Dhoni and Madhavan combo on Screen / How much did SK - Rukumani- ARM Get ?

 The admirers of the former Indian captain, M S Dhoni, love to watch him whether it is on or off the field. Now, the two heartthrobs from Chennai, Dhoni and R Madhavan, have joined forces for a new exciting project.

The behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot showed Dhoni and Madhavan standing on top of a car wearing task force attire with a lot of others accompanying them. The two can be seen holding guns as they pose in front of the green screen. Both Dhoni and Madhavan look stylish wearing black sunglasses.

Addressing the director, the ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ actor can be heard saying: “I am taking my glasses, looking at him (Dhoni), smiling.”

It would be exciting to see these two sharing the screen for the first time. While a lot of details regarding the project are still under wraps, it is believed that they have joined forces for an upcoming advertisement.

The Dhoni fans have been eagerly waiting for the wicket-keeper batsman to make his Bollywood debut; however, no official announcement has been made till now.

Back in April this year, filmmaker Karan Johar shared a video of Dhoni on social media, addressing the cricketer as a ‘lover boy’.

The clip opened with a light pink screen and little hearts that read: “For the first time ever, starring MS Dhoni in a romantic avatar”.

Next, we see the batsman and wicketkeeper, flaunting his signature long hair, along with a beige cap that matches his beige pants, and an orange sweatshirt. Dhoni is also seen carrying a big red heart-shaped balloon in his hands.

Looking into the camera with a smile, Dhoni says: “Tum jo saath chalti ho, har safar khoobsurat banaati ho” (The way you walk with me hand in hand, you ensure to make my every journey more beautiful with your presence).”

The video ends with the text, “A love story like no other, coming soon.”

–IANS

Maadhrasi Salaries for Sivakarthikeyan , Rukumani- Vidyit, Biju Menon, A R Murugadoss. Sivakarthikeyan was paid upfront Rs 40 lakhs and after that another Rs 30 crores before release, The highest for SK, Rujumani was given Rs 3 crore and jump from Rs 1 crore as Sapta Saagaradaache Ello, was a hit. Biju Menon who played NIA agent was paid Rs 3 crore. Badddie Vidyut was given Rs 4 crores as he is regular in all ARM films. ARM despite setbacks was paid Rs 30 crores by Lakshmi Movies.

As per reports Tamil Nadu has taken a Rs 12 cr opening and in Telugu States the response is not good. Largely favourable reviews have helped SK fans to come out in large numbers with action numbers. Monday will decide whether it has the potential to cross the weekend.

Thalapthy is No 2 Pan Indian actor / LYCA still Empuran Producer / Blast Mohan - Prasanna in Ajith film

Ormax a leading agency list of top Pan Indian stars has raised many doubts as Prabhas is at no 1 and Thalapathy Vijay at No 2. Prabhas had no release in last one year and has no upcoming film coming in next six months. Vijay popularity is restricted to Tamil market and in the South, it is limited. What makes it jarring is that Allu Arjun comes third and the run of the film Pushpa 2 across India is much ahead of the above two actors. We can accept SRK at 4th and 5th as the former has not had any new releases and RC gave a Bomb called Game Changer. Next comes the shocker . Mahesh Babu is at 6th and Ajith Kumar at7th. So where is NTR Jr ? He is on 8th. Then we have two mega duds Akshay and Salman in last two. Out of this 10, five are from Tollywood and two from Kollywood and rest from Bollywood. So has KGF Yash lost his Pan India status ?. Looks like Toxic will have a tough road ahead.

Two major revelations and one misconception. First misconception was that Lyca has been thrown out of the film Empuran and we too said that they are no more than a Tamil Nadu distributor. Trailor says Lyca is Presenter of Empuran. Not only that Lyca is negotiating release of Indian 3 and has begun talks between Kamal – Shankar and Red Giant to get any early release. Also there is no hurdle to Vijay’s son’s Jason’s directorial venture. Along with the online release, the Empuraan trailer will also be launched on the IMAX screen in Mumbai. The official launch of the Empuraan trailer will be held in Mumbai on March 20. Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manju Warrior, and Indrajith Sukumaran will also be a part of this grand event. Gokulam Gopalan and Anthony Perambavoor of Aashirvad Cinemas will also be in attendance..

