Will Rajinikanth take part in the Unnavirutham? :
The powerful Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) under its president Ramanarayan and other organizations of Tamil film industry are organizing a Unnavirutham (fast) on Friday (April 4), against those agitating against Tamil films in Karnataka. Says Ramanarayanan: "The Tamil film industry will observe a token fast on April 4 in the city to condemn the attack on Tamils by pro-Kannada outfits in Karnataka on the Hogenakkal issue."
Sarathkumar, the Nadigar Sangam President said that the Tamil film industry and Tamils in Karnataka were the most affected. He added that all technicians and artists of Tamil industry who are of Karnataka origin must also participate in the Friday (April 4) protest, failure of which would lead to non-coperation from the industry.
Late on Tuesday evening the TFPC has issued a ‘dikat’(order) saying that Tamil superstar Rajinikanth who has his roots in Bangalore should take part in the Unnavirutham and show his sympathy with the Tamil film industry. The TFPC has also made it clear that other Tamil actors and technicians who are of Kannada origin like ‘Action King’ Arjun, Prakash Raj, Murali, Prabhu Deva and his brother Raju Sundaram should also take part in the one-day token fast.
This has stirred a hornet’s nest in Kollywood as TFPC is targeting Rajinikanth once again. A few years back the Tamil film industry got divided over the Cauvery issue. In 2002 October 12, Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Film Artists Association), under Vijaykanth held a protest rally on the Cauvery issue in Neyveli near Cuddalore.
All leading Kollywood stars participated in the Neyveli rally except the superstar, who conducted his own Unnavirutham in style under a ‘shamina’, the next day (Oct 13, 2002) near Marina beach in Chennai under the full glare of television cameras. Rajnikanth, at that time lashed out at his colleagues in the industry by saying that what their protests could achieve when the Cauvery issue could not be solved even by the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister and the two Chief Ministers! Rajini was the sole dissenting voice in the Tamil film industry over the Cauvery issue and said that at stake was the life of over 40 lakh Tamilians living in Karnataka. Rajini’s restraint at that time won him brownie points against his detractors in the industry, and his popularity among the masses only increased.
Now nearly six years after that incident once again the superstar is going to be hauled over the coals, and asked to prove his loyalty to the state that made him the living legend of Indian cinema. A veiled threat has also been issued that if he does not attend Friday’s ‘Fast’ in Chennai, his Kuselan (for which he is shooting in Hyderabad) will be issued a red card, which means the film cannot be released!

Trade- 2008, First Quarter Report :
Kollywood is deep in the red as per the first quarter (Jan 1 to March 31) report of 2008. There were a record 30 releases out of which only one film can be classified as a hit Anjathey.
The Mysskin directed Anjathey is also undoubtedly the best film of the year so far, and ran on the strength of its script and characterization which appealed to the audiences. Though it cannot be said to be a mass hit, it could cover its costs from Chennai, NSC and Coimbatore area.
Big films with stars like Bheema and Indira Lokathil Na Azhagappan which did not have a script sense was rejected by the audiences. Our audiences are always on the lookout for new and innovative films like Akku, at the same time stars failed even to get a decent three day opening weekend. The moral of the story is even a big star cannot attract the audiences if the product is bad and outdated.

Entertainment extravaganza :
Mahendra Singh Dhoni along with his team mates for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), was presented by IPL’s Chennai franchisee India Cements Limited (ICL) in a star studded glitzy launch at the Chennai Trade Centre auditorium on Saturday evening.
CSK’s star brand ambassador’s Vijay, Nayanthara and ex-cricketer Krisnamachari Srikanth made the evening memorable.

Also see: Exclusive Pics of CSK team launch

"We will win it for Chennai" was CSK captain Dhoni’s comment, as he was given a Kollywood style introduction scene in a ‘chair lift’, accompanied by thunderous cheers as the audiences were shouting "Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni".
It was a typical Kollywood style evening with lots of glitz and glamour. ICL had spent a whopping amount to make it the biggest show where cricket met cinema and the potent mix was pure entertainment.

