Indian Regional Cinema

The Kollywood big screen had missed actress Vijayalakshmi for quite some time. However, the girl is now back with a bang. With several projects in hand, Vijayalakshmi is all set to make her comeback to the Chennai film industry a successful one. The actress says that she was away from Chennai to take time out for her career in Sandalwood. And since Vijayalakshmi had been away for more than five years, Kollywood took it for granted that she had settled down in Karnataka. However, the actress is now back to Chennai, her home land, putting an end to all rumors.

Hansika Motwani, the  young,  impish girl who had captivated the audience with her bubbly act in the TV serial, ‘Kyun Ki…’ has become a big star in her own right now. After an impressive debut Himesh Reshammiya on the big screen, she has now moved down South. This change of geographical locations has proved to be lucky for her as well for she, Hansika, is now considered to be one of the rising stars of Kollywood with three biggies, ‘Engeyum Kaadhal’, ‘Maapillai' and’ Velayudham’ in her kitty. The star had been hoping for a Diwali release of at least one of them though.

The recent Rajnikanth starrer ‘Robot’ has taken the world by surprise; it has been touted as one of the most successful Indian films in the recent years. The Rajnikanth/Aishwarya starrer has wooed the audience to the movie halls and danced its way to become one of the biggest Box Office grosser of this year.

The magnificent effort by Mani Ratnam culminated in his trilingual film named ‘Raavanan’ in Tamil. The film was released amidst fanfare while the closely guarded storyline as well as the other facts that were kept a secret helped in building expectations. The movie came and went without creating a solitary ripple. The damp squib ‘Raavanan’ was however hailed with a host of awards including the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) award for Best Cinematography.

Maybe, the actress is literally disappointed with the mixed reviews she received for her performance in Bollywood debut Khatta Meeta. But the actress strongly admits that Khatta Meeta isn’t a flop movie as the media channels are projecting.

With many filmmakers and producers coming up with new avatars as actors, producer Udhayanidhi Stalin doesn’t want to be an exception. Having churned out some of the best blockbusters like 'Aadhavan', 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya', 'Madharasapattinam' and recent release 'Boss Engira Baskaran', Udhayanidhi Stalin decided to make his onscreen debut as a lead. Much impressed with a comedy entertainer script narrated by Rajesh of 'Boss Engira Baskaran' fame, the duo started working on the project.

Prithivraj starrer Malayalam film Anwar has got a great opening on last Friday as it was released in 98 centres including four in Bangalore.

The highly anticipated Telugu film 'Mangala' recently completed its shooting schedule and reports suggest that the movie will be released very soon.  'Mangala' has been directed by Osho Tulasiram, he has also written the story and the screenplay for the movie. Tulasiram has produced the movie himself under the banner of Mantra Entertainments Mangala.

Mugamudi was supposed to be the first South Indian super-hero film, which was to be produced by Ayngaran International with a huge budget. Due to some unavoidable issues, Mysskin and Ayngaran International parted ways. Indeed these producers aren’t willing to release Mysskin’s 'Nandhalala' as they were sure that it would pit them into a terrific disaster. Thus Mugamudi, which was to go on floors by the beginning of 2010 with Suriya in lead role, has been shelved.

Suriya’s debut in Bollywood  isn’t going to be as easy as he ever thought of.  The actor makes his entry into the Hindi film industry with Ram Gopal Varma’s directorial venture Raktha Charithra. Both Hindi and Telugu versions will be released in two parts while Tamil version titled Rattha Charithram will be in a single part.

The shooting schedule for Nagarjuna’s next film Rajanna has commenced. The upcoming movie will be directed by the renowned Vijayendra Prasad. The new film is being produced by Akkineni Nagarjuna himself under the banner of Annapurna Studios.  The film’s shooting schedule started off amidst much fanfare at the ‘Maryada Ramanna’ house set in Kokapet. It goes without saying that megastar Nagarjuna is playing the lead role in the upcoming flick.

Malayalam film megastar, Mammootty, will start shooting for his next project Mathilukalkkappuram, by the end of this November. Nayantara will play the female lead in this movie.