Imran reminds me of Marlon Brando: Gadhvi

After the successful Dhoom series, Sanjay Gadhvi is looking forward to his forthcoming release Kidnap, which has current flavour Imran Khan in an important role. The director describes his presence in the movie as a "bonus".

The film also stars Sanjay Dutt and Minissha Lamba.

"Imran is a bonus now. I never knew he'd become so big. It was Shibani Bhatija (the scriptwriter) who mentioned that Aamir Khan's nephew was looking to act," Gadhvi said.

"When I decided to cast Imran, I didn't even know he was doing Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na. I had no clue Imran's first film would turn him into a household hero. Everything happens as it is meant to be. I wanted to cast a boy who wants to be a man. When I saw him, I knew this was the guy who'd play Kabeer in Kidnap. Because of his mixed lineage, Imran has a very interesting face. He reminded me of Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront. I didn't have to change Imran's look, like Hrithik in Dhoom 2 or Esha in Dhoom. Just a stubble and a muscular look," he said.

Although Imran has a sizeable part in the film, the director says Kidnap is Sanjay Dutt's film.

"Kidnap is a Sanjay Dutt vehicle. From Jaane Tu... to Kidnap is like Kashmir to Kanyakumari for Imran. His character carries the weight of the world on his shoulders like Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan in Zanjeer. Sanjay and Imran share a great chemistry."

Sanjay agreed to play Minissha Lamba's father in Kidnap without a second thought.

"I think Sanjay wanted to do a father-daughter film for a long time. In the film, he doesn't get to see his daughter for eight years. Somewhere he connected with that situation on a personal level."

The director rebuffs rumours that it is a remake of Hollywood film Ransom.

"Kidnap is halfway between what I believe in and what is expected of me. But it is not a remake of the Mel Gibson starrer Ransom. Kidnap will establish me as a filmmaker of more gravity because a lot of people believe Dhoom had no story. At least Dhoom 2 got a little weight from the chemistry between Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai."

Before making Kidnap, Gadhvi directed three films for Yash Raj Films - Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, Dhoom and Dhoom 2. After star-studded Dhoom 2, Gadhvi walked out of the banner.

The departure got really bad for Gadhvi as some people in the Yash Raj camp said that Dhoom 2 had been ghost-directed by Aditya Chopra.

But Gadhvi revealed that he never wanted to make Dhoom in the first place.

"Dhoom was a space filler, a stopgap film. Kidnap was the first script of Shibani Bhatija (who wrote Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and My Name Is Khan) . This was the film I wanted to make for Yash Raj right after Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai.

"Adi (Aditya Chopra) suggested I team up with Shibani on Kidnap. The only one who could play the main role was Sanjay Dutt, but he told Adi he couldn't give dates before 2004. So I was at a loose end. Adi suggested a quickie featuring actors who were easily available to Yash Raj Films."

Gadhvi was supposed to start Kidnap right after Dhoom.

"But then the demand for a sequel to Dhoom was so high that I had no option but to make Dhoom 2. I wanted to make Kidnap. But Adi insisted I do Dhoom 2 and promised me that I'd do Kidnap and no one else would."

After doing three films for Yash Raj, Gadhvi moved out with the script of Kidnap.

"That's the way it works at Yash Raj. After three films all directors either move out or they become co-producers. Production isn't a responsibility I was willing to shoulder. I told Adi this. I wanted to walk on the wild side. Yash Raj was like the parents' home. I was the child that left home. And I got the script and title of Kidnap as a going-away gift."

But Gadhvi continues to be known as the Dhoom director.

"I never wanted to become a director who makes the Dhoom kind of films. Suddenly after Dhoom, I was offered many 'Dhoom type' scripts. They thought it was easy. A lot of people tried it after Dhoom and failed. But Dhoom wasn't my forte.

"I assisted the late Anant Balani from whom I learnt everything I know about filmmaking. My first film was Tu Hi Bataa. It featured Arjun Rampal, Raveena Tandon, Anupam Kher... it got shelved. Then I made another film Tere Liye, but most people think Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai with Yash Raj is my first film."

10-year-old boy among bomb-makers!

New Delhi: Delhi police may have neutralised one of the ‘masterminds’ of the bombings in the capital. However, the police are worried about the whereabouts of eight more terrorists, including a 10-year-old boy, who are on the run and who apparently assembled the bombs detonated in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Hyderabad.

