Mani Ratnam is finally ready to begin his new project, which will mark the acting debut of Karthik's son Gautham.
And he is ready to wield the megaphone after a break. His yet-to-be-titled film will go on floors very soon, before which the ace director wants to record all the songs.
"There will be six songs in total," say circles close to him.
"Mani, along with A R Rahman and lyricist Vairamuthu, has already recorded a song. It is a soft romantic number which has mellifluous music by the Oscar-Grammy winner and soothing lyrics from the Kaviperarsu," they say further.
Actor Karthik's son Gautham is making his acting debut with this movie and a hunt is still on for the heroine. "A new face may be the leading lady of this film. Mani Ratnam is yet to take a final call on this," the sources say.
To be produced on Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies banner in association with a corporate house, the film, set in the backdrop of coastal regions of Tamil Nadu, has script by ace writer Jeyamohan. "Shooting will start soon," conclude sources.
The multi-award winning producer, singer, and songwriter is heading to Dubai to kickstart his world tour on December 9 and fans can expect a souped-up and drama-filled show as he’s teamed up with creative director, Amy Tinkham for the event, which promises to bring the theatrics in spades, along with huge dance and acrobatic numbers, whilst staying true to Rahman’s Indian heritage.
“I’m looking forward to the yodel of E Le Lo from Roja, to the new rocking numbers from Rockstar and of course the magic of the evergreen Dil Se,” said the Oscar-winner about the show.
Having sold out some of the most iconic venues around the world, including the Hollywood Bowl and London’s O2 Arena, Rahman has also regularly entertained crowds of 120,000 in his home country of India.
Set to be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival and currently busy composing for Hollywood flick,Welcome to People, starring Olivia Wilde and Chris Pine, AR will be joined in Dubai by percussionist Sivamani; singers Suresh Peters, Neeti Muhan and Shweta Pandit; and Canadian internet sensation, Natalie Di Luccio.
Tickets start from just Dh100, rising to VVIP packages at Dh1,000. Available from Virgin Megastores outlets across the UAE.
Atlast the news has arrived and it’s sizzling red hot. Mani Ratnam’s next big-flick will be titled Pookkadai(flower shop) with Karthik’s son Gautham and samantha playing the lead pair. Even though it was known that Gautham would be playing male lead, there has been a lot of speculation regarding who would be playing the female lead in the movie.Recently there was also news that Samantha was brought in to the cast by mani sir after her impressive roles in previous films. Pookadai , happens to be an exclusive Tamil release.It would be another blissful romantic offering said to be on the lines of Mani’s hit 2002 Eelam Tamil themed ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’. Since then Mani and his right hand man Isai Puyal AR Rahman have been delivering bilinguals and trilingual to satisfy the growing fan base.With Rahman looking forward to this one, Cinematographer Rajiv Menon is cleaning up his crystal lenses to capture some love-ly locations. According to sources, the movie will be an intense love story based on the sensitive issue of plight of Rameshwaram fishermen at the hands of Sri Lankan Navy.
And reportedly Arjun will don the role of an antagonist(after his successful avatar as a villain in mangatha) Arjun Sarja will have a complete different avatar in Pookadai and his role is as big as the hero of the film, newcomer Gautham. The hopes have begun and the flick is going to be one among the best romantic hits of maniratnam.
With his Rockstar promotions in full swing Ar Rahman is all set to take the world by storm. Earlier, the Slumdog Millionare composer’s Rockstar album swiftly climbed to the top of the charts in UKand USAeven overtaking his own Oscar winning album which also sat among the top ten World albums among the lot.
