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By Rinku Gupta Mostly based on the  Japanese Ju-On franchise, The Grudge is a horror film series-The Grudge (2004), The Grudge 2 (2006) & The Grudge 3 (2009) Plot :  The central plot of the series is about those affected by a curse created in a house in Suginami by a deceased family's rage that destroys the lives of everyone who comes in contact with it!  The Grudge (2020) is a new version of the supernatural horror film series that is a reboot of The Grudge (2004) that was a remake of the Japanese horror film, Ju-On: The Grudge. A single mom and  a detective try to investigate and solve a case concerning a young mom who murders her own family members cold-bloodedly in her own house. It is learnt that the house is cursed by a ghost, nursing vengeance that ensures the death of all those who enter the house, resulting in their violent death!  The film's events take place at the same time as the events and happenings of the 2004 film. Cast and Cr...

By Rinku Gupta ( Subscibe to  CinemaSpeak  for video updates) Pushkar Films' Avane Sriman Narayana is an ambitious project ( releasing in 5 languages) starring writer, actor Rakshit Shetty and Shanvi Srivastav in the lead. Set in the fictional landscape of Amaravathi, a cop Sriman Narayana ( Rakshit Shetty ) pursues a decades old case of a lost treasure which leads him into dangerous territory. Jai Rama, a war lord and his enemy half brother, now turned politician, Tukaram, are also after this treasure. The clue lies in a stage drama surrounding the mythology of the Samudra Manthan by the devas and asuras. A group of drama artists and their leader Lakshmi ( Shanvi Srivastav) want to stop anyone getting their hands on this treasure at any cost. Does the clever cop Narayana succeed in outwitting the opposition and get to the booty? Does he manage to decode the mysterious clues? What are the deadly dangers he encounters on the way? What works ... On the face ...

By Rinku Gupta Cast : Mime Gopi, Charlie, George, Kaaka Mutta Ramesh, Appa Nazad, Gokul. Turning Point Damodaran's Pizhai, directed by Rajavel Krishna, has an interesting, topical premise at its core and for this the team deserves kudos, especially when most films  tend to follow the usual rom- com, thriller, horror or action template. The story is about three school boys in a village, who are naughty, get into fights in school and totally hate studies. When they indulge in pranks, fail in exams or beat up other kids regularly, thier fathers ( who are daily wage , illiterate, quarry workers with dreams of educating their sons) resort to caning them,  as do the teachers. One day, after yet another scrap , the 3 boys flee the village to search for work in Chennai with plans of returning only after they become rich and successful so that everyone will respect them back home. But in the city, their innocence gets them into trouble as they land up with people who explo...

By Rinku Gupta Priya Bhavani Shankar, who is playing the female lead  in the Tamil remake of the super hit Telugu movie ‘Pelli Choopulu’ opposite Harish Kalyan , celebrated her birthday on New Year's eve (December 31st, 2019) along with the cast and crew at the film's shooting spot. Producer Koneru Satyanarayana says, “In keeping with the basic premise of the film which has the theme of  food, fun, romance and entertainment, I could see everyone on the sets having that same positive vibe. " So will she be playing her role true to the original ? He clarifies, "As far as I have observed her, I could sense that she is a perfectionist and keeps improving on  her proficiency from one scene to another. It’s evident that she wants to avoid any traces of the original version and give a new refreshing shade to her character. I am very confident that both Harish and Priya will be seen in a much colorful avatar in this film." It may be recalled that Pelli Choop...

By Rinku Gupta Visit our  cinemaspeak  Channel for exciting updates! Actor Dhanush who is looking forward to his next release Pattas and has just completed shoot for D40 with Karthik Subbaraj, has penned a letter for his fans,  detailing the achievements of the past decade. Calling his fans his ' pillars of strength, ' he thanks everyone for the highs this year. Here's what he has to say ... I wish you all a very Happy New Year! May this new year and decade bring you peace, happiness and good health. This decade has been super special to me. I can't thank you all enough for the way you have supported me, encouraged me and most of all, been the most important part of my Journey. I enjoyed the challenges and hurdles thrown at me and faced them with a smile because ofyou all My Pillars of Strength, MY FANS. The decade started with the National award, my directorial debut and ended with Asuran, with many films along the way that are dose to my heart ...

By Rinku Gupta   Suriya's 2D Entertainment presents Divine Productions' Sillu Karuppatti which has been  released under the newly founded  Sakthi Film Factory Signature Release banner of distributor Sakthivelan. Directed by Halitha Shameem ( Poovarasum Peepee), the film is an endearing anthology of 4 stories, all with different leads, but with the common theme of friendship, love and relationships. Each segment has been given a title and each deals with different age groups, from teens to an aged couple. To say more about each story would take away from the movie watching experience of this incredibly written and mounted project. The actors include Samuthrakani, Sunaina, Manikandan K, Nivedhithaa Sathish, Leela Samson, Sara Arjun, KravMaga Sreeram and Rahul. Produced by Venkatesh Velineni, it has music by Pradeep Kumar and 4 cinematographers ( Abhinandan, Manoj Paramahamsa, Vijay Kartik, Yamini Yagnamurthy), one for each segment. What works... Each segment sh...

