Sharmila - Rakhee back / AK- GVM rift -patchup - waiting

  Legendary actresses Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee Gulzar have made a grand return to the industry, not in nostalgic cameos but as the central protagonists of major upcoming films. Sharmila Tagore, whose last Bengali film was Antaheen in 2009, marks her comeback with Puratawn, directed by Suman Ghosh and produced by the National award-winning actress Rituparna Sengupta. Rakhee Gulzar returns after 22 years with Aamar Boss directed by the popular duo Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukhopadhyay. Her last appearance was in Shubho Mahurat (2003), a film still remembered as one of Rituparno Ghosh’s finest. This return of the stalwarts isn’t a coincidence. Bengali filmmakers are now crafting stories with these legends in mind, placing elderly women in the spotlight — not as background figures, but as emotionally rich, complex leads. Suman for his Puratawn, believed in casting 79-year-old Tagore not for commercial reasons but because she perfectly embodied the character he had in mind. He felt no need to compromise authenticity by choosing a younger actress made up to look older for box office collection. Shiboprasad, co-director of Aamar Boss, slated to release in May, observed that films featuring veteran heroines as protagonists often yield better returns than those led by younger stars. Looks like Bengali cinema is embracing age with pride. 

Old blog like that of Actress Heera surfaced and now an old interview of Director Gautham Vasudev Menon surfaces and as later events show that GVM anger was shortlived and both worked together. Now that AK has said that he will not do car racing and films at same time, no one need complain like GVM. GVM I think is still waiting for old friend Suriya. Read on :

According to International Business Time, Gautham Vasudev Menon revealed to a publication, “I was about to start the film when Ajith suddenly went abroad to race. And, when he returned, he started discussing his future projects with almost every director in K-town and finally decided to go ahead with Venkat’s Mangaatha. He asked me to wait till next year. But, why should I wait for him? I will only work with those who have their head placed firmly on their shoulder. If I have to wait for an actor for my film, it will either be Kamal sir or my good friend Suriya.”

The duo soon reconciled and joined hands for the 2015 film Yennai Arindhaal. Not only this but Gautham also praised the actor calling him friendly and comfortable to work with despite him being a big star.

Talking about Yennai Arindhaal, the film was fairly successful at the box office and earned positive reviews from the critics and masses alike. The movie also starred Trisha Krishnan, Anushka Shetty and Arun Vijay in the lead roles. It marked the final movie of Gautham Vasudev Menon’s police trilogy after Kaakha Kaakha and Vettaiyadu Vilaiyaadu which starred Suriya and Kamal Haasan respectively.

Suriya and Kamal have not worked with GVM after these films.

Khushi Kapoor opposite Atharva - Karthi next - Thyagaraja Bhaghavathar biopic - 0hruva Natchitram story

 

Khushi Kapoor is making her debut in Tamil opposite Athrava says a report. The film directed by Akash , associate of Vignesh Shivan. The film start shoot soon. Khushi is second daughter of Sridevi- Boney and is awaiting of her Hindi film The Archies directed by Zoya. It is scheduled to stream on Netflix.

Karthi is said to have started work in a film directed by Prem Kumar of 96 fame. The film also has Aravind Swamy on board. It is being shot in Thanjavur and produced by Suriya’s 2D Entertainment

Gautham Vasudev Menon and Chiyaan Vikram Dhruva Natchithiram Chapter 1 Yuddha Kandam is all set to sign a deal wit Netflix and Kalaignar TV. In all probality it will be picked up by Red Giant. The story is about a mystery man who gets agitated that Indian commandos arrived hours after the terrorists took sige of Taj Hotel. He sets up a private force that will fight terrorist. Vikram is one of them but to public , he is a Tamil teacher. The team is called The Basement. To keep the team financially afloat they take missions to destroy terrorist groups abroad.

 

Nataraj Subramaniam is to play the iconic Late Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in a web series for Sony Liv. It is directed by A L Vijay who directed the film Thalaivi based on Late Jayalalitha with Kangana playing the title role.

Natraj known a Nutty has worked as cinematographer in Hindi films with Anurah Kashyap and in Dhanush film Ranjhaana. In Tamil he worked in Vijay film Thupakki and Puli. As an actor, he has worked in several films including hit film Karnan with Dhanush.Bhagavathar was acclaimed for his powerful, melodious voice and the ease with which he could sing high-pitch notes. Critics and film historians acknowledge Bhagavathar as the First Superstar of Tamil cinema ( 1937 -1944). His film Haridas ran for three Diwalis continently at Broadway Theatre in Chennai and that record has not been broken. Implicated in murder of a journalist, he was sent to jail for three years and later released after he was found not guilty. After that he had lost his market and wealth. Recently his grandson approached CM Stalin for financial help. He was allotted a Housing Board Flat and given Rs 5 Lakhs.

Mohanlal in Sivakarthikeyan -ARM film -Gautham Menon next on cricket

 

Mohanlal has been roped in join the Sivakarthikeyan – A R Murgadoss project. This will be the next outing of Mohanlal after Jailer. Mrunal Thakur and Vidyut Jamwal are also in the film with Anirudh scoring the music. Film is produced by SriLakshmi Movies. It is comeback of ARM after failure of Rajini’s Darbar.

Gautham Vasudev Menon in an interview to Galatta Plus opens up why he is not doing love subjects and the fascination of Producers and heroes towards action and  Pan Indian films’ He also talks about the ordeals that he is going through to release the film Dhruva Natchithran (DN) on November 24^th.

He traces out the path by which the film got into a problem as there was a communication problem between makers and the investors and it got stuck and adding to it two years of pandemic coming in. He says that those who are out of Court has to be settled and is running around to get OTT to buy the film. He has sold theatrical rights of Kerala and Karnataka and will close Tamil Nadu soon. The non release of  the film has affected as many actors say that we will collaborate after your liabilities are cleared. He revealed that DN was told to Suriya and later to Rajinikanth.

Despite having given a hit love film Vinnaithandi Varuvayya , Producers say only action films will run and actors ask what is there in it for a love subject. He however plans to do a love subject with new faces on a small budget. He said that Vels International is waiting to do a film after the previous collaboration with Simbhu was a hit.

He tells about Vinayakan who played the antagonist in DN before Jailer did not pick up his calls after he got Rajini film. Menon has to bring in other characters to cover up Vinayakan absence. His next film is the same lines of Vendhu Thirutthaa Kaadu. He means a rustic backdrop hero character. Reason being that Directors who do rustic based subjects get lauded and those who do urban based subjects get stamped. Talking about heroes wanting over the top action scenes, he said that S J Suryah was different and they might work together soon. If DN works then has a sequel ready with Vikram again. Menon speaking on Star Sports Tami during commentary on World Cp Semis said that his next is a cricker based film and it about two village guys getting a spot in National cricket team and is based on Sachin and Ganguly.