Velayutham breaks all records!

In a press statement Ashok Parwani, Sony Music Entertainment Chennai, said, “We are overwhelmed with the response the movie and the music have received. Velayudham has broken all records and we have sold all our units within a day of its launch. The soundtracks are original, soulful and memorable. We’re sure that the compositions will go down in history as some of the best melodies of our times.”
The audio launch held in Madurai on August 28^th was a grand success with over one lakh Vijay fans attending the event. And to add to this success, all the audio CDs were sold on day one of the audio launch. This has created a new record!
Music director Vijay Antony has scored the music for Velayutham and the six tracks in the film are: Rathathin Rathamay (Haricharan, Madhumitha), Molachu Moonu (Prasanna, Supriya Joshi), Chillax (Karthik, Charulatha Mani Mayam), Seidhayo (Sangeetha Rajeshwaran), Sonna Puriyadhu (Vijay Antony, Veera Shankar), Vela Vela (Vijay Antony, Mark).

Mankatha: the biggest opening ever!

Mankatha is getting the biggest opening ever; but then it is no surprise because the film stars Ajith. The online bookings are full for the weekend and so are the advance bookings at the theatres.
Interestingly, all the theatres and multiplexes that are screening this film are running special shows from morning to night and still there is dearth of tickets. This proves that the film is going to have the biggest and grandest opening ever!
Mankatha is a directorial venture from Venkat Prabhu and the film stars Ajith, Arjun, Trisha, Lakshmi Rai and several others

Shankar updates on Nanban!

Shankar has written on his web site: “…….ha… we’ve successfully completed 98.8888% of the film, and the rest 1.1112% is one song and a quarter of another song, will be shot in the first week of September.”
Extremely happy with the way Nanban has shaped up, the talented director has said that it will surely be a treat for all movie buffs to watch Vijay, Jiiva, Sathyaraj, Srikanth, Sathyan, Ileana and others onscreen.
The director also confirmed that he is working on the final edit of Nanban and is rushing music director Harris Jayraj to complete the songs soon.

Vijay - Gautham Menon film goes international

Vijay's film with Gautham Menon entitled Yohan: Adhyayam Ondru is currently one of the most discussed projects, even though shooting has not begun yet and the film is still in the planning stages.
The latest on the film is that location scouts are busy zeroing in on possible places to shoot the film. Gautham Menon's films like Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu and VTV required the team to travel abroad to shoot portions of the film. New York is a favored destination for this director and for VTV, Gautham Menon even shot in Malta. Vijay's character in the film requires him to fly to all corners of the globe and hence massive chunks of the film will be shot in different parts of the world

Murugadoss's next with Aamir Khan?

AR Murugadoss's blockbuster with Vijaykanth, Ramana has caught the eye of the Bollywood bigwigs. A lot of the top stars have seen the film and have asked the director to make a Hindi version. Given the prevailing mood in the country following Anna Hazare's India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, the time is ripe for a film that has a leading man who fights corruption.
It is being said that the film will happen with Aamir Khan but there is no official word yet from the star himself. Murugadoss has said nothing about this and is currently busy with 7am Arivu with Suriya and his next film with Vijay.

Bollywood heroine receives death threat, cops not bothered!

Minissha Lamba, who did Kidnap with Imran Khan has been receiving anonymous phone calls where a caller has been threatening to kill her if she attends a cultural event in New York. The actress is bewildered because the event in question is not controversial in any way and is merely a harmless dinner for NRIs.
Determined not to let the matter rest, Minissha has reported the incidents to the cops. The actress is flustered because they are not taking her seriously enough. And though the cops are unconcerned, Minissha has said that she will somehow find out who is responsible for all this. In the mean time, she refuses to be cowed and will be taking part in this event in New York as per the plan.

Jiiva - Gautham Menon film- all set

Jiiva's film with Gautham Menon tentatively titled Nithya is all set to hit the floors on September 5th. A photo shoot was held recently and everybody was happy with the first look of the film. Word is that Samantha has been roped in as Jiiva's heroine for this film.
Pre - production work has been most satisfactory. Since Gautham Menon did VTV with STR and is currently working with Jiiva, it is to be hoped that there is no negative press between the two happening stars.

Kamal's surprise move in Viswaroopam

The latest buzz on Kamal's Viswaroopam is that the shoot has begun currently at Old mahabalipuram Road near Chennai where a set was erected and a number of scenes were shot. The team will soon be flying to Jordan for the next leg of the shoot. Anushka is expected to join the crew there. In a surprising move, Kamal has decided to complete the CG work first before proceeding to overseas shoot. He has enlisted the help of a team of software engineers for this purpose as he wants the visual effects to be truly spectacular for his project.
Word is that Kamal is still looking out for suitable actors to round out the existing cast. Apparently Amy Jackson has already been approached for a role. But it is yet to be confirmed.

Karthik's son and Kamal's daughter in Mani Ratnam's next!

Akshara, Kamal Haasan's second daughter was learning the ropes of direction under Rahul Dholakia, a well known filmmaker in Bollywood. But the lure to be on the other side of the camera has proved too strong for Akshara.
Ace director Mani Ratnam had been looking for a new face for his film with Karthik's son Gautham and he felt that Akshara with her natural good looks fit the bill perfectly. The veteran director convinced Akshara to don the greasepaint and enter the profession as an actress. Akshara could not refuse as it has come from Mani Ratnam. Looks like after her father, mother and sister, it is finally her time to shine.
Kamal Haasan, Sarika, and Shruti are delighted that Akshara will be getting a dream launch.

Ajith's Mankatha to be screened early

Ajith's Mankatha will have a special five am screening at Kaasi theatre, Chennai. Asal was also screened at this theatre at this particular time. Vijay's Sura, Vikram's Raavanan, and Enthiran were also alloted this time slot so that fans can catch this early bird special.
The reason is that hardcore fans would love to see the film before everyone else does and this is for their benefit. It is a given that there will be many who will camp out all night to catch this show! Now that is star power!

Another honour for Rahman

AR Rahman has brought one more honour to the country. The Oscar-Grammy winner has been selected and listed as one of 'Tomorrow's World Music Icons' by the top United Kingdom based magazine - Songlines.

Expressing happiness, the music maestro winner has tweeted on his microblogging site, "It's a great honour for me to be selected as one of 'Tomorrow's World Music Icons' in the current issue of Songlines."

Only recently Rahman's composition 'If I Rise...' from the film '127 Hours' has been nominated for the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA). The event will be held at Ghent, Belguim on the 22nd of October.

"If I Rise from 127 Hours nominated for the World Soundtrack Awards in the category - Best Original Song written directly for a film," Rahman said. Performed by singer Dido and Rahman, 'If I Rise...' is a part of Danny Boyle's 2010 movie '127 Hours', which stars James Franco, Amber Tamblyn and Kate Mara.