Looks like Soundarya Rajinikanth's Ocher Studios is on a roll for producing movies. In less than a week of announcing plans to produce a Tamil movie in collaboration with Warner Bros India, Soundarya is on the verge of announcing her plans for Billa-II, if sources are to be believed.

And the superstar himself seems Soundarya Rajinkanth to have suggested the plans after evidently being impressed with the outcome of the Vishnuvardhan-directed Billa. Soundarya was quoted as saying to a tabloid that the project would commence in mid-2009. No other details in this regard are available at the moment.

Kollywood is abuzz with rumors that Kamal Haasan would commence shooting for his next film 'Marmayogi' in exotic locales in Sweden.

According to reports, the movie is set in the sixth century BC and so has taken precise care in fixing up appropriate locations. A few locations in Sweden appear to be on the mind of Kamal Haasan.

Touted to be a big-budget film, 'Marmayogi' features Hemamalini in a prominent role and efforts are on to cast Amitabh Bachchan in it. The crew would land in Sweden later next month to start shooting.

With 'Dasavatharam' proving to be a major hit for Kamal Haasan, he is all geared up to sustain the good run in the industry.

Directed and enacted by Kamal Haasan, the movie has musical score by A R Rahman.

Rajinikanth is gearing up for his next venture Robot, which happens to be director Shankar’s brainchild. The film is slated to go on the floors in a short time. Recently, Rajinikanth was spotted donning the greasepaint and costumes to participate in Robot’s photo shoot held in Mumbai.

The second and third photo shoot schedules were held a few days ago at the AVM Studios and a theatre in Nungambakkam. According to our sources, Rajini was seen trying out various costumes and wigs during the photo shoot and the one that suits him well will be used in the film. It seems that Shankar is bent on showing a much younger-looking Rajini to the audience this time. He has roped in costume designer Manish Malhotra and make-up artist Bhanu for Robot. Incidentally, they were also associated with Sivaji that got rave reviews for Rajini’s costumes and make-up.

How can a priest fight?

Many have had this doubt. How does Rangarajan, a pious Vaishnavite priest fight off a number of soldiers? Too much of a cinematic liberty, many opine. But, there is an explanation, deep in Tamil culture and caste hierarchy (where each one was married to the ancestral profession by birth), there were a sect of Brahmins called the Ammathyayans whose profession used to be war. It might sound hard to believe but yes, there were warriors among Brahmins, too. And, coming from an industry where cinematic liberties regularly insult the intelligence of the audience, this should more than suffice as an explanation.

Where’s the story?

When did Kamal promise one? True, the plot can be summed up in one line, but the complexities are numerous. It is a delicate explanation of the Chaos Theory where every incident, however good or bad it may seem to us, has its

own role in the grand scheme of things. The movie shows how the 10 characters act in such a way, that the vial carrying biological weapon of mass destruction, that could be neutralized only by common salt, is brought to the seashore just minutes before the tsunami. A bit earlier or later could not have had the same effect as that of the huge waves rushing in. The design of the universe was to annihilate the bio weapon and the characters were merely pawns who played their destined roles, some hurrying and others delaying the journey of the vial, so that it reached the sea at just the right time. The way complaints about the lack of a story have been rising makes us think whether Kamal was supposed to have contrived the plot such that all 10 characters are brothers who were separated in their childhood and brought up in different corners of the world and recognize each other with a family song or a birthmark unique to the family! It would have definitely been a story then –only the movie would have looked like a 1970 Bollywood melodrama!

Is the budget justified, why do the songs look so plain?

Many don’t seem to be able to see the 60 crores, they say that it hasn’t translated into grandeur on the screen. Maybe, they failed to notice that almost 90% of the frames of Dasavatharam have more than one Kamal, all the scenes have more than one for sure and most of them have at least three and we don’t want to elaborate further. One is a 90 year old woman, there is a pot bellied cop, a mean Yankee, a 7 footer, a Japanese etc… The amount of graphics that would have gone in to get the movie in shape is good enough to justify any budget. And about the songs, do they have to look out of the world?

