Genelia enters Mollywood

She is already a popular face in Kerala after movies like ‘Boys’, ‘Sachin’ and ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa’ doing well at the box office there. Genelia who has a great youth following in Kerala has finally found time to do a straight movie in Malayalam for the first time.

Genelia D'Souza will debut in Mollywood opposite another heartthrob Prithviraj in a new movie directed by Santhosh Sivan titled ‘Urumi’.

Urumi is a bilingual in Tamil and Malayalam based on the assassination of Vasco Da Gama. The film is about a group of men, who wanted to assassinate Vasco Da Gama. Genelia will play a Portuguese princess in this 15th century period film.

Santosh Sivan is already known for making critically acclaimed international projects ‘Terrorist’, ‘Navarasa’ and ‘Beyond the Rains’.

Ragini Dwivedi enters Mollywood

Kannada film industry is probably going to lose one of its most talented actresses to Malayalam films. Ragini Dwivedi, the model turned actress is turning a big name in the Kannada Industry. Ragini debuted in Kannada with Sudeep's hit film Veera Madakari last year.
After the success of Veera Madakari, the actress became one of the most desired leading ladies. But, these successes have not been able to keep her loyal to the Kannada fraternity. Now, she is stepping out to do Malayalam films with Major Ravi's trilingual project Kandahar.

The actress cannot be blamed as any actress could get lured by such tempting offers of acting with great stars like Mohanlal and Amitabh Bachchan. The shooting of Kandahar is set to start from June 15. Ragini will play the role of Ganesh Venkatraman's love interest in the film.

However, she wishes to fly high in the Mollywood, as it is believed that the industry offers more flexibility to the actresses as far as acting skills are concerned.

Ragini has not yet started shooting for Kandahar, but she is very excited about the film as it has Amitabh Bachchan working beside her. An elated Ragini said, “I feel myself to be very lucky to get a chance to work in a Malayalam film. I can show my talent here and can surely take my career to a different level after working here.”

Earlier, the actress was offered many other Malayalam films but she was not fully satisfied with those projects then. Ragini had a plan to debut in Malayalam films only with a superstar and a Mohanlal project was exactly that.

We hope that Ragini makes it big in Malayalam films also!

Mammootty always wish to connect with people via web

Mammootty has become the first actor in south to buy the new ipad , after his recent trip to the US.

Says Mammootty: “I’m a gadget geek and technology fascinates me. It’s a passion of mine to own every new device for technological advancement in the visual medium.”

Remember more than a decade back, Mammooka was the first actor in south India to make his own web site, when internet had just come in to India. He has the latest fully loaded gadgets and also knows to use them.

Mammootty is one actor who is constantly browsing the net and picking up vital information which allows him to stay ahead. As the star himself confessed : “ I use technology to stay connected with the people and the world.”

Mohanlal is all set to do a silent movie

Mohanlal is all set to do a silent movie. In the film he will not a utter a word it will all be through facial expressions.

The film is going to be made and directed by ad filmmaker John Mathai, with Ravi K Chandran as cameraman and Louis Banks providing background score.

The last time a similar ‘silent movie’ was made was by Kamal Hassan in 1988 Pushpak directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao.

The film will be another milestone in Mohanlal’s career.

Tamanna joins super star Mohanlal

In spite of receiving a lot of offers from neighbouring Malayalam film industry, Tamannah Bhatia didn’t have space in her diary to allot dates for any of the movies. But now she’s got one irresistible offer of working with super star Mohanlal.

Tamannah will work with Mohanlal for a movie with director Anil and produced by Thomas Sebastian. Though other members of the crew haven’t been decided yet, Jayanan Vincent is said to be the cinematographer.

Tamannah has her share of blockbusters in Telugu and Tamil. Her ‘Happy Days’ is a blockbuster in Telugu and now her ‘Paiyaa’ in Tamil is a blockbuster with the cash registers simply counting in. With the entry in to Mollywood, Sandalwood is one venue that is left in the south and soon it will be conquered by Tamannah.

