Lockdown babies, weddings and pregnancy

 

Lockdown has seen its share of pregnancies, baby deliveries and marriage in South filmdpm. Lets start with marriages. There were many in the news but the biggest was that of actress Miya George getting engaged.. A well known actress in Malayalam and Tamil, Miya took everybody by surprise. June 27, 2020,  Bigg Boss Tamil Season 3 fame actressVanitha Vijayakumar and filmmaker, Peter Paul got married. The marriage has raked up a big controversy in the social media and it is still raging. Now to news of pregnancy- Director Selvaraghavan ( Puthupettai)  wife Gitanjali announced that she is 17 weeks pregnant. Mollywood’s cute couple Pearle Maaney and Srinish Aravind also made the announcement that they are expecting a baby on Instagram

Babies born during lockdown : Music composer- actor GV Prakash Kumar and his wife Saindhavi welcomed their baby daughter in April this year. Actor Nakkhul Jaidev and his wife Shruti announced the arrival of baby girl. Tamil Bigg Boss fame Daniel Annie Pope and his wife Danisha were blessed with a baby boyPopular Mollywood actor Tovino Thomas announced the birth of his second son on June 6. He married his girlfriend Lidiya in 2014. He also has a four-year-old daughter Izza Thomas.

In Bollywood we saw Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli announcing  that they are expecting their first child. Kareena Kapoor Khan had also  announced that they are expecting their second child.

Prabhu Deva , Rowdy Baby and salary cut for Tamil film stars

Prabhu Deva is a Rowdy Baby and Tamil producers to sign new films only if the Star takes a 50 % cut in their present income. I had decided that I will not feature anything about Vanitha Vijayakumar after my last blog on her romance and wedding during the Lock Down period. This time however I have to mention her in a different context. Robert the choreographer was ex hubby of Vanitha.  So What? Robert is angry because he saw Prabhu Deva go on stage to receive an award for the Dhanush- Sai Pallavi film Maari 2. Not it was  that Prabhu did not deserve the award but he credited the entire song movements to choreographer Johny ( or is Jaani) who worked as his assistant. “How can you give credit to a Telugu guy? Give that chance to Tamil choreographers,” said an angry Robert. Rowdy Baby trailor clocked 5 million views on YouTube and was  a big hit. Before, I come back to the main point; let me tell you the reason why Vanitha married Robert. According to her, she played a guest role and  a dance number in an Odisha film that had Robert as hero. As Vanitha was lonely and Robert filled the vacuum, she got married. So what took place recently is fourth wedding and second Christian style one.

The Tamil filmdom industry decided that all the trade bodies should have a Tamil identity and not be a South Indian body. It sparked off with FEFSI Vijayan and his men getting hit by local stuntmen in Hyderabad over a labour dispute. It led to  strikeon sets of Balu Mahendra who haired non Tamil workers.  A splinter group of stunt union smashed Manorama Theater where Directors were holding a meeting. Only the cinematographers union and dance masters union said that they will remain pan- South Indian. Later the strike fizzled out after a long gap (it was like the present Lock Down for Kodambakkam then). The compromise evolved was that a certain percentage of local talent will be hired by Chennai based Masters when shooting non- Tamil films. The situation now is that all the three South States have their own union and their own master’s and dancers. Robert is trying to rake up an issue that today has no relevance. Prabhu Deva has grown from a mere choreographer of South films to be a director of Star studded films.

I remember an incident on the sets of Vandanam, the Priyadarshan- Mohanlal film shooting at a set in Vijaya Studios. A group of drunk stunt men came and created a ruckus in filmy style. Lal and director along with actors were packed off. I too left for Palmgrove Hotel where  Lal and everybody were seen tensed. It seems that Balaji ( actor- producer) and Bhagyaraj had a tiff during shooting the remake of Mr India. It was over the publicity stills released by Balaji, a job that is said to be the director’s right. The attack on Vandanam set was by FEFSI men and the reason was that the hero was the son-in-law of Balaji.

All Star’s must take a 50% cut in wages, post COVID. The question -is the cut from the declared amount shown in the IT returns or in the diary of the actor and producer? When distributors raised a similar demand, a decade back, Rajnikanth started his own company. Today, except for Rajinikanth and Ajith, all saleable actors have their own production companies. If not, their mangers or friends-relatives running production companies sign them up. Even successful directors have floated companies. In Tamil filmdom, there is no duly elected Producer’s or Actor’s body. Both are facing elections. Those who have come forward and announced voluntary cuts are not those who matter. The reason for the cut is that collections in theaters post COVID will be minimal. In that case, why not offer a share of the gate collections and see which Star bites the bait?