Dasavatharam is fiction, not fantasy. It is firmly grounded in realities and bound by the confines of the Chaos theory (which some might find difficult to swallow). In a cross country chase for the possession of a vial that is a weapon of mass destruction, where is the place for a song shot in the plush meadows of Switzerland or Austria? Yes, K.S. Ravikumar and Ravivarman would have made it look good and it might have made a few people believe that the 60 crores were well spent, but think of what it would have done to the movie. There might have been a strong temptation to include a Kamal-Asin duet and we must applaud the crew for resisting it. The songs of Dasavatharam are as natural as they can be. First, a soulful chant by a 12th century priest, a raunchy number by a strip club dancer, a devotional song in the true tradition of Chidambaram and a stage performance by a pop star. The song in the title tracks has no bearing on the movie, it’s just a postscript. Every song is just as it should be, not an ounce more. There are only few instances in Tamil cinema where songs remain so true to the script.

The ladies are exasperating!

Many are of the opinion that one lady is finished off far too early and the other hangs in for too long. There seems to be hardly any reason to complain about the supposedly premature end of Mallika Sherawath’s character. It is a mishap that occurs during a risky attempt to grab the vial in a crowded place, there is nothing out of logic. Only Mallika Sherawath fans who expected her characteristic glamour to parade on screen should find reasons enough to moan. There are also others who feel that that her club song was a bit unwarranted. Well, where would you expect to find a girl who accepts an offer for a transcontinental chase with a man she hardly knows the moment she is offered some money - at a bank counter or at a supermarket?! It has to be some place like a dance bar.

Asin, poor lady, has received brickbats for being so obsessed with Lord Krishna. Some feel she ought to have been slapped by Govind half way into the movie. Slapping ladies is a stereotype that Tamil cinema can afford to do without. Besides, expecting a biological scientist like Govind to be chauvinistic enough to slap a lady (that too one as good looking as Asin) and snatch the idol would be unrealistic. If you watch the movie you will notice that Govind never wants to get into a fight, even when faced by grave danger, he is always running away from violence. He doesn’t seem to be able to slap the man who is trying to kill him, let alone a woman who is an innocent bystander.

The beach quarrel?

This is definitely the scene that has been beaten badly and bruised by many people. They find the small talk at the site of a monumental disaster irritating. Granted, a tsunami hit beach is not the place for petty quarrels. But think of Govind’s frame of mind. For him and Asin, the tsunami was a timely deluge of common salt that prevented the death of millions across continents. They, in their opinion, have just witnessed the escape of mankind from a disaster of proportions that could dwarf the tsunami. After days of tension, their minds are now at rest knowing that the deadly ‘ebola-hanta combination’ has been neutralized by NaCl.

There is an old fable. A line was drawn and a man was asked to make the line smaller without erasing off any portion. The man simply drew a bigger line beside it and the first line indeed looked smaller. Here the tsunami was the small line and the bio-weapon dwarfed it. Only Kamal and Asin knew about it, hence the relaxed state of mind and small talk.

Why weren't the following appreciated?

Finally there are certain things about Dasavatharam that seem to have been missed in the flush of criticism. No two characters except Rangarajan and Govnidarajan share the same height and voice. If Apoorva Sahodarargal had one normal man and a dwarf, Dasavatharam has all ranges starting from the hunchback to the giant. The voices range from the husky, to the shrill. It is the kind of variety and dexterity that has never been seen in world cinema. It also has to be remembered that the movie is based on the chaos theory, something that requires understanding. If such a concept has been incorporated, along with a bio-weapon message, an environmental edge and narrated in such a lucid way that even a layman is able to connect, the maker has to be someone special. How often do we hear of scientific theories contributing to movies?

