram' shifted to January

Raudram', the Mammootty starrer which was earlier scheduled to get released this month end, will now make a release by the last week of January.

The film directed by Renji Panikkar was shifted as Mammootty was keen to complete his Christmas release 'Katha Parayumpol' at the scheduled time. Moreover the fever that gripped Renji Panikkar also took another few days from the shooting schedule.

Now that the film has been shifted, the distributors Marikkar Films are also feeling happy for they could stretch the run of their latest ‘Nasrani’ at least till the week of Christmas.

And by that time the film will complete 75 days and will mange to get back its investment.

'Rock 'N' Roll' will take one more week

'Rock 'N' Roll', the first fun film by Renjith starring Mohanlal was scheduled to make a release by the 8th of this month.

But according to the new schedules the film will hit the screens only by the 16th of this month.

The film which has just completed the Post production works is said to have delayed due to the big national releases like Sawariya, Om Shanti Om and Tamil biggie 'Azhagiya Tamil Magan' that is expected to get released for this Diwali.

The postponement has resulted in the every movie fan to look forward to other language films for this festival season.

Monday 5 November, 2007

Sdhu Mirandaal - Siddiq - Updates

“ ‘Sadhu Mirandal’ is an action thriller with comedy”, says Prasanna.

The young actor is busy shooting for ‘Sadhu Mirandal’ opposite Kavya Madhavan. The movie is directed by Siddhique.

After a long gap, Kavya Madhavan makes her comeback to Tamil cinema.

Speaking about the film, Siddhique says, "I have done films like ‘Friends’ and ‘Engal Anna’ in Tamil before. This is my third venture in Kollywood. It has action, sentiment and comedy in right proportion. The hero is an unemployed youth and the heroine, an engineering student who is also a TV compere."

Kavya Madhavan says, "I want people to recognize me as a good artiste. I don't mind doing films in any language so long as I can prove my talent. My character in Sadhu Mirandal gives me more scope to perform."

BOOT - Suresh gopi -Shaji kailas combo

The new film by the hit team Shaji Kailas- Suresh Gopi film titled 'Boot' started its shooting precisely a month ago. But the latest news suggests that Shaji has completed the shooting for the film in a record 22 days!

The film produced by Pyramid Saimira in the scripts of Rajesh Jayaraman is now in the post-production stages.

'Boot' which was shot mostly in the high ranges of Idukki also invited media interest as no media men were encouraged to be in the location , during the time of shooting. And after the shoot Shaji and his script writer Rajesh Jayaram are still refusing to elaborate on the story. The synopsis given to the press largely tells about the tragic love story between Bala and Honey, and no clues are given whether Suresh Gopi is playing a cop, or not.

The film features only 15 characters played by Murali Maniyanpillai Raju, Krishnakumar, Raghu, Rajan P Dev, Riza Bava, Bheeman Reghu, Biju Pappan, Lakshana and Hani Rose apart from the lead.

AK Sajan with a host of Projects

Scriptwriter - Director A K Sajan, who is enjoying the sweet success of his recent films like ‘Nadhiya Kollapetta Rathri’ and ‘Chinthamani Kola Case’, is now amidst a lot of projects, mostly with the super stars.

The immediate one will be his sequel to the film 'Stop Violence' which will also be scripted and directed by Sajan. The film will have Prithviraj in the lead.

After the film, Sajan will script for a number of projects for Mammootty and Mohanlal. The Mohanlal project will be directed by Joshy and will be produced by Sasi Ayyanchira.

Mohanlal will present a Punjabi character Lal Singh in this film which will start by the earlier months of next year. Then A K Sajan will start scripting for the Mammootty starrer, directed by K Madhu.

Friday 2 November, 2007

Box office analysis

First weekend performance of latest release

Yet again box office has taken an expected route as was predicted last week. JAB WE MET was always meant to take the best opening, NO SMOKING was bound to be either too good or too bad at the box office, MUMBAI SALSA was supposed to be behind in the race while BAL GANESH was always a non-starter! What transpired in the weekend gone by followed the exact route as JAB WE MET took a good opening on Friday only to turn very good and excellent on Saturday and Sunday.

Imtiaz Ali's work has been loved by all and there is not a single soul who has been heard saying anything negative about the film. Shahid and Kareena have come up with their career best act which has been lapped up to such an extent by the audience that repeat audience has already started making beelines.

As of today, the film is a guaranteed hit and it only has to be seen how far it goes from here. Indications are that the film would be continued into second week with same number of print count (at places even more) to en-cash the maximum moolah before OM SHANTI OM and SAAWARIYA strike on 9th November. Still, such are the strengths of the film that there would be no surprises if JAB WE MET turns out to be one more choice available for viewers this Diwali!

