Thalapathy Vijay is next Pan Indian Star - Jr NTR most liked in RRR - survey

  Thalapathy Vijay is the next  Pan Indian Star and Jr NTR comes a second according to Ormax Media survey conducted across India. Surprisingly, Allu Arjun position has dropped to fourth and third position is by Prabhas. Yet another news is that Netflix that is streaming the Hindi version of RRR has received  tremendous response from subscribers in various countries. Subscribers using snapshots of RRR on Netflix are posting them with comments. In comparison, Zee5 that is streaming the South languages is not getting this kind of response.

RRR OTT streaming on Netflix has done immense good for the platform as usually Indian audience and those abroad associate it with Hollywood films and with RRR , Netflix  has managed to break this image. Over all opinion among viewers is that Jr NTR was more impressive than Ram Charan. Many felt that he was better than Allu Arjun of Pushpa. Though `Beast ' was not promoted as a Pan Indian film, the Arabic Kutthu song that went viral had created a buzz and his looks as well as his dance movements have made those surveyed to pitch him for next Pan Indian Star from South. This will be music to ears of director Vamsi and producer Dil Raju.

Ormax in an earlier report said that film libraries of OTT platforms were most important for increasing the subscriber base. It noted that in South India that accounts for 36% of subscriber base of OTT, film library is very important. Amazon Prime Video has the largest film library of South films and among regional players only Sun NXT and Manorama Max are in top with just 10 % share. MX player is second in many South languages due to its content sharing with Sun NXT and its own library. In Kannada and Malayalam, MX Player is No 2  After Amazon Prime comes Disney Hotstar among national players. With Zee 5 - Sony Liv and Voot entering with more aggression, the South market will get competitive.

 

Modi visit eve -Kamal Haasan's Vikram posters lash out at Union Government

Anti- Union Government lyrics that were part of a song in the upcoming Kamal Haasan film Vikram are part of posters that has sprung up in various parts of the State/. Police have swung into action and registered case against Makkal Neethi Maiyam party bearers in Madurai as the office bearers themselves have appeared on the posters. Posters in Chennai according to many who saw them on walls yesterday say that most of them were dialogues from Thalapathy Vijay's film like Wait for 2024 and we know no fear or terror etc. with Vikram film images.

Controversial Pathala Pathala song has been omitted from the film that was submitted to censors said a source. Lyrics of the song is by Kamal Haasan. Lyrics spoke about a bankrupt government and the key to the treasury being with a robber. The film is distributed by Madurai Anbu and Udaynidhi Stalin Red Giant. Film is releasing on June 3rd.

Jack and Jill movie review: Cannot be a Santosh Sivan film

 Santosh Sivan might have just put his name to the film to help his friends ( maybe producer Prasanth Das ) as this film should be shown to FTII students as an example of how a former  student who touched dizzying heights as a film maker can plunger to such low level as a directror. Here and there you get flashes of the camera of Sivan. One takeaway from the film is that Manju Warrier is so flexible and at ease in the action scenes, a real treat.

In a period wen Artifical Intelligence is a part of  school text books. Sivan tells us so many things that has no touch with reality. Most of the caricatures that are abound as characters and contrived scenes make you sit with astonishment. Is this the same Satosh Sivan wo gave Ananathabadram and Urmi ?. Wat a fall !!!.

Sivaji Ganesan grandson- Sridevi's niece - Padmini's grandniece- Vijaya Nirmala's grandson

Dharsan Ganesan ( son of Ramkumar , eldest sibling of Late Sivaji Ganesan) is soon to play the lead in a feature film. It was a statement from the PR desk. Darshan's elder brother Dushyanth too debuted as hero and is a producer now. Prabhu's son Vikram Prabhu is already a dozen films old.