Now Rahman goes global with his big concert that will be a real blend of superficial technologies, gigantic LED screens, colorful dance arrangements and hip-breaking acrobatics to add to the fanfare. The concert kick starts inDubai late 2011.As part of the tour his first show will be sold out to jam-packed audiences at the Dubai International Stadium for a December 9th.The design head behind this upcoming theatrical experience is Amy Tinkham, who hold the credentials for pulling off live acts in style with international stars such as Britney Spears andMariah Carey just to name a few. Rahman is also planning to perform his hit track Satyameva Jayate from his recent international collaboration Superheavy, with his new pals from Hollywoodincluding Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, the very gorgeous Joss Stone, Reggae King Bob Marley’s son Damien andEurythmics founder Dave Stewart.Young Australian guitarist Orianthi Panagaris a Michael Jackson favorite and now part of Rahman’s Rockstar album is also expected to belt out some thumping riffs to keep the adrenaline rushing.
Music maestro AR Rahman has added another prestigious trophy to his shelf -- the public choice award for If I Rise from 127 Hours at the World Soundtrack Awards 2011 at Ghent, Belgium.
"Thanks to my fans and the World Soundtrack Academy for the Public Choice award for the score of IF I RISE "
The World Soundtrack Academy Saturday announced the 2011 winners at the closing of the 38th Ghent International Film Festival.
The two-time Oscar winner was competing in the best original song written directly for the same track category, but lost out to Randy Newman, who took home the trophy for "We belong together" from Toy Story 3.
127 Hours, directed by Danny Boyle, was based on mountaineer Aron Ralston real life story how he chopped his hand to save himself after a boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.
Rolling Stone legend Mick Jagger has sung in Sanskrit thanks to A.R. Rahman, who has collaborated with the rocker for ‘Satyameva Jayathe’, their second single from band ‘SuperHeavy’
The Oscar-winner, who has collaborated with former Rolling Stone’s front man and three other international artistes, had earlier released ‘Miracle Worker’, the first song from their album.
The song, which will be released all over on Tuesday, will see Dave Stewart, Joss Stone and Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley jamming with the duo, a statement from Universal music said.
“When Dave said A.R. we want your voice in this album we want this to be a great Indian song too; a long dream for me was to take one of the morals of Indian culture which is Satyameva Jayathe and make it as a song.
“This is historic if Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley and Dave Stewart and I come together for a song like this, it is iconic in a way. I hope people like it,” Rahman said.
Tamil cinema's most lauded and creative director, Mani Ratnam is getting ready to start his new film. The buzz is that Mani Ratnam is going back to his roots and making a film that will have a Tamil milieu and flavour with new stars and technicians on a big budget. Mani Ratnam, the marketing wizard, is looking at his first straight Tamil film in nearly a decade. Rumours are there that yesteryear romantic hero Karthik's son will debut as hero with the film.
Mani sir's last straight Tamil film was Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), which had a local flavour and nativity about it. Since then he has been only making bi-lingual in Hindi and Tamil – Yuva (Aayutha Ezhuthu), Guru (Guru), and Raavan (Raavanan).
Says a former assistant of Mani Ratnam: "The idea of making bi lingual’s worked commercially for Mani sir and his Madras Talkies. But these fusion movies were neither sincere to north or his core south Indian audiences. As a filmmaker he fell between two stools". As a Mumbai based trade analyst said: “Early Mani Ratnam movies like Roja and Bombay were dubbed into Hindi, which worked at the box-office. Then he started making bi-lingual`s with certain actors in crucial roles being changed in both versions, which did not work to his advantage.He needs to continue doing good films in Tamil. But his urge to reach out to National audiences has been his waterloo. Yuva and Guru were redeeming in many levels, but the death knell was sounded by Raavan".
The grapevine has it that AR Rahman , Mani Ratnam's regular music director will be part of the project which many say will be a love story. However, he will be having a new cameraman and art director. Mani is moving away from his regulars like Samir Chanda and Sabu Cyril to Telugu set designer Ravinder who was responsible for the art work of Maghadheera and Mariyadai Raman. Recently Mani sir was location hunting in Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala still remains the director's favourite location. Mani sir and his trusted assistants spent a week shuttling between Thiruvananthapuram and Nagercovil in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in an old Ambassador Tourist taxi.