"A 10-year-old boy was among those 10 people who designed, planned and assembled bombs that went off on September 13 in Delhi, on July 26 in Ahmedabad, on May 13 in Jaipur and on August 25, 2007 in Lumbani Park in Hyderabad," a top official of Delhi police, involved in investigation of the explosions, said.

he boy was with the terrorist group of the Indian Mujahideen led by Atiq that travelled to Ahmedabad three days before the blasts and assembled bombs there on the direction of Abdul Subhan Qureshi alias Taqueer," the official added, pleading anonymity.

The official said there was not much information about the boy and his family. "We don't much know how this boy got involved with terrorists. First we don't have any substantial information on Indian Mujahideen and now involvement of this boy has raised alarms among other security agencies as well."

"We also cannot say how many more children are part of the Indian Mujahideen," the officer added.

According to police officials, the group stayed at the house of one of the SIMI (the banned Student Islamic Movement of India) activists Imran, who was later arrested by the Gujarat police for the Ahmedabad serial blasts that killed at least 56 people and injured over 150.

"Before the bombs went off in Ahmedabad, the entire group boarded the Rajdhani (Express) train back to Delhi at 4:45 pm the same day. They all were seated in the second air-conditioned coach," said another top official, showing copies of the duplicate train tickets.

"The group returned to Delhi but this time they were accompanied by two more people - one from Indore and the other from western Uttar Pradesh," the senior official said.

The two, said to be expert car thieves, had stolen Maruti Suzuki Wagon R cars in which the explosives were packed and kept in two hospitals in Ahmedabad.

Pandhayam' - a bad movie bet

Film: 'Pandhayam'; Cast: Vijay, Nithin Sathya, Sindhu Tolani, Prakash Raj; Director: S.A. Chandrasekhar; Music: Vijay Anthony; Rating: half a star

'Pandhayam' means 'bet' in English.

Not only the director, cast and crew have bet against themselves but also ensured that they end up losers. The movie looks like one that suffered a double Rip Van Winkle slumber since the 70s sans the vintage quality of that era.

In a nutshell, it is all about a youth, played by Nithin Sathya taking a trip to Chennai to see movie icon Vijay who is allowed to be himself.

One of his Sathya's friends gets bumped off by a don portrayed by a hamming Prakash Raj.

So the bumpkin manages to wangle the don's daughter enacted by Sindhu Tolani.

One wonders why Sathya who got attracted critical acclaim in 'Chennai 600028' did this bomb.

Sindhu Tolani fails to impress. Vijay's presence in a guest role fails to revive the film. The less said about Vijay Anthony's music the better

Railways soon to enable use of laptops in trains

New Delhi, Sept 19 (ANI): Indian Railways is planning to provide satellite-based internet facility in premier trains to enable passengers to use laptops.

In Mumbai-Ahmedabad Shatabdi Express a trial run is already underway and our aim is to provide internet facility in certain premium trains including Rajdhani and Shatabdi, said a senior Railways ministry official.

Besides, there are plans to introduce onboard audio and video entertainment system for passengers during the train journey.

Also efforts are on to provide DTH services to onboard passengers and trials for this are under way, according to reports.

The railways is keen to establish High Speed Internet Corridor along all routes to provide internet, IPTV and other entertainment and utility services in trains, which provides for value addition to passenger amenities.

Monsoon Devastates Villages in India

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People walk past an overturned truck on a flooded road at Chharad village, about 62 miles west of Ahmadabad, India, Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. Army personnel are undertaking relief and rescue operations with monsoon floods throwing life out of gear in several areas in the state.

'Big Bang Machine' Breaks Down Again

Plans for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to start smashing its first particles next week have been derailed after it developed a significant fault Friday.

The problem with one of the $7.2 billion accelerator's superconducting magnets means it will be impossible to stage its first trial collisions on Monday, and further delays could follow once the damage has been fully assessed.

While a faulty transformer that had hindered progress for much of the past week has now been replaced, the magnet failure is potentially more serious.

Supercooled helium that chills the LHC's magnets to 1.8 degrees centigrade above absolute zero was released into the accelerator's 17-mile tunnel in the incident.

Engineers were still investigating the extent of the problem Friday afternoon, and CERN officials could not say how long it would take to fix and what impact it would have on the LHC's schedule.

James Gillies, CERN's head of communications, said: "It certainly means we will not have collisions on Monday. We are now looking at the middle of next week at the earliest."

