Saturday, June 21, 2008

Rajini and Kamal, two pillars of Tamil cinema

Actor Kamal Hassan is an actor who is always in the quest for a challenge and so playing just one role is not enough. Instead, he released in ten faces and the Kamal mania hit it's peak as the actor's fans celebrated the arrival of Dasavathaaram.

 

Kamal Hassan's fans went mad for the actors ten faces in his latest release, however, just one face of Rajinikanth in Sivaji was enough to send the crowds into a tail spin a year ago.

 

The filmy frenzy in Tamil Nadu was at it's peak when Rajinikanth's Sivaji hit the theaters.

 

"Rajinikanth is the stylist. He can bring life to even a dead film and Kamal Hassan is an actor who needs a strong script and powerful performances," says director, P Vasu.

 

Together Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan are known as the two pillars of Tamil cinema. Rajini is a complete entertainer, a super star who with his inimitable style sets the box office burning. In contrast, Kamal Hassan is the reclusive actor who's experiments and acting talents have won him awards and critical acclaim but not always box office success.

 

"To me, making a film is a holiday," says Kamal Hasan.

 

Unlike the rationalist Kamal Hassan, Rajinikanth's holidays have often been in spiritual silence at Hrishikesh.

 

Rajini's super stardom has often moved beyond films to a cult following in real life and that following has always raised the question on whether he will play a real life political leader.

 

However, not too sure if he would enter politics, Rajinikanth says, "God only knows if I will enter politics."

 

The mass super stardom gave way to huge political success for MGR in Tamil Nadu and NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh. The sheer brilliance of their acting gave eternal space to the legendary Sivaji Ganesan and now Kamal Hassan.

 

The two sets represent two different lenses for south Indian cinema, however, the fact is that both sides exist is a reminder that no matter how star struck south Indian cinema may be, there's always room for the real performer.

 

Video : http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/67464/rajini-and-kamal-two-pillars-of-tamil-cinema.html

 

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/rajini-and-kamal-two-pillars-of-tamil-cinema/67464-8.html


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Rajni mania back in USA

 

There is something about Rajinikanth that attracts every one. Obviously, the actor's handsomeness and intense eyes will attract everyone. But these days, the Rajni mania is reaching great heights, like it did way back in 2000.

 

A few years ago, a famous pop artist in America wore a T-shirt in one of her videos with Rajinikanth's face on it. Pretty soon, in another hip-hop video, a dancer wore a T-shirt, again with Rajinikanth's face. Then it became a rage in the US, wearing T-shirts with some Hindi inscriptions or Gayatri Mantra.

 

Then came the style of wearing T-shirt depicting Hindu Gods, the most famous being Lord Ganesha. Now, the Rajinikanth T-shirt is back in America, just like Che Guevara T-shirts. Rajinikanth T-shirt is also famous in Japan; most of the T-shirts feature his eyes alone with the intent gaze that was seen in Basha.

 

Rajinikanth is so famous in Japan that he chose to include two Japanese characters in Baba. Not only in Japan and America, Rajinikanth's fame reached Europe too. In fact, about two years ago, a French movie, Prête-moi, which was showcased in Cannes, borrowed a few scenes from the Rajni hit Muthu.

 

These scenes appear in the film when the lead actress is shown watching them on TV and remarking to the visitor that she is watching Muthu, a must-see Indian movie.

 

We are lucky to have great icons like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. It will be wonderful if these two great actors act in a film together like Jackie Chan and Jet Li did recently in Forbidden Kingdom. The day they do it, Tamil Cinema will reach its summit.

 

Recently, the actor heaped praises upon Kamal Haasan after watching Dasavathaaram (also spelt as Dasavatharam) in a special screening. Stay on Galatta.com to know more about it.

 

http://www.tamilwire.com/rajni-mania-usa/


சாதனை பட‌ை‌த்த குசேல‌ன் ஆடியோ ‌வி‌ற்பனை!

பேசாம‌லகுபேர‌னஎ‌ன்றவை‌த்‌திரு‌க்கலா‌ம். பட‌‌த்‌தி‌ன் ‌வியாபார‌த்தவை‌த்து‌பபா‌ர்‌க்கை‌யி‌லகுசேலனை‌விகுபேர‌னசால‌பபொரு‌த்த‌ம்.