There is the technical aspect which does seem to have received a fair amount of appreciation. However, we cannot help but mention the climax fight between Narahashi and Fletcher as a masterpiece in graphics. Of course, as said above, most of the frames of Dasavatharam are technical showpieces by themselves, not because they are out of this world, but because they have made everything look so real. Finally there has been talk about how the characters of Dasavatharam don’t stick to the mind. Some say that only Boovaragan sticks while others remember Balram and so on. But the fact here is that most people know the characters that they say have not stuck to their mind, they identify the ‘non-stick’ing characters by name or appearance. That is proof enough that a mark has been created. For instance, Rangarajan Nambi does not appear on screen after the initial 10 minutes. He is non-existent for the next 150 odd minutes and yet many remember to criticize the way in which he fought off the soldiers!

It is easy to get carried away in the wave of criticism and not appreciate the real class of the movie. The fact that so much has been talked about the movie tells us about the impression it has created. What has to be realized is that we may have to wait decades before we see anything even remotely close to this. It is tough even for a genius and dedicated professional like Kamal to keep making efforts like this. One has to just open up one’s mind to see all that is wonderful about Dasavatharam and please don’t appreciate it for charity, only for Kamal Haasan or because someone asked you to be a sport. Dasavatharam is a creation that deserves far better.

By Sudhakar, with inputs from Arun Gopinath.

A call from the Superstar could leave anyone in the film industry shocked and surprised. And Vadivelu seems to be no exception. Vadivelu was in a pleasant surprise when he received a call from Rajinikanth. The comedian was at the sets of Seval when the Superstar called him on his mobile.

A visibly stunned Vadivelu was bowled over when Rajini praised him for his commendable performance in Kuselan. As if applauding for his performance was not enough to get Vadivelu on cloud nine, Rajini's apologies for not giving him equal space in the posters and banners that were displayed during the audio launch function left Vadivelu pleased to no end. It is reported that the comedian considers it a great boon to just star in Kuselan and did not bother about sharing the poster space with Rajini.

Kamal Haasan has begun work on his fourth directional venture, Marmayogi, to be made in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam. The movie, being produced by Walt Disney Productions in collaboration with Bharat Bala Productions and Adlabs and is set in the seventh century.

AR Rahman scores the music for this film which also stars Hema Malini in a pivotal role. Reportedly the movie will be the country’s most expensive film to date.

Now, what is this my sources tell me? Either Rahman is too tired of making just music or he wants to make more money. Methinks it's the latter! Why else would he want to make a film? Yup, you heard it right, music director AR Rahman has finally turned producer. The name of his debut production is said to be Marmayogi. Set in the seventh century, Rahman will co-produce the film with Kamal Haasan.

I am given to believe that Kamal had initially been roped in to produce this film with Bharat Bala Productions and Adlabs. However, things didn't fall into place with the two companies and now Rahman has stepped in. Of course, everyone in showbiz wants to make movies at some point. But I must confess, I couldn't help being surprised when I was told that this could well be the most expensive film in India!

Kamal Haasan will direct and act in Marmayogi and Rahman will compose the music... now that's what I'd call cost-cutting!

Mallika Sherawat next project after Dasavatharam

We all have our scales of 1-10, but how do you quantify how hot one body is in relation to another?
Or you could switch it to mute and just stay glued. Who cares how Pamela Anderson or Gong Li are ranked, as long as we can drool over them both?

Shunning rumors and keeping rumormongers at bay, Vishal and Nayan seems to have indeed locked their lips for Satyam. While Vishal and Nayan strongly refuted this earlier, the recently released promo pictures of the movie show the couple in an intimate manner locking lips. However, it remains to be seen whether these pictures were shot only for the promos or as a part of a movie. For that, of course, we will have to wait until the movie is released.

Terrific news has reached the ears of Shriya. The cute actress, who acted opposite Rajinikanth in 'Sivaji', will share the screen with Kamal Haasan now.