A year back there was a news item which said a music video Kadhal Enge in Tamil and titled Yadholo Mounam in Telugu with Dharsan and Sirisha  (who the PR release said was niece of Late actress Sridevi and it means daughter of Sridevi's sister Srilatha and Sanjay Ramasamy ex MLA ) has been released. What more interesting was that the director of the music video is Lakshmi Devy  who is grand niece of yesteryear actress Padmini ( Travancore sisters). What a combo ! Padmini- Sivaji had worked together in 50 odd movies and now their grandchildren coming together. Sivaji - Sridevi too had acted together. Now Sivaji's grandson and Sridevi niece together.

Further probing I discovered that Devy directed and acted in an English film `When Music changes' and trailer was edited by Navin Vijaya Krishna who is grandson of  yesteryear actress Vijaya Nirmala who married Actor Krishna of Tollywood. Vijaya Nirmala hold the Guinness Book Records for a lady director who directed most number of films.

Udhaynidhi Stalin no wooden actor - But Nenjukku Needhi hits a box office low

 For the first time, I felt that Udhaynidhi Stalin was not wasting his time in Kollywood trying to be an actor. Now after the good news that Udhaynidhi has finally come out of the list of wooden actors of Kollywood , comes the bad news. At the box office, movie tanked so badly that on day one the collection was Rs 1.3 crores in Tamil Nadu primarily. Slightly climbed by a few thousands on day two and today one has to wait . He was successful as a producer- distributor and Red Giant  banner is big time . So you cannot win on both fronts. Even DMK Kanmanis are not gung-ho about their Chepauk Che Guevara .

All those who take film viewing as serious business and want to compare the film with Hindi film Article 15 , original source of this Nenjuku Neethi, you can rest at home. This film is no patch on Article 15 and Udhaynidhi is no  Ayushman Khurana.. Nor is Arunraja  Kamaraj competent to remake the film directed by Anubhuv Sinha  by transplanting it to the Tamil Nadu milieu and pruning it to suit the audience.

I ,for one decided to not revisit  Art 15 in the OTT platform and see Tamil film it for what it was worth. The start was promising of the manual  scavenger scene and expected more. What did I get instead ? A doctor named Anitha ( remember NEET suicide ?_,  Only Hindi speaking CBI officer  ( lecture on Hindi imposition) and so on that it was contrived. We get shots of Udhaynidhi with the rising sun in the background. As expected, the famous scene in which Ayushman has a heart to heart talk with his colleagues to know their caste was watered down since it could trigger a backlash , especially among the Priyarists.

Udhyanidhi delivers and in ample measure. Tanya is about ok and Suresh Chakravarthy ( Bigg Boss) a scene stealer. Coming to Aari ( another Bigg Boss fame), it cannot be said the same. The fault lies in sketching of the role. Thamizharasan dialogues are punchy but yet sounds like political statements.  Coming to music and cinematography, I think Thomas musical score was far better than Article 15. Same cannot be said about Dinesh's camerawork. Visuals were more glossy than needed.

You get the feeling that director had a compulsion to fit in the DMK manifesto into the plot. Despite all this handicaps, Udhaynidhi's role was not made into a MASS one and thanks to Udhaynidhi for it. But as a distributor- producer, he might be feeling now that a DADA cop mouthing DMK propaganda might have got him more money .

12th Man review ; A rehash and a boring whodunnit

 Except for Mohanlal performance as the investigating cop, 12th Man by way of content is nothing but a rehash of two  movies and that too a bad one as it keeps on dragging and such investigation thriller can keep you rooted only if there is enough surprises in the narration. There are only two ` twists' in the tale of 3 hours duration.

The Perfect Strangers ( Italian ) released in 2016 was actually a comic look at the society. The couples who meet on a therapist challenge start to play a game where they keep their mobile phones on the table and hear the calls on speaker and share SMS they get . As the game unfolds, a tale of lies and secrets tumble out and in the end no one is spared.  Film ends with every body going  home as if such a game never took place. Put this sequence into a bachelor party of  a friend and his classmates with their wives and GF.  Instead of a comic look make it a source to unravel a death of one party mate. Jeethu Joseph needs credit for this superb adaptation and that too the guts to do it from  a film that was remade in 20 languages worldwide.

