சன் (பிக்சர்ஸ்) செய்திகள்

பீதிக்கும் பரபரப்புக்கும் பெயர்போன சன் செய்திகளில் நடுநிலையை எதிர்பார்ப்பது கொஞ்சம் அதிகம்தான். சன் தொலைக்காட்சி நிறுவனம் திரைப்படத் தயாரிப்பில் இறங்கியதிலிருந்து தங்கள் திரைப்படம் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட உருப்படாத செய்திகள் தலைப்புச் செய்திகளில் இடம் பெறுவது வழக்கமாகியுள்ளது. காதலில் விழுந்தேனில் ஆரம்பித்த தலைவலி படிக்காதவன் வரை தொடர்கிறது. 

இன்றைய தலைப்புச் செய்திகளில் சுள்ளான் தனுஷ் படிக்காதவன் திரைபடத்தை திரையரங்குகளில் ரசிகர்களுடன் கண்டு கழித்தார் எனும் செய்தி தலைப்புச் செய்தியாக இடம்பெற்றுள்ளது. வெளிநாட்டு உள்நாட்டு அரசியல் செய்திகளை விட படிக்காதவன் செய்தி முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்தது எப்படி என்று சற்றும் புரியவில்லை. தங்கள் தொலைக்காட்சி நிறுவனத்தின் பலத்தை கொண்டு சுமாரான படத்தைக் கூட வெற்றிப் படமாக மாற்றுவதே தங்கள் குறிக்கோளாக கொண்டுள்ளனர் மாறன் சகோதரர்கள். இந்தப் போக்கு "Editorial Integrity"-யை தொழில் வெற்றிக்காக விட்டுக்கொடுப்பதாகும். விளம்பரதாரர்களுக்கு சாதகமாக செய்திகள் எழுதுவது ஒன்றும் புதிதல்ல. வடக்கில் Times of India போன்ற நிறுவனங்கள் இதை காலம் காலமாக கடைப்பிடித்து வருகிறார்கள். இதுமட்டுமல்லாது, சிறந்த பத்து பாடல்கள் & சிறந்த பத்து திரைப்படங்கள் ஆகிய நிகழ்ச்சிகளிலும் தங்கள் சொந்த தயாரிப்பு படங்களுக்கே முன்னுரிமை தரப்படுகிறது. 

மேலும் பல படங்களை தயாரிக்கும் சன் நிறுவனம் தங்கள் செய்தித்தாள், பண்பலை மற்றும் தொலைக்காட்சி மூலம் மக்களை முட்டாள் ஆக்கி படத்தை ஓட வைக்க சகல முயர்ச்சிகளிலும் ஈடுபடும். பாராளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் வரவிருக்கும் இவ்வேளையில், சன் செய்திகளை விட அதிக பொழுதுபோக்கு தரக்கூடிய ஒரு நிகழ்ச்சி கிடையாது.

More Troubles For Pyramid Saimira

The impact of the credit crunch couldn't be more pronounced. After recent disclosures about the pledging of promoter shares in Satyam, it has now emerged that Pyramid Saimira's promoter has also pledged his shares to financial institutions. Since PS Saminathan couldn't meet margin calls, the institutions have been selling his shares in the open market. 

Pyramid was in the thick of the action because of the poor response for Kuselan and also because of the abandoned Marmayogi project.

Theatre chain operator Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd clarified on Tuesday that some financial institutions, with whom promoters had pledged their stake, sold 6 percent in the firm between October and December.

The company clarified that it was facing a liquidity crunch and then suffered losses in a mega-budget film, 'Kuselan,' prompting the promoters to pledge some shares to raise funds.

Kuselan, a Tamil film which was also re-made in Telugu, was released in August 2008 and fared miserably on the box office.

