Madhubala is back

After a long break, Madhubala is donning the greasepaint again. But this time as Madhoo Shah. The ‘Roja’ and ‘Gentleman’ actress is making a guest appearance in ‘Tell Me Oh Khuda’, a Hindi film produced by her aunt Hema Malini.

Also in the pipeline is another interesting project, in which she will be playing a young widow. “I will continue acting even as taking good care of my family members. My family is my first priority,” Madhoo Shah says.

On coming back to filmdom, she says, “I was initially reluctant to stand in front of the camera again as I knew shooting for movies would take one away from home. But some of the recent movies I watched changed my mind.”

Observing the industry has changed a lot, the actress says, “Things are no longer the same when compared to the time I made my debut. There would be lot of men on the sets earlier. But now, I could see many women working on different aspects of production. A welcome change no doubt.”

Jyothirmayi: Wait for weight

“It is better to wait for a good film than acting in four movies which don’t have enough significance to the role I play,” says Jyothirmayi, who is currently waiting for one such offer.

The actress from Kerala, who has acted in a handful of movies in Tamil, says, “I could never forget Kollywood. Tamil film industry gave me enough opportunities and was a main reason behind my growth.”

She adds: “I am not interested at committing films just for the sake of earning money. I want to do meaningful roles which would be welcomed by one and all. I would like to carve a niche for myself.”

The actress, who claims she rejected a couple of offers as they were controversial, adds: “There is no point in doing such movies to become popular overnight. I believe in the saying- slow and steady wins the race”.

Tapsee: From Dhanush to Jeeva

Things are going on the right track for Tapsee even before her first film in Kollywood, the Dhanush starrer ‘Aadukalam’, hit the screens. The Punjabi girl has now been roped in to act opposite Jeeva.

Titled ‘Vandhaan Vendraan’, the movie will be directed by Kannan of ‘Jayam Kondaan’ and ‘Kanden Kadhalai’ fame. The project will go on floors in Mumbai in August and Tapsee will join the unit in September.

Says Kannan, “I am retaining most of the crew of ‘Kanden Kadhalai’ in ‘Vandhaan Vendraan’. However, I am in search of a music director and will finalise one soon. He will surely be a popular music composer and not a fresher.”

On selecting Tapsee as the heroine, he says, “Our first choice was Tamannah. We zeroed in on Tapsee as Tamannah didn’t have dates till next year. We were thoroughly impressed by Tapsee after we watched her performance in ‘Aadukalam’. She is the right choice.”

Vikram off to USA

Resuming work after ‘Raavanan’, Vikram took part in the shooting of ‘Vedi’ directed by Boopathy Pandian. After shooting for two days - June 18, 19 - the work stopped owing to some location problem. It will start again in Trichy on July 14. The story of ‘Vedi’ happens first in Trichy and then travels to Salem and ends in Madurai with a climax. So accordingly the unit will also move from Trichy to Madurai via Selam.

Ileana plays the romantic lead to Vikram and her romance portions will be filmed in Trichy and Selam. Ileana has given dates from July 20 for ‘Vedi’ and she will be in Chennai on July 18. Two songs of ‘Vedi’ will be shot at exotic locations overseas.

Meanwhile Vikram is off to USA with his family for a 10-day vacation. In USA he will also participate in the Annual Tamil Convention of organised by the Federations of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA).

Super Good Vijay

There is a lot happening in Vijay's ring and the actor is back at choosing the best. The combination of Vijay and Super Good Films created wonders at the box office until a few years ago with films like Poove Unakkaga, Thullatha Manamum Thullum, Love Today and Thirupachi.

Later when Vijay stuck with routine pot boilers his relationship with Super Good Films was inactive. Now at a time when Vijay has to prove his pull and push with the masses he is joining hands with his lucky production house again.

Reliable sources Vijay will sign a film for Super Good Films and the first few rounds of discussions have already been completed. The final dates, stars and other crew will be announced before Diwali. For the record ‘Poove Unakkaga’ is the first super hit of Vijay that took him to stardom and made him a commercial saleable star.