World's Shortest Man Stops Traffic in New York City

NEW YORK — It apparently takes a visit by the world's shortest man to bring New York City to a halt.

Cab drivers, police officers and other busy New Yorkers paused in their hurried lives to look at tiny He Pingping as he walked along 42nd Street in Manhattan on Thursday.

The 20-year-old Chinese man is 2 feet 5.37 inches tall. He was in the city to launch the 2009 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. He is listed as the shortest man on the planet.

His brother-in-law told the Daily News in Friday editions that coming to New York is "like a dream" for Pingping, who lives in Mongolia and was born with primordial dwarfism.

Crowds in Manhattan stopped to gawk wherever he went. His brother-in-law said Pingping likes the attention.

Aamir Khan turns barber for…

Do you remember how A.R. Murugadoss (director of Tamil and Hindi Ghajini) surprised everyone at a Bollywood party by turning up in Ghajini hairdo? The brilliant but humble director reveals the secret behind it.

Murugadoss declared that is was Aamir Khan’s idea, for which he even turned a barber! Yes! And Aamir Khan is the one who gave Murugadoss a Ghajini hair-cut! Though Murugadoss was wary of the idea in the beginning but Aamir talked him into it saying it would be fun and a real headturner. It is a nice payback too: Aamir wore that hairdo throughout the filming and now Murugadoss will have to sport it until the film’s release!

Aamir and Murugadoss have developed thick friendship by the end of the filming. It seems that Aamir is requesting Murugadoss to direct one more film for him; such is the actor’s faith in Murugadoss.

Subramaniapuram Swathi’s decision

Subramaniapuram, which received rave reviews from critics as well as common people, reiterates the fact that if a film is narrated linearly, it does not require big star cast to boost its performance. The lead stars that were associated with the film are getting good offers and the entire team is quite happy. Heroine Swathy who conveyed myriad emotions just

through eyes and body language has become the new toast of Kollywood. This demure maiden has been swamped with offers but she has not signed any film.

When questioned she had this to say, "I am very happy about people appreciating my performance in Subramaniapuram. I have earned a good name in the industry and I hope to retain it. Though I am getting many offers, most of them do not have any scope for performance and it only requires me to come as a show piece. I don't want to be one among the many props which make its appearance in the film. That's why I am waiting for the right script to come my way and I am hopeful that I would get one soon."

Trisha’s lessons for Marma Yogi

News about Marma Yogi, the high budget film produced by Pyramid Saimira, is pouring in every day. It is confirmed that Kamal Haasan will share the screen space with Trisha and Shriya. The photo shoot of this film has also been completed a few days ago. According to industry sources, Kamal has been insisting that Shriya should dub for the film as

well. Moreover, Trisha is undergoing a grueling Tamil phonetics class from a Tamil teacher to get her pronunciation right. It is said that Kamal wants her pronunciation to be on par with the ancient Tamil for this period film and would not settle for any imperfections whatsoever. In all probability, Shriya will also undergo this rigorous training, our source adds.

Shriya’s no to Vettrimaran, yes to Dhanush

It was reported a few days ago that Shriya refused to star with Dhanush in a project that was to be directed by Vettrimaran. The film was to be produced by Kathiresan who had produced the smash hit Polladhavan with the same team. The actress was also given Rs. 50,000 in advance to star in the film. However, owing to other film commitments Shriya felt

that she could not star in this project and hence returned the advance to Nadigar Sagam General Secretary Radha Ravi, as Kathiresan refused to accept the same.

Meanwhile, the lady seems to have entered into a pact with Gemini Films to star opposite Dhanush. Kathiresan, naturally irked by Shriya's decision, approached the Producers' Council to settle the issue. After looking into the matter Producers' Council President Rama Narayanan has directed Shriya to complete her commitments with Gemini Films and then star in Kathiresan's project.

Sathyanarayana, the All India Rajinikanth Fan club President told that he has never prevented Rajini from becoming a political leader.

In his recent interaction with our Chennai Special Correspondent, Sathyanarayana confirmed the same and explained the good message that the fans are expecting from 'Thalaivar' Rajini. He once again confirmed that the October meeting would be a crucial one and some special message is in store for the fan community of the Superstar.

According to Sathy (as the functionaries call him), he does not have the rights to disclose the private discussions with Rajini.

"Rajini will announce the right decision at an appropriate time. I'm not in a position to say whether it is a political or socially linked one. But the good message is, our Thalaivar will come out of his silence..." Sathy said in a very relaxed tone.