As the current period is the peak season in south India for film release and confirmations, the firm hopes its locked-in money will be released, easing the cash crunch. (Link)

I expect more troubles for Pyramid Saimira as they have been hit badly on both the business and financial front. Other issues relating to the SEBI letter and promoter's fight have cast a bad light on them. Cancellation of Marmayogi and sudden termination of Simran Thirai have not helped them either. I wouldn't be surprised if they go bust in the near future. 

Does Your Name Need Cosmetic Changes?

Altering names because of numerology is nothing new. The interesting trend over the recent years is the type of changes which people make to their names. It's pretty common to come across additions like a and e. Some of the examples are Raadhikaa Sarathkumar, T R Baalu and S Ve Shekher. A popular film comedian who makes fun of social evils also patronizes numerology and prefers to use Vivekh.

One normally notices such changes to individual names in the field of politics, film industry and business. It's surprising to see even listed companies adopting numerology. The case in point here is Karur K.C.P Packkagings Ltd. The man behind this company is called K C Pallanishamy. The company Chairman might have probably got a bulk discount from the astrologer for changing his name and the company name.

Actor Jeeva is now Jiiva. I wonder whether the actor's fortunes have changed after the import of 2 i's. Another name which caught my eye is TN Congress President KV Thankgabaalu who has added the letters k and a to his name. Few other names which attracted attention are Gangai Amaren, Premgi Amaren and Rajhesh Vaidhya.

One of the strangest uses of numerology that I have come across is that of Sathyajyothi Films Thyagarajan. The man uses a dot before his first initial and his name reads .T.G Thyagarajan.

To the best of my knowledge, it looks like the people mentioned above have used numerology to revitalize their names and careers. If there is any factual inaccuracy in the above, do bring it to my attention so that I can make amends.

Do respond on some of the unusual 'numerological' names that you have come across. Please ignore Pondicherry names (like Coomarasamy) which are real names and are not connected with numerology. I am also interested in knowing whether the people who have changed their names have really attained success post the name change.

Wisdom Of The Crowds?

Singapore's Tamil FM channel (Oli 96.8 FM) has chosen Kangal Irandal from Subramaniapuram as its Song of Year 2008. The annual ranking of Top 100 Tamil film songs is based on a public voting of the selected songs and it has sprung up a few surprises. The first song deserves its place. Similarly 6 songs from Vaaranam Aayiram figure in the Top 15 songs and this was also expected since this album was widely acknowledged as the best album of the year.

While I don't know how many people really participate in this voting, I have a feeling that even a small swing can push a song up or down. I was quite surprised to see 3 songs from Kuruvi making it to the Top 10. I really doubt whether Kuruvi deserves a place in the Top 10 list. The only song worthy of it is Thaen Thaen. If one were to look at the reasons behind Kuruvi's superior performance, one could be the general popularity of actor Vijay among Singapore locals and the other could be the lack of genuine public support for other well deserving songs. How else can I explain when I see a pretty average song like Mozha Mozhannu Yamma Yamma from Kuruvi at #16  while there are much better songs which make up the bottom of the list.

Enthiran changes hands as credit crunch bites hard

Big production houses have been putting pressure on directors and actors to cut costs and this has created ripples in Kollywood. Few days ago, it came to light that Reliance backed out of Maniratnam's project because of budget constraints. The latest news is that Superstar Rajini's Enthiran will now be produced by Sun Pictures instead of Ayngaran and Eros. 

The market rumour is that Shankar and Karunamoorthy of AI has parted ways over the budget of Enthiren which was originally pegged at RS 120 crore. After the meltdown and global recession, the Kishore Lulla-owned Eros International which has a stake in AI, wanted Shankar to scale down the budget. (Link)

After the patch-up in MK's family, Sun Pictures is now making aggressive moves since it has the financial and political backing. If the tussle between MK and Maran's had continued, I doubt whether such a deal would have happened. With corporates slowly fading away from the Kollywood radar, expect more budget scale downs and reduction in star salaries. 

