Tamil Galatta

Vetri Maaran speaks on Aadukalam Dhanush is quite happy to be working with Vetri Maran again in Aadukalam, as he is the director who gave him a big break in Polladhavan. The actor earlier stated that he felt a positive vibration working with Vetri Maaran on the sets of Aadukalam. He also expressed confidence that the film will definitely turn out as successful as their previous venture Polladhavan. 'We started Aadukalam in February 2009 and it was completed in March 2010. Now the CG (computer graphics) work is going on at Ocher Studios. Aadukalam is not a period film but very much a contemporary, mainstream picture. When we chose Madurai as the appropriate backdrop for the script, we went to Madurai, stayed there and did research on its dialect and way of life,' the director said to a leading English daily. 'Aadukalam means arena or playing field. Life itself is a playing field where one has to play games for various reasons. The movie is about two generations and their ideologies. It can be categorised as having an ethnic, rural milieu with emphasis on Tamil identity. But it is not a regular Madurai film which deals with the culture and practices of people there. This is more about the sub-culture that prevails there,' he added. Check out Dhanush wallpapers.

Ich completes first schedule Prabhu Deva's directorial venture Ich, starring Jayam Ravi and Hansika Motwani in lead roles, has completed its first schedule in Paris. The first schedule was delayed due to some untimely rain, and the whole cast and crew worked overtime to make up for the lost time. Heroine Hansika assures that Ich is an out-and-out romance, and it was the sugary sweet love story that attracted her to the project. Harris Jayaraj is the music director; he has a way with romantic tunes and we sure hope he comes up with something stupendous for Ich. Recently Prabhu and Harris flew to Australia for musical inspiration and the two melodies they created there are said to be absolute soulful delights! We can't wait to hear more! CLICK HERE for Hansika Photo Gallery. CLICK HERE for Ravi Photo Gallery.

Gautham Menon to direct Nagarjuna? After the massive success of Ye Maya Chesave starring Naga Chaitanya, South India's master film-maker Gautham Menon is reportedly planning to make a mature romantic movie in Telugu with Tollywood superstar Nagarjuna in the lead. According to sources, talks are currently on and if all goes well, the film will be produced by Nagarjuna's sister Naga Susheela and Chintalapudi Srinivas Rao under the banner of Sri Nag Corporation, which earlier produced Kalidasu and Current, both starring Sushanth. Stay with us for more details.

VTV Hindi remake begins today Gautham Vasudeva Menon is all set to begin the Hindi remake his latest Tamil hit Vinnaithaadi Varuvaayaa today. The film will be jointly produced by IN Entertainment (Part of Hinduja Group) and Gautham Menon's Photon Kathaas. Oscar winning musician A.R. Rahman will compose music for the Hindi version too. Prateik Babbar (son of yesteryear Bollywood hero Raj Babbar) and Trisha will play the lead roles in Hindi. Editing is by Anthony; camera is handled by Manoj Paramahamsa; Rajeevan is the art director. This romantic musical starring Trisha and Simbu (in Tamil) revolves around the love between an aspiring film maker Karthik, who wants to make it big in his profession, and a Christian girl Jessie. The film was also made in Telugu as Yemaaya Chesave, starring Naga Chaitanya and Samantha. Check out: VTV Photo Gallery VTV songs

Ko progressing on schedule The shooting of Jiiva-K.V. Anand's much-awaited Ko is almost complete except for a couple of song sequences. Recently the crew went to some exotic locations in China for a song sequence while plans are on to shoot the remaining two songs in Norway. According to the crew members, the biggest highlight of the film will be the climax fight. Jiiva has pulled off a very risky stunt for the climax sequence; this scene, that required him to perform some daring fight sequences, was shot in Mint Street, Chennai. Stunt choreographer Peter Haien was very impressed with Jiiva's performance, who managed to perform the stunt sequence like a professional stuntman. The stunt sequence featuring Jiiva, Ajmal Ameer and Prakashraj was shot for over 20 days without disturbing the public. Sources also say that producer Kumar is truly impressed with the thrilling stunt sequence choreographed by Peter Haien and presented him with the latest I-phone. S. Kumar and R. Jayaraman of RS Infotainment, who produced Gautham Menon's Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, are producing Ko, which is expected be a commercial entertainer on the lines of K.V. Anand's earlier venture Ayan. Anand has teamed up with the writer-duo Subha and Harris Jayaraj for Ko. Check out Karthika Photo Gallery. Check out Jiiva Photo Gallery.