Twenty:20 is still the King in Kerala

A controversy is brewing in Malayalam trade circles. The producers of Pokkiri Raja has claimed that it is a bigger hit than Twenty:20, by collecting a distributors share of Rs 2.20 crore in its opening week from 110 screens in India (90 of them are in Kerala).

Now Dileep’s right hand man Vyasan Edavanakad, General Manager (Distribution), Manjunatha Release, the distributors of Twenty: 20 says: “It is a cock and bull story that Pokkiri Raja has beaten T:20 record in its first week. Our film has got a distributors share of Rs 3.11 Crore from 113 screens in Kerala in its first week. Please note we were selling the ticket for the first two days of the film’s release at Rs 100 in all screens, before a court order came. Pokkiri Raja balcony ticket was sold at Kavitha Ernakulam at Rs 70 and Apsara in Kozhikode at Rs 60, while in most of the other places it was Rs 50 or less than that. Any which way you look, Twenty:20, is the record holder and the highest collecting film in history.”

Also read: Pokkiri Raja beats T:20 record!

Vyasan also points out that when a Malayalam film is declared a hit, immediately the makers say that it has beaten T:20 record. Says Vyasan: “We challenge those who claim to have broken T:20 record, to prove it. Our DCR (Daily Collection Report) will show the truth. For example in Ernakulam we screened our film in four screens (Sarita, Savita, Sangeeta and Kavita), while competition claims a new record after screening in a single screen (Kavita)?”

Sneha replaces Lakshmi Rai in Shikar movie

Lakshmi Rai could not adjust her dates and has lost out to become Mohanlal’s heroine in Shikar. She has been replaced by Sneha, who has gone out of her way to accommodate the Mohanlal film.

For Sneha it is a dream comes true, as it is for the first time that she is being paired with Mohanlal. Remember Sneha has done three films with the other Malayalam superstar Mammootty- Thuruppu Gulan, Pramani and the soon to be released Vande Matram. Sneha will join the unit of Shikar from June 3 in Ramoji Rao Studios in Hyderabad.

Sneha will play the role of Mohanlal’s wife in the film while Ananya will play his daughter and Maithali of Paleri Manickam is also doing an important role in the film.

Parvathy is crazy about films

After a sabbatical, tall and beautiful Parvathy Omanakuttan (Femina Miss India World in 2008 and the first runner-up at the Miss World 2008 competition) is back in the news!
After making her filmi debut with United Six and Madan Kolli, the beauty queen is all set to step into Kollywood with Malayalam director Nithin Ramakrishnan's debut Tamil venture Uma Maheswaram, starring newcomer Mani and Prakashraj in important roles.
Talking about her move into Tamil films, Parvathy said: "There was a misconception that I'm not keen on a career as an actress. But I’m crazy about films!" She said this Tamil film is a dance-based subject of two cultures and how a dancer from Hampi falls in love with a Bharatanatyam dancer from Chidambaram.
"My character (Uma) is deaf and dumb, but she has a mission in life. The story is beautifully structured and my character is the pivot around which the film revolves. There is some sensuality in the film which I’m sure Nithin will handle aesthetically. The film has the A-team of Kollywood including noted cinematographer Madhu Ambat and editor V.T. Vijayan," she added.

Court stay against the release Oru Naal Varum

A Kozhikode court has issued a stay against the release of Mohanlal- Sreenivasan starrer Oru Naal Varum on a petition filed by KV Vijayan a school teacher alleging that it is plagiarized from his script.
The TK Rajiv Kumar directed film produced by Manianpillai Raju has been censored with a clean ‘U’ certificate and was due for release on May 7.
The petitioner KV Vijayan had worked as Jayaraj’s assistant during the making of Gulmohar . He had met Sreenivasan last year and submitted the script, but it was rejected.
Later Vijayan had published it in book form as Ee Kaliveedil Ninnu. He came to know that Sreenivasan has ‘lifted’ his story when he read the synopsis of Oru Naal Varum in a popular film magazine.
The court has now summoned Sreenivasan, Director T K Rajiv Kumar and Producer Maniyan Pillai Raju to appear before it on May 31. Anyway Raju has smartly postponed the release of the film to June 25.