Don’t need Salman, Shah Rukh Khan: Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan is miffed with reports that have claimed that he has approached Shah Rukh, Salman and Jackie Chan for his upcoming film Amar Hai after Vishwaroopam. He said that he is fed up of of these baseless rumors that have him approaching either the Khans or Hollywood stars like Jackie Chan or Tom Cruise. He said that he does not need Salman or Shah Rukh Khan to sell his films and is certainly not the Bollywood – obsessed regional actor he is made out to be.

Kamal insisted that he is not out to leave his footprint in Bollywood and is content to make his kind of cinema. He said that the only actor he was dying to work with is Dilip Kumar. About Amar Hai, his next film, Kamal said it is a film on corruption. He added that he will discuss it at length once Vishwaroopam hits the screens.

Manam Koththi Paravai

Director S Ezhil of ‘Thullatha Manamum Thullum’ fame is back after a brief sojourn. He comes with a movie that is light-hearted, entertaining and hilarious and at the same a little cliched. With Siva Karthikeyan at the helm of affairs accompanied by a slew of comedy artistes, he has managed to come clean.

‘Manam Koththi Paravai’ is about romance, friendship and some emotions. The hero is simple guy who resembles boy next-door and there are no needless knots in the storyline.

‘Manam Koththi Paravai’ blends romance and humor and is no doubt a family entertainment. Giving company to Siva Karthikeyan is debutante Athmiya. The likes of seasoned campaigners like Singam Puli and Illavarasu give solidity to the script. The only lacunae seems to be the uncles of the heroines who speak from their belly.

Ezhil has won half the battle even before the movie could hit the screens as he managed to get in his team music composer D Imman and cinematographer Suraj Nallusamy. Both do a good, clean job complimenting the story and don’t try anything overboard stretching for some effect.

Kannan (Siva Karthikeyan) is a callous youth who falls for his neighbor Revathy (Athmiya). Her father and uncles are known ruffians in the village and flex their muscle for anything and everything. Kannan’s father (Ilavarasu) is a building contractor and he is assisted by his son in his business.

Kannan loves spending time with his friends (Parotta Suri, Singam Puli and ‘Deiva Thirumagal’ Kishore). When Kannan decides to open his heart to Revathy, her wedding is arranged with an influential man.

Enters Kanna’s friends from Mumbai (Sreenath and Chams). Coming to know about his romance, they kidnap Revathy. But all hell breaks loose when she says that she has no interest on Kannan. The rest is a battle laced with humor.

Siva Karthikeyan peps up the proceedings with a splendid show. His simple looks compliment his character. His one-liners are witty. Athmiya is good-looking and does give a decent show. She hogs the limelight. Singam Puli sparkles with his humour and so is Parota Suri. Srinath, Venniraadi Murthy, Ravi Mariya, Vanitha among others play their part well.

Imman’s songs especially ‘Po Po Po…’ and ‘Oorana Oorukulae…’ are catchy and foot-tapping. Suraj Nallusamy’s camera captures the lush green locales of the village well. Dhina’s choreography is good.

On the whole, the movie may resemble the likes of ‘Kalavani’ and ‘Uthamaputhiran’. But forget the lengthy second half and some cliched sequences, ‘Manam Koththi Paravai’ will stick to your hearts.

Tamil Actress Sona Rape Attempt By SPB Charan,Sona Rape Attempt @ Mankatha Success Party

In a very shocking press meet, Actress Sona accuses Actor-Producer SPB Charan of attempting to rape and misbehave with her during the Mankatha Success Party. According to the actress, the party was organized by the Mankatha team boys at the Actor Vaibhav’s house and she attended the party, as director Venkat Prabhu & Premji Amaran are her close friends.

As per the actress statement, She was supposed to produce Venkat Prabhu’s next film but the plan was dropped due to financial constraints. SPB Charan, who asked to transfer the director Venkat Prabhu’s dates to him, asked about the rate for the dates as well as for her also in a double entendre manner.
He also then tried to grabbed and sexually assault her. Actor Premgi Amaran pulled him away and saved her from any mischievousness. Actress Sona said, she also lodged a formal complaint against SPB Charan for the attempted rape and offered him a 10 days time deadline to publicly apologize to her.
Now click on the below video to hear from the Actress herself.