By Rinku Gupta Pancharaaksharam is the debut direction of Balaji Vairamuthu, produced by Paradox Productions. The film is  touted to be a supernatural adventure psychological thriller. The story revolves around 5 youngsters ( Santhosh Prathap, Sana Althaf, Madhu Shalini, Gokul and Ashwin Jerome) who meet at a concert and become thick friends. Each of them had a backstory and each is pursuing his or her own passion in life. During their meeting,  they happen to play a game involving a mysterious  , ancient book. What they read in each page happens to change their life as things start happening as per what each read on that page. As events unfold, they are forced to take stock and they discover how the power of their thoughts has the potential to change their lives.  How do they get out of the dark spiral they find themselves in?   What works ... The flavor of the film is sort of New Age, with an urban setting, friendship and adventure with a psycologica...

By Rinku Gupta  V 1  is the title of Paradign Pictures- Kolorful Beta Movement Productions' film directed by Pavel Navageethan , former assistant director to Vetrimaaran. The film is a whodunnit mystery about the murder of young girl.  Forensic officer Agni ( well cast newbie Ram Arun Castro) handles the case in association with his good friend amongst colleagues,  Luna ( Vishnupriya Pillai, who acts well and perfectly  suits the part of the business- like cop). The duo come across several clues including red herrings as they go about trying to use investigative methods and tools involving forensics and psychology to solve the case. Who is the culprit and how do they crack the case is the story. The cast includes Mime Gopi, Linga and Lijeesh. The film is a good attempt at trying to showcase the importance of forensics and psychological investigative tools, far removed from the usual kind of  suspense thrillers we see in Tamil cinema. The suspense mou...

By Rinku Gupta NASP, directed by LG Ravichandar and produced by VT Rithish Kumar, is based on true events, and going by the credit pics, on the director's life. Santhosh Pratap plays an aspiring director , struggling to make ends meet as an assistant director.  One day he meets a village girl ( Chanthini) who has run off from her village but is lost in the city as she misplaced the address paper slip of her relative. She asks our hero for help and one thing leads to another,  till he ends up dropping her off in her village! The villagers mistake their relationship and end up forcing them to marry! What happens to the duo this placed in this extraordinary situation? How do two utter strangers cope with this twist of fate? The lead pair play their parts in accordance with what's demanded of them.  (But Santhosh doesn't look the part of the struggling director somehow, looking too well turned out always, as compared to his friends). Chaams and the friends tr...

By Rinku Gupta The team of Pancharaaksharam is gearing up for the release of the film this week.  Directed by Balaji Vairamuthu, the film has Santosh, Gokul, newbie Seeman and Madhu Shalini in the lead. Speaking about the film at the press meet, hero Santosh disclosed " The title has a historical , ancient feel to it but the film is a New Age supernatural thriller. Balaji narrated many stories but finally chose this one. He has worked very hard on preparing all details of the film. " Director Balaji who is debuting as a director was grateful to his father for producing the movie. The film focuses on the power of thoughts and how what one thinks wields a force in life.

By Rinku Gupta Ace director and producer Karthik Subbaraj recently announced the first film under his Stone Bench Indie banner. Subbaraj will be releasing Alli, the Tamil version of Chola in Malyalam, under this banner.  The film is directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan and stars Joju George and Nimisha Sajayan. Pa Ranjith and Vetrimaaran released the title of  the banner's first indie film Alli, dubbed in Tamil. These are films which have already made a name in festivals across the globe.  They may not find the right distribution network to release independently and reach audiences.  Stone Bench Indie seeks to bridge that gap and bring such films to wider audiences, according to Subbaraj. Stone Bench is already producing 3 films and 2 web-series which are in various stages of production. 

By Rinku Gupta The Dabangg3 franchise seems to have gotten bigger over the years and the latest film is directed by Salman Khan's Wanted director Prabhu Deva. The film has been dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada as well and us Salman's first direct Tamil release (by KJR studios in Tamil). The story traces the origins of how Chulbul Pandian ( Salman's name in the Tamil dubbed version) got the  name Chulbul ( he is Thanga Tamizh Pandian) and how his enmity with Bali Singh turned him into a cop.  This takes us back to a flashback portion  with Dimple Kapadia and Pramod Khanna, ( brother of the deceased Vinod Khanna who was Chulbul's father in the original) playing his parents.  In comes debutante  Saiee Manjrekar as Susi, his fiancee who gets killed by Bali Singh ( Kichcha Sudeep) for not returning his love.  (Susi names him Chulbul affectionately). His run - in with Bali changes his life path,   transforming it forever. Cut back to the ...