க‌விதாலயா, செவ‌னஆ‌ர்‌ட்‌ஸஇணை‌ந்தகுசேலனதயா‌ரி‌‌க்‌கி‌ன்றன. தெலு‌ங்‌கி‌லகுசேலுடு. ‌ஜி‌.‌வி.‌பிரகா‌ஷகும‌ரஇசை. முத‌னமுறையாதலே‌ரமெக‌ந்‌தி குசேலனு‌க்காத‌மி‌‌‌ழி‌லபாடி‌யிரு‌க்‌கிறா‌ர். ல‌ண்ட‌‌னி‌லஉ‌ள்புக‌ழ்பெ‌ற்ஒ‌லி‌ப்ப‌திவகூ‌ட‌த்‌தி‌லகுசேல‌னஒ‌லி‌ப்ப‌திவநட‌ந்தது.

இவையெ‌ல்லா‌ம் ‌விஷய‌மி‌ல்லை. குசேல‌னர‌ஜி‌னி பட‌ம். இ‌ந்ஒரகாரணமே ‌பிரதான‌ம். குசேல‌னி‌‌னத‌‌மி‌ழ், தெலு‌ங்கு (குசேலுடு) ஆடியேஉ‌ரிமை 2.25 கோடி‌களு‌க்கு ‌வி‌ற்பனையா‌கி இரு‌க்‌கிறது. ‌‌பி‌க் ‌நிறுவன‌மஇ‌ந்த‌பபெரு‌ந்தொககொடு‌த்தஉ‌ரிமையவா‌ங்‌கியு‌ள்ளது.

தசாவதார‌த்‌தி‌னஆடியேஉ‌ரிமஇர‌ண்டகோடிகளு‌க்கு ‌விலைபோனது. சோ‌னி எ‌ம்.‌ி.எ‌ம். வா‌ங்‌கிஅ‌ந்த‌ததொகையை ‌விஇதஇருப‌த்தை‌ந்தல‌ட்ச‌ங்க‌ளஅ‌திக‌ம்.

கம‌லஉலகை‌சசு‌ற்‌றிமுருக‌னஎ‌ன்றா‌ல், ர‌‌ஜி‌னி இரு‌ந்இட‌த்‌திலேயஞான‌ப்பழ‌மபெ‌ற்ற ‌பி‌ள்ளையா‌ர்!
 

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Sivaji salutes Sarkar!

Superstar Rajinikanth rates Big B's latest performance as his finest ever

When Rajnikanth described Amitabh Bachchan as the true emperor of Indian cinema, he meant every word. The mutual admiration that the duo have for each other is well known and the Tamil superstar proved it again by asking for a special screening of Bachchan's latest film Sarkar Raj in Chennai.

The film reportedly impressed Rajni so much that he immediately called up the Big B and told him that this was his finest performance ever and that he is going to see the film once again purely for that.

Bachchan, touched by Rajini's gesture, said, "It feels nice when an actor like him compliments you."
Last year, when Rajini's film Sivaji had released, the South legend had flown to Mumbai to show the film to his friend. Although the two superstars have been compared for their huge popularity, they share a great relationship with each other.

Although the superstars have acted together only in a couple of films, directors have always shown interest in remaking movies of the stars. For instance, Amitabh's Don was remade in Tamil as Billa, which proved to be a milestone in Rajini's career.

 

Source : Times of India


Thursday, June 12, 2008

Dasavatharam - Pre Release Analysis

Dasavatharam - Pre Release Analysis

 

Finally, here comes the magnum opus of the greatest Star Kamal Haasan. His dedication for films is inevitable and especially his hard work has landed him up over here to this peak. Dasavatharam, the film is ready hit the screens by tonight at few theatres and morning in others. Few hours left for the release and Kollywood Today brings you some of the exciting analysis of the movie comparing to the past of Kamal Haasan's previous films.

 

First, let us glimpse through the box-office collections for Kamal Haasan's films. Aascar Ravichandran with a bold attempt has released the film at 22 centres in Chennai alone in order to overbeat Sivaji. But, when it comes to comparison between Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan, it is superstar who always tops the chart.