Two revelations ; Blast Mohan of Jailer aka Actor Sunil and Prasanna are part of Good Bad and Ugly.

Next is that Mira Jasmine is also part of Nayanthara- Madhavan- Siddharth film Test releasing on OTT. Telugu film Court and Malaylam Ponman a comparision

When Telugu film Court was ready to release, the popular talk was that it is a film that will do well on OTT but not in theatres. Ponman of Basil Joseph made at Rs 3.5 crore at the Malayalam box office was said to an OTT film . Ponman collected Rs 18 crore. After the OTT release, praise if pouring in Instagram from Tamil Nadu for Basil’s PP Ajesh the role of a jewelers agent. Dubbed in Tamil, the monologue about life by Basil in the lodge is trending on social media.

Produced by Nani, Telugu courtroom drama Court: State VS A Nobody mounted on a restricted budget of 10 crore. Starring Priyadarshi Pulikonda, the film has managed to churn out a profit of 7.40 crore already. Nani‘s film has registered a profit of 74% at the box office already! It now needs to earn 2.6 crore more to claim a hit verdict for itself and become the second Tollywood hit film of 2025 after Venkatesh Daggubati’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam. Add to this Rs 8 crore from OTT deal. For Netflix, COURT marks its third consecutive success in Tollywood after Lucky Bhaskar and Daaku Maharaaj, both of which performed exceptionally well and even featured in Netflix’s global non-English Top 10 charts.

How Udhaynidhi Stalin helped Madhavan Rocketry ? / Soundarya hubby slams murder theory

To all those who have read about Udhaynidhi Stalin and his Red Giant Production company ( also distributes movies) having corned Kollywood and become the Monster that is crippling the industry, must read this piece of information that I came across in Reddit. I was taken aback that Udhay took this stance that whatever profi he got from Rocketry sales in Tamil Nadu went to a charity that Nambi Narayanan named. Nambi comes from Thiruvanthapuram my home town. I know the mood of the place when the ISRO spy scandal broke out and talks of our Leader Karunakaran being part of the ring that sold our space program secrets to foreign country agents. It was later known that actually Nambi was a victim of a power play with Congress wing of Kerala. In fact Rocketry and through it BJP ( Modi) set right the wrong done by Congress. Now Stalin DMK and Congress are allies and there is no need to take up Rocketry distribution, as it is not hot property. Maddy is no great shakes in Tamil Nadu. If Red Giant is the Monster that is fleecing the producers and threatening theatres to screen his films he could have done it with Rocketry. But did not. Secondly report says that if at all the film gave him profits he was planning it to give to charity. I am surprised that the film in fact did this much business as I saw it in the company of a handful audience ( mostly love birds). I am giving below the TN collection only. The post says Nambi Narayanan got Rs 2.5 crore for using his subject. Madhavan as producer made profits of Rs 15 crores in Indian business and he wants to give 50% of the profit to Nambi. For that he needs PMO and ISRO nod. TN Theatrical Rights - Rs. 9.20 Crore [Red Giant] TN Theatrical Gross - Rs. 21.70 Crore TN Theatrical Net - Rs. 15.25 Crore TN Theatrical Share - Rs. 6.50 Crore TN Distributor Share - Rs. 8.75 Crore Distributor LOSS - Rs. 0.45 Crore (LOSS) - 45 Lakhs Loss roughly Report says :Udayanidhi was prepared for a far higher loss since this is a movie in which he expected no profit and even if he made any profit had planned to donate the profit to Nambi Narayan or Charity of Nambis choice. So he felt the fact that he nearly recovered the entire investment is a Monumental Success for the Film Source Kanthaswamy Balasubramaniam of Balus Box office.