They have identified quite a few beautiful coastal virgin locations between Pozhikara, a fishing village in Kanyakumari and Vizhinjam near Kovalam in Kerala. In all probability, Mani Ratnam's first Tamil film in a decade will start rolling by September, when the rain subsides in coastal areas.
180(nootrenbathu) is one of the most stylish films by debut director Jayendra. Film starts with Siddharth rising from the banks of ganga who seems disturbed, sees people performing rituals.A young boy who lives without any fear,expectation,problems apparently gives him direction for his life. Siddharth asks his name and he says Mano which also happens to be his name incidentally.
Mano moves to chennai and moves around and finds a home to live (mouli's home). It's a happy go lucky life for him,he makes friends with newspaper boy,ironing man and etc.Nithya menon (Vidhya) a photo journalist is impressed by mano's behaviour and his style falls in love with him. When she proposes to him mano moves away from the place and vidhya trying to catch him gets caught in an accident and gets a major problem in her spine.
Story unfolds back and it is flash back to America now and Siddharth is no more Mano ,He is Dr.Ajay and it is now Priya anand (Renuka) in an accident Ajay saves her and after some happenings they fall in love with each other and get married. The story then shifts to Vidhya and she is brought America for treatment. Ajay's life has a something which happened in the past has made him move to India. the suspense unfolds which ends with a plot twist,Giving the meaning of the title. Now wat has made him move to india ,wat has happened in his life and wat will happen remains the story .
Performance : Director Jayendra has did well in his debut movie. Picturisation is awesome and the main characters Siddharth, Nithya menon and Priya anand are cool and beautiful on screen. Sharreth's music is good to ears. Atlast 180 is a visual feast, no doubt about it. Sadly falls for predictable screenplay and lacking of pace of story.
Avan Ivan is once again a reality film by Bala. The movie starts with real life scenes happening around an Village highness (Jameen)(G M Kumar) , Walter (Vishal ) and Kumbudren saamy (Arya) are step brothers , They enjoy life in their own way in the village and works for jameen often fighting with each other and doesnot maintain a good relationship.Walter likes and wants to be an actor but saamy likes and enjoys being a theif. Ambika and Jayapradha are mother's of Walter and Saamy respectively.
Jameen sacrifices all his wealth for the villagers and gets their respect in return. One day Jameen is insulted by a forest ranger and he decides to take revenge on them. Walter and Saamy are very close to him so he takes their help. In order to take revenge on the forest ranger the brothers block the way attacks them. In the meantime Police rush to the spot but both escape from the spot the fight sequences are amazing and very realistic.
Saamy falls in love with Themozhi (Madhu Shalini) while his brother Walter loves Constable Baby (Janani).
Meanwhile, Jameen comes across a man (RK) a cattle smuggler who smuggles cows to Kerala to sell them to make beef. Jameen comes to know these and informs to the Blue Cross and police. They arrest him and thats where the story starts R K takes revenge on him.How he takes the revenge on Jameen ,Will Vishal and Arya save the Jameen? remains the main story.
Performances in the film : Vishal is back with a bang he has done an outstanding performance. Arya has also done equally good with his easing performance his humor part is an adding flavour of film. heroines Madhu and Janani have done the best in their roles.Ambika and Jayapradha in mother role have excelled . R K as baddie is a perfect fit to the role. Ananth Vaithyanathan as father of Arya and Vishal has did well in his innocent husband character. G M Kumar G. M. Kumar evoked outstanding humor and he is the big plus for comedy scenes.
Surya in cameo role comes to a public meeting and explains about his Agaram Foundation and its operatins.
Totally the movie's credits goes to Bala , an outstanding and brilliant direction throughout the film.Music by Yuvan is good.But Avan Ivan does not stand in par with Bala's previous movies as the expectation was much high.Avan Ivan lacks of story but the characterizations and creative orientation in visualizing the shots engages the audiences to the screens.
Avan Ivan can be enjoyed as a different experience watching a different film , A film with lots of award winning performances.
Popular Song of the year 2010: ‘Kilimanjaro song from the film Enthiran composed by A.R.Rahman.