Nischal Chandran's version Reality is two-sided; so is to Mollywood's latest hot happening, the split between Kavya Madhavan and Nischal Chandran! They married on February 5 last year, then decided to split. Kavya Madhavan recently filed her divorce papers at the Ernakulam Family Court in Kochi, apart from another petition with the Ernakulam First Class Magistrate Court against her husband and in-laws under the Domestic Violence Act for causing mental stress. She alleges that Nischal and his parents were torturing her mentally and Nishal's family has still not returned her gold ornaments worth Rs. 65 lakhs. But Nishal Chandran says that all the charges against him in the divorce petition are baseless. He held a press conference in Kuwait on Monday immediately after Kavya filed for a divorce. ''We've handed over the jewellery to Kavya's mother just after the wedding ceremonies. And as far as her career is concerned, both the families jointly took the decision that she will not continue her film commitments after marriage. But the problem started when Kavya came to Kerala to finish her balance scenes in Pattanathil Bhootham. After the shoot of the film, she came back a changed person,' Nishal said. Nischal also said that he is getting calls from industry bigwigs, pressurizing him to sign the divorce papers. 'Actor and politician K.B. Ganesh Kumar had called me advising to sign the divorce petition to avoid future problems,' he added.

Sangitha speaks on Manmadha Ambu Kamal Haasan's Manmadha Ambu with K.S. Ravikumar was formally launched at a press meet in Chennai recently. The film is produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin under Red Giant Movies banner. Trisha will team up with Kamal Haasan for the first time. Madhavan and Sangitha will also play prominent roles in the film. A 90 member crew including the lead pair completed their first shooting schedule in Europe recently. A major part of the film will be shot in Italy, Spain, and Greece. 'We shot for almost a month for the first schedule. We were rushing around like mad people, rehearsing and shooting our scenes. Though we were all abroad and sailing around in a cruise ship, work was very taxing. But I'm definitely not complaining. It was so nice to work with veterans like Kamal sir and K,S, Ravikumar sir. And getting back with Madhavan and Trash (Trisha) was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it,' Sangitha said to a leading English daily. 'The unit will decide the locations in another 20 days and we should be on board soon. We've shot almost 65% of the film in the first schedule. In fact, Kamal sir and I are almost done shooting for our parts. Only Trash and Maddy have to shoot for theirs now,' she added. Click here to view Sangeetha photo gallery.

Maddy: In or out of 3 Idiots remake? A spokesperson of Gemini Film Circuit (GFC), which bagged the Tamil-Telugu remake rights of the biggest Hindi blockbuster 3 Idiots, confirmed that this project will take place after numero uno director Shankar releases his magnum opus Endhiran starring Rajinikanth. Recently Shankar's publicist tweeted that Vijay, Simbu and Madhavan, along with Sathyaraj (in the role made memorable by Boman Irani), will feature in the Tamil version, while the only change in the Telugu version will be Mahesh Babu replacing Vijay. But now, Madhavan has tweeted, 'So sorry folks! I'm unable to do 3 Idiots in Tamil and Telugu. Have other plans. I am sure they will find worthier replacements.' So is Maddy in or out of the project? Check this space for more updates! Click here for more news.

Dipa Shah: Yudham Sei's heroine Actor-director Cheran is currently busy playing the role of a CBI officer in his upcoming Yudham Sei directed by Mysskin. The actor is reportedly aiming for a trim look, crew cut and gym-trained body apart from learning the mannerisms of the officers. Mumbai beauty Dipa Shah will make her Kollywood debut with Yudham Sei. 'My base is Sanskrit and my parents used to teach me shlokas in Sanskrit. So, I know Sanskrit well. I also know Gujarati because I come from a Gujarati family. I stay in Mumbai and Marathi was my third language in school while English was my first. Apart from these languages, I also know Punjabi like any other person who has lived in the North. Then, I can also understand Bengali and Telugu. I'm not proficient in French but yes, I can understand and speak a bit. Now, I'm learning Tamil,' Dipa Shah said to a leading English daily. 'I am making an effort to learn Tamil. On the sets, I go with my book and ask everybody from my assistant directors, co-directors, my touch-up boys to my co-artistes for five Tamil sentences that they use in day-to-day life. I write them down and learn them,' she added. Cheran Photo Gallery Cheran Wallpapers

Simbu croons in 18 Vayasu We know about actor STR aka Simbu's multiple talents and have to appreciate him for trying to expand his knowledge about various aspects of cinema. One talent that has been approved by many is his singing. Simbu has not only sung songs in his own movies, he has also sung for others. Now he is all set to thrill us again in 18 Vayasu as a singer. Simbu has sung a peppy number composed by debutant Charles Bosco in 18 Vayasu, directed by Paneerselvam of Renigunta fame and produced by Chakravarthy under Nic Arts banner. Simbu wallpapers Simbu photo gallery

