Last year after the super hit Hindi film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na with Imran Khan, Genelia was avoiding signing south Indian films especially Tamil films.

Now that her Life Partner with boy friend Ritesh Deshmukh and Govinda has bombed badly, Gene is having a rethinking of her strategy.

All of a sudden, she was more than willing to do her Telugu film Ready remake in Tamil with Dhanush and sending feelers to big directors.

Genelia after a short lived honeymoon with Bollywood is turning her attention to south in a big way.

In Telugu, her Katha with Ram is ready for release while she has signed the biggest movie, Ram Charan Teja’s Orange.

The big question now being asked in Kollywood is whether Asin will also rethink her strategy and come back to Tamil after London Dreams turned out to be a disaster at the box-office?

Producer Johnny Sagariga has informed this to the trade circle Today at Kochi.

The film will be releasing big in 100 screens across Kerala. Johnny who had earlier planned it as a Ramzan release, then a Christmas film has now preponed the release by two weeks!

First and foremost, Dileep’s market is at an all time low after his recent crop of films have bombed at the box-office, the trade is cautious. And it would not be wise to compete when Mammootty’s Chattambinadu, Mohanlal’s Ivide Swargam Aanu, Vijay Tamil mass masala entertainer Vettaikaran and Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots are planning to release big in Kerala this Christmas.

Johnny Sagariga wants to recoup the losses he suffered early this year due to the colossal failure of Cat & Moz. So if he releases on December 4, he is likely to get a solo opening for two weeks before Vettaikaran releases on December 18.

And he will get dates in all main stations in best of screens and continue for three weeks before Christmas films releases. The film carries very good reports as Siddique is the man with the golden touch and has never failed. He is a director who goes by the script and National award winning music director Ouseappachan has given great melodies. Added to that Dileep is being paired with Nayanthara for the first time, making it even more exciting.

-BOS

Moser Baer has launched the DVD of their Jayaram- Padmapriya Onam (Sep 4 release) film Kana Kanmani, 26 days after its theatrical release.

It has created shockwaves in the placid Malayalam film world where normal DVD release window is 100 days after theatrical release.

The bold and daring move has to be appreciated as it is keeping with international and Bollywood standards where the release window has come down.

Says G Dhananjayan, CEO of Moser Baer Entertainment: “The film has not done well at the box-office and it made better sense for us to release it on DVD, as it will prevent piracy.

Shorter release windows on DVD means the producer will be able to recoup some of his losses if the film fails at the box-office.”

Meanwhile producers and theatre owners in Kerala are perturbed that films are getting into DVD format officially faster than ever before.

Says a prominent distributor and theatre owner: “ If DVD is released so fast how can the film get money from theatre run from B and C centers? We will be taking up the issue at our general body meeting next week.”

Vikram starrer Kandhasamy’s original length of 3 hours 12 minutes has been chopped by 22 minutes by producer Kalaipuli S.Thanu.

Some of the Vadivel comedy scenes and a few other scenes have been cut. Now the running time of the film has been reduced to 2 hours and 50 minutes.

The theatre owners who were finding it difficult to screen the film, has now heaved a collective sigh of relief.

The Telugu version of the film also trimmed.

Mamta Mohandas has walked out of Dileep’s new untitled film to be directed by Kamal.

The shooting of the film was to start at Ooty from Aug 21, but has now been postponed.

The grapevine is abuzz that Mamta backed out of the project after hearing news that Aishwarya Rai had flu which she contacted while shooting for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan in Ooty.

Mamta’s mother had told the producers that she is suffering from “severe fever” and is not in a position to come for the shoot.

Mamta had recently made waves in Malayalam with her Passenger, where she played Dileep’s wife and an investigative television reporter. The film was a hit and Kamal wanted to repeat the pair.

Namitha becomes a costly Shakila in Malluwood!

The first schedule of Pramod Pappan’s Black stallion was completed in Kochi. It is an erotic thriller, spiced with liberal doses of the necessary masala.

Namitha is rumoured to have taken home a whopping Rs 25 lakhs forher role in the film. The Kollywood bombshell plays Laura Singh, a bar dancer.

According to the script there are few hot bed room scenes also shot with Namitha.

She wears a thin satin cloth that exposing her hot parts well in those scenes!

Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani plays the lead role in the flick.

Anushka, the latest sexy siren in the South Indian movie world, is apparently the numero uno around.

