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by Rinku Gupta Goosebumps 2 : Haunted Halloween, director Ari Sandel's sequel of RL Stine's book is a horror fantasy taking place  the sleepy town of Wardenclyffe. 2 kids, Sonny and Sam discover Slappy, a magical ventriloquist dummy that comes to life , has plans of its own and refuses  to leave them alone. The situation  gets out of hand when Slappy is bent on taking over Halloween and bringing to life all the dummy monsters around and taking over the world. Do the kids and thier sister succeed in over-powering the dummy and bringing order back into thier  lives is the story. The fantasy elements of Halloween day are well showcased, which will no doubt prove enjoyable for kids to watch. The family angle is also bound  to appeal and the scenes where monsters come alive make for interesting visuals. The escapades of Slappy where he helps the kids to overcome thier bullies strike a chord. On the flip side, the plans of Slappy seem some what predictable a...

press note Vijay Antony-Nivetha Pethuraj starrer Thimiru Pudichavan had its entire cast and crew had a media interaction session on saturday evening in Chennai . The film is produced by Fathima Vijay Antony for Vijay Antony Film Corporation, which is directed by filmmaker Ganeshaa. Screen Scene Media Entertainment is releasing this film across Tamil Nadu, which is hitting screens on festive occasion of Deepavali. Here are some of the interesting excepts from the film’s press meet. Actor Vijay Antony said, “Working in a film like Thimiru Pudichavan is something really phenomenal to me. I’m not just saying this for namesake, but it has been a wonderful team work. Filmmaker Ganeshaa has exerted an intrinsically amazing work with his complete involvement. Yes, I strongly believe that directors are the major protagonists of a film and yes, Ganeshaa is the one to be acclaimed and accredited for his hard work. Moreover, he had to take up additional responsibility on his shoulders a...

by Rinku Gupta Director Susienthiran is known for his in -depth handling of social issues via realistic portrayals which add a touch of authenticity to his stories. In his  latest  film Genius, he tackles the problem of stress that individuals from cities face, as  a by-product of modern  life, with mounting study and work -related pressures, in the urge to get ahead. The hero is Dinesh ( debutant Roshan, also the producer) who starts suffering from mental ill -health due to overwork in his IT  office . The parents ( Naren and Meera Krishnan) take him to a hospital where he's diagnosed with schiziophrenia. The doctor ( Jayaprakash) traces it to stress right from childhood ( no play nor hobbies, only studies and tuitions) to adulthood and says that relaxing his mind is a possible remedy failing which he may have to be hospitalised. When everything else including meditation fails, his dad's family friend ( Singampuli ) takes him to a dubious spa to mee...

Lots of cute surprises are endued from the team ‘Kaatrin Mozhi’, which are gaining its attractions gradually day by day. With lots of big names involved in the film including the special cameo of STR, which is going to be one of the greatest highlights.  The latest one is  Yogi Babu the current comedy sensation did a special cameo appearance in Kaatrin Mozhi. The shoot took place recently and he acted for a day along with Jyotika mam. His two scenes with Jyotika mam is going to be hilarious and quite fun. There are many callers to Jyotika mam as a RJ and one such caller is Yogi Babu, who calls her and talks about his love. How Jo mam resolves his love issues are the two scenes in the film. Kaatrin Mozhi is produced by G Dhananjayan, S Vikram Kumar and Lalitha Dhananjayan of BOFTA Mediaworks India Pvt. Ltd. The star-cast comprises of Vidaarth, Lakshmi Manchu, M.S. Bhaskar, Manobala, Kumaravel, Mohan Raman, Uma Padmanabhan, Seema Taneja and Sindhu. The technical ...

press note Voguish looks, colourful visuals and what else? It looks like DEV brings up such an amazing value of elegance that everyone would fall in love undoubtedly.  But it’s not just about Love and Romance, but DEV brings up a strong premise as filmmaker Rajath Ravishankar claims. “The protagonist happens to be a youngster, who has to fight against some challenging odds to accomplish what he wants. DEV has lots of elements that will be enjoyed and discussed by contemporary youngsters,” says filmmaker Rajath, who continues to add that he was inspired by his favourite cricketer Kapil Dev to name his hero so.  Well, the name holds the short form, but his full name happens to be Dev Ramalingam. On bringing up some emphasis over the female lead played by Rakul Preet Singh, he says, “She isn’t going to be someone like a blink and miss character, but will have as much substantiality as Karthi. She has done a fabulous job in many sequences, which audiences will defini...

