Kamal Hassan to start Blogging
'ulaga nayakan' Kamalhassan's interest in tamil literature is well known. kamalhassan, actually edited a literary magazine 'mayyam' (மய்யம்) in mid 80' s but had to be discontinued due to patronage or its lack of.
It seems that kamal is planning to revive 'Mayyam' in electronic format. The e magazine will be in the format of a blog. A news item in this regard says,
Sources assisting Kamal Haasan in this endeavour say, Maiyyam would be an online portal (in the form of a blog), with audio and video podcasts and separate columns by Kamal Haasan, talking about his journey in cinema and literature.In today’s techno-savvy world where most actor and actress in Bollywood have opted to go the twitter/facebook/ blog way for a more personalised relationship with their fans, Kamal Haasan’s attempt to launch the web version of Maiyyam indeed sets him apart and reflects his literary and intellectual mien.With Kamal Haasan providing the brand equity, Mayyam will dwell on the changing phase of Tamil literature, besides art and cinema.Sources add that it would chronicle the works of budding writers, giants of the industry, but in a different way.The actor himself is visiting the houses of scholars and up-and-coming writers for an up-close meeting with them. Recently he had been to the residence of noted writer Ra Ki Rangarajan in Anna Nagar and interacted with him for over a couple of hours.
Ravan - Asokavanam - Exclusive
Maniratnam has reportedly completed the shoot & post production work is underway for his bilingual Ravan / Asokavanam.
* Jyothika is likely to dub for Aishwarya Rai, while Suriya will dub for Abhishek Bachhan
* Prabhu is donning the role of Aishwarya Rai's father.
* Vikram is Rama in hindi version and Ravana in Tamil version.
* Abhishek is the Ravana in Hindi version while Prithviraj is the Rama in Tamil Version.
* The film is scheduled to be released in May 21, 2010.
[pic courtesy : http://actorprithviraj.blogspot.com/]
Super Star's Standing Ovation to 'Thala' Ajith's Emotional Outburst..
Ajith, the the forthright and outspoken actor he is, has finally belled the cat.
In the event to honour the CM for his welfare schemes for tamil cinema actors and technicians, Ajith, did not hesitate in calling spade a spade. His emotional burst made the super star Rajinikanth, giving a standing ovation to the actor.
The points Ajith made were sensible.
- Actors & Technicians are being threatened to participate in shows organized by the associations and CM should intervene and put an end to this menace.
- Actors should not be forced to take a stand in sensitive issues like cauvery water problem. It is the duty of the government and actors doesnt wield extra power to resolve such issues.
Though his speech received applause from all quarters including Super Star, few others like VC Guganathan we not exactly happy about Ajith's remarks.
Asal - Strictly For Ajith Fans.( Review)
When i walked out from the cinema hall, that was jam packed till some time ago, i was faced by a scribe from some TV Channel, with a camera and a mike wanting to know the fate of Asal. I was a bit apprehensive, as the crowd was in an upbeat mood and not wanting to face the wrath of 'thala's fans, i reserved my comments for blog post.
After spending crores of rupees, in places like france, is this what the team Saran, Yuhi Sethu and Ajith has to offer? If you are looking for something interesting in the lines of 'villain' ( incidentally penned by Yugi Sethu), forget it.
To cut short, the film has nothing new to offer.
Spoilers ahead.
Story :Ajith Kumar ( Father) , who lives in France is a business magnate with interests in arms dealing. However, he refuses to trade with bad men who sells arms to extremists and drug peddlers. ( reminds of Ayan?). He has two sons Rajiv Krishna & Sampath and another son Ajith Kumar ( Son) out of an extra marital affair. Rajiv and Sampath are greedy and have an instant dislike for Ajith. The brothers , decides to do business with some shady people much against the wishes of Father and son Ajith. The brothers, in collusion with their uncle ( Pradeep Rawat and a corrupt french policeman ( Suresh, after a long while in tamil films) hatch a plan and succeed. The Father Ajith dies of illness.
The brothers had actually grabbed the business deal from an Mumbai underworld criminal Shetty. To Avenge, Shetty kidnaps Rajiv Krishna to Mumbai. After the father's demise and brothers' indifference, Ajith plans to quit the show. But, after learning that Rajiv has been kidnapped, Ajith vows to bring back his brother. He and his seceratry -cum - child hood buddy Sameera Reddy travel to india and gets the help from Prabhu ( Father Ajith's friend). In Mumbai, which doesnt look like Mumbai, you come across some funny characters like Yugi Sethu and Bhavana. Few scenes and two songs later, Ajith saves Rajiv. Along with Sampath, who has also come to India in search of his brother, kills Ajith and take Sameera with them to France.
Any one with a pea sized brain can guess what comes in the second half.
The romantic angle between Bhavana and Ajith looks stupid, Prabhu has nothing to do, Yugi Sethu tries to do a Vadivelu and fails miserably. There is no depth in the characters. The scenes involving arms deal and such look amateur. The Visuals remind you of Billa and the story line remids you of Ayan.
Pathetic.
The only thing i liked in the movie is Sameera Reddy's voice, courtesy, Chinmayi.
True, Ajith doesn't deliver punch dialogues, but others including the villains does the proxy job. Probably the makers can announce a contest to find the number of utterances of the word 'thala'
Director Saran reminds me of R.V.Udayakumar of 90s. Time to bid adieu like we kicked out RV U from the scene.
Go and Watch , Only if you are a 'Thala' fan.
Indian Talkies - Introduction
Indian Talkies is a new section that will speak on the best films in Indian Languages including Hindi.
Like Literature in vernacular languages, regional cinema too have distinct tastes and in most of the cases, it reflect the people of that soil. It is a common practice for an ardent movie buff or a film student to have profound knowledge in International Cinema and know nothing about what happens in the neighboring states. For instance, despite some arbitrary knowledge on the already popular Sathyajit Rays, Ritwik Ghataks, Adoors and Aravindans ( with due respect to all of them), a Tamil movie goer doesn't give a damn to Marathi & Oriya films.
I, for one who believe cinema can act as a bridge between people from diverse cultures. Hollywood films have played a major role in cultivating the 'English-like' habits in us. We were not alien to pizza when was launched here couple of decades ago. We learnt our office dress code from west , through films. But do we know what people from Orissa have in their breakfast? Or a Bangla's marriage rituals? Maharashtra's littérateur?
This series will be an attempt to highlight the Indian Language films of significant importance in languages like Kannada, Oriya, Marathi, Bengali, Manipuri and so on.
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