He also said, "Many think that I'm the sole reason for his political entry being delayed… Please trust me that I never prevented him from entering politics. If he announces his political party launch, I'll be the first one to celebrate the same with great zeal. In fact no one can prevent him when he takes a decision or force him to take a decision. If he decides a thing, he would never look back… That is Rajini..."

What is the 'October Plan', actually?

"Meeting the entire fan community is one of the reasons behind this announcement. The other reasons behind the meet can be revealed only by Rajinikanth, The ultimate Boss!" Sathy said this with his usual smile.

Raj TV misuses Sneha's photos

Leading Tamil actress Sneha has alleged that a local channel has used her photos and name to promote a chat show, which is in no way connected to her.

In her press statement regarding this, the actress told that for reasons best known to a Tamil satellite television channel, her name and photographs have been used for a chat show with which she had absolutely nothing to do at all.

"The motive seems mischievously sinister and ridiculous..." Sneha says.

Trouble arose on Saturday when Raj TV distributed pamphlets about a forthcoming show entitled "Soodana Sneha" to reporters.

An image of the actress sans a caption or other indications of her participation has set tongues wagging that she might be turning to television as well

She said, "The channel has no business to do this to me. It is surely the handiwork of a few unwanted elements who want to tarnish my name simply because I opted out of projects for personal reasons..."

The actress had recently walked out of ace director K.S. Ravi Kumar's forthcoming venture Jaggubhai starring actor-politician Sarath Kumar.

Silambarasan alias Simbu has denied reports about the incident, that he called up cops and reported that his car was stolen by his driver a couple of days ago after attending a liquor party.

According to the reports, Simbu and his younger brother Kuralarasan had dropped in at a night club and asked the driver to wait, but later when the driver called up their mother Usha Rajendar, she instructed him to come back. After searching for the driver and his car, Simbu complained the police about it and reached his house by taxi.

The media reports also stated that Simbu's mother wanted to teach her sons a lesson for their late arrivals in the evenings after heavy parties.

After having gone through these stories, Simbu was shocked and conveyed the same through a statement. According to him, he was away in Sri Lanka for shooting with Sneha for his forthcoming Silambattam.

"I left Chennai on September 3 and was back yesterday morning only (Sep 14) and heard all these baseless reports. This is not the first time that the media has been targeting me. They have done enough damage to me..." Simbu says.

According to Simbu, his younger brother Kuralarasan had gone for a party with friends and when he came back the car and driver were missing in the hotel. He called up his mom who made a police complaint.

"My brother was shocked due to these merciless reports. My father Rajendar is going to filing a defamatory suit against the publication which caused this damage..."

Rajini and Ash rock the dance floor

The first duet song of Rajini -Aishwarya for the magnum opus in Indian film industry Enthiran- The Robot, took place in Peru and Brazil.

According to the reliable sources, director Shankar has completed the first song with the top class actors of the country in the historical place Machu Picchu located near the Amazon forests in Peru.

The other song will be shot in a studio in Hollywood in which the superstar will act solo with the amazing scientific back drop.

Earlier Shankar had issued a press release prior to leaving Chennai saying he is shooting the film in USA, but he never mentioned anything about the exact location or region.
According to our sources, the song had Rajini's stylish dance movements, as he danced with Aishwarya and the buzz is that he even did a Spanish salsa dance movement under choreographer Raju Sundaram. The second song will be choreographed by Ragava Lawrence.

Stalin lauds Raman Thediya Seethai

Minister for Local Administration, M.K.Stalin and his family members including producer Udhayanithi watched the sneak preview of Moser Baer's Raman Thediya Seethai (RTS) held at Devi-Sri Devi Theater last night.

Health Minister K.K.S.S.R Ramachandran and his family members also watched the premier. After watching the movie Stalin and others expressed their positive opinions and praised the director for presenting a neat entertainer.

According to director Jagan, the feedback from others who have watched the film earlier has also been very encouraging.

Once again Vadivelu is going to pair with top actress for a song sequence.

Earlier, the actor danced with Asin for Suttum Vizhi Sudare... (the popular number from Gajini) in Pokkiri. After that he shook legs with Shreya in Indhralogathil Na Azhagappan.

Now the top comedian is going to dance with Nayantara for the remix of popular song 'My name is Billa...' in Vijay's Villu!