Exclusive Poonam Bajwa Photo Shoot Gallery

I am so bubbly: Mamta

Mamta Mohandas is sore about one thing- that not even a single character she had played so far gave her the opportunity to show her bubbly side. “I am so energetic in real life but I am always asked to underplay my emotions,” she sulks.

“My friends and family members know my real face. I am a big chatter box who is so bubbly and energetic. My favourite pastime is to play prank and to pull the legs of others for fun,” the actress says.

“However, the film industry is not allowing me to be myself,” she says and adds: “All the roles I have done so far kept my bubbliness in complete control. Hopefully I should get a chirpy character soon.”

But she is extremely happy about being a playback singer. “My thanks to music composers like Mani Sharma and Devi Sri Prasad for offering me energetic songs. I thoroughly enjoy each and every moment of singing.”

'Quarter Cutting' from Cloud Nine

Following is a press release from Dhayanidhi Alagiri and Vivek Rathinavel of Cloud Nine Movies, which is one of the hot and happening production firms of Tamil cinema.

"We have always wanted to try a hand at new genres and we have been doing so, After 'Thamizh Padam' we are happy to announce that we have acquired "VA" 1/4 Cutting, produced by Y Not Studios.

We have already worked with Y Not Studios in our last venture and it always has a terrific team and concept to work with. This film yet again carries a different concept like the designs, the marketing strategy and the story itself would be unique on its own. The film is currently in its final stages and the release date would be announced shortly."

The film starring Shiva, SPB Charan, Lekha Washington is directed by Pushkar and Gayathri. The music is scored by G V Prakash and ace cinematographer Nirav Shah has done the cinematography.

Selvaraghavan resumes Dhanush film

Much to the delight of his fans and film lovers Selvaraghavan is back at work. Selva has resumed his long awaited film ‘Idhu Malai Nerathu Mayakkam. The shooting of the film which was earlier shot for 14 days and then held back again kicked off today in Chennai.

According to sources the unexpected surprise is out of a spur of the moment decision taken by Selvaraghavan. He was to do Rana Daggubati’s bilingual film and the film was dropped all of a sudden. Not wasting any time Selva took the spot decision to revive ‘IMNM’.

‘Idhu Malai Nerathu Mayakkam’, a para-thriller with the trade marks of Selva, revolves around a couple, who have their own shadowy, buried secrets. Dhanush and Andrea play the mysterious couple in the film.

Dhanush is also equally delighted and said doing a Selva film is like going back to school to learn the fundamentals all over again. ‘IMNM’ is Selva’s eighth film and his fourth with Dhanush.

This time Selvaraghavan takes no chances and hasn’t revealed much about the new film. The film is produced by Selvaraghavan’s father Kasturi Raja under the banner of RK Productions Pvt. Ltd.

G.V. Prakash is scoring the music and Ramji handles cinematography.

ARR postpones US concert schedule

Following a mishap last week in Detroit, A R Rahman reported to have cancelled the remaining shows of the North America schedule of his tour – ‘Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour’.

Recalling the bad incident, the Music Maestro wrote in his social networking site, “Members of our tour miraculously escaped a big disaster in Detroit, when part of the Pontiac Silverdome infrastructure collapsed on our set. We are working to recoup all that has been lost (the lights, the sets).... with that, we have decided to reschedule at a later date. We will go ahead with the concerts in Europe and UK.”

The Oscar winning composer even went on to extend apologies to his fans and the international audience for the inconvenience. “It's a miracle that my team escaped with minor injuries The lighting rig came apart Thanks to the almighty that everyone's safe,” wrote Rahman in Twitter.

Truly God’s grace…

Shankar banks on ‘Ananthapurathu Veedu’

At a time when the entire industry is waiting for ‘Endhiran’, director of the film Shankar is concerned about the fate of his production venture ‘Ananthapurathu Veedu’, besides giving finishing touches to the Superstar starrer.

