Tamil cinema once again - Mumbai meri jaan

Kollywood's heartthrob Suriya, who made Aamir Khan sit up, take note and better his box office raking with ‘Ghajjini' , has just commenced shooting for Ram Gopal Varma (RGV)'s ‘Raktha Charitra', a biopic on the Naxalite Paritala Ravi. Former Miss Chennai Trisha is ecstatic about her Bollywood
debut with Akshay Kumar in Priyadarshan's movie, ‘Khatta Meetha'.

More than 60 years after S S Vasan's Chandralekha', the country's first all-India hit, created ripples with its promos and the movie itself the Bollywood-Kollywood cine express is on a fast track. Kollywood technicians, actors and directors are making movies with top Hindi stars and directors.

Mani Ratnam, who tugged the heartstrings of audiences even in Jammu and Kashmir with Roja' is currently directing Aishwarya Rai and Abishek Bachchan in Ravan'. Mani has also roped in popular Tamil star Vikram, marking his entry into Hindi films. Ace south Indian cinematographer Ravi K Chandran is currently in San Francisco, shooting Raj Kumar Santhoshi's ‘Ajab Prem Ki Gajan Kahani'.

And it's not just a one-way street. Hindi stars are increasingly signing up with Tamil directors. Sameera Reddy and Pradeep Rawat will be packing their bags to Malaysia for the shoot of Asal', being produced by Sivaji Films, which forayed into Bollywood with Amar Deep' and Rakhi'.

In fact, there has always been an exchange of talent between the two film industries. From the late 40s right upto the 80s, Tamil producers and directors had successfully made Hindi films with leading stars such as Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Ashok Kumar, Sanjeev Kumar, Nargis, Waheeda Rahman and Rajesh Khanna.

Stars from Tamil cinema have also made waves in Bollywood. Vyjayanthimala Bali was the first superstar from the south who debuted with ‘Bahaar' , produced by AVM, in 1951. A couple of decades later Kamal Haasan's Ek Duje Ke Liye' was a chartbuster. ‘Andha Kanoon' gave Rajinikanth a pan Indian face and his mannerisms like flicking the cigarette drew non-Tamil movie buffs to the theatres.

"The cross-border movie making culture between Hindi and Tamil cinema is the perfect example of a love story in business," says G Ramkumar, son of Sivaji Ganesan. He should know, since his home has been the preferred destination of many Bollywood stars, including Prithviraj Kapoor, Mahmood, Rajendra Kumar, Pran and Lata Mangeshkar. S Ramanathan is another director who successfully cast top Bollywood stars in his films, and is said to be a close confidante of Amitabh Bachchan.

"The recent signings are an indication that Tamil stars are saleable, since they are being paired with top Hindi stars once again," says Ramesh Prasad, son of the late LV Prasad who successfully produced and directed many silver jubilee hits in Hindi.

"It is wonderful that Bollywood is once again shopping down south," says Bali. "Tamil producers and directors have always been successful because of their skillful storytelling abilities."

"It was Vasan's ‘Chandralekha' which opened the doors for other Kollywood producers and directors in Bollywood," says film historian Randor Guy. "Thevar was another successful filmmaker who, without knowing a word of Hindi or English, signed up stars like Rajesh Khanna. He would just say, Date mine, money yours' and the stars would smile and sign up," says actor and corporate lecturer Mohan Raman.

Today language is no bar. Asin dubbed her own lines in ‘Ghajjini' and is likely to do so in her second film as well, this time with Salman Khan. Indu Mirani, a Bollywood trade analyst, says, "The trend in Bollywood has been towards hiring male stars with Punjabi and Pathan looks, but Siddharth was also a huge rage, so it is wide open there."

Ramkumar is convinced that the Kollywood-Bollywood connection is a hot and happening bridge."The glamour quotient in Tamil films is a proven one today. Add to it the mind-blowing expertise of our technicians and our reputation for being good paymasters and it's going to be ‘Chennai Chalo', and ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan'," he says.

via: indiatimes.com

Prabhu Deva - Nayanthara Secrets In Hyderabad. Married?

The big news doing the rounds is that the choreographer, actor-turned-director Prabhu Deva has secretly married Nayanthara in Hyderabad.

Prabhu Deva, the father of three kids and husband of the former dancer Ramlath, fell in love with Nayantara when they worked together in Vijay’s ‘Villu’.

However, the sources close to the actress denied the rumor, and said, “She was not even in Hyderabad when rumours of her marriage broke.”

A few months back when Prabhu lost his eldest son, it was Nayanthara, who gave him strength to come out of his personal pain.

Last heard, Prabhudeva had answered a question on his so-called relationship with Nayantara that ‘it’s personal’ and no one had any say in it.

The reports also said that both Prabhu and Nayantara have been living together for the last 3 weeks and the marriage was held in Hyderabad in secret.

Prabhu Deva has flown to an unnamed place saying that he has to finish some works in a Hindi project.

Previously, the hearsays linking Prabhudeva and Nayantara grew stronger, as Nayantara had the name 'Prabhudeva' tattooed on her wrist.

Will Nayan or Prabhu Deva explain as to what is going on?

via: http://www.topnews.in/

South Sexy Angel Lakshmi Rai falls into a snow gorge

Lakshmi Rai, the hot and happening Kollywood actress, faced a big snow storm during the shooting of her film Naan Avan Ilali - 2 in Switzerland. She is playing one of the lead pairs of Jeevan in the sequel of block buster movie Naan Avan Illai, which was released a couple of years ago.

Lakshmi Rai fell into a snow gorge while shooting for a hot duet with Jeevan, and soon she was covered by snow. The cast and crew of the film had to wait for a day for her to recover.

Naan Avan Illai-2 is being directed by Selva, who also did the first part. In the sequel, Jeevan acts with five girls namely Lakshmi Rai, Sangeetha , Shwetha, hema malini and Rakshana.

This sequel promises to be more interesting than the original and has peppy music by Vijay Antony. Lakshmi Rai is said to be playing the role of a sensuous actress who gets conned by Jeevan.

Namitha's expanding clout to South Indians Cinema.

Since the start of her career down south, Namitha has focused mainly on Telugu and Tamil cinema with an odd Kannada film now and then. But now, sources from Kollywood say the actress is keen on doing more films in Malayalam and Kannada.

It’s common knowledge that Namitha is doing the Malayalam film ‘Black Stallion’ in which she’s cast opposite Kalabavan Mani. Now, the busty belle will be seen in a Kannada film as well.

Reports say director V. Ravichandran has finalized Namitha to be the leading lady of his next Kannada film which will be an action thriller. Namitha had earlier worked in the director’s Kannada film ‘Neelkanta’ way back in 2006. After that she’s only done one more Kannada film titled ‘Indra’.

Sources say Namitha and Ravichandran shared a very good camaraderie while working in ‘Neelkanta’ and that is why the filmmaker is keen to cast her in his next film.

Given the fact that Namitha’s resume so far boasts of just two Kannada film and a yet-unreleased Malayalam film, signing more movies in these languages will surely broaden her fan base.

It looks like Namitha just doesn’t want to rule over Kollywood and Tollywood, but wants to be the reigning queen of the South.