Next film is An Inspector Calls - a TV thriller film telecast on BBC One. The TV film was highly watched as it was an adaptation of a popular stage play written by J B Priestley. Film was telecast in 2015. A wealthy British family is celebrating an engagement of the daughter , when an Inspector comes unexpectedly and asks questions about a suicide of a local town girl. The questioning exposes that many of the family members had in one way or other contributed to the death. In the end, it turns out that it was a fake Inspector. Here in 12th Man, the Inspector is introduced as a drunkard and pal of the hotel owner to the celebrating guests.  After the death of a member of  the partying crowd, he dons a role of a investigating cop.

Editing and cinematography is what to a great extent removes the `claustrophobic feeling of seeing an entire film happening inside a board room.  The switch from the Mr Cool to the angry cop scenes by Mohanlal is a treat to watch. Among the long list of actors, Priyanka and Anusree do give a good account. Music ?? Did I hear a Bond theme music in a slow mode or was I imagining ?

Coming after Drishyam and it's sequel, expectations from  Mohanlal - Jeethu combo was high and even if this is kept aside, 12th Man stiil does not satisfy you of having watched a investigative thriller that as Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie novel says gave some work to your `grey cells'.

Kamal Haasan- Shankar ` Indian 2' abandoned ?

 Multiple sources seem to confirm the news that Indian 2, the mega budget film with Kamal Haasan and director Shankar has been given a silent burial. Checking out this news on many fronts related to Actor Kamal Haassan and director Shankar. events that are moving rapidly, Indian 2 will probably go down as a ill fated film project that took off in style and got a silent burial. 

For one Bigg Boss Tamil next season is fast getting ready to go on floors and as with Bigg Boss Ultimate, this will be a 24x7 on Disney Hotstar with a 90 minute capsule every day on Star Vijay. Kamal Haasan is the host and as things move on STR might step in. STR link with Disney- Hotstar and Star Vijay was the reason for his presence at Vikram' audio . Vikram OTT rights is with Disney- Hotstar.

Kamal Haasan is in talks with Rajmouli for a Mahesh Babu Pan Indian film. His next as actor is with Pa Ranjith as director and once again with Lokesh Kanakraj and followed by  Mahesh Narayanan as director. All are his own productions. Apart from this he is to produce a film with Sivakarthikeyan as hero. Though production side will be handled by Mahendran , executive producer, Kamal as actor has his calendar full. In this calendar, Indian 2 does not figure.

For Shankar, Ram Charan film will keep him occupied for rest of the year. The film is releasing only for Pongal ( January 2023). Reshoot of portions of comedian Vivek and making changes to bring in another heroine  in place of Kajal Aggarwal ( got married and is mother of a baby girl) are the two major headaches. Secondly, Lyca Productions who wanted the film to be ready for Diwali release finds that it is sitting on a project that is ill fated as spending more money on it to reassemble the broken pieces  might not be a good decision. Apart from this, the death of crew members in an accident too is seen an ominous.  Lyca needs to put in Rs 50 crores more and another half of it on promotion. After Marudhanayagam, Sabhash Naidu, Indian 2 is likely to be Kamal Haasan's third film that took off and got shelved ,if  trends are any indicators.

In May 2020, India Today reported the film was shelved but a LYCA spokesperson replied saying " We have completed almost 60 percent of the film’s shoot. How will we consider dropping the project?. We will start after lockdown".

Director M Padmakumar disappoints - Prajesh Sen wastes Manju Warrier in Meri Awaz Suno

 If you expecting ` Patham Valavu '( tenth curve) by its title and star cast with  M Padmakumar who gave you Joseph is going to give something different, you will be disappointed. Prajesh Sen of Captain and Vellam films once again makes out a story that is a showcase for actor Jayasurya and glosses over the subject and fails to build up  Manju Warrier's role and her talent are wasted in this film. 