For, sources close to him say he would take a decision on producing movies in future only after the release of the thriller, directed by popular small screen director Naga with Nandaa and Chaya Singh in the lead roles.

“Quality has been a watchword of films produced by Shankar. Most of his production ventures attempted to take Tamil cinema to the next level. At the same time, some of them failed to touch the breakeven,” sources say.

They add: “Following this, Shankar has decided to exercise extra caution before finalising projects for S Pictures. A final decision will be taken after gauging the feedback ‘Ananthapurathu Veedu’ gets.”

Jhabaks join hands with Simbu

Unperturbed by the failure of their last venture 'Pokkisham' despite non-stop promotional activities, producers Nemichand Jhabak and Hitesh Jhabak are hitting the headlines again.

They would co-produce Silambarasan's much awaited venture 'Podaa Podi', along with the original producers Gemini Film Circuit.

Sources in the know told IndiaGlitz that the Jhabaks joined hands with Gemini after the project, which is directed by Silambarasan himself, sounded interesting to them.

"Silambarasan has penned an interesting script which has got all the elements to attract the audience, especially youngsters. Shooting of the film will take off in London very soon," sources add.

With Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar making her debut opposite Silambarasan, 'Podaa Podi' is a youthful love story. Major part of the movie will be shot in and around London.

Will Vikram host a TV show?

Vikram, who is enjoying every bit of appreciation he has been receiving for ‘Raavanan’, has come out with en explanation as to why he is not hosting any television shows, like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan doing in Mumbai.

“I am amused when people ask me why I am not hosting a game or talk show. Because, things are totally different here when compared to Mumbai. When an actor hosts a television show here, people will write him off,” he says.

Saying there is a general perception down south that actors who don’t have any offers in films will come to television shows, “If people are ready to change this mindset, I have no issues in compering a TV show.”

On the feedback generated by ‘Raavanan’, he says, “Amazing. It is just because of one person- Mani sir. The pains we underwent while making the film have been paying rich dividends now. A big thanks to everyone.”

Dhanush’s training to Yathra

For the last few months, Dhanush, who became a father for the second time a couple of days ago, was teaching something to his first son Yathra. Guess what? It’s about how to take the arrival of a new member.

“I am no doubt a responsible father. I have trained Yathra well to celebrate his sibling’s arrival. He is cool about it and was very thrilled to see his younger brother for the first time,” the son-in- law of Superstar Rajinikanth says.

On his father-in-law’s reaction, Dhanush says, “He was the one who became very much excited on knowing the glad news. He was there at the hospital for a long time and celebrated the arrival of his grandson.”

Saying Aishwarya and the new born are doing extremely well, the actor adds: “I was shooting in Ooty when Yathra was born. So this time I made sure that I should be with Aishwarya. And I was there when the baby came to this world.”

Manisha ties the knot

Accomplished dancer-actress Manisha Koirala tied the knot with beau Samrat Dahal in a traditional ceremony in Kathmandu on Friday. The marriage ceremony took place in a private function at the Gokarna forest resort, 10 km east of the capital. Dressed in a yellow saree, Manisha garlanded Samrat and exchanged rings as priests recited Vedic mantras in the presence of her parents Prakash Koirala and Sushma. Besides Manisha's family, close relatives, friends and actors Suman Ranganathan (Manisha's co-star in her debut film Saudagar), Vivek Mushram and Govinda's wife Sunita were present. Spread over three days, the main ceremony will be held on Saturday, when the bride will go to the groom's house after performing hour-long rituals as per the Hindu tradition. A wedding reception will be held at the Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza on Sunday. Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Maoist party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the former Nepal King Gyanendra, actors Jackie Shroff and Govinda are expected to among the 3,000 guests at Sunday's dinner party.

Mixed Talk for ‘Raavanan’

It is one day since Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavanan’ has released. The reviews are out and they are mixed. The feedback from the audience is mixed as well. Let’s have a look as to what’s happening out there!

Well mixed reviews about a movie always is a bad sign. It seems that the worse side of the coin is what the people are looking at. Positives include only the music by A R Rahman and the cinematography of Santosh Sivan. Mixed reviews are always a bad sign for movies.