Popular Male Singer 2010: singer Karthik for Usurae Poguthae from the film Ravannan.
Popular Song of Masses: Kadhal Vandhalae from Singam composed by Devi Sri Prasad.
Popular Album of the year 2010 : A.R.Rahman’s musical Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.
Popular Duet of the year 2010: ‘Adada mazhaida’ from the film Paiya composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Popular Melody of the year 2010: Thuli Thuli song.
Popular Song sung by a Music Director of the year 2010: En Kadhal solla from the film Paiya.
Best Male Singer award: Vijay Prakashfor Hosanna song from Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.
Best Female Singer awards : Shreya Goshal and Andrea Jermiah for Mannipaya (Vinnaithandi Varuvaya & Maalai Neram (Aayirathil Oruvan) respectively.
Best Music Director Award : A.R.Rahman for his excellent composition for Vinnaithandi Varuvaya.
The Lyricist with the most number of hits 2010 was bagged by Na. Muthukumar.
Best Lyricist Award and the Best Song sung by an actor Actor / Director Kamal Haasan(Manmadhan Ambu – Neela Vaanam)
Best Debut Music Director Kannan for Thamizh Padam.
Best Sound Mixing 2010 K.J.Singh, Deepak.P.A and Resul pookutty for their exceptional performance in the film Enthiran.
Best Folk Song Jilla Vittu from the film Eesan.
Special awards were also distributed to the legends in this awards ceremony. Dr. K.J.Yesudas was honored with the Evergreen Voice Award. While M.S.Viswanathan was given the Isai Chakravarthi Award for his Outstanding Contribution to the Music Industry,
A.R.Rahman was given the Global Indian Award for his Outstanding Contribution to the Music Industry. P. B. Sreenivas, L.R. Eswari and Vani Jairam were given away the title ‘Isai Asaangal’ Award.
Popular singer Hariharan entertained the audiences with his soul stirring voices at the function. Special fusion performance was rendered by the classical music family L.Subramaniyam, Kavita Krishnamurty and son Ambi Subramaniyam. A special mention need to be given to Ranjith Barrot at the drums, Stephen Devasi at the piano and Azad Khan at the Sitar.
VIJAY AWARDS 2011
Best Music Director – AR RAHMAN For VTV
Best Villain Award – SUPERSTAR RAJINIKANTH For Endhiran
Best Playback Singer Female – Shreya Ghosal For Mannipaaya In VTV
Best Playback Singer Male- Vijay Prakash For Hosanna In VTV
Best Lyric Writer – Vairamuthu For Thenmerku Paruvakaatru
Best Choreographer 2010 – Dinesh For JillaVittu In Eesan
Best Editor – Kasi Viswanathan For Naan Maahan Alla
Best Art Director – Selvakumar For Madhrasapattinam
Best Stunt Director – Anal Arasu For Naan Mahan Alla
Best Costume Designer 2010 – Deepali Noor For Madharasapattinam
Best Find Of The Season – Choreographer – Remo Fernandez For Enthiran
Best Find Of The Season – Lyric writer – Madhankarky For Enthiran
Best Supporting Actor Male- Thambi Ramaiah For Mynaa
Best Supporting Actor Female- Saranya Ponvannan For Thenmeruku Parava Kattru
Best Newcomer Male – Vidharth For Mynaa
Best Newcomer Female – Amala Paul For Mynaa
Best Comedian – Santhanam (NANBEN DA) For Boss Engira Baskaran
Best Cinematographer – Rathnavelu For Endhiran
Best Story, Screenplay, Writer – Prabhu Soloman For Mynaa
Best Director Award – Vasantha Balan For Angadi Theru
Best Film – Angadi Theru
Best Actor Female – Anjali For Angadi Theru
Best Actor Male – Vikram For Raavanan
Favourite Hero – SUPERSTAR RAJINIKANTH
Favourite Director – Shankar
Entertainer Of the year -Suriya
Chevalier Sivaji Award – K Balachandar
Contribution To Tamil Cinema Award – Sundaram Master.