Reports suggest that she has been urged to act in Kamal Haasan's multilingual project 'Marmayogi'.

''I went over to cloud nine when they approached me to act opposite Kamal sir in ‘Marmayogi’. However, talks are still on and nothing has been finalized yet.'

When asked for the reason, Shriya said, 'Since I am already committed to a couple of projects including ‘Kandasamy’, ‘Jaggubai’ and a Hollywood film produced by Ashok Amritraj, I need to squeeze some time in between to be part in this prestigious project'.

On Kamal Haasan, she says, ' he is a talented actor, who has a passion for cinema. To be part of his project is a delight for any actress'.

Shriya plays a Call Center employee in the Hollywood film and ends up falling in love with a foreigner. How they meet and does love really blossom forms the rest of the film. Shriya incidentally has won the heart of Ashok Amritraj with her portrayal. -indiaglitz

Diana Mariam Kurien (born in 1984 in Kerala, India), popularly known by her stage name Nayanthara (Malayalam),meaning "Eyes like Stars", is a south Indian actress and has acted in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies.

Nayanthara was born on 8th November 1984 as an Orthodox Syrian Christian in Tiruvalla, Pathanamthitta District, Kerala. She did her schooling at various parts of India (Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Punjab and Karnataka) as her father was an Air Force Official. She joined Balikamadom High School, Thiruvalla for +2, then joined Marthoma college in Thiruvalla for her bachelors degree (English Literature). While at college, she was chosen by director Satyan Anthikkad and was cast opposite Jayaram in Mansinakkare. After that, she acted a sister character along side Mohanlal in Naatturajaavu and also played a ghost who falls in love with the hero Mohanlal in Fazil's Vismayathumbathu. She played heroine to Malayalam Megastar Mammootty in super hit movies Thaskaraveeran (Dubbed into Tamil as Yuvaraj) and Raapakal.She played opposite Sarath Kumar in Ayya. She acted with Rajnikanth in Chandramukhi. Her later films are Natturaajavu (Malayalam), Thaskaraveeran (Malayalam), Vallavan (Tamil), Gajini (Tamil), Yogi (Telugu) etc.

The message of Kalifulla Khan

Dasavatharam says a whole lot of things: questions beliefs, explores theories, offers explanations and entertains. The messages that one can take home from Dasavatharam are many, most of them are obvious while there seem to be a few that are hidden in layers of humor. The existence of God or otherwise is a subject that Kamal has often touched upon and so there is no way that this escaped anyone’s notice, especially with the debate between Kamal and Asin during the climax. The story itself is a warning about how funding research for biological weapons can be a dangerous game, there is an environmental message that Vincent Boovaragan raises, that of illegal sand quarrying and the movie at many places touches upon various ways in which the world is being self-detrimental; George Bush’s idea of the nuclear bomb being the panacea to all kinds of problems etc…..

But maybe the most profound of all messages is something that was so subtly said that it went unnoticed. Even if it was noticed it has gone without mention or discussion till now. One cannot be quite sure about whether Kamal, the scriptwriter, intended to give such a context. But it has happened and even if it is unwitting, this is an issue that is being considered by some of our country’s leading thinkers as something that demands immediate attention.

It takes place in the scene involving Balram Naidu (RAW) and Kalifulla Khan, when the latter is rounded up at his house with Christian Fletcher and Govind just having got away. The tall man is suspiciously surveyed by the RAW officer from top to bottom (that is a long way) and his connections to some of the world’s most notorious terrorists units is being assumed nonchalantly, the officer also issues orders for the entire street to be arrested and questioned for suspected terrorist links. Kalifulla Khan says ‘Why is it anyone and everyone who prays in a Dargah is looked upon as a terrorist?’ In the movie, this dialogue is greeted amidst laughter as all of Balram Naidu’s previous wisecracks are irresistibly funny, especially ‘Lighthouse’.