Heroine Priya Lal gives us a peek into her experience working in Genius releasing  this week... Gaining everyone’s attention through the debut film ‘Janakan’ playing the daughter role of Suresh Gopi, Priya Lal happened to make a decent embarkation into the film industry. After that she was found playing pretty noticeable roles in Rom-Coms.  She is now making her debut in Tamil cinema through the film ‘Genius’ directed by Susienthiran. She feels privileged to have found an important role in this film.  Priya says, “I am playing an important and a very different role in this film. So far, I am not aware about what the film is and Suseenthiran sir just told me a single line of plot, which instantly urged me to be a part of this film.” Adding more, she says, “I have seen some of his best movies like Vennila Kabadi Kulu, Naan Mahaan Alla, Jeeva and Pandiya Nadu, which have emphasized substantial roles for the heroines. I am playing the role of Jasmine in this film, ...

JARUGANDI PRESS MEET EXCERPTS ...Press Note The entire team of Jarugandi was overwhelmed with  confidence and elation as they met and interacted with media and press this evening. A couple of songs and the visual promos from the film were screened. Director Pitchumani said, “I owe a lot to my producers for banking their hopes on me. Many have been asking me the reason behind the title Jarugandi. As soon as we completed penning the script, we wanted to come up with a title adherent to the theme, where all the characters will be    hurriedly rushing for some critical purpose. Cinematographer RD Rajasekar changed the tone of movie from the time he stepped in. There is something more special as he doesn’t get tired. Bobho Sashi has given fabulous songs. Jai has exerted complete effort in many aspects. Actress Reba will be definitely getting more offers in Tamil industry. Danny will get good scope after Maragadha Nanayam. Robo Shankar is definitely a great treat. ...

by Rinku Gupta As the title suggests the film is set in the milieu of North Madras. The story revolves around the characters played by Dhanush, Ameer, Samudrakani, Kishore and Pavan with Aishwarya Rajesh and Andrea playing the female leads. Without giving away spoilers, suffice it to say that when Anbu ( Dhanush) enters a jail as prisoner, the pace quickens and several incidents happen, all leading to an act that seems to seal his fate. His life so far ( where all he dreamed of was to become a carrom player and marry his lady love) takes a full U turn and a new phase in his life in unleashed. The film explores the lives of the other leads as well and finally we see bits of the puzzle all fitting together to form a whole. Each individual's life is intertwined with the other where ambition and greed overpower loyalty, leading to betrayal. A classy making with the realistic and authentic  portrayal of the milieu, the slang with all expletives thrown in liberally,  all...

by Rinku Gupta Sandakozhi 2 directed by Lingusamy stars Vishal and Raj Kiran from the original while Keerthy Suresh plays his love interest and Varalakshmi ( Varu ) Sarathkumar, the villain. The story is set in a village where a Thiruvizha has been scheduled finally after a gap of 7 years, all due to the efforts of Ayya ( Raj Kiran) Due to a series of revenge  killings,  by Pechi's ( Varu) henchmen ,  the festival had been banned by authorities earlier. This time, the 7 villages could not afford to have bloodshed or else the 7 day thiruvizha would be cancelled. But Pechi is hell bent on killing the one remaining survivor from the enemy's family. In the meantime Ayya's son Balu ( Vishal) returns from abroad. He falls in love with Semburathi ( Keerthy), the village teacher's daughter.  Ayya promises her that he will speak to her father to fix the wedding. But he doesnt turn up on the fixed date. What happens to Ayya? Does Pechi get her revenge? Does Balu...

Directed and produced by VP Viji, Ezhumin is a film that aims to inspire both parents and kids. The story revolves around the happy lives of Vishwanthan (Vivek )and his wife Bharathi ( Devayani) who have a young son, Arjun who is a topper  in class and a medal- winning boxer. Viswanathan has a liking for sports and encourages 5 other kids, (friends of Arjun, at the Sundaram Sports Academy, )to do well in martial arts which they are good at. But though the kids excel in various martial arts and sports like Gymnastics, Silambam, karate and boxing, the man who runs the academy Sundaram  ( Azhagan Perumal) is only after making profits. So he expels these kids who cant pay the fees and is happy to take bribes and  even make his students lose in matches, if the opposite party pays well. In such a scenario, Vishwanathan tries to reason with him but to no avail. As luck would have it, Arjun dies after a boxing match due to a cardiac arrest. In his memory, Vishwanthan dec...