You cannot cheat today's audiences: Revathy

Actress Revathy, who has wielded the megaphone for films like "Mitr: My Friend" and "Phir Milenge", feels it's difficult to deceive the audience with poor content even though their attention span has decreased over the years.

"Audience's attention span is very less these days; so you need to give them a lot in a short time. You need to do a lot, work a lot," Revathy, who was here to attend the National Awards ceremony, told IANS in an interview.

"People today are well aware because they watch a lot of world cinema. It is interesting that now you cannot cheat the audience, you need to work in detail. That is one part of it, especially the urban audience, but for the other audience you need to tell a good story that would touch their hearts," she added.

The actress, a well-known name in the southern film industry, made her debut with Tamil movie "Mann Vasanai" (1983) and went on to become a name to reckon with in her profession.

Eight years later she made her Bollywood debut opposite Salman Khan in "Love". Other Hindi films that she has been part of are "Ab Tak Chhappan", "Darna Mana Hai" and "Dil Jo Bhi Kahe".

In 2002, the actress donned the director's hat with "Mitr: My Friend" and her second directorial venture was 2004 movie "Phir Milenge", which dealt with the issue of HIV. Revathy feels there has always to be a purpose for a film.

"Even as an actor I was very choosy about the films. There has to be a purpose to the film," said the 45-year-old, who has won a National Award for the short film "Red Building Where The Sun Sets", which shows how fights between parents affect children.

"So I think, when I became a director, the idea was just the combinations of certain causes that I work with and films that I want to make," she added.

Revathy calls her transition from an actress to a director "very natural".

"As an actor you just do one part of it in the film. But as a filmmaker, starting from the idea to making a story, working on the entire thing and making it as a feature film was interesting. I tried it with short films in the beginning; after that I thought this is what I want to do," said the actress.

After being in the Indian film industry for almost three decades, the actress-filmmaker feels the industry has evolved with society.

"The Indian film industry has evolved exactly like the society around. Just like we have changed from writing diaries to short notes in computers, the same way the industry has evolved in storymaking, storytelling and the technicalities. It caters to people with different perspectives," said the three-time National Award winner.

"I think Indian cinema is fantastic, especially the regional cinema, while in Hindi cinema you have few glimpses of very good films," she added.

22 Female Kottayam Stereotyped!

ster·e·o·type (A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing: "sexual and racial stereotypes".)

Stereotyping is an offence in some countries. In the US there is the Indian stereotype, in India there is the South Indian stereotype and in South India there are further regional stereotypes.  I personally hate stereotyping, because it is the mind product of limited exposure. People see a very small and finite number of a certain sect of people and arrive at a common description of them.  And I strongly believe that a group of people who are being stereotyped should not go on stereotyping sub-sects of their pool. 

“Mallu” (I simply hate the word) is a title given to the Kerala lot as a whole. People from other parts of our country make fun of our regionally biased English accent. I do agree that most of us have an accent when we speak English; if we have our southern English accent, the North Indian’s have their own equally ridiculous accent. Most disgusting is the fact that we have our own porn genre “Mallu Aunty”, “Mallu Lady”, “Mallu bgrade” and the list goes on. 

I wrote about all these stereotyping because, I just want to point out that all Aunties of Kerala are not two bit prostitutes. And we don’t deserve to be stereotyped; I mean no one does. 

However you try to defend the movie “22 Female Kottayam”, there is no doubt that it stereotypes a profession and a region; and that is just plain wrong. 

The characters in this movie are not well researched. The life style followed by the lead character is at times very contradictory. And not all Christian females from Kottayam drink alcohol; in the movie it seems that it is some kind of a standard for girls from that side. The only regional accent in the lead girl’s speech is when she uses the sound “bha” (fa). 