After the grand success of Arundhati, and her dare-bare act in Billa, Anushka has strengthened her position as an actress. She is aiming at becoming the No.1 heroine in Tollywood.

Apart from that, Anushka is also looking to establish a good career in the Tamil film industry, which has been offering her big movies.

Currently, Anushka is working with Vijay, the leading commercial hero of Kollywood, in a film titled Vettaikaran.

“I want to do quality movies and establish a place for myself in the industry. I want to balance my career in both the Tamil and the Telugu film industries. I know that the life span of an actress in filmdom is short. I want to be part of successful and good projects during my stay here”, Anushka says.

MACTA and Mammootty have been playing the cat and mouse game for some time. Time and again accusations have hurled at, press conferences and reconciliatory meetings have been held, but to no avail.

Malayalam Cine Technicians Association Federation (MACTA) has come up with yet another series of allegations and has targeted superstar Mammootty. If that was not all, protests and demonstartions are being conducted to tarnish both the actor’s and the director Sibi Malayil’s image in public. Mammootty has been reportedly shooting for Daddy Cool in Kakkanad, when demonstrations were carried out and even effigies of the actor were burnt.

It has been alleged by director Vinayan, the president of MACTA, that Mammootty has been the mastermind behind depriving many technicians and workers of their jobs, especially those associated with MACTA. He also cited the cases of editor Murali who was thrown out of the movie Kadha Samvidhanam Kunchako and dubbing artiste Sreeja from Banaras.

Sibi Malayil, chairman of FEFKA (Film Employees’ Federation of Kerala) has affirmed that MACTA’s protests are not an issue of grave concern. However in a land where actors are role models and icons of change, these incidents reveal the stark side of the otherwise glitzy film world.

What does the title of the new Dilip-Joshiy mega-hit film Twenty 20 signify? Most probably the racy fireworks format of the film. For, in its formulaic compulsions to rope in and pander to the fans and fanatics of all the super stars, the film tries to do an incredible balancing act in its narrative to provide equally important roles to all the big men of Malayalam cinema.

Obviously, it has succeeded in that. The formula seems to have worked well with the film audience (read male) in Kerala, who seem to be desperately clinging to a passing era of stardom, which they yearn to bring back in all its former glory. Twenty 20 once again places at the top the super stars who control everything in the narrative. They are the big brothers who look after, control and manage all the eventualities and take away all the spoils.

In the process, all the others are sidelined, made into younger brothers or pushed to the margins. The film is a celebration of their domination and omnipotence, and naturally, all the others are all ‘accompanists’. In this great super race of all times in Malayalam cinema, the upcoming actors are all sidekicks and ‘also-rans’ – many of the major young talents form the background of an item song. If the fate of the younger brothers and minions is a sorry one, in the case of female characters/ actresses, it is even more miserable. In this all male kingdom, they are either glossy item numbers (Nayantara), crafty small timers (Sukumari, Kavya, Kalpana), rape victims (Bhavana) or mere shadows in the background cowering in the presence of the macho, patriarchal figures who dominate the stage.

Look at the representations of the subaltern figures, those whose skin is not ‘fair’. They are thieves and crooks (Harisree Asokan, Kochin Haneefa etc), killers and goons (Mani) or corrupt, gullible police officers (Salim Kumar, Srinivasan). In this celebration of the ‘fair’ heroes where all the others are ‘unfair’, time seems to stand still for Malayalam cinema. Is it just an accident, or does it in a way sumup the age of super stars in our cinema?

If Twenty 20 is a big hit, it only proves that our filmgoers – even of the new generation – are caught in a time warp.

With Ankitha in the lead, a film titled `Sunami’ is in the making. Say `Tsunami’ what comes to mind is the catastrophe that struck southern India some time ago but according to the film’s writer Ravindra Desai, the film is about the turbulences in the life of a woman.

The film’s audio was released at a recent function at Prasads Labs in the City. K Raghavendra Rao and Karanam Balarama Krishna Murthy released audio cassette and audio CDs of the film respectively. MM Chowdary whose film `Indrani’ has just been released, is directing the film.

Balaramakrishna Murthy is presenting the film under V International banner. G Madhukar and Srinivasa Babu are jointly producing the film. The film has music scored by Gorantla Krishna. Directors K Raghavendra Rao, Tammareddy Bharadwaja, R Narayana Murthy and music director Gorantla Krishna, Karanam Balarama Krishna Murthy and Ramakrishna Gowd were among those present on the occasion.