 

Before couple of decades, Manithan and Nayagan released together. With no doubt, Nayagan won the accolades for the stunning performance of Kamal Haasan, but superstar had his turn to picking the collections. Similar scenario showed up when Guna and Thalapathy were released together. Never seen before performance from Kamal Haasan was critically acclaimed, but Rajnikanth was again there to easily go for the box-office collections while Kamal couldn't.

 

Though Michael Madhana Kama Rajan had Kamal Haasan playing 4 different roles, it was really a good entertainer where it was just not the show of Kamal alone. The film had equal and powerful characterizations drawn for Manorama, Oorvasi, Nagesh, Bheem Boy and many others. Panchu Arunachalam produced the movie and Seengitham Srinivasan directed it.

 

But Dasavatharam has 10 roles and for the running length of 2hrs 45mins, you are going to see only Kamal and Kamal. Be it action, romance, comedy or anything, its only Kamal who will be donning it.

 

Might be that is the reason why Kamal Haasan cleverly handed over the protocol of direction to KS Ravikumar. He is the director who can well handle such kind of scripts in an entertaining manner adding commercial elements.

 

Finally, we would like to mention about the childish plays of Aascar Ravichandran. Be it any theatre in Chennai, none of the counters opened booking from Friday. But all the audiences were completely disappointed to hear that booking are opening only from Monday. The fact is that Aascar Ravichandran himself has blocked all the tickets for the first 3 days in order to create hype for his film.

 

Aascar Ravichandran must understand its not a matter of creating hypes, but a good film made for the audiences will always have excellent results. Also it is noteworthy that some of the journalists and photographers who were there at the theatres early on Sunday morning to take a note on crowd lining up, it was a complete disappointment to see that there were no sufficient crowd.

 

Then, one of the managers for the theatre located at Central Chennai had his staffs getting in 100 people with more difficulty to pose in line for the photographs. At this moment, speaking on this, the same manager says that people flocked in crowd to book the tickets for Sivaji at around 2 in the morning…

 

So, Let's wait and see how does Aascar's technique works out. If the film clicks well at the box-office, it is not due to his works of gimmicks, but the hard work of Kamal Haasan and K.S. Ravikumar….

 

Kollywood Today wishes for the best success of Dasavatharam bring more light into Kollywood.

 

http://www.kollywoodtoday.com/news/dasavatharam-pre-release-analysis/

 


Sunday, June 8, 2008

K.V. Anand Interview Extract

The fulfillment that got from shooting Thenmavin Kombatu, did you feel that way about Sivaji, too?

 

They are both different films. Thenmavin was a little realistic. I didn't have any pressure in that film. But Sivaji was loaded with expectation. I had to look at so many details. Is Rajini Sir looking okay, stylish, like an NRI? Rajini Sir was first priority. Before I started shooting for Sivaji, I thought this is so completely Shankar and the Superstar's film, that I'm hardly going to be noticed. But interestingly, after the movie came out, many people have now begun to refer to me as K.V. Anand, the man who shot Sivaji. In other words, this movie has brought me more fame and glory

 

http://www.behindwoods.com/features/Interviews/interview-5/kv-anand/index.html


Friday, June 6, 2008

­Robot in trouble

The soon-to-release futuristic sci-fi Bollywood film Love Story 2050 under Harry Baweja's direction starring Priyanka Chopra, has put director Shankar in a dilemma.


 

Shankar is in the final stages of wrapping up the script of his sci-fi Tamil film Robot . The 120 crore budget film has Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. Rumours say that both Love Story 2050 and Robot have a similar storyline — that of man and machine (robots). In Love Story 2050, Boman Irani plays an eccentric scientist who invents a time machine. On this time machine, the lead pair Priyanka and Harman Baweja set forth on a journey to the year 2050. They land in futuristic Mumbai amidst flying cars, robots, Indian Ninjas, androids, and laser guns.

 

Sources reveal that there is kid version of the lead pair with X-box games and Priyanka is said to be accompa nied by a pet robot, a robotic bear with a blue mohawk.

 

Shankar is in a 'wait and watch' dilemma so that he can modify his screenplay if need be after Love Story 2050 is released.

 


Nayan's solo song in Kuselan

Nayanthara is on a song, as she is there in all the scenes featuring Rajinikanth in P.Vasu directed Kuselan.

