As Mollywood burns - Kerala actresses shine in Kollywood- Vijay Sethupathi breaks Bollywood record on Netflix

While Mollywood witness Malayalee actresses coming out with charges of sexual harassment after the Hema committee, Kollywood is seeing the magic of Kerala actresses on the big screen. The film Thangalaan released recently had the critics and viewers raving about the performance of Parvathy Thiruvoth and Malavika Mohanan in the film. In fact, Parvathy came out with flying colours. Next in line is Kootukkaali with Soori and Anna Ben. Anna Ben in PS Vinothraj’s ‘Kottukkaali’, is the first Tamil film to world-premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Her performance has been highlight of the film.

After this comes Mari Selvaraaj film Vaazhai which again is a critics favourite and also said to be doing more than expected at box office. Here Nikhila Varma and Priyanka Nair are the two heroines and from Kerala. Nikhila has come in for praise and an unknown fact is that she had actually first worked with Mari Selvaraj in Dhanush Karnan and that too as a dubbing artiste. She dubbed for Malayalee actress Rajisha Vijayan in the film. In fact she sis not do it as dubbing artist but on request from Mari Selvaraj. This led to her getting Vaazhai.

This year Best Actress National award has been shared by Nithya Menen for the Tamil film Thiruchitamabalam. Manas was other winner for Kutch Express. In 2020, Aparna Balamurali won National award for Soorarai Pottru. In 2018, Keerthy Suresh won national award for Mahanadi the Tamil- Telugu film in 2018.

Thangalaan directed by Pa Ranjith and starring Vikram – Parvathy and Malavika Mohanan is going to release on August 30 in Hindi. The subject that deals with the exploitation of lower castes in the KGF gold Fields. There is no opposition in North India as no big movies are releasing. The film had a mixed response and there was a criticism that upper caste reviewers had targeted it. On the opening day, Pa Ranjith’s film collected around 13.30 crore at the box office. This is one of the biggest openings of Tamil Cinema this year. Meanwhile, it earned 4 crore overseas, taking the worldwide collection to 19.30 crore. But after that it slipped badly.

Vijay Sethupathi starrer Maharaja on Netflix has beaten all Bollywood films released this year with an viewership of 18.6 million. Crew, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu, and Kriti Sanon, was at the top spot on Netflix with 17.9 million views, followed by Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies with 17.1 million views. Maharaja was in third place with 15.5 million views. However, Maharaja has now surpassed both films, reaching 18.6 million views to become the top film on Netflix. The OTT battle between Tamil Rayaan of Dhanush and Prabhas Kalki verdict is out. Raayan has topped Kalki 2898 AD on the Amazon Prime Video. The film is trending at No 1 position pushing Kalki 2898 AD to the second spot. Kalki ‘s Telugu version with subtitles is released on Prime and Hindi on Netflix. Hindi version is doing well. The reaction from viewers for Rayaan on OTT is much different from the theatrical response as evident. Many have slammed the film after the OTT release.

Thangalaan sinks or not ? Why Sai Pallavi in Gargi and Dulquer in Sita Ramam overlooked ?

We usually wait for a Monday and then give the box office verdict. This time, we feel that there is no need as we feel a miracle cannot happen. We are talking about Thangalaan of the Vikram- Pa Ranjith combo. As far we see the film in South has touched Rs 29 crores and worldwide it is Rs 43.5 croes. The film opened big in Tamil Nadu and it was Rs 11 crores but the shocker was that on non working days it slumped and to a miserable Rs 3 crores. After taking the entire holidays, the total is Rs 25 crores. Vikram who had a good opening in Kerala has touched a miserable figure in thousands !!!. Telugu was slightly better. Gokulam Gopalan who bought Thangalaan Kerala had announced that a part of the proceeds would be given to Wayanad relief. Wonder what that amount is ?. Meanwhile Producer Studio Green has claimed Rs 53 crores in three days. It claims that Monday has a Rs 3 crore advance booking. Yet another Rayaan like claim. Rayaan of Dhanush had a similar start and fizzled out. However it had no big or small films as opposition and has limped to Rs 94 crores. It was released on July 24th. Now Dhanush fans say that with Rs 6 crores more the film will enter Rs 100 crore club. They are hopeful as Thangalaan has dropped. Rayaan is coming on August 23 on Prime. So al Rayaan needs is Rs 6 crores in six days. The silent winner is Demonte Colony 2 and it has got Rs 15 crores. More screens are coming in for the film.

Now Sai Pallavi fans say that her role in Gargi was any day better than Nithya Menen in Thiruchitrambalam. Now they say that Sai had slammed Kashmir Files and so she was dumped. Nithya on the other hand asks why an actress who does light hearted roles be given a best actress award ? Good question. Dhanush says that Nithya’s National award is his personal victory !!!. If Mammootty opted out of National awards by not entering the fray, his son Dulquer’s fans ask as to how Sita Ramam was not given a single award and instead a right wing Karthikeya 2 got one. As Rahman announced that the award prize money will go Musicians Union, his fans ask why he was not given best music Director and only for BGM ? Why did PS 2 not get national best film ? Arguments go on.

Legal hurdle for Vikram- Suriya film release - Nayanthara is Maharani

Thangalaan starring Chiyan Vikram due for release this Friday and Suriya’s Kanguva due October are facing legal issues. Madras High Court directed Production company Studio Green to pay Rs. 1 Crore before 14th August and file a compliance report with the High Court on the same day. The court further directed another Rs 1 Crore to be paid before the release of the Kanguva movie. financier Arjunlal Sunderdas after he was declared insolvent in 2019, the division bench had allowed a petition filed by the Official Assignee directing Studio Green to pay a sum of Rs. 10,35,00,000/- with an interest of 18% p.a. The official assignee had filed the current execution petition after the 2019 order was not complied with. The official assignee had sought to attach Studio Green's future movies till the orders were complied with. Studio Green stance was that it had taken money from Arjunlal for pre- production but as the financier could pay further, Studio Green handed him remake rights of three films to him for the money it took. Court dismissed this claim as there was no evidence to prove this. (source; courtesy; https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/madras-high-court/madras-high-court-studio-green-to-deposit-1-crore-each-before-releasing-thangalaan-kanguva-266491).Trailor of Suriya’s Kanguva was released today. It scheduled for October 10th release. Thangalaan advance booking has opened in all releasing States. In Kerala, the amount kept for promotions by Gokulam movies will be used for Wayanad relief and there will be no function.

As Thangalaan release nears , we have a happy news that it’s music composer G V Prakash is acting in a web series directed by Anurag Kashyap . Anurag previous one Sacred Games was a hit on OTT. Currently as a baddie he is creating waves especially after Maharajah. Anurag- GVP series is coming on Netflix. GVP is scoring music for a Akshay Kumar film.

We hear that Sivakarthikeyan’s Amaran trailor is not releasing on August 15th as scheduled as Producer Kamal Haasan is not happy with the outcome. SK camp tells us that the Pradeep incident in previous BB Tamil had dented Kamal’s image and also their hero was first choice for Siddharth in Indian 2. Luckily he did not accept and look what happened they say. Now reports say that Vijay Sethupathi is hosting BB and a promo shoot is to take place.

Talking about Makkal Selvan, Nithilan’s next after Maharaja is Maharani. Nayanthara is the Queen. Produced by Passion Studios. Hope Nithilan gives Nayan’s a much deserved hit.