NO SMOKING - Aah, there have been hundreds of gigabytes already spent in reviews, blogs, forums, articles etc. and the majority have conveyed their thoughts that the film was too bizarre to be comprehended and a pain to watch. As stated in my last week's column, the film could have gone either way! Unfortunately for Anurag Kashyap, the film has gone the way with which he won't be too pleased. The film crashed after the first day itself with all around negative reports. NO SMOKING doesn't have any chances to survive at the box office and would be a two week runner before biggies arrive. Now that's unfortunate for John since just like Shahid and Kareena in JAB WE MET, even he had come up with his career best performance in NO SMOKING.

With all talks centered on JAB WE MET getting all around positive response and NO SMOKING just the opposite, not many were actually even aware about the release of MUMBAI SALSA. The result was that the opening was quite poor! Now that's sad since this Manoj Tyagi film is well made and has all in it to woo the urban audience. Cheeky and naughty with real life scenarios unfolded through the screenplay, the film made for a good viewing but unfortunately didn't find many takers. One expects though that on DVD circuits, it will find the audience it deserves.

So what happened to BAL GANESHA in the meanwhile? A poor opening that was further marred by poor publicity and promotional campaign. Expect the film's DVDs to land in town soon!

Last week's movies

SPEED is a trade disaster. The film neither took an opening nor garnered any word of mouth. Result was that after a 1 crore opening, the film has simply vanished. The collections were unmentionable all over with Mumbai being best at just 20 lakhs. Though the makers are still promoting the film reasonably well on satellite medium, one wonders which are the screens that are playing the film in the second week? Expect the film's DVDs to be out in a fortnight's time!

From the past

With SPEED being the sole release of the week gone by, BHOOL BHULAIYAA enjoyed it's #1 position for second week in succession. In spite of a huge 26 crores opening, the film fell by only 40% and brought home another 15.5 crores hence enabling the film to cross 41 crores mark in two weeks flat. Mumbai collections were greater than 2.5 crores, Delhi was superb at 1.5 crores while NCR brought in another 75 lakhs plus. The film has sustained quite well at other centers of the country too, whether big or small, which has resulted in a hit status for it already. While a 50 crores total is pretty much in sight within a fortnight with a superhit status on it's way, it has to be seen if it would be able to survive the 9th November challenge!

LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG did see a fall but still not as bad as one would have expected considering the negativity around the film from most quarters. After a near 12 crores first week, the film saw the collections sliding to 5.5 crores with around 60% drop. However, if one looks in absolute terms, 5.5 crores is certainly a miserly second total for a Yash Raj Film and doesn't augur well with their star production house status. Particularly big cities haven't been too kind with Mumbai falling from 2.5 crores to 80 lakhs and Delhi from 1.5 crores to 55 lakhs.

At 18 crores, LAAGA CHUNARI MEIN DAAG has now netted even lesser than JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM and suffers a flop status at the box office. Yash Raj Films would now have their eyes set on AAJA NACHLE to end the year on a happy note even though 2008 beginning looks quite promising with TASHAN being their first offering of the season.

In the future

With all eyes on OM SHANTI OM and SAAWARIYA arriving on 9th November, no film is releasing this weekend. A wise move because even if they would have been released, they wouldn't have survived beyond a week due to the two biggies occupying majority of screens across all major multiplexes/single screen theaters.

Revolutionery song in ‘Katha Parayumpol’

Anil Panachooran, the lyricist of ‘Arabikkatha’ has surprised everyone by singing a revolutionary song ‘Chora veena’ in his debut film ‘Arabikkatha’.

The song not only became noted for its inspiring content but also because of the raw but effective voice that rendered it. Anil Panachooran also was seen in a few sequences of this song which was in the hit charts for long.

The latest buzz is that Anil Panachooran will also be singing another song for the new movie 'Katha Parayumpol'. The song which starts 'Veythasthanaya Barber ‘ will be shot on Sreenivasan who share the lead in the film with Mammootty.

M Jayachandran is giving the music to the song which also features Pradeep Palluruthy in the vocals.

Thursday 1 November, 2007

T V Chandran's next film Vilaapangalkkappuram

National award winning director T V Chandran began filming his latest venture 'Vilapangalkkappuram' based on the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Suhasini, Biju Menon and Thilakan play prominent roles in the movie. Producer of the film Aryadan Shoukat has written the story of the film.

According to Shoukat, ‘the story revolves around Sahira, a Muslim woman who flees Gujarat soon after the riots and arrives in Kozhikode.’

"This role is played by Priyanka who recently starred in a Tamil film 'Veyyil'. Sahira arrives in Kozhikode and is taken care by Mary Varghese (Suhasini) and Gopinath (Biju Menon). She has a lot of problems related to the aftermath of the riots and she is brought back to normalcy by the two doctors" said Shoukat, son of senior Congress leader and former minister Aryadan Mohammed.

The film would be shot in Ahmedabad, Wayanad and Kozhikode.