Chennai:

A proud fan of the actor from the age of eight, the dubbing artiste-cum-human rights activist believes that no better blessing can be given to her daughter and son-in-law in waiting, than one from her “living god”.

Lavanya was engaged to Rajasekaran early in June and the couple is eagerly awaiting “good news” from the star.

A staunch believer in non-association with fan clubs, she celebrated the return of Rajini at the Vadapalani Murugan Temple on Saturday by shaving her head and offering a special pooja. Along with her, her son Gopi Raj also had his head tonsured.

“My daughter was also itching to have her head tonsured for our Thalaivar’s safe return, but I didn’t want to upset my future in-laws any further and so stopped her,” she reveals.

Gowri’s friend Amudha, and a father-son duo, Sivakumar and eigh-year-old Sasikumar, also had their heads shaven clean.

She also said she fed 500 needy persons and presented saris to 50 women to mark the actor’s return.

When asked if she believed the star who shied away from the public eye would actually be able to make it to her daughter’s wedding, Gowri says unwaveringly, “He will be there. I know. He lives for us just like we live for him.”

Chennai: The wait is over… Superstar Rajinikanth is back to Chennai after 6 weeks treatment in a hospital in Singapore on Wednesday July 13.

Reportedly, the veteran superstar’s wife Latha and elder daughter Aishwarya have already flown to Singapore to bring the head of their family and idol of millions back to Chennai.

However, in order to avoid chaos at the airport on the megastar’s return, no confirmed date of Rajinikanth’s arrival in Chennai has been disclosed.

Fans all over the state gearing up to receive the superstar with their usual fanfare.

Superstar Rajinikanth who is now taking rest in Singapore has called up his favorite director Shankar recently and conveyed his health improvement and sharing some nostalgic moments during the shoot of Enthiran.

Shankar, who was shooting for his Nanban at a Chennai suburban engineering college, has confirmed the call. Shankar said Rajini talked about his health and informed him that he will be back in less than two months.

Says Shankar: “When we were shooting at Bharath Engineering College last week, I got a call from Singapore… I thought it must be some relatives or fans… Then I thought may be Rajini sir… Yes… It was him only… I was surprised and happy to hear from him… Ubhayakusalobhari!!! (UBKS)… etc … He was sounding like before… Brisk and energetic… He told he will be back after 45 days taking a complete rest…He is well! All Is Well!”

Once again our superstar proved his magnanimity. This time he shown how great he is to none other than comedian Vadivelu.

Despite being a senior artist in the film field, the actor showed little interest in what others thought of him while wielding the mike hitting uncontrollably at opponent parties. One of the main target was politico-actor Vijayakanth. But all this was during the election propaganda and before the election results were announced.

Post the election results none of us have heard much about the whereabouts of the comedian who so boldly and vociferously took to the dais during the elections. Not only did Vadivelu lose his stand among the audience but he also lost some good roles in films that came his way.

One such was his role in Superstar’s period venture, ‘Rana.’ Superstar, who was upset with Vadivelu’s criticizing comments on Vijayakanth saw to it that he was out of the ‘Rana’ bandwagon. But after the elections when superstar came to know that Vadivelu was in a pitiable predicament and had lost out many films due to his election misdemeanor, he seems to have had a word with director K.S. Ravikumar and the duo have decided to take Vadivelu on board the film.

When they decided to remove Vadivelu off the project Ganja Karuppu was given the role offered to Vadivelu. Now Vadivelu will be in the ‘Rana’s cast along with Ganja Karuppu!

After wowing us all with his robotic avatars in the last year’s superhit Endhiran, the Indian megastar Rajinikanth returns with his next film Rana.

The movie stars Deepika Padukone opposite Rajini. Two more actresses will be roped in as the film has Rajini playing a triple role – a young Rajini, a middle-aged Rajini and an older Rajini.

The first look of the film has been released, and it shows Rajini wielding a sword in a costume that gives a somewhat periodic look. In the background is a masked face.

Rana will be directed by K S Ravikumar. A R Rahman will compose the film’s music.

Here is Rana’s official posters released Today.

Everyone

Political parties are keen to get his support. Going one step further director Rajesh Kannan. He has used his name for his movie’s title . He is directing ‘Peruman : The Rajinikanth’. But that has nothing to do with Rajnikanth. It was just a ploy toi make heads turn and see the film.

The movie stars newcomers Arjun and Shruthi and it supposedly an romantic entertainer. Shooting for the movie is on.

Produced by Kamalshi Visions, ‘Peruman:The Rajinikanth’ has managed to create a buzz as everyone even those in the industry thought it to be Rajinikanth’s next movie i.e, ‘Sultan’ after Raana.

The movie being produced by Ocher Studios and Eros International will have Rajinikanth in triple roles. Deepika Padukone plays his ladylove.

Raana has Rajinkanth, Ravikumar, music composer Rahman and cinematographer Rathnvelu coming together. Sources say the crew is keen to maintain secrecy during the shoot and those who form part of the crew are issued identity cards and only they are allowed inside.