Padmakumar  given a bland crime thriller with a predictable  plot  and Suraj Venjaramoodu is the only consolation.  Plot is as old as cinema and what irritates you is the needless build up like the elaborate Church festival and a police investigation. If the film did not have the ending that was shown , you would wonder why this film was produced ?. Even now this question remains.

Prajesh has handled subjects like that of a real life footballer bouncing back and a alcoholic who reformed to be a business magnate in his earlier movies. Both were biopics and both flopped as it had only actor Jaysurya shining and the entire screenplay crumbling. Here in Meri Awaz Suno too, Jaysurya does the role of a RJ who lost his voice and gets it back to perfection. Prajesh fails to understand that Manju Warrier role of  speech therapist role takes a turn when the wife of Jaysurya tells that she lost her hubby who got his voice would create an expectation  to see her perform as well as Jaysurya or if it not better. The speech therapist role takes a turn when the wife of Jaysurya tells that she lost her hubby who got his voice back but is distant from her. He is fully dependent on the speech therapist. This revelation comes out of the blue and with nothing to show us for this statement. The speech therapist packing her bags to be out of the ex patient's sight  and a Tamil speaking Military officer popping up as her hubby in Jammu is laughable. A nice plot gone waste.

M Jaychandran music and BGM is the strength in portions where the hero is without a voice.

Puzhu (Malayalam) movie review : Parvathy wasted and too subtle

Puzhu ( Malayalam) movie would have gone over the heads of many of the viewers who saw it on SonyLiv. The film does draw lot of parallels within the story telling and also has so many messages that speaks volumes about the upper caste mentality in the bureaucracy  and in society towards the oppressed. The nuances can be understood only if one is able to know about the art forms and past tales of cate oppression in Kerala as there is so many symbols that convey more than what it seems.

Mammooty is na IPS officer- divorcee with a son staying alone in a flat. His sister Parvathy married a lower caste drama actor who is also an activist in social caste divide. He is subjected to a attack at many times using a carbon monoxide to kill him and killer is at large. He has shady deals on the side. .

To those who wondered what is significance of Puzhu( worm) to subject . As in the drama on stage of Prakishit and Takshan, where Snake god manifested as a worm in an apple to kill the King hiding or like Amir slowly like a worm systematically eating into Kuttan's life through attempts on his life like the former giving up use of lift after a failed attempt,Aamir is shown for first time as picking up the  apples from the road . Puzhu  could also mean the way Kuttan looks at lower caste people . When Kuttan goes away with the son, we hear the King being cursed that seven days from now the curse will take place and he will die. Like the King hid a isolated palace, Kuttan lives in a high rise flat and has the doors barricaded,

If you see the scene in which Kuttan kills his sister and her husband, he is hitting them with a trophy that the brother in law got. The trophy is  a figure of Nangeli the Ezhava Dalit woman who stood against the breast tax of Travancore Royalty and seeing this it infuriated Kuttan who used it to kill his sister and hubby. It explains why he who kept the gun back at home got provoked all of a sudden.

Director show that Kuttan talks to his son who stands before him answering queries on school life while his sister seats the boy in a chair and stands beside him during the staging of the play.

Mammooty just lives the role of a mentally traumatized man fighting demons within himself. The character sketch is well done. Though debut director Ratheena did not want to spoon feed the audience , I felt it was too subtle for a majority of audience. Yet another hamper to the narration was that the film had just a flat - a resort etc and nothing else to offer for a camera ( Theni Easwar) to shoot. BGM ( Jakes) was just perfect. The Islamphobia that has affected many directors in Kerala too has hit Ratheena. 

After seeing Puzhu, I am amused at the umpteen interviews given by Parvathy for a role that nobody would remember .