The audience feels the movie has a confusing screenplay. A few other users who have seen the movie and have sent their comments suggest that the first half was a big let down and only a few scenes were worth talking about rather than the movie as a whole.

Whatever the feedback is, the movie is ‘art on screen’. Commercial success or not, that will be known over the days.

Being single is boring-Sameera Reddy

Sameera ‘hottie’ Reddy was in Chennai recently to shoot for Gautham Menon’s next flick and she had a taste of a thriller when most of the shooting was done at night. She enjoyed them even though she is not a night bird she admitted.

Gautham’s quickie is an edge-of-the-seat thriller and Sameera plays a character called Sukanya. On the recent controversy on her not being a member of Nadigar Sangam to do films in Tamil Sameera clarifies that registering with the Nadigar Sangam was the first thing she did when she got her first offer in Kollywood. She says she is a member of Nadigar Sangam even before her first mega success ‘Vaaranam Aayiram’.

On the personal front Sameera is still single and the pretty babe feels the status of being single is very boring at the moment. That’s some food for thought.

Tamannah confirmed.

Silambarasan has committed two films simultaneously after ‘VTV’. One is the film in which he pairs opposite Sarath Kumar's daughter Varalaxmi. The other one is the film of Lingusamy.

Lingusamy film is a bi-lingual in Tamil and Telugu. Buzz is that Tamannah has been asked to give 25 days successively for the film by Lingusamy. Tamannah plays a law college student and she has also been asked to lose some weight and get fit for the role. Lingusamy's associates say Simbu-Tamanna pair will be as much talked about as Simbu-Trisha jodi in ‘VTV’.

Tamannah also has an author backed role which has more emotions than dialogues they say. She will have just two pages of words to be spoken in the entire films and you will see a new Tamannah they add.

For the important role of Tamannah's brother in the film Lingusamy tried Madhavan and is still waiting for his answer. While waiting for Madhavan, Lingusamy also has a stand by in Ajmal, just in case.

AGS Entertainment Launch Multiplex

AGS Entertainment, producers of super hit movies like ‘Santosh Subramaniam’, ‘Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam’ and the forthcoming ‘Madharasapattinam’, has launched their first multiplex in Chennai and will start screening movies from 18th June.

AGS Entertainment besides being the popular producers, are also reputed distributors. Now with the launch of their first multiplex in Villivakam, in North Chennai, the entertainment company has entered the film exhibition industry. An old theatre in Villivakam, ‘Royal’ has been renovated and refurbished with five screens.

The first movie that will be screened in ‘AGS Royal’ is ‘Raavanan’. Now, the people of North Chennai don’t have to travel long for comfort and convenience to watch their favourite movies.

AGS Entertainment will also launch their second multiplex ‘AGS Coromandal’ in the coming months on Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai.

Raavanan’s BIG Release

Mani Ratnam's 'Raavanan's release is simply big because it is Reliance BIG Pictures and Madras Talkies releasing the movie all over India. The movie is the biggest release this year and it is quite evident with the number of prints, the movie is releasing.

Well this is the exact figures we have for you. Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus is releasing this Friday on June 18th. In Tamil Nadu, a total of 220 prints of 'Raavanan' – the Tamil version with Vikram and Aishwarya in the lead with Prithviraj, would be released on various screens that apart a number of 125 prints to be dispatched overseas.

In Andhra Pradesh, 125 prints of 'Villain' – the Telugu version would be released for screens erstwhile Andhra besides 25 prints for overseas for the Telugu population outside India. Not just that, the Hindi version will be released on a bigger margin.

The Hindi version ‘Raavan’ starring Abhishek Bachchan as the male protagonist with Aishwara Rai and Vikram in the cast would be released with 500 prints across the country besides 305 prints for overseas. In total 1280 prints of ‘Raavan’ in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil will be released on Friday.

It doesn’t get BIGger than this! Watch out for the 10 faced persona this weekend!