Superstar Rajinikanth payed his homage to Malaysia Vasudevan, who passed away on Sunday.

A versatile artist who could sing all genres of music with great ease, he brought in refreshing variety to playback singing. The unique timbre of his voice, the feel and energy he would lend, made his songs such as the haunting ‘Poongatru Tirumbuma’, vibrant ‘Aagaya Gangai’ or ‘Oru thanga radhathil’, stylish ‘Ennama Kannu Sowkyama’ or the moving ‘Thenkizhakku cheemaiyilae’ evergreen hits.

He also had a stint as actor and donned several roles with leading actors. His passing away is a great loss to fans of Tamil cinema.

His body was cremated at Chennai on Monday evening. Superstar Rajini, Kamal Hassan and many other eminent artists payed their last homage to the late legend.

Superstar Rajini and Kamal commended actor Y.Gee.Mahendra and his UAA troupe on the occasion of the 100th show of its play ‘Swadeshi Aiyar’ here on Friday.

Lauding Mahendra for conveying a valuable message in an entertaining manner, actor Rajinikanth recalled the late seventies and early eighties when they worked together in several films.

“My friend Mahendra was the only comedian then. But, despite the demand for him in films, he was passionate about theatre,” he said.

Observing that it was a very interesting time for Tamil theatre, he said: “Even our guru KB sir [K.Balachander] has recently staged a play. It is a great feeling, because that is where we belong,” he added.

Actor Kamal Haasan also said that “everybody was in a mood for theatre.”

On the play, which is on a contemporary family being transported to 1945 through a time machine, he said all actors performed remarkably well.

Thuglak editor ‘Cho’ S. Ramaswamy lauded Mahendra for his dedication to theatre. Director Balumahendra said that after watching the play, he was tempted to go back in time, particularly on seeing Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Gowthami and Mahendra, with whom he had earlier worked .

N.Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, said that Mahendra’s father Y.G.Parthasarathy had revolutionised Tamil theatre and explored a new genre with good humour and caste-less subjects. “Mrs.YGP’s work in the field of education and fine arts is legendary.”

He commended Mahendra for his “magnum opus Swadeshi Aiyar”.

The play has been scripted by ‘Chitralaya’ Sriram, and directed by Mahendra, who plays the lead role.

Tamil Stars dominating in Tollywood!

Nowadays Tollywood is becoming as the most flexible and tolerable industry which encouraged regional crossovers.

Maharashtrians, Bengalis, Malyalees, Kannadigas – actresses and actors from almost all over India have tested waters in the industry, but the most successful lot, especially when it comes to breaking the male bastion, have been the Tamil stars.

Actors like Superstar Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Kartick tasted big success in Tollywood and now Gen Z Tamil stars – Arya and Shaam – have arrived to try their luck.

Shouldn’t be a daunting task, for among the newer crop of Kollywood imports, actor Siddharth has already shown the way. The actor who debuted in Tamil with Boys arrived in Tollywood with Nuvvu Vasthanante Ne Vadhantana and carved a niche for himself.

“With my sixth film Oye, all set to release, I think I am qualified to be branded a Tollywood actor,” says Siddarth. “Audiences were craving for a particular kind of cinema and I fitted into their scheme of things and apparently they gifted me stardom,” he says.

New entrant Arya cites a similar reason but then we heard he was paid a bomb. Was money the prime reason? He quickly rebuts, “More than the money, I was impressed by the role that was well-crafted.” He also says that it is too early for him to plan an innings in Tollywood. “First, let me gauge the response from the audience and then I will decide,” he adds.

Director Gunasekar, who cast Arya as an arch rival to hotshot Allu Arjun in the film has his reasons for casting the Tamil star. “The role shaped up into a prominent one, so I was reluctant to sign a familiar actor. I lost a couple of months but I eventually found my actor, after watching the Tamil film Naan Kadavul. Arya is good-looking as well as talented and fits the role to the T,” he explains. Well, good roles or otherwise, Tollywood seems to be the chosen destination for Tamil actors.

For quite a few decades, Tamil stars have been dabbling in Tollywood films to expand their horizons. Ace actor Kamal Haasan made waves in Telugu with hits like Maro Charitra, Sagara Sangamam and Swathi Muthyam. Now after a long hiatus, he is making a Telugu film Eenadu with Venkatesh as his co-star to regain his stardom. Superstar Rajinkanth did a couple of Telugu films like Jeevana Poratam and his ‘special appearance’ in Peddarayadu created ripples, but his last Telugu film Kathanayakudu bombed. Even Tamil star Kartick had his share of success with Anveshana and Abhinandana.

Keeping up with this trend, Tamil star Shaam is all geared for his debut on the Telugu screen with racy entertainer Kick. “I play a cop and I enjoyed doing the anger-driven role,” he says, without giving a hint of his plans.