Actor Vishal starts blogging

Not many from the Tamil film industry have attempted blogging and it is interesting to see a hero hitting the blogging trail. The only other Tamil film personality (that I can think of!) who attempted blogging and left it half-way is Director Ram of Katrathu Tamizh fame.

Action hero Vishal is the actor we are talking about here. The layout is quite trendy (Copied from Big B's blog?). The tab heading on the browser proclaims that it is Puratchi Thalapathi Vishal's official blog. I don't understand why actors still use such funny accolades and titles which don't have any real meaning.

Coming to the blog itself, there are a few posts containing a few lines each. They sound more like a longish SMS. They come across as a bit amateurish. After reading through the blog posts, one gets an impression that he might have either hired a ghost writer or used his PRO to update the blog. Here is a sample post:

Hai Everybody. It is a most unhappy day, the most popular villian of yester years Mr. M.N. Nambiar passed away yesterday. He was a vetran theater artist and a great cinema legend. Unlike his character in films which he potrayed he was a very humble and hardworking actor. He has worked with seven generation of actors. I think new actors like me cannot comment on his acting since he is a legent and a phoneix in acting. I am sad that i missed working with such a great person. I am sure the whole film industry is going to miss him a lot. (Link)

Let's watch his blog closely to see how it shapes up.

Credit Crunch Hits Kollywood

It looks like heroes like Vijay and Ajith who act in formula movies to please their fan base need to be realistic in their salary expectations. With low-budget and offbeat movies like Subramaniapuram, Chennai 600028 and Saroja doing well in the box office, story value is slowly and surely getting more prominence over star value.

Following the poor show of blockbusters, Tamil film producers have asked stars to slash their rates by at least 60 percent, warning that they would have to otherwise think twice before launching new projects, officials in the Tamil film industry said.

The move comes within 10 days of entertainment major Pyramid Saimira saying it had deferred the production of Kamal Haasan starrer "Marmayogi" due to "liquidity constraints in the film industry".

Mani Ratnam may also have to slash the budget of his ongoing bilingual project by at least 40 percent.

Though the South Indian Artistes' Association refrained from comment over the development, two top stars have informed their producers that they would rather sit idle than slash their prices. (Link)

A Successful Duo Part Ways

The combination of Director Gautham Menon and Music Director Harris Jeyaraj produced some of the best music in recent times and it is sad to see them parting ways. Together with lyricist Thamarai, they made a mark in every film right from Minnale till the latest Vaaranam Aayiram. Kaaka Kaaka and Vettaiyadu Vilayadu were the other notable hits. Gautham Menon will be working with ARR in his next venture - Chennaiyil Oru Mazhaikaalam. A statement from Harris Jeyaraj confirms the break-up and says that there is no ill-feeling between them. Harris has established a permanent place in the Tamil Film Industry and is known to come up with amazing melody numbers film after film. The only accusation on HJ is that his songs are similar to his previous numbers. I believe HJ will not lose much as a result of this break-up.

I have a very good respect for Mr. Gowtham Menon and in return he has reciprocated the same. But now things have gone sour that it's better for us to part ways as good friends leaving behind some beautiful memories. With a heavy heart I have to take this decision on behalf of us. I know this might disappoint my fans, music lovers and well wishers in the industry. But it's best for us to leave it at this, since I always believed that to create soul stirring music, the bond between a music composer and the director is vital. Once it's lost, it is difficult to get back. (Link)

The Hindu adds:

According to industry insiders, Menon's domineering ways left Jayaraj exasperated in recent times. (Link)

Sun Pictures vies for Marmayogi production rights

It has been reported in some sections of the media that Kamal's Marmayogi might change hands from Pyramid Saimira to Sun Pictures. This doesn't come as a big surprise given the recent developments surrounding Sun Pictures and Pyramid Saimira.