By Rinku Gupta Thambi is the next directorial of Jeethu Joseph ( of Papanasam fame), starring Karthi , Jyotika, Sathyaraj, Seetha, Sowcar Janaki,  Anson Paul and Nikhila Vimal. The film is produced by Viacomm 18 and Jyotika's  brother Suraj Sadanah under his Paralell Minds banner.                                    Suraj sadanah When a politician ( Sathyaraj) living in the Nilgiris, discovers that his long lost son, who left home 15 years ago, is now to be found in Goa, he rushes to bring him home. Unbeknownst to him and the family is the fact that  Saravanan ( Karthi) is a con man who, actually in cahoots with a cop ( Ilavarsan), plans to rob the family and escape. But things don't quite go according to plan. The elder sister in the family,  Parvathi ( Jyotika) is not very accepting of him in the beginning. Things soon go out of hand when a murder...

By Rinku Gupta Hero, produced by KJR Studios, is the second outing of Irumbu Thirai director PS Mithran . Sakthi ( Sivakarthikeyan ) soon gives up his childhood dream of becoming a superhero like Shaktiman, once he grows up. Instead, he becomes a forgerer of degrees and helps students procure seats in colleges,  for a hefty fee. He runs into a motivational speaker ( debutante Kalyani Priyadarshan in a refreshing avatar) who urges him to look deeper within himself and discover the nobler person inside.  Circumstances further lead him to find Sathyamoorthy ( Arjun in a fine performance), a Gentleman, thinking professor who wants to change the way students should learn, by letting them innovate and discover their true potential instead of learning by rote. All his plans of changing the educational system come to a halt when a greedy businessman with international connections ( Abhay Deol who lives the part) , who believes that innovating and thinking minds are a threat t...

By Rinku Gupta After the super pan- Indian success of KGF from Yash of the Kannada film industry, now its another Kannada star who is going pan -India with his film, titled Avane Sriman Narayana. Actor Rakshit Shetty who is also the screen writer of his film,  was in Chennai for the Tamil version launch with his co-star Shanvi Shrivastav. The film is directed by Sachin and produced by Pushkar Films. Rakshit revealed that he was inspired by Tamil  films, actors and directors ( like K Balachander and Kamal Haasan) to a large extent,  as he used to watch several languages films from childhood,  in Udipi. The film is being released by Screenscene and Rakshit was thrilled that it was the same company that had released  Bigil. Shanvi said, "The film is a result of 3 years of hard work and a passion for cinema. " The film is being released in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi after being inspired by the success of KGF across India. " When content is ...

By Rinku Gupta Pa Ranjith's Neelam Productions announced a slate of 5 films, in a tie-up with My Little Red Car and Golden Ratio Films from Mumbai. Neelam will be the creative producers of these projects. The 5 films will be helmed by Lenin Bharathi, Mari Selvaraj, Franklin Jakob, Akiran Moses and Suresh Mari. The scripts have been finalised and the projects will be executed in coming months. The star cast will be announced accordingly. " These two production houses understood my kind of socio-political ideologies and therefore it's a joy to work together, " Pa Ranjith said. " I dont believe in art house cinema. Instead I prefer making films that are a commercial success and bring my ideologies to the forefront." The films will be  showcased in both domestic and international markets. 

By Rinku Gupta Actor Bharat got emotional at the success meet of his latest film Kaalidas, produced by Incredible Films. " 2020 will be my 18th year in films. Everybody in media has always supported me through my highs and lows. Somehow,  things didn't go right because even though movies were good,  commercial success has many factors involved. I came here when I was 16 years old and cinema is my only home. The Kaalidas team and I went through a lot of struggle to release the film.  There were market considerations to be met and nobody had confidence whether people would come and see my film. It was after the press show,  when the media lauded me and wrote praises with the power of their pen,  I never imagined it would establish such a connect ! I still cannot believe what's happening.  Everybody says it's superb, " he said. He thanked his producers, along with Abhishek and Shaktivel for taking trouble to release the film in the right way. He added tha...

By Rinku Gupta The Irandam Porin Kadaisi Gundu film team were elated at the response to their film produced by Neelam Productions and directed by Athiyan Athirai. This is the debut film of the director who has used instances from his personal life for the film. The film stars Dinesh and Kayal Anandhi who were present. Muniskanth has made a stellar re- entry in a comical role yet full of emotions in the film which touched upon several social issues in an entertaining manner.

By Rinku Gupta The grand title launch of Parithabangal Productions' film Production No. 1  was held at a star hotel in the city recently. The film is a unique 100 strong crowd funded venture, starring Gopi Sudhakar and directed by SAK. Jakes Bejoy gives the music while Nijai cranks the camera. The film is titled,  Hey Money Come Today Go Tomorrow Ya.