Prakash Raj out of Maatraan

Prakash Raj out of Maatraan

September 1, 2011

Versatile actor Prakash Raj has been thrown out of Surya's upcoming film Maatraan. The differences with director KV Anand has made the filmmaker to drop him from the cast.

Source say that Prakash Raj's starry air is the cause behind his sacking. The actor, who participated in the shoots last Saturday, delayed the shoots claiming that he was not happy with the make-up, which is being provided for his character in Maatraan. He also raised issue to don a wig, a source adds.

KV Anand tried to convince him and told him that it was necessary for him to sport the wig, as the his role demands it in Maatraan. However, the actor was not ready to admit it. Hence, the director and the actor failed to find a workable solution and took different ways.

Meanwhile, KV Anand, who never compromises on his stand, immediately roped in Bollywood actor Sachin Khedekar, who was recently seen in Deiva Thirumagal. It may be recalled that the director had similar kind of differences with Silambarasan just before the launch of recently released film Ko resulted in at the replacement of Simbu to Jeeva. (OI)

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Mangaatha movie review

Mangaatha movie review

August 31, 2011

Excitement and Expectations are the two Es, which are associated with Ajith Kumar's 50th movie Mangaatha (Mankatha) release. As expected, Thala rocks the show with his styles, actions and performance. However, the overdose of stunts and useless characters in the film are irritating at parts. Read on for Mangaatha review.

Story:
Sanjana (Trisha)'s father Arumuga Chettiyar (Jaya Prakash) devises a plan to steal 500 crores, the money, which was used for gambling during Indian Premier League. His gang includes Sumanth (Vaibhav), Prem (Premji), an IIT graduate, Mahat (Mahat Raghavendra), Ganesh (Ashwin Kakumanu), a sub-inspector at Dharavi in Mumbai. After their plan to rob comes to know, suspended cop Vinayak Mahadeva (Ajith Kumar) joins the team of thieves. On the other end, super cop Prithvi (Arjun Sarja) takes oath to uproot the betting business.

How they execute their plot? Will they succeed in their mission? What measures Prithivi take to bring the betting business to halt? Answers for all these questions should be seen on-screen, as the excitement of watching the movie will be lost if one reads here the entire story.

Performance:
Ajith Kumar's fans could not have expected for more from their star, as the actor has given his best performance till date. His acting, salt and pepper look with the negative shade in his character are treat to watch. Especially, he impresses the audience during action sequences. Arjun Sarja has proved, why people call him as 'Action King'. He has perfectly fitted the bill. Trisha has not got much to do in the movie. But she excels in her limited role. Vaibhav is good. However, Premiji is not a right choice for the character, as his antics fail to evoke any response from the viewers. Even newcomer Mahat also disappoints you. Jaya Prakash is at his usual best. Rest other character like Anjali and Andrea Jeremiah, who will be seen as Vaibhav and Arjun's wives, are okay.

Technical:
The action scenes are the plus and minus points of the film. Even thought, it has been wonderfully shot, overdose of those scenes in the second half play spoilsport. Nonetheless, watching Ajith Kumar's saying 'I am a mad man' and 'money money money' during stunts are good to watch. Shakti Saravanan's photography is excellent, choreography is simple but energetic. Editor Praveen KL could have been bold in his work, as some scenes are dragging at parts. Music and Songs picturisation are apt. Finally, Venkat Prabhu's direction and screenplay.

Well, the director has almost succeeded in his first ever film with a big star. The filmmaker has fabricated the story keeping all the successful elements at one hand and the tastes of Ajith Kumar's fans at other. Had he not lost the grip on the script, the movie would have undoubtedly become one of the biggest hits of Thala. The screenplay is dragging and gives you a boring experience. Adding to that, too much of characters does not help the proceedings and it is only in the last 30 minutes before the interval, the story becomes interesting. The second half thrills you with twists but irritates with too much of action sequences. However, Arjun and Ajith's climax scene is wonderful shot.

Verdict:
Mangaatha has all the entertaining elements. It is especially for Ajith Kumar's fans and the people, who love action-oriented movies. Family audience may not like the subject. One should watch for the actor's performance and Venkat Prabhu's attempt to make the movie in Hollywood style with local budget!

Cast: Ajith Kumar,Trisha,Arjun Sarja, Viabhav and others
Director: Venkat Prabhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cinematography: Sakthi Saravanan
Producer: Dhayanidhi Alagiri
Released On: August 31, 2011 (OI)

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Mani Ratnam To Direct Akshara Hassan

Mani Ratnam To Direct Akshara Hassan


August 31, 2011

Akshara Hassan, daughter of Kamal Hassan, seems to be getting a dream debut, as Mani Ratnam is gearing up to launch her in his next movie. The ace filmmaker has chosen her for the female lead role in his next Tamil movie.

Reports say that Mani Ratnam, who has at least three scripts in hand, is planning to start a love story before directing Ajith Kumar's film. The movie will be the launchpad of veteran actor Karthik's son Gautham. So, to pair him up in the film, the filmmaker has decided to cast Akshara Hassan, claim reports.

The filmmaker has reportedly convinced Kamal Hassan and his ex-wife and mother of Akshara Hassan, Sarika. They are happy that their daughter is getting a grand launch, says a report. The shooting of the film will take off in September 2011. It will be shot in Kanyakumari and Kovalam in Kerala.