Over two weeks after Expresso reported that Pyramid Saimira is likely to pull out of its project with Kamal Haasan, the period movie Marmayogi, it seems confirmed now, that the race is on for other producers to take over the movie. Sun Pictures, which has entered the production scene with a bang with Kadhalil Vizhundhen, has confirmed now that they are looking at a proposal to produce the movie. (Link)

Pyramid Saimira is not in the best of financial health after the disappointing performance of Kuselan. Further, Saimira's foray into the North Indian market has not paid off well. They recently closed their North Indian operations. Pyramid Saimira has also shown aggressiveness in entering unchartered territories like the Chinese market where they have very little ground presence and local knowledge. It was widely speculated that Saimira would face difficulties making a commercial success out of such a mega budget movie like Marmayogi which is said to cost upwards of Rs. 100 crores. 

Contrastingly, Sun Pictures has made a killing out of Kadhalil Vizhunthen. The low budget movie was promoted aggressively through various forms of media owned by Sun TV and hence the hype ensured that the movie had a good opening. In addition to this, Sun's business model is undergoing a change ever since the balance of power shifted in favour of Kalaignar TV. The rights of all new big budget movies (especially the ones produced by Pyramid Saimira) were going the way of Kalaignar TV. This prompted Sun TV to do backward integration and enter the world of film production. This will ensure that they have a steady pipeline of movies which can be screened in future even if they meet with limited success in bagging the television rights of other popular movies. 

Diwali Dampener?

With only a handful of Tamil movies releasing this weekend, this Deepavali could turn out to be one of the dullest year for movie fans. You do have Ajith’s Aegan, but there is hardly any competition to the Thala movie. Hari’s Seval is mostly targetted at B & C centres and can only catch on through word of mouth if the reviews are good.

ToI has rightly pointed out that box office fight has actually spilled over to the TV space with Sun TV and Kalaignar TV upping the ante by offering new movies.

Diwali has become a metaphor for big movies. The hype and hoopla surrounding it has to be seen to be believed. Whether it is the star cast, music or just the filmmakers, there is a tremendous buzz about Diwali releases. The fans and trade, to a certain extent, believe that a release during the festival of lights will determine the star power of a hero when he is pitted against other stars.

However, sadly this year, Gautham Menon’s magnum opus with Surya — Vaaranam Aayiram, Madhavan’s comedy Guru En Aalu, Prakash Raj’s Abhiyum Naanum and Silambarasan’s Silambattam have been postponed at the last minute due to various reasons.

To a certain extent, Diwali has lost its lustre due to the invasion of satellite channels. This Diwali, Tamil television channels are beaming super hit films. The market leader, Sun TV, is premiering Rajinikanth’s all time big 2005 blockbuster Chandramukhi while arch-rival Kalaignar TV is going to telecast Ajith’s all time big super hit Billa, released last December!

The trade is worried as they feel the real Diwali battle is on television and not in theatres. Rains all over Tamil Nadu and particularly in Chennai and surrounding areas ahead of the festival are also a worrying factor.

I was under the impression that cable channels can’t telecast movies released within the last 2 years. Maybe the rule might have undergone a change after the entry of Kalaignar TV. 

Vaaranam Aayiram holds lot of promise and its music has already made a mark. The movie also made news in the last couple of days after it was announced that MK Azhagiri’s son Durai Dayanidhi has purchased the distribution rights for the movie. This follows the entry of MK Stalin’s son Udayanidhi into film production. Durai Dayanidhi’s film company is called 'Cloud Nine' while Udayanidhi’s production company goes by the name of 'Red Giant Movies'. It looks like their affinity to Tamil is only used to garner votes but not displayed in their own business initiatives.