This time Devi Sri Prasad is going to make the remix. It is said that Nayantara is also very eager to share the screen space with this ace comedian, probably the way she did with Ajith in the Vishnuvardhan's version of 'Billa'!

The shooting is now going on in AVM studio

Trisha celebrates Nayantara's flops

South Indian actresses Trisha and Nayanatara are bitter enemies. They revel in pulling other down at the slightest opportunity. So when Nayanatara's films, Kuselan and Salute flopped, it was good news for Trisha. Trisha is now celebrating the flops of Nayanatara by throwing lavish parties for her friends. Both the actresses have started experimenting with their roles of late, as the war is still going on between them. However the irony is that Trisha's movies in the recent past have not done well either! So one should not be surprised if Nayanatara throws a party when a new film of Trisha's bombs at the box office.

Aegan all charged for Deepawali race!

Ayngaran International's maiden Tamil venture Aegan is slated to be a Deepavali release making Thala fans more enthusiastic.

Thala, as die hard fans call Ajith always feels lucky about releasing his films during Deepavali. His earlier films like Amarkalam, Varalaru released on the day of Deepavali turned out to be big hits at the box office and reaped accolades.

Leading Choreographer Raju Sundaram makes his directorial debut through this film. After Billa, Nayantara once again shares screen space with Ajith. There is one more new attraction in this film. It is Piaa, the hot model from Mumbai to shake her legs with Ajith.
Ayngaran International's maiden Tamil venture Aegan is slated to be a Deepavali release making Thala fans more enthusiastic.

Thala, as die hard fans call Ajith always feels lucky about releasing his films during Deepavali. His earlier films like Amarkalam, Varalaru released on the day of Deepavali turned out to be big hits at the box office and reaped accolades.

Leading Choreographer Raju Sundaram makes his directorial debut through this film. After Billa, Nayantara once again shares screen space with Ajith. There is one more new attraction in this film. It is Piaa, the hot model from Mumbai to shake her legs with Ajith.

No Love Marriage- Karthi

Paruthi Veeran fame Karthi said that his marriage would be an arranged one.

The actor said, "I'm not interested in falling in love with anyone either inside or outside the industry... I would like to marry a girl of my parents' preference...'

Karthi is now acting in his second mega budget film Ayirathil Oruvan under Selvaraghavan's direction.

According to Karthi, he is very hopeful about the script of Aayirathil Oruvan and the film would be a grand hit like Paruthi Veeran.

"I've not entered in the field just like that. Previously I worked with Maniratnam, one of the greatest legends of our time.

I have got the state's best actor award for Paruthi Veeran. Getting a national award is my ambition.

Impressed a lot with Rajini sir and his fan club's welfare activities, I have started my contribution to my brother Surya's welfare activities to promote the education of poor...", comments the young actor.

Endhiran – The Robot's designs are out

The wait is over! Finally the designs of Endhiran – The Robot is out. Instead of using the photographs of Rajini, it is an animation designed in black and white with Rajini holding a red rose. According to Kollywood sources, Rajini had insisted that Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan's name be given equal importance as his. Rajini plays dual

role in this film. While one is the robot the other is a human Rajini.

M. Night Shyamalan with Shankar for Endhiran

Though underway in full earnest in Peru with the shooting of a song,
there seem to be things about Endhiran that are still troubling Shankar's mind.
It is no secret that Endhiran, then Robot, was affected by the demise of writer
Sujatha. He had been a trusted associate and screen writer for Shankar. We had
reported that Shankar had called upon writer Balakumaran to fill the void.
Balakumaran had earlier worked with Shankar in Gentleman, Kadhalan and Jeans.

But even after the completion of scripting works, Shankar seems to see room
for improvement, trademarks of a perfectionist. With the sci-fi specialist
Sujatha no longer around to give the much needed advice, Shankar has
chosen to look beyond Kollywood, beyond Bollywood and into Hollywood.
Shankar seems to have set sight on Manoj Night Shyamalan, known for
making films like Sixth Sense, The Village, Unbreakable, Signs and
The Happening. Shyamalan may not be a complete sci-fi specialist
but he knows how to keep people on their toes and that's exactly
what Shankar wants. The top Kollywood director is said to have
approached Shyamalan for discussing the finer elements of the script
of Endhiran.

