Iyanthiran will reach it

There had been a few jitters in the Endhiran camp following the global economic meltdown and its concomitant effect on Ayngaran. There had been doubts as to when the third schedule, slated to begin on the 16th of the month would actually take off. Now, new developments suggest that damage control has effectively set in and there might not be much to fear.

The management of Ayngaran has reportedly asked Shankar about the exact requirements of the schedule. This is being done as a measure to tighten purse strings to ensure that no problems are encountered during later stages of shooting. So, the third schedule, set in the pristine snow clad valleys of Kulu Manali is expected to take off on the 20th of this month, after a four day delay. Looking at how big the problems being faced by the industry in general are (Marmayogi being all but shelved being an indicator of the magnitude) this four day delay is not much.

Shankar plans to shoot a duet featuring Superstar and Aishwarya Rai in some never before tried locations in Kulu Manali, trust Shankar to surprise us. The visuals will definitely have the rich and grand stamp of the master director.

AMITHAB REFUSES PRODUCER OFFER

Dasavatharam, the much hyped film of Kamal Haasan will soon hit the theatres and the audio release of the film is slated for the 25th of April with many national and international celebrities scheduled to attend the event. An impressive set has been erected in the Nehru Indoor stadium and the entire crew is working overtime to make the show a phenomenal success.

As revealed to the media earlier, Jackie Chan will be the guest of honor along with Bollywood and Kollywood luminaries. Amitabh Bachchan will also be making his august presence on the audio release and as per producer Oscar Ravichandran, the legendary actor has proved once again that he stands tall among his contemporaries not only in physical stature but also in thought, word and deed. When Ravichandran offered to foot all his expenses associated with his Chennai visit, Amitabh very graciously refused and stated that it is customary for him to take care of his expenses whenever he visits such functions. Needless to say, Dasavatharam crew is completely floored by this gesture of this senior actor.

Its getting bigger

The cinematography for Billa by Nirav Shah so impressed Rajini that he wanted him to photograph Robot. Once again, Rajini was unerringly right: Nirav, who had virtually reinvented the way Tamil cinema could look in Billa, was the obvious choice. Nirav, of course, must have been thrilled and flattered. But there was a catch: he had already signed up to shoot Vishuvardhan’s next, Sarvam, starring Arya and Trisha.

The call sheets for Robot and Sarvam had coincided. Shah could have turned down Sarvam for Robot, of course, but he said he would not. Even though Robot is an epic project, involving none other than the Superstar, Shankar and A.R. Rahman, he would stay loyal to Vishnu. He and Vishnu go a long way back, he explained. They had been college friends, plus it was also Vishnu’s cinematic vision for Billa that had made their successful collaboration so talked about.

Robot’s new cinematographer is now ace cameraman Thiru. He once assisted P.C. Sriram, and now shoots for Hindi and Malayalam films. His previous work includes Hey Ram, Aalavandhan and Bhool Bhulaiyaa. His experience and expertise will surely make Robot special.

JodhaAkbar :A complete review

This Friday the wheel of time will be turned as we revisit, through Ashuthosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar, one of the most eventful and fascinating pre-independence eras of our country: the splendor of Rajasthan and the opulence and grandeur of the Mughals. The film will also celebrate a very unique marriage that was at first just a political truce and later, an epic romance. With this epic film, Ashuthosh Gowariker gets ready to unveil his yet most ambitious project to date. It is not often that filmmakers find history to be a very favorable premise to construct a story that is commercially viable, especially characters that are very well known, popular, respected and even revered. Any interpretation, however sincere or genuine, will be questioned at some stage. So, first let us applaud the tenacious Mr. Gowariker and UTV for going ahead with a subject that was not without its risks. Let’s also save some applause for Friday, because going by the director’s track record and the amount of time and work that have gone into this project, it will be worth it.

The makers have said that Jodha Akbar is an epic romance, the tale of a young Mughal king’s unexpected journey towards the discovery of true love. If the movie is indeed a love story then it surely takes the credit for having the largest ever canvas on which a romance has been painted. And along with this, the rise of a young Akbar becoming the greatest Mughal emperor to have ruled our land has also been charted. All of us know a thing or two about Akbar, such as his great conquests that earned him the title Shahenshah (king of kings), his multifaceted persona, taste for art and Din-e-Ilahi, and his idea of secularism that still finds admirers. He remains one of the few, maybe the only Mughal king to be remembered both as a fierce conqueror and a just emperor.

So what is Jodha Akbar going to tell us about this great emperor and his life? Surely, everything that happened in his life will be too much even for Ashuthosh’s three hour plus style of film making. So, we have until Friday to go about guessing. History tells us that Akbar, when a young conqueror, chose to befriend rather than oppose the Rajputs, known for their valiance. And it was out of this alliance that the marriage of Jodha and Akbar materialized. This is where some historians are up in arms against the authenticity of the facts being presented. History is less fact and more speculation, and it is more the rule than the exception that every story of the past has a conflicting version. Here, we are told that Akbar and Jodha never married; but in actual fact, Akbar was Jodha’s father-in-law. History also says that Akbar had three sons, though we tend to forget two of them. The one we remember is Jahangir or Salim (as he was named by his parents). We are not too sure about what historians have to say about this, but that great Hindi classic, Mughal-e-Azam (which you have surely heard of) revolves around the love story of Salim and Anarkali, a court dancer. Of course, it is widely believed that Anarkali is a case of creative liberty skewering historical perspectives.

Who was Jodha? There are people who say that she was the wife of Jehangir and there are people who believe that she was the wife of Akbar and there are also people who believe that such a person never existed. The consensus here seems to be something like this: Akbar did not want to fight the reputed and valiant Rajputs, seeing that a political truce -fortified by matrimonial alliance- is the most peaceful way to unify two empires, he proposed marriage with a Rajput princess and won her hand. Jahangir who also married a Rajput princess kept this tradition alive. It was this princess who gave birth to Shah Jahan. The only real issue here is the name Jodha which some people think is more likely to have been associated with Jahangir than Akbar. But what’s in a name? When one of the finest and most daring directors in India comes up with a movie after painstaking research, we have but one thing to do: sit back and enjoy. There’s also Rahman’s music and the star power of Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya (for the first time as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) to look forward to. And what better day for an epic romance to open than Valentine’s weekend? The one thing that is hard to guess here is just how many of Akbar’s famous contemporaries will Ashuthosh actually show on screen. Will we have Birbal, Tansen and the other Navaratnas? We’ll know all this and more on Feb. 15th.

amithabh bachan visits rajinikanth

The phenomenon Rajini seems to be such a wide spectrum that it compasses people from different diaspora across the globe. His charisma and magic spellbinds everyone breaking the barriers of society, language, caste and creed. To reiterate this fact, Gayathri Srikanth, a doctor by profession has penned her thoughts on the super star titled 'Rajini Perai Kettale'. This book is being released in English as 'The name is Rajini'.

The interesting fact about this book is that it has foreword written by none other than the chief minister of Tamil Nadu Karunanidhi and it also has a message written by his best friend in the industry Kamal Haasan. The book will be released by the legendary Amitabh Bachchan on the 1st of March at Chennai. It has been reported that super star himself appreciated the author after reading its contents.

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