'VTV' Hindi songs ready

Gautham Menon's poetic love story ‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaya' recently completed one hundred days and is still running. Meanwhile Gautham is also ready to start the Hindi version of ‘VTV’.

One major change for the Hindi version is the songs. A R Rahman has composed two new tunes for the Hindi version. Of the two one will be a duet and the other will be a solo song for the hero. Tamil ‘VTV’ had seven songs and Hindi will have eight.

A R Rahman had delivered the new tunes to Gautham before leaving on his Jai Ho world tour. The pilot versions of the songs were recorded at ARR studios in Chennai to enable the creative team to work on their digital story boards.

Trisha will play Jessie even in the Hindi version while Raj Babbar's son Pratiek Babbar will be Karthik.

Shiva is Vijay fan

The upcoming film by Pushkar-Gayathri is going to be an important film for Mirchi Shiva. After the surprise winner ‘Thamizh Padam’ Shiva had donned a different role for this. The film which was initially titled ‘Quarter Cutting’ will under go a name change soon. In this film Shiva plays the hero as a fan of Ilaya Thalapathi Vijay. Lekha Washington will be his love interest.

While talking to IndiaGlitz about the film Mirchi Shiva shared an interesting anecdote involving Ilaya Thalapathi. It goes like this. While doing the promotion for his ‘Thamizh Padam’ on a television call-in show Shiva got a call from a listener who appreciated him very much for the film.

The caller spoke as if he knew Shiva for long and was generous in his praises. It was only after a while Shiva got to know the caller was Vijay. Shiva was more than surprised at the humility of one of the biggest new generation stars and went speech less for some time.

‘Raavanan’ Cut to perfection

Mani Ratnam is already a pleased man as his ‘Raavanan’ has received a clean ‘U’ certificate from the censors. The list of theatres that will show ‘Raavanan’ have also been announced in the newspapers. Another news that is making rounds is the precise length of the movie!

It is informed from sources that the movie is made a length of around 127 minutes. Also few claim it to be the shortest movie by Mani Ratnam so far. So it means not just four shows at some centres, it could be more!

Being released by BIG Pictures and Madras Talkies, the movie will be having a grand premiere at London and will be screened all over the world on 18th June. Rahman has already made his mentor feel proud of him, with the music being chart busters!

So ready to face the 10 faced guy!

Actress Gallery - Genelia D'Souza

Actress Gallery - Vimala Raman

Multi-starrer Ad Coming Up

Ads with multiple sports persons have been as popular as multi-starrer movies. Now, in the making is a multi-starrer TV commercial that will see super stars of all south Indian languages.

Mannapuram Finance has signed Mohanlal from Kerala, Venkatesh from Andhra Pradesh, ‘Chiyaan’ Vikram from Tamil Nadu and Puneet Rajkumar from Karnataka as brand ambassadors for their respective states. Hence the reputed finance company has taken an initiative to bring all the stars on the same screen and that too in a TV commercial.

The highlight of the advertisement is the director who will make the ad. Versatile director Priyadarshan, will bring the stars together and make the video in Mumbai. The advertisement will come in all leading South Indian regional channels.

Venkatesh, Mohanlal and Vikram together! This is one real multi-starrer advertisement!

'Sura' shocks Tamannah

If there is one person who is more worried about Sura's poor performance in the box office than anyone else, it could apparently be Tamannah, the heroine of Vijay's 50th film.

For the petite actress, who had been part of super hits for the past couple of years ('Ayan', 'Padikadhavan', 'Kanden Kadhalai', 'Paiyaa' etc), tasted failure for the first time thanks to the movie's dismal show.

"I expected ‘Sura’ to do well. But now I understand it's very difficult to judge a film while it's being made. Ultimately, everything depends on audience acceptance," she says.

However, putting aside the film's failure, Tamannah is now looking forward for positive things to happen. "I am eagerly expecting the release of ‘Jayam’ Ravi starrer ‘Thillalangadi’ which I expect to become a blockbuster. Because, it is already a huge hit in Telugu."