Now we don't know what the exact role of Manoj Night Shyamalan might be in Endhiran, maybe that of a script consultant. We also are not sure whether Shyamalan has accepted to work in the project, because there are news about him moving on to his next project in Hollywood and he is also known to be very choosy in what he does, especially after having opted out of a chance to script an Indiana Jones movie. Let's hope things come together well and that Shankar is able to convince Shyamalan.

Sakkarakatti on 26 sep

Taxi…Taxi' is the most widely hummed song of the recent times from the movie 'Sakkarakatti'. Set to tunes by AR Rahman the peppy number has made a clean sweep at the chart busters with its foot tapping music for which Blaze rapped. The movie starring seasoned actor K Bhagyaraj's son Shaanthanu is set to hit screens on 26th of September.

Shaanthanu makes his debut venture as a hero in this flick is pitted against Vedika and Ishita. The movie is being directed by Kala Prabu, son of Kalaipuli S Dhanu who produces this feature film.

The first time director lauds the songster A R Rahman for composing scads of theme music for the movie which bolsters its already high reputation by the songs. Kala Prabu promises that the re-recording has emerged as a wonderwork which is sure to render a mellifluous effect for the audience and especially for Rahman's die hard fans.

'Sakkarakatti' with a tag line a choo chweet will be true to its words as this movie will be a treat for Rahman fans with its fabulously luster opera. The songs have been a promoting asset to the film which is being produced by Kalaipulu S Dhanu who is acclaimed for his slick promotion.

Remake kings of kollywood

The new breed of emerging filmmakers in Kollywood is inspired by foreign films or just churning out Hindi film remakes. It’s crystal clear now. In the last one month, films successful at the box-office are all "inspired" or remakes. Digest this. Saroja (Judgment Night), Dhaam Dhoom (Red Corner), Nayagan and Vegam (Cellular), and Poi Solla Porom (Khosla Ka Ghosla). One of the big hits of this year Mysskin’s Anjathey is inspired heavily from Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River. The directors, who take the basic concept and re-work it to suit local taste are the winners. There is nothing really wrong in getting inspired, as long as you don’t make it a frame-toframe remake. It’s been happening over the years as our films are basically entertainers, and those who make adaptations from our books or literature have not been so successful. Is there one original scriptwriter in Kollywood?

Bollywood directors have been doing it with impunity since the 70s when Dirty Harry became Khoon Khoon or Irma la Deuce turned into Manoranjan. At one time, every Bollywood director was depending on foreign DVD's, with source material shifting from Hollywood to Korean, Japanese and Spanish films! Now the Bollywood DVD directors are not interested in doing a cut and paste job instead they are willing to buy the original rights and Indianise it to suit the local taste. Recently, one of the biggest copycats in Bollywood, Sanjay Gupta, who has ripped Reservoir Dogs into Kaante is now set to remake a French thriller of the 60’s, after buying the copyrights from the original director. Similarly the ‘Ustaads’ of rip-off's, Abbas-Mastan,whose every Hindi thriller can be traced to some Hollywood film, are now going the legitimate way by buying the rights of the 70s film The Italian Job to be made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu!

Meanwhile, forthcoming Tamil movies are also heavily ‘inspired’ by foreign films or are remakes of Hindi films, which in turn are copies from Hollywood biggies! The trend catching up with our directors is that they are getting more educated, as they feel Korean, Mexican, Iranian and Japanese films are more native for Tamil audiences than Hollywood! A director who ripped of the basic plot of a Korean film, later said at a press meet that the “idea came to him from a real life incident that took place in a village near Madurai”. Another famous director making his acting debut as a hero, has sourced his basic storyline from an African movie he saw in an English movie channel. Our directors have realised that better than scouting around DVD shops, it is better to go for DTH connections as it offers a bouquet of movie channels. Watch out for more “real stories that happened in a village near Madurai!”

US bans import of 30 Ranbaxy drugs from India

Domestic pharma major Ranbaxy has suffered some shocks in recent times, but this may well be the most serious one. The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued an “import alert” on over 30 generic drugs produced by Ranbaxy in India, in effect blocking their entry into the company’s largest market, due to “serious manufacturing deficiencies.”
The FDA also issued two warning letters to the company pointing out its concerns about deviations from standard manufacturing processes and systems (Good Manufacturing Practice requirements certified by the agency) at two facilities — Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) and Paonta Sahib (including the Batamandi unit) in Himachal Pradesh.
However, the FDA clarified that there was no reason to consider the drugs hazardous; it only had issues with the quality of the manufacturing processes.
Ranbaxy’s half-yearly sales (January-June) in the US were at $230 million this year. Last year, the US contributed $390 million of the company’s total revenue of $1.6 billion. Analysts expect that the company’s sales may take a knock of $75-100 million this year.
As the alleged violations are of a critical nature, it would take some time to resolve and the company may take a hit of around $200 million of sales next year. Analysts estimate that the 30 drugs amount to around 40-50% of total United States sales.