No Star will take a cut even after a film flops and finally when the mobile stops ringing, that an offer to give a cut by the actor goes around. By then, it is too late. Either they move to character roles or just stay away. As K T Kunjumon , a producer with larger than life image said that Shankar had a five film agreement with him but it was not kept. He added that `Today, I am not in a position to produce a film with him either,’.

Corona virus played cupid to celeb lovers

Lock Down has its own way of playing cupid. The lovers unite in wedlock and they live happily ever after. But Lock Down decides otherwise. Film websites,  TV channels fed up with body count of Covid and social media activists bored of Covid and custody deaths ,jump up to pose questions .– Is Vanitha Vijayakumar’s husband an alcoholic, a non -vegetarian  and is he not legally divorced from his wife ? Is Vanitha not spoiling the children of today by releasing photos of her kissing her hubby? Vanitha’s  kid daughter gives interviews and so does Peter’s son and wife and it all leads to character assassination. The pitch has reached a point that only EPS – Stalin and BJP spokespersons have not commented yet on this grave issue. Surprisingly ,the AIADMK ministers who are known to rush to give their views on any topic have not come out with any gems.

Rajinikanth, who is the closest pal of Vijayakumar is sticking to tweets and so also Kamal Haasan, thanks to Lockdown. Vanitha , is daughter of actor Vijayakumar – Manjula family. It might strike a bell to those not so familiar with yesteryear Tamil cinema- Manjula acted in many MGR films and I remember her in the MGR film Rickshawkaran. I got to see this aging beauty in person at a set in Venus Studio where a brothel set was erected for Abhimanyu ( directed by Priyadarshan) and she was playing the Madame of the brothel. Vijayakumar is a jolly good fellow and a good company for a get-together. Among the daughters, I think Preetha did quite well and had her mom’s beauty. Vanitha played heroine to RajKiran in a Tamil film.  She is also brother of actor Arun Vijay.

She was always in news for either dragging her parents to the police station over a property dispute or her ex husbands over custody of the children. It was Bigg Boss 3 that gave her the much needed spotlight and the guys identified her as the quarreling Akka (elder sister). Now Peter Paul a VFX guy who works for Hollywood movies falls for Vanitha and goes on his knees and proposes. She agrees. A Christian wedding with bridesmaid etc and huge cake is held ( strictly according to Lock Down rules). We get a long note about this dream come true event and that we will get all the photos. So don’t bother about coming. Photos keep coming of the married couple showing their love by smooches and lip lock. Fine. Thanks and we will remember you for this gesture of following Lock down, said me.

Joy was short lived. Parents comments come in – How can you spoil our children with kissing photos and videos. Use parental control button and remember kissing is gesture of LOVE, answers Vanitha. Next a person calls saying Helen the legal wife of Peter is coming to police station to ask for arrest of her hubby and Vanitha for bigamy and adultery. Now actress Lakshmi Ramakrishnan who hosts a TV show that settles issues between couples and an activist herself tweets that Vanitha did a blunder and so also Helen for waiting for the wedding to be over. Vanitha says in so many words says that go and look after your life and don’t give me advice. Flabbergasted, Lakshmi says that she never got such an overwhelming response when she tweeted about Covid or custody murder and beats a retreat.

 Now Vanitha says my hubby is a teetotaler and a vegan to blunt Helen’s charge. Helen’s son says Dad called up drunk and said that he started drinking after marrying Vanitha and that twice his Dad was in a de-addiction home. Once he tried to escape and was beaten up. Now Lock Down or is it Corona virus comes back in play. Vanitha posts pixs of her feeding Peter, a KFC chicken leg. So you bluffed, asks netizens. Kutty Padmini, actress- TV producer in a YouTube channel advises that Vanitha should put  her children in a hostel. “Keep your advice to yourself and don’t take to social media for publicity when you can call and talk to me,” replies Vanitha. She also says something about Kutty’s past without elaborating. Padmini had just been nominated to State BJP working council. Padmini says sorry and retreats. At the time of writing, Kasthuri another actress and activist takes a potshot – You do everything in public and want privacy?.   it  gave me a jolt. Everything? How come I did not get the photos? Got to check the spam folder.