Soha Ali Khan, about her design and the film industry

In the city for the launch of a magazine, actress Soha Ali Khan spoke about design and the film industry. Explaining that the aesthetic one in her family is her sister Saba, a jewellery designer, Soha managed to wax eloquent about the role of aesthetics in set making.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s work was described as paintings. According to her aesthetics are personal. “Sets of films like 'Khoya Khoya Chaand', 'Antarmahal' and other period films take a lot of work,” she says. Nitin Desai is definitely making the waves in the industry.

A gift for her brother, Saif is on the agenda for her short visit to the city. “I’m not familiar with the city. I don’t visit often as I don’t have any family here,” she confesses. Chennai is synonymous with Kanjeevaram saris and dosas. “Plain dosas and rasam are my favourite as I am not a fan of spicy food,” she says.

She goes on to elaborate that she likes the ingredients used in South Indian food. Curry leaves and coconut being her favourite. Soha mentions a beetroot and coconut preparation that she likes to eat. Idly is great for breakfast, she says.

When it comes to talking about Kollywood, “Boys and Yuva are easy to pronounce 'Kannathil Muthamittal', too was a great watch” she laughs. Saying that she enjoys films by Mani Ratnam and Shankar. “Kamal Haasan is a favourite,” she smiles.

MGM with Star Den joins in Indian television market

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc (MGM) will be launching the MGM channel in India, the world’s third largest cable market. Carriage of the MGM channel will be handled by Star Den Media Services Pvt Ltd (Star Den), the distribution joint venture between News Corp's Star India, the leading television Network in India, and Den Digital Entertainment Network, one of India's leading cable companies.

The announcement was made by Bruce Tuchman, Executive Vice-President, MGM Networks at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. Star Den will handle distribution of the MGM channel, wholly-owned by MGM, to cable platforms operating in a nation-wide cable market of over 70 million homes. This will significantly increase the reach of the MGM channel, which is currently available in India through Dish TV, the country’s largest direct-to-home satellite platform. In addition, the Star Den carriage agreement will also help the MGM channel secure carriage on new DTH and IPTV platforms that are emerging across the country.

In announcing the deal, Tuchman stated: “Being backed by Star India and Den is the ultimate seal of approval in the eyes of India’s cable operators, and we’re thrilled that we will be distributed as part of Star Den’s unrivaled bouquet of channel offerings. By working with Star Den, MGM will now have a compelling opportunity to extend and accelerate our channel’s reach throughout the widest possible audience in the large and burgeoning Indian television market.”
Commenting on the launch of MGM channel, Gurjeev Singh Kapoor, CEO of Star Den, stated: “MGM with its huge library of compelling Hollywood movies will bring a great value addition to the Star Den bouquet of channels and will indeed compliment the best of English programming it offers to viewers in the country.”

As one of the most powerful brand names in film entertainment, the 24-hour MGM channel offers film lovers in India round-the-clock movies from MGM’s celebrated 4,000 title library, the largest modern film library in the world. Highlights among the channel’s planned movie offerings in the coming year are Woody Allen’s Manhattan, Network, Carrie, A Passage To India, Midnight Cowboy, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Mystic Pizza, Desperately Seeking Susan, and many others.

Shivaji will surely hit the screens in May- AVM Saravanan

Shivaji will surely hit the screens in May- AVM Saravanan

Here is the first official news about the release of Shivaji, the magnum opus of the industry. Director Shankar has completed the graphics and other minor correction work for the film and is preparing himself to unleash the biggest extravaganza of the year.

The AVM campus has announced that the film will be released most probably on 26th of May. When the correspondent contacted A.V.M. Saravanan, the producer of the film, 'We have planned to release the film Shivaji around the last week of this month. Shankar and his team have been working on it and it is nearing completion...' he told.