Sandakozhi 2is all set to release on October 18th. The film stars Vishal with Keerthy Suresh reprising the role of Meera Jasmine in the original. The villain is played by Varu Sarathkumar. The film is directed by Lingusamy and produced by Vishal. This is Vishal's 25th film. Here are some interesting trivia revealed about the film at the unit's press meet. *Veteran actor Raj Kiran  plays Vishal's father. Vishal has great respect for him and that reflected in his performance as well and helped strengthen the father-son screen bonding. * Varu was thrilled to be working with Raj Kiran and admits that his valuable inputs helped her to sharpen her villain performance. *This is the second film Keerthy and Varu are starring in together. They are co stars in Vijay's Sarkar as well. * There is a powerful climaz scene in which Varu has done action scenes with Vishal. * Ganja Karuppu and Muniskanth are also part of the film. * Keerthy had to learn the Madurai slang for...

Vivek and Devayani star in a kids oriented movie, Ezhumin, releasing along with Sandakozhi2 and Vada Chennai, this coming Friday. The film stars six children and deals with the importance of several issues relating to the safety of kids and women. The camerawork is by Gopi Jagadeeswaran while VP Viji, the producer , has also directed the film. Said Gopi at the press meet, “Vivek sir is a favourite of children so the message he gives in the film will surely be driven home easily, for the benefit of society.” Several martial   arts are shown in the film like Silambam, Karate, Kung Fu, Gymnastics and so on.   Children who were proficient in these arts were specialy chosen out of hundreds who came to the auditions. Actor Vivek gave the new child actors several acting tips.They also had to learn how to do ‘cinema fights’ instead of actually hitting out at opponents.                   ...

by Rinku Gupta Koothan, directed by Venky AL is a story revolving around a bunch of youngsters, trying their luck at winning   dance competition in order to fulfil their life goals with the prize money. Rana, ( Rajkumar) earns his living by doing dance shows. His mother ( Urvashi) is a junior artiste in movies. Our hero comes across Srilakshmi ( Srijita Ghosh) another dancer in the city. Through her he learns the dance form of Bharatanatyam, at her sister’s school. As the duo become close, Rana discovers why Srilakshmi hates another dancer ( Nagendra Prasad) so much. He had conned her sister into marriage and swindled their money and left them in debt and now almost homeless if they didn’t repay the loan sharks. Their problems lead them to the only solution in sight, that is to enter a dance competition in Singapore which offers a huge prize money to the winners. Do they pull it off? Do they manage to take revenge on their wily rival who will go to any length to succeed ...

 by Rinku Gupta First Man, director Damien Chazelle’s film on the Neil Armstrong space mission to the moon, makes a compelling watch. The point-of-view narration of what goes on behind the scenes in an actual mission planned to go where no man has gone before in the sixties, is told in a raw and gritty manner. The 50th anniversary of Armstrong’s historic landing on the moon is up ahead and the film gives the audience a ringside view of the sacrifices, the planning, the trial and error system that the astronauts went through to finally achieve a breakthrough in the face of several pressures (possible death looming on the horizon amongst them) Ryan Gosling plays Armstrong with Claire Foy in the role of his wife. The docu drama kind of the narration, gives you an actual feel of the claustrophobia, the space constraints, and the nervous tension and physical discomfort, fainting, vomiting and everything in between, that goes into simulating space journeys during training an...

by Rinku Gupta Aan Dhevathai is a family drama directed by Thamira, starring Samudrakani and Ramya Pandiyan in the lead. The story revolves around the duo , a middle class working   couple who work very hard to make ends meet. When they are blessed with twins, the struggle to survive, becomes even harder and they get hardly any time as a family, juggling between   household duties, schooling and work. At this juncture, Samudrakani decides that in order to make time for their children, he will turn househusband while his wife can do the earning to support the family. This system works well for them and with the IT job she’s in, she manages to earn enough for the family to move to a swanky apartment and even get a   luxury car. Its then that their differences begin, with the husband finding that the money and facilities are no substitute for a wholesome family life. Their priorities being different, they quarrel and Samudrakani , taking his daughter (Monica ) wi...