Urumi: Getting bigger Santosh Sivan, the man behind the visual excellence of Mani Ratnam's magnum opus Raavanan/ Raavan is all set to start his next project, this time as a director. This Malayalam-Tamil bilingual, a period drama tentatively titled Urumi (a flexible sword), will star Prithviraj and the hot and happening Genelia in the lead roles. Reportedly Urumi is about a group of men who wanted to assassinate Vasco Da Gama, the Portuguese explorer who set foot in Kappad in Calicut in 1498. Now Santhosh Sivan has roped in choreographer-actor-director Prabhu Deva to play a prominent role in the film. Chandan Roy Sanyal of Kaminey fame will be the villain and Deepak Dev will score the music. The rest of the cast is yet to be finalised. Urumi is the 8 feet-long long flexible sword used in Kalari fights since a long time. Sankar Ramakrishnan, who had directed the promising short film 'Island Express' in the Kerala Cafe anthology, is writing the script. The film, a bilingual, is set in the 15th century and will also be made in English for international audiences. The filming of Urumi will commence in August in Kerala. Prithviraj Photo Gallery Genelia photo gallery Genelia wallpapers Genelia wallpapers

Arun Vijay signs two films with Feather Touch Actor Arun Vijay is riding high after the success of his recent ventures, Malai Malai and Maanja Velu, produced by Feather Touch Entertainment. Now the actor is back with a bang. The latest buzz is that Arun Vijay has signed two more films with Feather Touch Entertainment; one will be an action entertainer and the second, an action thriller. The hunt for the heroines is on and an official announcement is expected after the month of Aadi. After completing these two projects, Arun Vijay will team up again with his favourite director A. Venkatesh for the much-awaited Kaaval Thurai. Maanja Velu Photo Gallery Malai Malai Photo Gallery Arun Vijay Photo Gallery

Will A.R. Rahman avoid assignments in India? No matter who you are or what you do, everybody has just 24 hours to spend in each day! For common men like us, 24 hours are in fact plenty (even though we always pretend to be too busy), since our daily tasks are fortunately very limited! But think of an international celebrity like A.R. Rahman, flooded with too many assignments from both Indian and international domains, especially after Slumdog Millionaire! If reports are to be believed, to overcome this shortage of time, A.R. Rahman is now planning to implement a new time management strategy! And what is that? Sources suggest the composer is seriously thinking of putting all domestic assignments on hold to concentrate on building his career abroad, else he feels he would lose the international advantage he obtained after Slumdog Millionaire! 'The Indian assignments after Slumdog Millioniare have been very time-consuming, especially Raavan where Rahman not only had to do two versions of the music in Hindi and Tamil, but director Mani Ratnam also asked him to give 34 tunes for every lyric before one was selected. The music of Raavan took more time than Rahman could afford, with the result that other Indian assignments, primarily Abbas Tyrewala's untitled John Abraham-Pakhi starrer, got delayed,' a friend of A.R. Rahman was quoted as saying. 'Rahman had to continuously keep breaking his international tours and other projects, because he has to be constantly moving back and forth between India and the US for various reasons like the music release of Raavan. He has begun to feel that his international career would never take off if he has to keep returning home,' he also said, emphasizing that the composer has not signed a single new assignment in Mumbai or Chennai in the last few months. So, according to the current plan, after completing Abbas Tyrewala's music, Rahman will focus on consolidating his career abroad.

VTV songs: iPhone app gets mBillionth Award The first edition of the mBillionth South Asia Awards 2010 was held in New Delhi on Friday (23.07.2010). The awards offer a platform for the best mobile content and applications with mass utility and social purpose. The organization received more than 250 entries and 24 winners took home the trophy in 10 categories. The jury deliberated on the nominees for three days in Colombo last month. The criteria for selection were: Content, Interface, Technical speciality, Design and Accesibility. And here comes the biggest highlight! VTV Songs, an iPhone app developed exclusively by DCI Mobile Studios, was selected as 1 of the Top 5 app under m-Entertainment category. The awards were jointly organised by the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Digital Empowerment Foundation and OnMobile, a provider of mobile value-added services (VAS). You too can download this app. Click here for more details.

3 Idiots remakes only after Endhiran A spokesperson of Gemini Film Circuit (GFC), which bagged the Tamil-Telugu remake rights of the biggest Hindi blockbuster 3 Idiots from its original producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, confirmed that this project will take place after numero uno director Shankar releases his magnum opus Endhiran starring Rajinikanth. Asked why, Shankar (who normally does not do remakes) accepted this project, the spokesperson said: 'After doing a film (Endhiran) which cost more than Rs. 100 crores, he cannot go back to doing mundane movies. The remake of 3 Idiots is a bilingual and features big stars like Vijay and Mahesh. It cannot get bigger than this.' Meanwhile, Shankar's publicist tweeted that Vijay, Simbu and Madhavan, along with Sathyaraj (playing the role made memorable by Boman Irani), will feature in the Tamil version of 3 Idiots, while the only change in the Telugu version will be Mahesh Babu replacing Vijay. More details are awaited.