Shivaji is not only special for the viewers but it is very special for the super star Rajinikanth too. This is his 100th straight film in his career spanning most of the Indian languages. He has so far acted in a total of 173 films including the remakes and dubbings. In Tamil only he has completed 99 films and Shivaji will be the 100 th in the row.

AVM has erected its first vinyl hoarding for the film at Gemini fly over junction at Anna Salai, Chennai from yesterday. The superstar looks stunning in blue jeans and brown blazer with stylish black glasses. It is needless to talk about the excitement and joy of the fans of the actor. Even passer-byes who have a look at this hoarding for few minutes are surprised by the looks of the 'Basha of Kollywood'. Similar hoardings are expected all over Chennai shortly.

Realism triumphs in Tamil cinema with 'Paruthi Veeran'

Director Amir's 'Paruthi Veeran' has been declared a blockbuster, more successful than Vijay's 'Pokkiri'. This is a great achievement for debutant hero Karthi Shivakumar and the director

The top five Tamil films are:

1. 'Paruthi Veeran' - Director: Amir. This is one of the most realistic films to hit the Tamil screens in recent times.


2. 'Mozhi' - Director: Radhamohan. Mozhi continues to have full shows in all the city theatres.

3. 'Pachaikili Muthucharam' - Director: Gautham Menon. The film is not going to be another 'Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu'. But Sarath Kumar's natural performance is worth watching.

4. 'Thirumagan' - Director: A.M. Ratnakumar. This is yet another lousy film from actor S.J. Suryah. Only Meera Jasmine is watchable.

5. 'Pokkiri' - Director: Prabhu Deva. Nothing can stop Vijay starrer 'Pokkiri', which is on its way to breaking records.

Chennai has Symantec Innovation Center

Minister of Communications and IT, Dayanidhi Maran inaugurated Symantec Corp.'s Center of Innovation in Chennai.

"Symantec's Center of Innovation at Chennai will play a key role in developing new solutions and enabling an environment of safe and secure computing for enterprises and consumers in India and globally," Maran said in a statement.

The firm already has an Innovation Center in Pune.

According to W Thompson, Chairman and CEO, Symantec, “The Chennai center would play a critical role in the development of the company's next generation of security products and solutions for enterprises and consumers the world over.”

The statement said that the new center would accommodate more than 1,000 employees. Its Pune center accommodates more than 2,100 employees and works on high-end product development in the security, storage and compliance domains.

“This center will further augment our already existing R&D and engineering strengths in India. Our focus is also to be the solution provider of choice in a rapidly 'Connected India,” Thompson said.

Anil Chakravarthy, VP, India Technical Operations, Symantec, said, "In the coming year the center will focus extensively on developing next-generation `Security 2.0' products including the distinguished Norton product line."

Tamil People awaits for Shivaji - Chennai

whatever be the date of release, no one wants to compete with the biggest names in the Tamil film industry.

Movies that waited for the World Cup and the exams to finish could now settle for a safer bet - to release their films well before or after Shivaji.

Director Pushkar has planned to released his movie Oram Po only much after Shivaji hits the theatres.

"The guys who are distributing Shivaji will get the best theatres, so for a small film to come in at this point of time, business-wise it becomes a little difficult to get good theatres or even good hoardings," says he.

Distributor's say that Shivaji's producers may go for 12 to 15 prints in A-grade theatres, literally leaving over a dozen others waiting to release their movies with not much choice but to release it before or after the release of the Rajnikanth starrer.

While the producers of Mayakannadi hope to release the film in mid-April to give it a fortnight's run before Shivaji releases, producers of other films such as Oram po and Solli Adippein have decided to play it safe releasing their films a little after Shivaji's hits the theatres.

And a Rajnikanth starrer would also mean that it's time for most movies released in the last two months such as Vijay's Pokkiri to shift to B-grade theatres.

Said to be made at a budget of Rs 60 crore, Shivaji would quite easily qualify as the most expensive film ever made in Tamil cinema, but a delay in its release is proving to be expensive for many other small budget movies.