Don ( Tamil) film review: Entertainment unlimited for all ages

Don is for Sivakarthikeyan , a feather in the cap as he gets into the skin of the role of a college student disgruntled with life and a son who harbors a dislike to his father. In my view, after Balaji Sakthivel's Kalloori , I never enjoyed a campus backdrop film till I saw Don now. As for the father-son sentiment, it reminded me of Cheran's Thavamai Thavamairundhu . Looks like Sivakarthikeyan  aka SK has another hit soon after Doctor.

Though one might dub the campus comedy as mindless, it keeps engaged. The film's strength is director Cibi whose script keeps the narration moving forward without getting stuck in any a rut. One might say that some scenes are `inspirational' from earlier films, overall it is entertaining. Anirudh score is just apt - nothing more or less and so is camerawork ( K Bhaskaran).

Performance wise, SK undoubtedly ,as her is in familiar territory. Second is Samudrakanni. His role has been kept to a correct level without going into a priest on a pulpit range. S J Suryah as the Dean who is a villain also does deliver but sadly at many situations the character turns into a caricature. On the comedy front, director does not bank on one comedian Soori but on a whole range of them, and it has paid off. Priyanka after Doctor, shows that she has the stuff in her to crack the Kollywood heroine circle.

Don will further strengthen SK fan base in the family audience. 

Sarkaru Vaari Paata (Telugu) : Mahesh Babu in a weak scripted film

 

Mahesh Babu has to bank on his star image and fan following to see Sarkaru Vaari Paata sail through at the box office. The story is about a USA based guy who comes to India to recover the loan that he gave to a MP daughter back home. Now we are shown that the hero as a kid was turned an orphan as his parents committed suicide as they could not pay back a bank loan. All he inherited was a one rupee coin.  Director Parusuram saves us the ordeal of a song where the hero becomes a millionaire in USA. You have to guess it. Next is that this banker from USA is no Rockefeller or J P Morgan but the way he bosses around in an MP house to Government bank office makes you wonder whether why everybody is terrified and silent.

Now Keerthy Suresh does her best in songs and that about it as in the second half she is missing. Any idea why a MP daughter has to borrow  money from a US banker ? Maybe the MP does not have accounts that deal in forex . Thaman for two songs can be excused for the loud drum beating given to us as BGM.

One has to see how much PRINCE tag of  Mahesh Babu charm works to save the producer and distributors and himself as he declared himself as more costly than any Bollywood hero.

After Nayanthara, Dr.Aishwarya Lekshmi turns producer with Dr.Sai Pallavi in Tamil film `Gargi'

 Dr. Aishwarya Lekshmi, ( Action and Jagame Thanthiram in Tamil) turns producer with Dr Sai Pallavi in a women centric film Gargi directed by Gautam Ramachandran ( director of  Nivin Pauly's Tamil film Ritchie) . Filmed in Tamil, it will be dubbed into Telugu and Kannada. On Sai Pallavi's birthday, a video showing Sai Pallavi dubbing in three languages for the film with excerpts from film was streamed. On the same day, Sai Pallavi with Sivakartikeyan as hero in Kamal Haasan production was announced.

Sai Pallavi, a Kannadiga and a medical doctor ( yet to get registered in India as she had taken her degree from abroad) shots of her dubbing in her own voice for Kannada version had Kannada movie goers go in a tizzy. From the scenes, Sai Pallavi plays a middle class woman. Sai has Virata Parvam opposite Rana who plays a real life character of a Naxalbari comrade. It is due for July 1 release.

Aishwarya Lekshmi recent Malayalam outing Archana 31 was a modest hit. She is making her Telugu debut with Godse opposite Satya Dev and a Telugu- Tamil Gatta Gusthi with Vishnu Vishal. Aishwarya did her MBBS from Sri Narayana College in Ernakulam and Sai Pallavi has written the exams for those with medical degrees from abroad. On passing it she can register with the IMA to practice. 