Varanam ayiram audio on 24 sep

“The audio of Vaaranam Aayiram is being launched on September 24th at Sathyam Cinemas”, says a spokesperson of Photon Factory, one of the producers of the film. Sony-BMG, has signed a record deal with producer V. Ravichandran for the audio rights of this Surya starrer.

It is the most awaited audio in recent times and is Harris 26th album. Those who heard the numbers from the album say that the songs rock. Harris is in splendid form especially the retro 60's type song Mundhinam Parthene… picturised on Surya and Simran and the song Adiye Kolluthey.. both potential chartbusters.

These two songs will be premiered at the audio launch and all the cast and crew of the film will be present at the function.

Says Harris to Sify.com: " I share a great rapport with Gautham. A music director and director must have great chemistry if good songs have to evolve and Vaaranam Aayiram numbers are picturised beautifully by Gautham”.

Enthiren first song completed

As reported by sify.com the shoot of Enthiren- The Robot, took place in Peru and Brazil.

Shankar had issued a press release prior to leaving Chennai saying he is shooting the film in USA, and conveniently forgot to mention the Peru and Brazil part of their itenary!

In fact, as per our sources the shoot of the first song in Peru and Brazil is over. The song had Rajini's graceful movements, as he danced with Aishwarya and the buzz is that he even did a Spanish salsa dance movement under choreographer Raju Sundaram.

After shooting the first song, Shankar is likely to fly to Hawai to shoot the second song for the film.

Ask Nayanthara and she will tell you about how she discovered that staying on top is harder than getting there. She is a star who not only outlasts her flops but is forgiven for them.

After two consecutive duds like Kuselan and Sathyam (her biggest flop) Nayanthara still rules Kollywood. But post Sathyam release, the actress was consciously avoiding the media, refusing to speak about her future moves and has a wall around her.

Recently the media went to town about her salary (rumoured to be between Rs 1.25 to 1.50) which is the highest paypacket any Tamil heroine gets. Kindly discount Aishwarya Rai getting Rs 6 crore to do Enthiran, because it's an exception.

The fact that she is demanding and getting over a Crore as her salary has irked the conservative industry, where heroines normally are paid below Rs 50 lakhs. They say that her last two films bombed, but no other heroine in the past had to bear the brunt of her flops, which itself shows that she is on par with any top hero as far as her films and openings count.

The whole issue of her salary was stirred up after Lingusamy signed her up to do a film at a whopping rate with Karthi. There were rumours that he was not happy about paying her such a fat salary, after Sathyam fiasco and was on the lookout for another heroine.

But the moment his distributors and financiers heard that he was having second thoughts about casting Nayan, they said they will pull out of the project! That is Nayan power.

So what is that makes this girl from Kerala click with the audiences worldwide? It is her hard work, courage to take up challenges, her professional ways with her co-stars, producers and directors and the all-important lady luck being at her footsteps. And all this without any godfathers, industry connections or parents to give her that support and mentor her.

Says the leading distributor in Tamilnadu: " Nayanthara is the only heroine today who commands an opening, as she is able to attract the youth and family audiences. Her combination with superstars work wonders for the film. But if the story of the film is weak no superstar or super heroine can save the film. "In a way, Nayanthara makes the marketing of Aegan and Villu easier for its producers Ayngaran International. Of course the success of these two films will determine whether she gets another round with them.

This Friday (Sep 19), three films are due- Moserbaer's Raman Thediya Seethai (RTS), V.V Creations Panthayam and Mudhal, Mudhal, Mudhal Varai(M3V).

The distributors of these films are finding it difficult to get playing time in theatres across Tamilnadu, as they are choked. The earlier releases Dhaam Dhoom, Saroja and in Chennai city Poi Solla Porom is doing decent business. Most of the theatres are therefore giving only one or two shows to the new releases.

Raman Thediya Seethai is opening in 107 screens worldwide. It will be the first Cheran film to release in so many screens, overseas it is releasing in 24 screens. The film is said to be a feel good family story, and is depending on word of mouth to push it through.