The team of Vada Chennai who met the press today, seemed very excited about the film which is set to release  next week. The script was in director Vetrimaaran's mind from past ten years. " It seems like a dream to actually see this film finally ready and set for release,"said Dhanush who stars in the film along with Aishwarya Rajesh and Andrea. Daniel Balaji and Pavan and Ameer who also star in the film were present along with Santhosh Narayanan who has got Dhanush to sing a song in the album. Velraj is the cameraman, about whom Ameer spoke highly, " He is someone who is always in a state of preparedness for any  shot." For Aishwarya, the role is touted to be a powerful one. She was however, all praise for her co-stars Dhanush and Andrea. " Any heroine would like to act opposite Dhanush and I am very happy to have got this role. Andrea has done an amazing job." Director Vetrimaran said that art director Jacky has put up massive sets for t...

Huge expectations are revolving around the worldwide theatrical release of Sandakozhi 2, which is happening on October 18 for the festive occasion of Vijayadashami. With the entire crew keeping the fingers crossed over its success, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar has lots of great moments to share about the film. “Yes, there have been lots of great moments while working with ‘Sandakozhi 2’ team. Of course, working with Lingusamy sir is really cool and I have done something out of my comfort zone for the first time. We had to shoot back to back during the last leg of shooting in Dindugal and Karaikudi, where there have been lots of houses. The climax portion has come out really well and was really challenging. In fact, my skin colour has become more tanned (jokingly adds up) while shooting continuously under hot sun. But I really feel it’s worth it and am sure people will enjoy it. The film has everything to offer the audiences. With great factors like Vishal, Keerthy Suresh, Lingusamy, Yu...

press note Enthusiasms that never fade and passion for unexplored experiments that never settle has kept Nayanthara as the undisputed queen of South Indian industry. With her realms of fan base expanding into monstrous figures and her market values scaling towards incredulous peaks, Nayanthara doesn’t want to sprawl out and relax within comfort zones, but keeps pushing her to higher grades to unleash her potentials. Evidently, AIRAA (Elephant), directed by Sarjun KM  is going to be an archetypical case of such prominence, where she will be seen playing dual roles for the first ever time in her career. Especially, to collaborate with the prestigious production house of KJR Studios, which had delivered an all seasonal classic film ‘Aramm’, the expectations have taken a swirl of upbeat. “Yes, it’s a proud moment to be associated with Nayanthara madam once again after the critically acclaimed Aramm. Moreover, our responsibilities as a production studio were much heavier as we ...

The thank you meet of 96The Movie was a heartfelt moment for one and all. Especially since the movie has been loved by critics and the public alike,  with industry praise pouring in as well. The young actors Aditya  ( MS Bhaskar's son) and  Niyati Kadambi ( daughter of Chetan and Dev Dharshani)  recounted thier experiences of working in the film. The camaraderie of the entire cast could be seen, as well as the nostalgia of missing the shooting days. Trisha tweeted how much she was missing being with the team at the event which she could not attend due to her shoot. Also present were Chinmayi and actor Bugs amongst others. 96 The film which underwent last minute hitches on opening day finally released thanks largely to the efforts of hero Vijay Sethupathi. Quizzed as to whether he blamed anyone for the financial struggles he had to overcome at the last minute,  he said , "The problems in cinema are complicated  and very many and most are not vi...

by Rinku Gupta Not everyday do you come across a love story so refreshing and breathtaking in Indian cinema as Director Premkumar 's '96. The story is simple. A reclusive photographer Ramachandran ( Vijay Sethupathi) happens to re-discover his school in Thanjavur during one of his several travels. This opens up a pandora's box of memories with Ram calling up his best school day buddies in a moment of nostalgia. The result is that they decide to all meet up and  a school reunion is soon organised for the class of 96 in Chennai. At the grand reunion at a resort, who should walk in last, all the way from Singapore, but Janaki ( Trisha) who had once been the love of the adolescent Ram's life.  As the duo meet after 22 long years,we get to discover with them, a journey that takes us back and forth in Time, tracing the innocent but powerful love of these 2 individuals. Without revealing spoilers ( for the movie is  experience in which each moment is to be savoure...