To North Indian film goers , Soundarya is known as Suryavamsh girl who acted opposite Big B. The film when released in theatres was a flop but on Sony Max it was a big hit. Anytime it was streamed, it created high TRP> Finally it is now going back to the Hindi rights owner GoldMine and they have a channel and a YouTube one too. In fact this film is a remake of a Tamil film with same name starring Sarathkumar- Devyani and Priya Raman. Directed by Vikraman, it was remake in Telugu by EVV. The film has through TV streaming collected Rs 50 crores. The startling complaint that Telugu actor Mohan Babu engineered the helicopter crash that killed Soundarya and it was too usurp her farms in Andhra created a big buz. Now this statement; n response to these allegations, Soundarya’s husband, Raghu, issued a strong clarification. Dismissing the rumors, he stated, "False information about Mohan Babu and Soundarya's property in Hyderabad has been circulating. I categorically deny these baseless claims. Mohan Babu sir did not unlawfully acquire any property from my wife. To my knowledge, we have never engaged in any land transactions with him. I have known Mohan Babu for 25 years and share a friendly bond with him. We are like family. I request everyone to refrain from spreading false information and to bring an end to this unfounded speculation."

BJP Madhavan and ex BJP Gautami winners, Kamal ignored by DMK State awards

In a race to beat the model code of Election Commission, DMK Government has gone and given the Best Actor award for 2015 to R Madhavan, a Sangh Parivar sympathizer and to Gauthami the ex BJP office bearer wo joined AIADMK. R Madhavan the Director of the film Rocketry that showed Congress and UPA in bad light won National awards, was also made President of FTII Society Pune. After the BJP came to power in Centre, this post has been going to those who are pro saffron and had created many controversies. Yet another award winner that will make the Ministers Swaminathan I&B minister along with Health Minister Ma Subramanian and HR &CE Sekar Babu squirm in their seats is that of Actress Gautami who was judged best character actress for her performance in Papanasam, Incidentally Kamal Haasan played her hubby in the film. CM Stalin is not giving away the awards. In all probability Udhaynidhi could be expected. It is no secret that political affliatations count when State Government awards are announced.

The film Irudhi Suttru directed by Sudha Kongara had Madhavan in the lead along with Ritika Singh. All three have won the State Award. Thani Oruvan with Jeyam Ravi in lead has picked up 5 awards including best villain but missed the Best actor award. One reason is that Jeyam Ravi’s mother in law Sujatha is a close pal of Kushboo who loses no opportunity to put the DMK in the docks. Though the DMK could weed out Ravi , it missed Gautami and Maddy. Even taking for granted that State level DMK thinktanks were not familiar with Maddy and his Rocketry brand politics, it is a surprise that Gauthami crept in and to add salt to wound, she joined the AIADMK and is said to be a front runner for a Lok Sabha ticket. On the sidelines, we hear that Kamal will be fielded on a DMK backed ticket. As the press release says that invites have gone out to all Kollywood celebs and so it would include Kamal Haasan too, the function will generate more news outside the venue. With the winners list out on March 3rd, the function is on March 6th at Rajaratinam Kalai Arangam in R A Puram in Chennai. Valluvar Kottam hall is under renovation. A backlog of 2009- 2014 film awards was cleared in one go at a function in 2022. The last few years of the AIADMK Government saw the annual award function kept in limbo. The Kalaimamani Awards was given for 2019-2020 year and this too could now spring up. The list of award winners drawn up by Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, had led to a batch of litigations and HC asked the body to fix norms and not decide on caste and religion basis the winners who are supposed to have done yeoman service to field of arts.

Vetrimaaran fans upset - Madhavan as G D Naidu - Malayalam Cinema's costliest film starts

 Pradeep Ranganathan of Love Today fame has irked Director Vetrimaaran's fans. The filmmaker turned actor tweeted on Tuesday from his official Twitter handle, praising Vetri Maaran's recently released film "Viduthalai," calling it extraordinary and sending his best wishes to the director and his team. However, some followers of the national award-winning filmmaker were upset that the actor did not address Vetri Maaran's name with Sir in his tweet, with one user requesting that he do so and another user questioning the actor's longevity in the industry and emphasizing the need for respect towards a senior Vetri Maaran.

