Meera Jasmine opposite Jayaram in Malayalam film directed by Sathyan Anthikad

 National award winning actress Meera Jasmine is making a comeback as heroine opposite   Jayaram  to be directed by Sathyan Anthikad . Yhis was revealed by way of a  conversation with Quiz master SK in the Malayalam channel Flowers Oru Kodi show on Thiruonam day. The channel promoters are Gokulam Gopalan , a film producer himself.

Meera Jasmine after her marriage quit films and  gone abroad. She made a cameo appearance in Poomaram in which Jayram's son Kalidas was the hero. With Sathyan Anthikad, Meera had given several hits - ‘Achuvinte Amma’, ‘Rasathanthram’, ‘Vinodayathra’, and ‘Innathe Chintha Vishayam’. She  won the  National award for the film ‘Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilapam"

Jayaram who acted with Allu Arjun  in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo’ said that his dialogues were written in Malayalam and placed as placards behind Arjun as Telegu films unlike Malayalam film industry did not have prompters. He said a scene in which he had to pull Arjun by the collar and threaten him, the dialogue was written on a paper and pasted on the chest of Arjun.

Jayaram is also playing a pivotal role in the upcomung film ` Radhe Shyam  with Prabhas as hero. He is acting in the period film  Ponniyin Selvan directed by Mani Ratnam. 

Akshay Kumar Bell Bottom banned in Gulf Countries for distorting U.A.E role in hijack drama

 Akshay Kumar's Bell Bottom released yesterday has it's bottoms ripped apart with  Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait banning the film. This takes away almost 50% of the overseas market of a Hindi film. The decision might lead to other Muslim countries that may follow UAE. Box office , the first day collections worldwide are not so encouraging with Rs 2-3 cr as trade expected Rs 5-6 cr on day one. Attendance was only 50% in movie halls. 1600 screens are showing the film in India.

Distributor of Hindi films abroad said that the makers of Bell Bottom had treated UAE as if it was Pakistan  and went ahead and distorted the entire real life hijack drama and make the  U.A.E Defence Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum who handled the hijack crisis in 1984 as a `dummy' who was kept in the dark while Indian Intelligence men carried out the rescue operation. The truth was that it was because of the U A E pressure that the operation was successful.

Efforts are through diplomatic channels to pacify the U A E officials and dialogues and scenes which show that were found objectionable will be removed. Akashay Kumar has a track record of delivering hits with real life incidents as subjects. His film Airlift was based on prominent Indian businessman in Kuwait, Mathunny Mathews ( Toyoya Sunny), who was instrumental in the safe evacuation of stranded Indians during the Iraqi invasion in 1990. Padman was based on the real-life story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who hails from a remote area in Tamil Nadu. He devised a clean and budget-friendly sanitary napkin for women who do not have access to proper sanitary facilities

Bell Bottom is the first STAR film to hit theaters ( in North India except Maharashtra). The theaters for the first time got a 60 % share of total collections in first week as it was 50-50 till now. Major players Tamilrockers streamed the film within few hours of the release across various sites.

Trade points out that pe- Covid biz is not seen for Akshay Kumar. The last film before Covid was Good Newwz,’  with Kareena Kapoor Khan, Diljit Dosanjh and Kiara Advani, grossed Rs 17.56 crore on Day 1 alone. Bell Bottom is directed by Ranjit M Tewari and stars Vaani Kapoor, Lara Dutta, and Huma Qureshi in prominent parts.

Home review; Passable tale - feel good

 

Home is a perfect film to watch for Onam. It’s a passable film but the right casting makes all the difference to the otherwise ordinary story that offers no surprises in the treatment . Indrans who has done similar roles does it with ease but the way his looks has been created gives it a different touch. Manju Pillai as his wife gives adequate support.

As the story plot is about a father and son , the son played by Sreenath Bhasi is very important and to give due credit, the actor has matched up to the veteran Indrans.

The technical support from camera – music- lyrics is excellent.  On the downside, the ending brings to mind the film Katha Parayumbol. If the `extraordinary’ happening told by  father to son was kept a secret between the two, it could have made a difference. The director instead chose a formulaic ending. Rojin Thomas as director does not fail. A thought crosses my mind – most of us immediately search YouTube to get answers to operate or handle things that we have doubts. With a son who is a YouTuber, will not he be pushed into the world of this channel that has the answers from somebody to nobody on all topics under the earth?

 

Singer Benny Dayal exit from Super Singer show - Gimmick or Real ?

 Is singer Benny Dayal quitting Super Singer 8 due to hate mail -a Star Vijay tactic to garner TRP ?. TV industry says that the channel is resorting to this ruse as like other Reality shows that it launched recently and went on to get high TRP, the once popular Super Singer has lost the novelty since the audience over the last few years has developed a fatigue in seeing such singing reality shows. In probability the eliminated contestant Sridhar Sena might be back as a wild card entry. 

Reason for this view is that Star Vijay had such tantrums on its sets- like Simbu walking out and Vanitha Vijayakumar spat with judge. Those in the know say that the anchors themselves had wished Sena that he would be back as wild card entry. Secondly, the decision was collective and it was announced by Unnikrishnan and others like Anuradha and Benny had spoken in laudable terms of Sena.  Only Benny being only singled out shows that out of the three judges, it is he who is the in-thing and happening judge and only an exit by such a popular celeb can get the TRP and make it across to the targeted audience. 