Panthayam is said to be a low class mass masala, depending purely on its one-man hero and villain rolled into one Prakash Raj, along with Vijay Antony's re-mix numbers to woo the front benchers to the theatres. The film is being aggressively marketed by Hitesh Jhabak, in 115 screens across Tamilnadu.

Mudhal, Mudhal, Mudhal Varai is being marketed as a multiplex movie with hardly 30 prints and is depending more on its five screen Chennai opening.

Kamal again in a liplock?

After passionately kissing Rani Mukerji in Hey Ram, he will be smooching Shriya Saran in the upcoming Marmayogi, reports Prithwish Ganguly.

Kamal Haasan’s forthcoming film Marmayogi is expected to have a steamy attraction for the fans of this iconic South superstar. Rumours are doing the rounds that the movie will see Kamal lip-locking with Shriya Saran who plays his wife.

Marmayogi will have two heroines — Trisha, who has already been confirmed, will play the main lead and Shriya will play an extended cameo and make an appearance only when Kamal goes into flashback mode.

Shriya has so far never kissed in any film while Kamal’s passionate lip-lock with Rani Mukerji in the period film Hey Ram in 2000, raised many eyebrows. In the film, Rani played his wife who is raped and killed during riots in Kolkata after India’s independence. Kamal then sets out to kill Mahatma Gandhi who he feels is responsible for all the problems happening in the country.

“The film is expected to narrate the story of a person who rises up against all evils to protect the ones he loves. That Trisha is in the film is confirmed and Shriya has been contacted to play the second lead. She will play Kamal’s wife who dies early in the film,” says an insider.

The source adds, “The film will see Kamal recount his tragic past to someone and narrate his relationship with his wife and in this part of the film there is a passionate kissing scene between Kamal and his wife (Shriya Saran).”

Rumours are rife that the film could be an adaptation of the hit Mel Gibson movie Brave Heart in which the hero’s wife is killed by oppressive colonial rulers. Mel revives from his tragedy only to revolt against the rulers and what follows is a gory bloodbath in repeated wars.

We contacted Shriya told us, “I have been approached to be a part of the film but I haven’t gone through the script thoroughly to tell you whether a scene like that exists.”
Kamal Haasan will be directing the film which will be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

The claim to have created the world's smallest PC has frequently been touted by companies small and sundry. But this little device really takes the cake, and it at least seems worthy of its claim. CompuLab has introduced a tiny fanless PC dubbed the Fit-PC Slim.

This tiny PC measures 4.3x3.9x1.2-inches and weighs just 380 grams. It uses 4-6 Watts of power and is equipped with a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor, an Ethernet port, 3 USB ports, a VGA output, WiFi, and a 2.5-inch hard drive option. It is also capable of running both Windows XP and Linux.

We want one.

Features and Specifications:
Processor -- 500MHz AMD Geode LX800
Memory -- 256MB or 512MB of soldered-on RAM
Display -- VGA output
Storage -- Accepts 2.5-inch hard drive internally; factory offers pre-installed 60GB version

Networking:
LAN -- 10/100 Ethernet with RJ45 connector
WLAN -- 802.11b/g (optional)

Other I/O:
3 x USB 2.0 (2 front-panel, 1 rear)
1 x serial (with proprietary connector)
Dimensions -- 4.3 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches (110 x 100 x 30mm)
Weight -- 13 ounces (380g)

The Fit-PC Slim with basic 256MB configuration without WiFi is priced at $220, while the one with 512MB and WiFi but no hard drive is priced at $245. Meanwhile, the one equipped with a 60MB hard drive (yes, you read that right -- a bizzare capacity, for sure), 512MB of RAM, and offering an option to choose either Linux or Windows XP Home would cost $295 and $335, respectively.

The fourth generation iPod Nano is the thinnest iPod ever featuring a sleek new design with a curved aluminum and glass enclosure, in nine vibrant colors. The new iPod Nano incorporates Apple's breakthrough Genius technology which automatically creates playlists from songs in your music library that go great together, with just one click. The new iPod nano also features a refined user interface, a high resolution portrait display and a built-in accelerometer which automatically switches to Cover Flow when rotated and automatically goes into Shuffle mode when lightly shaken. The new iPod nano gives users up to 24 hours of music playback or four hours of video playback and is available in an 8GB model for Rs.9,700 and a 16GB model for just Rs.12,500. Both models come in silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, and black.