According to Vignesh Shivan , Pradeep Ranganathan has expressed interest in working with filmmaker on his upcoming film Love Insurance Company "LIC." He also confirmed that Nayanthara is part of the film. This collaboration has caused excitement among Tamil film fans as it was originally supposed to be Sivakarthikeyan's 17th film with Anirudh as the music director. RKFI, a well-known production house in Tamil cinema, owned by Kamal Haasan ,is expected to produce the film, bringing a new level of sophistication and polish to the project.

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MediaOne Global has signed R Madhavan for two of their upcoming projects. One of these is a biopic on G D Naidu, the man known as the "Edison of India" and recognized as the "wealth creator of Coimbatore". Naidu's legacy is closely tied to the production of India's first electric motor. The other project, by R Mithran of Thiruchitramabalam fame, will be s shot entirely in London. RJ and actress-producer Punnagai Gheetha, based in Malaysia, will play the lead opposite Madhavan. Aravind Kamalnathan will be the executive producer and cinematographer for the film. This marks Madhavan's next venture as a man of science after playing a scientist in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect. The film, which promises to inspire youth, is a biopic on Gopalsamy Doraisamy Naidu, also known as the "Miracle Man". The G.D. Naidu Charities signed an agreement with MediaOne Global Entertainment Limited on Wednesday, and a conceptual poster was released on Thursday. Other details of cast and crew is yet to be finalised.

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Kathanar, which is bankrolled by Gokulam Movies, is anticipated to be the most significant film in Jayasuriya's career. It is considered to be one of the costliest films ever made in Malayalam cinema, with an initial budget estimated to be around 90 crores. The film is a period fantasy that features visually stunning effects that have never been attempted before in Indian cinema. Rojin Thomas, the director of Home Fame, helms the movie, and it is written by debutant R Ramanathan. The production will employ ARRI Alexa 345 cameras, which are typically used in Hollywood productions. What sets Kathanar apart is that it will be India's first film to be shot entirely as a 3D virtual production, a technique typically reserved for larger Hollywood movies like Avatar, Ready Player One, and The Lion King. This shooting method necessitates a significant amount of preparation and investment in technology, which is further complicated by the fact that it will be a two-part series. The team conducted test shoots and built a massive virtually controlled set a year ago. The film series will be among the first to be shot entirely on South India's biggest modular shooting floor, which spans 40,000 square feet and is located on a 36-acre plot of land. Latest buzz is that Anushka Shetty has been approached to do the leading lady .

Hrithik Roshan in Vijay Sethupathi role - Saif Ali Khan in Maddy role -Vikram Vedha Hindi remake - Varun Dhawan in Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru remake

 Hrithik Roshan (HR) and Saif Ali Khan play the roles reprised by Vijay Sethupathi and Madhvan respectively  in the Hindi remake of Vikram Vedha From April, shoot of the Hindi remake  goes on the floor. Directed by Pushkar- Gayatri who directed n the Tamil version, HR is said to have worked two months to prepare for the role of the wily gangster.  The film is produced by Neeraj Pandey. Yet another Tamil film that is remade in Hindi is Dhuruvangal Pathinaaru which is Sajid Nandiadwala Sanki . Varun plays the role played by Rahman ( disabled cop) in the Tamil.

Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein ( Minnale in Tamil) will have a sequel in Hindi. Producer Vasu Bhagnani is remaking this and announced that Kriti Sanon  will play the heroine and `Mom' director Ravi Udayawar will be directing , Vicky Kaushal is tipped to be playing the hero.After remaking Arjun Reddy ( original) in Hindi as  Kabir Singh, Shahid Kapoor is acting in remake of  Telugu film Jersey which had Nani - Harish Kalyan in the lead. The film won two National awards. It is produced and directed by the same Producer - director of Telugu film.