Sad State of Tamil Lyrics

It is quite fashionable to put lot of catchy English words (Shankar style) in Tamil songs. This has now gone to an extent where one has to search for the Tamil words in such English songs. Sample this song from the movie Rendu:

Mobila Mobila

நான் உந்தன் post paida pre-paida சொல் சொல்

நெஞ்சுக்குள்ளே கேட்குதே நம் காதல் ringtonea

காதுக்குள்ளே பேசுதே உன் பேச்சு voicemaila

என் குட்டி இதயம் தவிக்கும்

என் பிஞ்சு விரலும் துடிக்கும் 

உன் numberukku phone பண்ணுதே 

phone பண்ணா

Subscriber cannot be reached at the moment

There will be a day when the TN govt. will have to give tax incentives to promote Tamil lyrics. Till such time, the promise of Tamil preservation will be just an eye-wash.

Datuk Ilayathalapathi and Datuk Thala

When Shah Rukh Khan can be knighted with the title Datuk by the Malaysian State of Malacca for promoting Malaysia in his films, Billa Ajith and Kuruvi Vijay should also queue up for their Datuk titles.

Madhushree is the new Udit Narayan

The same Madhushree who gave us mesmerizing melodies like Mayilirage (Anbe Aaruyire) has taken on the task of butchering the Thamizh language. By doing so, Madhushree has replaced the void created by Udit Narayan (remember Kadhal Pisase from the movie Run?) who doesn’t seem to be singing that many Tamil songs these days.

Most of the recent releases have atleast one song by Madhushree and almost all these songs have some mistake or the other.

1. Unakkul Naane from the movie Pachakili Muthucharam (MD: Harris Jeyaraj)

Keerthi has done an elaborate post on this. The word uLLam has been sung as ullam. This is not the first time some non-Tamil speaker is messing up with the same word. It also happened with Sunidhi Chauhan in the film Vallavan.

2. Oru Kalavani Payale Nee from the movie Lee (MD: D Imman)

Like the previous song, Madhushree has messed up the opening line in this too. If you listen to the entire song, you can spot many more gaffes.

களவானி has been sung as கலவானி

3. Perunthil Nee Enakku from the movie Pori (MD: Dhina)

This song has some interesting lyrics and is a captivating melody. It is being featured repeatedly in all the countdowns and those who watch Sun Music will get to see it atleast once every hour. It’s really sad to see such a good song being butchered by Madhushree’s Tamil.

ஆலில்லா நள்ளிரவில்

தினமும் காலையில் எனது வாசலில் இருக்கும் நாலிதல் நீதானே

A line which talks of the hero admiring the mistakes in the heroine’s poetry has been sung with a mistake. One wonders whether they planned it in advance J

எழுதும் கவிதையில் எழுத்துப் பிழைகலை ரசிக்கும் வாசகன் நீதானே

I urge Maruthuvar Ramadoss to give up his protest against Reliance and other retail behemoths and start focussing on chasing the damagers out of the TFM industry. The PMK founder has proved that a Tamil channel (Makkal Tholaikaatchi) can be run with people speaking fluent Tamil and not the popular FM Tamil. Makkal Tholaikaatchi is also using the services of noted Tamil scholar Ma Nannan (some of you might have seen him on Doordarshan in the past) to teach Tamil to the staff and comperes. If these singers are not able to speak fluent Tamil (even some native Tamil singers will fall under this category) they can be forced to get a clearance from Ma Nannan before singing in movies.

Getting trained to wear the saree

The Overseas Women Club in Chennai seems to be an active community with lot of activities being planned from time to time. Their latest event is a training session where the expat women are learning the basis of wearing a saree. They could also get some help from Ilayathalapathi Vijay :-)

Q&A with TR

Gabtun Vijayakanth and Vijaya T Rajender are favourite topics for people making fun of Kollywood. Any news / videos concerning these people are interesting subjects which can be instantly turned into blog posts. This video on Kumudam.com (registration required) also falls under the same category. Kumudam has a 7-part interview with TR in which TR talks at length about his film career, political ambitions, hunger to succeed and also about Simbhu.

TR says that he can only provide direction to Simbhu and it is the Little Super star who has to take the final decision. TR’s natural voice is quite loud, so please listen to the interview at a moderate volume level :-)