The story of the film is about the Sri Lankan fishermen issue turmoil. The script is written by Jayamohan of Naan Kadavul and Angadi Theru fame. (OI)

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Shakeela and Bhuvaneswari in Pachchai Niramae Rojakkal

Shakeela and Bhuvaneswari in Pachchai Niramae Rojakkal

August 31, 2011

In what can be termed as a ‘dream combination’, Shakeela, the ‘unofficial’ queen of Indian B-Grade film industry, is all set to star together with Bhuvaneswari, an actress who had been arrested by the police some time back on charges of indulging in flesh trade. The proposed film would have its own doses of ‘(s)exiting sequences’, it is reported.

Shakeela’s rein in the Malayalam film industry was so complete a decade back; so much so that even the leading megastars of Malayalam films found it difficult to face up to the ‘Shakeela’ challenge at the box-office. In Shakeela’s heydays as the ‘queen’ of Malayalam soft-porn movies, the leading ‘superstars’ would always try to ensure that the release of their films don’t clash with that of the release of Shakeela’s movies as they knew they stood very little chance of faring well.

The (middle)aged Shakeela has since taken ‘VRS’ from starring in porn films after sensing that she was getting past the age of (s)exposing. She then moved back to doing comedy roles Tamil films, a place where she started her career as a child. She had starred alongside the legendary MGR in one his super-hit movies ‘Enga Veettu Pillai’ as his sister’s daughter.

Bhuvaneswari, on the other hand, was arrested a couple of years back on charges of indulging in ‘prostitution’ and had been to jail and back. After serving the prison term, Bhuvaneswari shifted her base to Telugu films. The film starring the two has been named as ‘Pachchai Niramae Rojakkal’ with the tag ‘Fire has broken out’ (Neruppu Pathikichu).

As a senior artiste, obviously, Shakeela would have more footage in the film which would have liberal doses of ‘sexy and steamy sequences’. Bhuvaneswari’s role, though inferior to Shakeela’s, is also a powerful one, it is reported. Shakeel and Bhuvaneswari have starred in at lease three and one ‘very exciting and exposing sequences’, it is further informed.

Wonder what the Censors would have to say to that? (KT)

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Mamta Mohandas to wed a Bahrain entrepreneur

Mamta Mohandas to wed a Bahrain entrepreneur

August 30, 2011

Malayalam actress Mamta Mohandas is getting hitched with a Bahrain-based entrepreneur in 2012. The popular South Indian star, who is getting engaged with him in November, 2011, says that she is dating the entrepreneur, with who she became closer during her visits to her family in Bahrain in holiday.

In an interview with the Deccan Chronicle, Mamta Mohandas revealed, “I am dating an entrepreneur and it’s not a filmy kind romance where he proposed with roses. It was actually a bond that developed over the years. In fact, he is also very close to my father. I used to visit my family in Bahrain for holidays and he used to join me there.”



The actress gushed that she met him a couple of times, but she has been in touch with him on the phone. She added, “We are made for each other as we share a lot of common interests and resolved to take our relationship to the next level. With family approving the relationship, we are thinking of settling down next year.”

However, Mamta Mohandas, who has found a new lease of life after her battle with cancer, is currently starring alongside Tamil actor Arun Vijay in the movie Thaidaiyarai Thaaka. She has also got a few other projects like Gnanam and Entha Family with Jayaram and a path-breaking film with Shyam Prasad. (OI)

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Amy Jackson joins Kamal Haasans Viswaroopam

Amy Jackson joins Kamal Haasans Viswaroopam

August 30, 2011

British Madame Amy Jackson has landed the plump offer to showcase her skills in another Kollywood movie. Amy will play the lead in none other than Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasans upcoming project Viswaroopam. Amy made her thumping Tamil debut with director Vijays’ Madrasapattinam. The young lady has made quite a name for her Liverpool temperament as she earlier walked out of Gautham Menon’s Hindi remake of the well acclaimed flick ‘VinnaiThaandi Varuvya’ after which she has grabbed the Kamal movie in her kitty .

Kamal’s Viswaroopam went on floors recently at the Jeppiar College of Engineering and surprisingly Kamal was happy to find namma ‘Suriya’ shooting at the same college for KV Anand’s Matraan. Kamal seems to be more than content getting Amy on board, as he was in search of a foreign face as per the script demanded. His big budget trilingual (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi) will also have Rahul Bose playing the anti-hero with Bollywood trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy providing some delightful music.

Hope Kamal won’t have more problems dealing with Amy’s hot tempers. (KT)

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Nayantara is finally saying goodbye to films

Nayantara is finally saying goodbye to films

July 7, 2011

Actress Nayantara who has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and many other South Indian languages films, was reportedly overwhelmed by the outburst of love which was meant to be a special farewell gift to the gorgeous Nayantara from the entire cast and crew of her last film ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ directed by Bappu in which she is enacting the role of Sita. She couldn’t bring to a halt of her tears as people present on the closing day of the shoot showered her with flower petals and wished her the fortune luck for her future life.

As per sources, Nayantara is finally saying goodbye to films because she has at last decided to enter into the married state and to settle down with her long time beau South star and Dance Guru Prabhu Deva. (MA)

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