Fahad Fazil is excellent as always, but I fear that in the long run he will be imprisoned in this kind of roles for ever. Reema has done a decent job. 

I never expected this genre from Abu. It would have been very natural coming from Samir Thahir, Sreenath Rajendran, Lijo Jose etc. If everyone is going the dark way, then from where can we expect movies like Salt and Pepper? 

Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Sriram Raghavan’s Ek Hasina Thi and N. Sankaran Nair’s Cabaret Dancer are the 3 films listed as inspirations for the movie. I guess Ashiq Abu intentionally forgot to mention the more strickingly similar Meir Zarchi’s  I Spit on Your Grave.  Hard Candy by  David Slade might also make it to the inspiration list. I don’t find this movie to be a novel concept in Malayalam films, remembering the old movies like “Panchangini”, “Kallichellamma” etc.

Maya Unni actress smile stills

Vettai Full Movie (Arya, Madhavan)

Kahani & Karmayogi: 'Double Trouble'

Kahani Karmayogi Doube Bill: AKA How to ruin a perfect weekend.

There are a number of things I love about a Saturday. When you wake up late on a Saturday morning, you can’t help getting overwhelmed by the thought that the next day also, you can get up late. All through the day you feel relaxed and at peace with yourself, because the next day is Sunday. Up till now I was comforted by the idea that no matter how you screw up a Saturday, there is always a Sunday. But this Saturday, I pushed the envelope a little too hard............and I screwed the Saturday not only for me but for my kith and kin too.  

Saturday 6 pm:

Kahani........Yeah! It’s a “story”

After I finished watching the movie, I immediately called my mom and checked whether my passport was with her. She told me it was safe with her, and I felt so much better. The cause of this bizarre enquire right after the movie was because; if the Intelligence Beaureu of India works like the way it is shown in the movie, then it is better to get your papers ready, pack your bags and get out of this country ASAP. 

I went for this movie, after hearing a couple of good reviews about it. Most of it came from people who, I thought, were viewers of good and sensible cinema. 

I am an Instrumentation Engineer by qualification, and I did my masters in business administration (Sounds like my covering letter!). The most complex operation that I can do with my computer is summation in an Excel sheet. In short, I am an amateur in computer skills; and so is the director of this movie. 

A NDC with world class encrypting techniques and high security clearance uses a manual entry log book to keep track of employee attendance; fantastic! I completely lost it when Vidya Balan decodes a spy’s computer, to find a encrypted mobile number; and one of the IB men calls this number from his phone and finds out that the number belongs to the IB chief, thus exposing him. The spy, a top level employee in the NDC, encodes and stores the number of IB chief; why! Why can’t the guy just memorize the number instead! What kept the spy from storing the number “normally” in his phone (how can anyone be booked for storing the IB chiefs number in their phone). If I list all the abnormalities in this movie, I could go on forever.  But then again some diamonds stand out; like all of the computer data of a particular person being erased, but the physical data being left in an old building, ready to be broken into using a “highly sophisticated” hair pin. The constable at my local prescient is more dignified and approachable than “second in command” of the IB.   

The movie reminded me of the English flick “A mighty heart” and the villain reminded me of Javier Bardem in “No country for old men”. 

In the climax scene the intelligence and police officers come to the conclusion that Vidya Balan’s character was able to go undetected since she faked her pregnancy, and they felt sorry for her. Yeah! This could happen, given the fact that a “pregnant” lady was able to blow one of our PM to bits in the past.        

The IB men portrayed in this film are dumb and the terrorist dumber, so we might still have a chance!

Saturday 11pm:

Karmayogi........Karmam Bhalam

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

Question for me is whether to give a bad review for this movie or to keep silent. It pains me to write something bad about VK Prakash, but if I don’t do that then what is the difference between me and a ‘Superstar’ fan. 

How can things go wrong for Karmayogi, when there is an excellent piece of classic literature to support it? Hamlet is my favourite among Shakespearean plays. Half the job was already done for the director centuries ago. VKP failed Shakespeare in all possible ways. 