Aishwarya and director Gautham along with Thomas George are partners in production company.  Govind Vasantha ( 96) and Sravanti- Ramakrishna Akkattu are cinematographers.

Dhoni to produce film with Nayanthara BF - marriage a failure predicts Astrologer

M S Dhoni the ex Indian skipper and CSK hero is to produce a Tamil film with Vignesh Shivan as director and the leading lady will be the director's GF Nayanthara. It is not know whether Dhoni will play the lead. Sanjay Wadhwa of AP International will be producing the film for Dhoni. Sanjay is a close aide of Rajinikanth and a leading film producer and exporter of Tamil films . Vignesh and Dhoni are acquaintances  as they had worked together for advertisement films. M S Dhoni through Chennai Super Kings IPL Team is a household name in Tamil Nadu. 

Nayanthara's career will come to a halt in 2024 and her married life with Vignesh Shivan will be a failure, says Venu Swamy, astrologer who predicted that Samantha's wedlock with Nag Chaitanya will end in a divorce. Nayanthara and Vignesh are according to reports to tie the knot on June 9th in Tirupati Temple. Both of their joint production venture KRV released and was a modest hit.

Nayanthara has a Hindi film with  SRK , a Malayalam film with Premam fame director Alphonse and a Chiranjeevi film ( remake of Malayalam film Lucifer). Vignesh has been signed to direct Ajith for his next film.

Venu says that Nayanthara's planetary position as per date of birth is same as that of Samantha now. The position of Guru is at the weakest and this means a fall in career and finances. Nayanthara can take heart that she is not alone in this downward slide. Samantha - Rashmika (Pushpa) and Pooja Hegde ( Beast)are those who will exit films in 2024.

Makal - Visithiran- Google Kutappa - Akka Kuruvi : A bad week for viewers

 

The week saw the fall of a great director Sathyan Anthikad with the film Makal. Visithiram remake of Joseph and Google Kutappa ( both Malayalam ) fell flat on it's face as mere copying the original without any effort to give it a Tamil touch and also actor R K and director- actor K S Ravikumar  making a fool of themselves intrying to do a Joju George and a Suraj Venjaramoodu. Swamy probably thought by remaking Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven in Tamil would put him on a pedestal . Sadly, this has sullied name of Majid and also puts a question mark on Swamy's film making craft..

I do appreciate the guts to do the Joju George role in Joseph by RK , He probably thought that this would launch him in a new avatar in Kollywood. The plot did have scope to quicken the pace of the thriller but all that was wasted and having the same director Padmakumar doing it in Tamil was a mistake. In Google, K S Ravukumar with his aged look apart has not done anything that comes close to Suraj and here too the few changes are nothing much to write about.

Sathyan Anthikad Makal looks like he started the film in a hurry and just about stitched together a screenplay that is more slower than a soap drama. Off and on he remembers to switch to his trade mark formula of family entertainer and then shoot what comes to his mind with the actors available at hand. A director who shuns fight scenes resorts to one in the climax as he has no clue to end the film. He has run out of ideas. Poor Mira Jasmine ! What a wasted comeback. Jayram sleep walks through the role. Only good thing is Devika Sanjay. She will go a long way.

Akka Kuruvi is the  lesson that celebrated Majid Majidi would have learnt. The film making is worse the the one gets to see in amateur category on YouTube. If two Malayalam remake ere faithful to original, here Swamy brings his `touch' and ruins a superb Internationally lauded film. . Instead of being `official remake' it could have been an inspiration and saved Majid the embarrassment. However Seeman of NTMK after seeing the film says that this film is more poetic than Swamy's earlier films. A matter for intellectuals to debate.

Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Sethupathi Michael First Look out

 

Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Sethupathi, Ranjit Jeyakodi, Sree Venkateswara Cinemas LLP, Karan C Productions LLP’s Pan India Film Michael First Look Dropped

Versatile star Sundeep Kishan is showing versatility in choosing wide range of subjects and playing challenging roles. What’s more, he is undergoing makeovers, as per the requirement of his characters in movies. Sundeep Kishan is making Pan India debut in style with a massive action entertainer Ranjit Jeyakodi directorial Michael, where Makkal Selvan Vijay Sethupathi will be seen in a special action role and Young and passionate director Lokesh kanagaraj presenting this movie

On the occasion of Sundeep Kishan’s birthday, first look poster of the movie has been dropped today. Only God Forgives is the caption given and Sundeep Kishan spellbinds with his incredible physical transformation. Donning six packs, Sundeep Kishan looks menacing, as he gives stern expression and is about to attack the monsters who approach him with weapons in their hands. The long and messy hair and the beard enhances the wildness of the character. The kickass first look poster where Sundeep is seen carrying a gun indicates the kind of action we are going to witness on screen.

Star director Gautham Vasudev Menon is playing an antagonist, while Divyansha Kaushik is the heroine opposite Sundeep Kishan. Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Varun Sandesh will be seen in important roles.

The most happening Production House Sree Venkateswara Cinemas LLP, in association with Karan C Productions LLP is mounting the movie on a massive scale. Michael is a joint production venture of Bharath Chowdary and Puskur Ram Mohan Rao. Narayan Das K Narang is the presenter.

The film will be released in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages.

Cast: Sundeep Kishan, Vijay Sethupathi, Gautham Menon, Divyansha Kaushik, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar, Varun Sandesh and others

Technical Crew:
Director: Ranjit Jeyakodi
Producers: Bharath Chowdary and Puskur Ram Mohan Rao
Presenter: Narayan Das K Narang
Banners: Sree Venkateswara Cinemas LLP, Karan C Productions LLP
DOP :kiran kaushik
Executive producer :Sivacherry
P

A R Rahman's son in law details here

A R Rahman son -in- law  Riyasdeen Shaik Mohamed is a sound engineer, who hails from Coimbatore , Tamil Nadu. He does sound engineering for Rahman and composer Amit Trivedi. Riyasdeen has been working with Rahman on his live shows since 2017. His name first appeared in the credit titles of the Hindi film ` Tamasha' ( Ranbir Kapoor- Deepika Padukone) directed by Imitaz Ali and music by A R Rahman.  His name was on credit titles of Mersal, which stars Thalapathy Vijay, Samantha Ruth Prabhu and Kajal Aggarwal.

According to reports, Riyasdeen did his schooling in Coimbatore, got his mechanical engineering degree from Chennai's Mohamed Sathak A J College of Engineering and then did a diploma in audio engineering from KM College of Music & Technology, He did a part time job with  Shimmir Studios, Chennai and joined in 2014 as assistant audio engineer for the Sri Mutha Subba Rao Concert Hall in Harrington Road (Lady Andal school hall). He has worked with AM Studio, YM Studio , Waves Audio and Audinate as sound engineer. He was the master engineer for I Tunes of Apple. He worked with  

He got engaged to Khatija Rahman on December 29, 2021, and announced the news on social media with a caption that read, “With the blessings of the Almighty I’m happy to announce to you all my engagement with Khatija Rahman, @khatija.rahman musician, producer & philanthropist. The engagement happened on 29th December, on her birthday in the presence of close family and loved ones.”

While Riyasdeen added philanthropist to Khatija , she posted - With the blessings of the Almighty I'm happy to announce to you all my engagement with Riyasdeen Shaik Mohamed @riyasdeenriyan, an aspiring entrepreneur and a wizkid audio engineer. The engagement happened on December 29, my birthday in the presence of close family and loved ones.

Saani Kaayidham : Birth of Selvaraghvan the actor

 Saani Kaayidham by Arun Matheswaaran heralds the birth of a talented actor Selvaraghvan . Though he cut a sorry figure in Beast, this film showcases his talent and it is no easy task that one can steal the thunder from an actress like Keerthy Suresh and that too in an heroine oriented subject. 