Prabhu Deva to direct Vishal? Choreographer-turned-director Prabhu Deva is a real multi-tasker. He has just completed acting in Thangar Bachan's Kalavadiya Pozhudhugal and is now busy wrapping up his directorial venture Ich with Jayam Ravi and Hansika Motwani in the lead roles. The latest buzz is that he has accepted an offer to direct Vishal in a movie to be produced under the actor's home banner JK Film Corporation. Prabhu Deva will also play a prominent role in Santhosh Sivan's Urumi, which has Prithviraj and Genelia in the lead. Prabhu Deva Photo Gallery

Shaam: Riding the waves of success Shaam was a model in Bangalore, and aspired to be in movies one day. As fate would have it, his first tryst with cinema was in Kushi, where he played a small role as Vijay's friend. He soon burst into Kollywood with 12B, directed by late Jeeva. He then starred in several films, including Ullam Ketkume, Iyarkai, Thoondil and Inba. Shaam's performance in his debut Telugu flick Kick was widely appreciated and now the actor is back in Kollywood with a bang in Thillalangadi, remake of Kick.'When people saw the tough guy in Thillalangadi, they instantly asked where was this Shaam all these days? So, from now, I want to focus more on action. But that doesn't mean I won't take up romantic roles. If an interesting script like that of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa comes up, why not?' the actor said. 'Tamil people want their heroes to be tough. And since I have already played chocolate boy roles, I did not want to get stuck with that particular image. I thought it would be a good idea to attempt another genre and prove that I am a versatile actor too,' he added. 'Most films in the recent times are multi-starrers. Instead of the usual song and dance routine and one guy bashing up a bunch of goons, it's quite different to do a role in which you appear for just five scenes. But solo projects do matter a lot for the image of an actor. My next release, Agam Puram, is a solo hero project. It's a larger than life role,' he said. The actor also has another Tamil film and two Telugu films in his kitty. Check out: Shaam photo gallery Shaam wallpapers Shaam posters

Jai ho Vijay Prakash First it was 'Jai ho', then came 'Hosanna' and now it's 'Veera'. Singer Vijay Prakash is definitely on a roll. Interestingly, Vijay Prakash has worked with the Mozart of Madras in almost all his recent albums. The singer has also rendered the title track 'Powerstar' in Rahman's just-released album Komaram Puli. 'It definitely feels great to have been a part of Rahman sir's recent musical endeavours. God has been really kind,' Vijay Prakash said. 'Powerstar was a different experience. This song is also a catchy melody. The orchestration was so different that I was thrilled to hear it after it was mixed. Tanvi is also sounding awesome in it,' he added. Check out: Latest Movie Trailers Download Wallpapers Download Posters

Endhiran: Shankar's dream One of the most-awaited movies of the year Endhiran, starring Aishwarya Rai and Rajinikanth, is getting ready and will reportedly grace theatres in September. The producers are planning a grand audio launch on July 31 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Endhiran, director Shankar's dream project, took 10 longs years to become a reality. Shankar had first conceptualised the story of Endhiran in 2000 with plans to cast Kamal Haasan and Preity Zinta in the lead roles. With a scientific background, the story of Endhiran is set in the future, when new and bizarre fashion fads would come into existence. Actually, Shankar's Endhiran was touted to be a Rs. 100 crore project when it was launched in 2008. When Sun Pictures took over, the film was said to be a Rs. 150 crore production. Now the buzz is that Endhiran has cost around Rs. 200 crores! Endhiran will be released in more than 2000 prints, the biggest ever for an Indian film. The film will be released in over 300 screens outside India, which makes Endhiran the largest worldwide release after Spiderman. This Rajinikanth-starrer will also be released in China where the super star has a huge fan following as he does in Japan. Endhiran Stills Rajinikanth Photo gallery Aishwarya Rai wallpapers Aishwarya Rai posters Aishwarya Rai photo gallery

Shruti Haasan: Excited unlimited! Shruti Haasan is truly excited about working with Suriya and Murugadoss in 7am Arivu. 'I'm so glad I signed this film. It' such a wonderful experience shooting with such sweet and talented people,' Shruti said. The crew is currently shooting in some of the prominent locations in Chennai, including a theme park and an educational institution. Shruti Haasan Wallpapers