The film depicts the story of Hamlet in the backdrop of Yogi Community of North Kerala. The change of backdrop seemed very original and it elevated my expectations for the movie. My hopes were crushed in the opening scenes itself, when Manikuttan gave a very “local” Kalary performance and expression. The introductory “Kalaripayatu” scenes looked as if it were right out of a B grade Malayalam movie, starring Vani Vishwanath. 

The following scenes were mostly pointless and vague. The dialogues were neither classy nor realistic. 

One of the scenes that I was looking forward to in this movie was the encounter of his father’s ghost by Hamlet. In the Shakespearean version it was so beautiful and mysterious, but in the VKP version it is a huge let down. The movie as a whole fails to inspire the audience. 

Most of the characters in the movie were not needed at all (Eg: Sahayan, Komapanicker, Sanku, Mankamma, Rudran, I mean all of them for god’s sake; why did they make this movie) . One thing that requires special attention is the costume design. The attires worn by Nithya Menon, make her character seem like someone from the Lord of the Rings, mistakenly teleported to Kerala. I can swear that the costume worn by the lady Kalaripayatu Master was for sale at Fab-India last week. 

Indrajith as always does justice to the character. He was able to bring out the contradictory nature of Hamlet beautifully. The internal torments, which the character goes through, are effortlessly conveyed to the audience by Indran.  

The photography and direction are mediocre. The script is garbage. 

One thing common to both of these movies are that after a couple of month or years, both will be considered classics, by people who have never even seen the movies. Just like what’s been happening with ‘Melvilasam’.  And if by mistake we try to counter them, then we will be ridiculed and alienated. 

'MAGADI' (KANNADA )

Film: "Magadi"; Cast: Deepak, Rakshitha, Suresh Chandra, Padmavasanthi, Shilpa; Screenplay-Direction: Suresh Goswami; Producer: B.M. Harish; Music: Rajesh Ramanath; Camera: Ramesh; Rating: *

"Magadi" is a pain in the neck for reviewers as much as for viewers. The title and the film's poster itself had indicated that the film may lack any fresh elements and be a run-of-the-mill project. But it beats even normal expectations.

Many weakly-knit sequences in the film make the viewers angry.

It may well be the worst film to be released in the last three months and you pity an actor like Deepak, who did a promising role in "Shishya'. 

The story revolves around Magadi and Pavithra, two childhood buddies who were separated due to circumstances in their younger days. The one thing that binds them is a song "Naavaaduva nudiye Kannada nudi". As a youngster, Magadi used to sing it to impress Pavithra.

When they grow up, Magadi starts working with a don, while Pavithra is being looked after by a cruel-minded prostitute.

Situations lead Magadi to protect Pavithra in the house she lives in as she faces trouble from some hooligans. The song unites the childhood buddies. What happens later when the two lovers want to unite and settle for a marriage forms the rest of the story. 

With such a silly story, it is difficult for any actor to rise above the meaningless script and give a good performance. 

Deepak tries to act, but is handicapped clearly by the film's content. However, he is good in some action sequences.

Malayalam girl Rakshitha is wasted in the film and she has only a few songs and sequences.

"Magadi" also shows how a large number of Kannada films made with under-equipped writers and directors are bleeding the industry. Replete with shortcomings, it is a badly performed, directed and written film, weak in its technical values. 

A stretched narration of a non-existent story, stereotyped dialogues and boring song and action sequences make you yawn in the theatre.

Director Suresh Goswami has not only failed to write a good script, but also uses his available technical crew in a haphazard manner.

Even the characterisation of the hero and heroine is not well defined. As for the other characters, most of them shout in all the sequences - the director seems to have allowed them full freedom to do whatever they feel like.

Rajesh Ramanath's music is also ordinary, and the cameraman also fumbles in his work.

Even if you have lot of time and are an ardent film buff, "Magadi" must be avoided.

Prathishta

Thotti Jaya Full Movie Tamil (Simbu, Gopika)