Acting apart, the film reminds me of Kovilpatti Veeralakshmi of Rajeswar. He cast then glam doll Simran in the title role and that too was a rape - revenge- lower caste - upper caste subject. Only that Veeralakshmi  was a part of folk lore. Here the plot and happenings are predictable. Most of the supporting actors have given a good account. Two things work in favour- Music by Sam ( only BGM and has no songs) and camerawork by Yamini.

Most of the bloody chopping scenes happen in cover of darkness and probably due to my TV placement, I did not get to see any blood dripping in buckets. Even If I saw it, I would have not felt anything as the happenings just did not connect with me. I felt that Keerthy was added for the popular draw as her body structure - skin tone just does not jell with a village girl ( though she is said to have come from a rich family ) . I quite agree with the main baddie who says that he cannot see her as avenging cruel woman but as the sweet lady whom he enjoyed.

CBI 5 - The Brain : Watch it for Jagathy Sreekumar five minutes cameo

 CBI 5 The Brain taxes your brain by putting in too many distractions in the main plot and finally wen Sethurama Iyer comes with a torn newspaper and tells  top cop that you are the murderer, you sincerely wish that he confesses and relives you from the boredom. Making a sequel does not mean that the film making should be also stuck in that period and that includes the screenplay- camera movement and clichés that cinema has long since buried.

Except for the original score and Mammooty, film is total waste of time. With a minister - journalist- cop dead in a row, you expect some interesting motive. What you get is a mumbo jumbo of a hacker hacking a pace maker and a jealous DGP / IG behind the botched murders. Art department is stuck in the K Madu- Shaji Kailas period where every pillar has CBI written on it. Shoubin in yet another wasted role.

As if this torture was not enough , you are told of a sequel and that will be first online murder . I think the film has already been murdered online by the viewers.

Nayanthara role chopped in Shah Rukh Khan film- Anirudh blamed for film loss

Nayanthara's latest outing as producer is financially a disaster and Vijay Sethupathi draw at the box office  gets exposed as he is the male lead and has two top heroines for company. Thirdly, Music director Anirudh is said to have delayed the BGM of the film and due to this the overseas releases got affected. Producers were said to have a loss of Rs 10 crores in the overseas markets. Yet another news is that Priyamani is added to Shah Rukh Khan film directed by Atlee and does this mean that Nayanthara role has been chopped ? Priyamani had already acted with SRK in Chennai Express and know to Hindi audience through her OTT films and web series.

Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kaadhal ( KRK) has been in the making for two years. Vijay Sethupathi in these two years had no box office hits as he was seen more on OTT. Samantha a big draw in Telugu film coming onboard was a casting coup and this was before her breakup with Nag. Now after Pushap 's raunchy number, Samantha stock is up. Nayanthara last outing in Rajinikanth's Annaatthe was hardly noticed. Director Vignesh Shivan after his Nanum Rowdy Thaan hit in 2015 has been in social media for his BF status with Nayanthara.

Anirudh after many hits including Arabic Kutthu is said to have become too busy. He did not have the time to do the BGM for a film that has been in the making for two years. His associates said that he was trying out some new sound effects and finally what Lalith Kumar ( co- producer) the  man who put his money got was a film that had  nothing new to add than what was in the trailor.

Acharya took all the screens in Andhra- Hyderabad and KRK ran to empty screens.  Box office figures were so dismal that it could not be reported. Kerala had Prithviraj film and no body was excited to see this master combo on screen. Thanks to Vijay Sethupathi fans and those of Samantha, with a OK tag from reviewers at large, it collected Rs 21 crores nett ( read Tamil Nadu mainly) in 5 days. It just about covered only half of the production cost. Overseas it collected Rs 3 crores.

With OTT - TV - Digital - dubbing rights , the investment can be recovered.  In a season of Superstars falling like nine pins, Lady Superstar adds to the list.