As TV industry marketing professionals tell you that channels across the country are silently giving singing reality shows a silent burial, Star Vijay cannot be an exception. “Judges have to be dramatic and be players too. The judges down South are very conservative and refuse to play along with a script that require theatrics. Benny who is well versed with Bollywood shows was probably game for it,” remarked a veteran TV show producer. 

Yet another minus point for singing reality shows in the South is that the young popular happening singers are not coming forward. Some music directors like Shaan or Gopi Sundar are game but the scene is generally boring, added the producer. 

 

Bharathi Kannamma actor replaced - Kanikha - Chaya Singh enters

 

Bharathi Kannama(BK) from Star Vijay in No 1 has undergone changes. Poove Unnakkaga(PU) serial in Sun TV is to see a new entry. The TRP ratings of week 31 are showing that BK and Roja are in the top post

Bharathi Kannamma from Star Vijay which is is having an edge over Sun’s Roja’ for  the top No1  has a change. Akhilan who acted BK as Anjali’s husband is replaced by actor Sukesh. He acted in Thirumathi Hitler serial of Zee Tamil.

The photos of a shoot showing the ceremonies related to Anjali’s pregnancy 7 th month has Sukesh in it. Sources that Akhilan is busy in Hyderabad for Vishal starrer and hence could not make it. It has to be seen whether the change impacts the TRP.

Chaya Singh the actress known as Thiruda Thirudi girl for her pulsating song- dance with Dhanush shifted to TV serials. She is now making an entry in Povve …. She is not replacing anybody but is a fresh addition. The seril is maintaining a steady TRP.

Sun Tv is coming with Singaa Penne and it has big screen Kanikha in the lead. Along with her many big names are also acting in it. The promos are running but time slot is not announced. Sun has also decided to telecast serials in the Saturday evenings till reality show Master Chef starts at 9 PM. It is also brought in Roja’s special episode on Sunday. Sun TV domination of noon time slot continues.

Zee Tamil is coming with Ninathey innikum and Anbe Sivam, two new serials for prime. Timings are not announced. Gokulathil Seethai too is coming back. From Aug 23, Zee is putting Irratai Roja at 1 Pm as Suryvamsham is ending, Enenderum Punagai at 1.30 PM, Chithiram Pesuthadi one hour from 2 PM. Raja magal . From 6-7 PM Thirumathi Hitler. As reported earlier Erramana Rojave is ending.

 

Dhakshin screen: Gangai Amaran back to acting after 8years

Dhakshin screen: Gangai Amaran back to acting after 8years:   Ganga Amaran back to acting after 8years. Playa a pivotal role in Arun Vijay's untitled film directed by Hari (Singham fame). Amaran i...

Kamal Haasan scores a point on I'Day - releases drama on V P Menon the architect of the modern Indian state

Kamal Haasan scored a point on Independence Day by releasing the digital version of the drama on V P Menon, the aide of Sardar Patel who got all the princely States to join the Indian Union. What is the point  that Kamal scored ?.  The drama shows that if it was not for V P  Menon, India would have plunged into a civil war. Modi said it was the day to remember the horrors of partition.  The play also tells us about how Menon worked with the freedom struggle leaders and British to bring about a peaceful transition of power from princely States to a Democratic government.  The play is available on YouTube..

A book written by Narayani Basu on her great grandfather Menon ,when released created a flutter and brought joy to BJP. BJP who has taken the legacy of Sardar Patel and even constructed a statue that is World's highest had felt happy that the book said that Pandit Nehru did not want Sardar in his cabinet and it was V P Menon who also   served as Secretary to the Governor-General (Public) and later as Secretary to the Cabinet who had prevailed upon Nehru and asked Mountbatten to persuade Sardar to join the Cabinet. This BJP went o town pointing out that Congress and Nehru never liked Sardar and so the party was on the right track. But when Narayani criticized the violence against Delhi students, BJP dumped her and stopped patronizing her on social media.

BJP library has this book - V.P. Menon-The Transfer of Power in India - Princeton that is their reference book on the whole matter.. Now Central Minister Jaishankar said when the book was released  that he came to know about the Nehru- Patel differences only after reading Basu's book. He was a Foreign secretary- IFS officer.

The drama  is part of the series Hearts That wrote History..by  Vriksh Theater Delhi who are the producers and Ajith G Maniyan is the director ( works in AIR) who has scripted. The story is based on the findings of a Delhi based Journalist A J Phillip. The play differs in the historians version that it was Mountbatten - Plan to bring all princely States in one fold. It was the Mountbattan - Menon plan. According to Phillip the  he British would have left granting sovereignty to any state which sought it.“Thus, Menon prevented a civil war,  The idea to have a drama on a civil servant came from veteran drama playwright Omenchery.

The drama was staged at the  competition organised by Kerala Sahithya Akademi in 2016 and won the special jury award. In the same year ,the play, was presented in association with Delhi's Kerala Club (of which Menon was the first president) at National School of Drama, ‘Hearts That Wrote History’ was released as a book. The function was attended by Venu Rajamony, press secretary to President of India, and senior jurist Kurien Joseph besides Prof Pillai and Philip among others. The  162 minute production has its locales spread across the south and north of the country, leading to its characters speaking in Menon’s native Malayalam, Tamil and Punjabi up north, besides the link language of Hindi and,English.

So after at all there was a V P Menon called the Unsung hero of India's unification and what better day than to remember him. A day that  closed any idea of civil wars within India.