The message that the dialogue gives is straightforward: Why are Muslims suspected in the aftermath of any terrorist attack? India has suffered many incidents of bombing in the last few years and while the seriousness of these cannot be downplayed, there is widespread discontent over the way such cases are handled. This is not just a personal view, but an accumulation of views that have been appearing very regularly all over the country. It is a fact known to all that the hands behind the Bombay, Delhi, Hyderabad and Jaipur blasts are yet to be cuffed but what we do not know is that hundreds of Muslim youth have been behind or are still behind bars for one fault- being a Muslim. ‘Conciliatory arrests’ are made immediately after any untoward incident to appease authorities and to assure the public that action is being taken, but who pays the price? It is not only in India that such incidents of an entire community being labeled as terrorists takes place: The whole world changed post 9/11. Yes, it is true that militant outfits that were behind all these heinous acts are all Islamic but that does not make every Muslim a terrorist.

There is no better man than Kamal to have given this message because he is a person who has experienced the tendency to view a Muslim suspiciously first hand. Remember the incident in Canada in 2002 when Kamal was held back at an airport? He had gone there to consult a make up artiste about his get-up in Anbey Sivam- he was sporting a beard and as airport authorities later explained, that made him look like a Muslim. If a thing as unimportant as a beard can get a person detained at an airport then imagine what religion can do. Maybe that incident formed the seed of this subtle message given by Kalifulla Khan. - behindwoods

Rajinikanth. The name is enough to evoke cheers and applause from movie-lovers. What if Rajinikanth appears as himself on screen? The movie has been made in such a way that it would be a double delight for his fans who would cherish every moment of the movie.

Director P Vasu knows the strengths of the 'Super Star' very well. He has worked with the actor on several occasions in the past and rendered many blockbusters. The duo had tasted success in ‘Panakaran’, ‘Mannan’, ‘Uzhaipalli’ and ‘Chandramukhi’ in the past.

Obviously expectations and hype soar when the two come together again. Producer Kavithalaya and Seven Stars Vijayakumar have managed to get Rajinikanth and Vasu together for their production venture titled ‘Kuselan’.

Vasu has chosen to remake ‘Katha Parayumbol’, a Malayalam movie by Sreenivasan, which went on to become a big hit in Kerala. The movie revolves around the tale of friendship shared between a popular actor and a poor barber.

‘Kuselan’ features Rajinikanth and Pasupathy in lead roles. Pasupathy plays a poor barber. Meena dons the role of his wife, while Nayantara plays herself in the movie.

Says P Vasu,” 'Kuselan’ is a movie to provide joy for everyone. It is a thorough entertainer with Rajinikanth at his best. The entire movie was completed in 82 days thanks to the co-operation of the whole unit”.

'The charm of Rajinikanth is captivating. He is growing younger day by day and looks dazzling on screen. He magical aura and strong screen presence are the movie's USP', he adds.

In simple words, the movie is about two childhood friends. One grows up to become a successful actor and other a barber who struggles to eke out his livelihood. What happens when they meet forms the crux, he adds.

Shot in Ramaoji Rao Film Studio, Pollachi, Udumalpet and exotic locales in Kerala, ‘Kuselan’ is a family entertainer, vouches Vasu.

The other major highlight of the film is G V Prakash's musical score. He has come up with five songs which are foot-tapping and pacy. A song celebrating the 75th year of Tamil cinema penned by Valee would make it big, opines Vasu.

Aravindh Krishna's cinematography helped us complete the shooting on time, Vasu says and adds, “He is a perfectionist and strives to capture everything in a perfect manner”.

The movie has a huge star cast which includes Vadivelu, Prabhu, Vijayakumar, Sneha among others. Interestingly both the audio rights and the movie's distribution rights have been sold at an astronomical prices adding on to the hype surrounding the film.

Vasu is planning to release the movie during the third week of July. For Rajinikanth fans, ‘Kuselan’ will be an entertainer which is sure to provide moments of immense joy. - Indiaglitz