Now as a bonus comes in a solo song being picturised on Nayan for the film at Ramoji Rao studio by director Vasu. The buzz is that this song is a nice feel-good number shot on Nayan and lot of kids.

Remember that in the original Malayalam film on which Kuselan is based, the character of Nayanthara comes in just one duet with the superstar. In the Tamil version, Nayan's character has been created by Vasu to add glamour and glitz to the film.

Vasu is a smart guy who knows how to package a Rajinikanth film for the masses. Rajinikanth said at the 'pooja' of the film, that he may occupy only 25 percent of the running time. But now it looks like he will be there for nearly 50 percent of the time!

http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14689437

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

5ம் தேதி ரஜினி இமயமலை பயணம்

மேலும் புதிய படங்கள்சென்னை: நடிகர் ரஜினிகாந்த் வரும் 5ம் தேதி இமயமலை செல்கிறார். இரண்டு வாரங்கள் அவர் அங்கு தங்கியிருப்பார்.

வழக்கமாக ஒரு படம் முடிந்தவுடன் ரஜினி இமயமலைக்கு போய் விட்டு வருவார். இந் நிலையில் இப்போது பி.வாசுவின் இயக்கத்தில் குசேலன் படத்தில் நடித்து வருகிறார்.

இதன் முதல் கட்ட படப்பிடிப்பு ஹைதராபாத்தில் ராமோஜிராவ் பிலிம் சிட்டியில் ஒரு மாதம் நடைபெற்றது. பொள்ளாச்சியில் 2வது கட்ட படப்பிடிப்பு நடந்தது.

இப்போது குசேலனின் இறுதிக் கட்ட படப்பிடிப்பு கேரள மாநிலம் ஆலப்புழா அருகே உள்ள குட்டநாடு பகுதியில் நடந்து வருகிறது.

அங்கு நயன்தாரா, மம்தா மோகன்தாஸ் ஆகியோருடன் ரஜினிகாந்த் ஆடும் பாடல் காட்சி உள்ளிட்ட காட்சிகளும் படமாக்கப்பட்டு வருகின்றன.

வேம்ப நாடு ஏரி பகுதியில் படப்பிடிப்பு நடக்கிறது. ரஜினி வந்துள்ளதை அறிந்து அங்கு ஏராளமான கூட்டம் கூடியதால் போலீஸ் பாதுகாப்புடன் சூட்டிங் நடக்கிறது.

ஆலப்புழாவில் ஒரு கடலோர தங்கும் விடுதியில் இருந்தவாறு நடித்து வருகிறார் ரஜினி. இந்த படப்பிடிப்பு வரும் 5ம் தேதியுடன் முடிவடைகிறது.

இதையடுத்து 5ம் தேதி மாலை ரஜினி திருவனந்தபுரத்தில் இருந்து விமானம் மூலம் டெல்லி செல்கிறார். அங்கிருந்து அவர் ரிஷிகேஷ் பயணமாகிறார். அங்கு அவர் 15 நாட்கள் தங்கியிருப்பார் என ரஜினிக்கு நெருக்கமான வட்டாரங்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன.

Rajini delights fans

Kuselan, the Tamil remake of the Mammootty-Sreenivasan starrer Kathaparayumbol, created ripples among his fans on the very first day of the shooting schedule.

Relaxed, jovial and down to earth, Rajani was among his colleagues on the sets. Rajani arrived on Saturday evening for a four-day shooting schedule. He acted in the song sequence featuring him as a film star dancing with artistes on a houseboat.

Leading south Indian heroines Nayanthara and Meena and upcoming actor Mamtha are also in the movie. The megastar reached in time on the sets arranged on the banks of Punnamada lake on Sunday morning though he went to bed late on Saturday night after watching the IPL semifinals.

"He was bowled over by the beauty of the lake, while enjoying the taste varieties of Alappuzha like Karimeen pollichathu," production executive of the movie A Kabeer said. Cameraman of the movie Aravind Krishna suffered a slight injury on his leg during the shooting and he was taken to the Alappuzha MCH for treatment.

According to director Vasu, unlike Mammotty, who played a guest role in Kathaparyumbol, Rajani plays the role of a fulltime character as the story revolves around him.

 

Indian Express, Trivandrum Edition