ICL’s Gurunath Meiyappan with his filmy connections could whip up a breezy three hour entertainment along with dance choreographer John Britto. They had expensive Mumbai based artists like Reema Sen, Sada, Sangeeta and Vasundhra Das, flown in to perform live dances on stage.
In addition there was a laser artist who stole the show with his optical special effects, a foreign juggling acrobatic pair who had the audiences in a bind with their deadly never seen before acrobatics, Kalaripayattu artists from Kerala. Local singer Karthik a big cricket fan belted out some hit numbers.

2008 Tamil New Year releases :
2008 Tamil New Year Releases (April 14), is going to be a significant this year. Four movies are confirming their releases with the theatres.
They are Yaaradi Nee Mohini on April 4, Nepali on April 10, Santosh Subramaniyan on April 11, and Arai 305il Kadavul on April 12. This way of films not releasing on the same day will get the benefit of opening day collections.

The trade is also not very sure of how the IPL Twenty:20 matches to be played between 7 to 10 PM in the evening between April 18 and June 1 and televised live on Sony Max will effect the summer box-office. Please note that the live cricket coverage clashes with prime time cinema business of evening and night shows, which account for nearly 70 percent of the box-office collections of any film.

So this time the Tamil film industry is playing it safe and trying to release the films a week before the IPL tournament. As usual all the four films due carry good pre-release reports, and if they live to their hype then it will be a glorious summer.

This week Box Office :
This week since there was shut down of the Kollywood industry on Friday for the "fasting on Hogenakkal issue", our CBO is from Saturday to Monday being a public holiday due to 'Ugadi'.

At last, a Tamil film has captured the number one slot on CBO. Yaaradi Nee Mohini has taken a fantastic 98 percent opening from eight Chennai screens with six of them huge 900 plus seater screens. Dhanush- Nayanthara family entertainer Yaaradi Nee Mohini is a hit especially in the cities. In its first week from eight big capacity theatres it has grossed approximately Rs 52 lakhs, very impressive for a Dhanush film. And in the second weekend YNM has managed to retain its number one slot, in spite of stiff competition from the new release Santosh Subramaniyam, at number two due to its Saturday opening. In the third place is Nepali, which took a decent day-one opening but after that started wobbling. While Anjathey holds on steadily in the forth position and Vellithira has slipped to the fifth position.
At number six is Sanda which had a average opening & at number seven is Thotta, a old wine in new bottle.

Film	Cast / Direction	Pluses	Minuses	Trade Fact
Yaaradi Nee Mohini	Dhanush, Nayanthara, Raghuvaran, Karthik, Karnas / Jawahar	Lead actors, presentation	Second half and long drawn out contrived climax	Bumper Opening
Santhosh Subramaniyam	Jayam Ravi, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Geeta / M.Raja	Clean entertainer	Nothing Really	Good Opening
Nepali	Bharath, Meera Jasmine,Prem, Govind Namdeo / V.Z.Dorai	Bharath, climax, Narrative style	Violence, characterization	Good opening
Anjathey	Narain, Prasanna, Ajmal, Vijayalakshmi, Pandiaraj / Mysskin	Performances, content	Too lengthy at 3 hrs 10 min	Hit Click here to view Anjathey Trailor
Vellithirai	Prakash Raj, Pritviraj, Gopika, Sarath Babu / Viji	Prakash Raj, Story	Gopika, Nowhere near the original	Above Average

Shriya mobbed in Tirupati :
Shriya Saran chose the most crowded day of the year to visit the Tirupati temple, and paid a price for it. On "Ugadi" (Monday April 8), day, the actress after a "very good Darshan of Lord Balaji of Tirupati", though a fan "misbehaved" with her inside the temple premises!
She slapped the man who was identified as Hari, a cleaner at the temple. A peeved Shriya later said: "I did what every girl should do when a guy tries to misbehave with her". However, she has not filed a complaint with the police.
The actress was bold and daring. Added Shriya: "I think women should stand up for against misbehaviour. Irrespective of being an actress or not, I had to stand up for myself and I think any woman who is a victim of eve teasing and molestation should stand up and react."

Dasavatharam audio on April 25? :
It’s almost confirmed that Kamal Hassan’s eagerly awaited Dasavatharam will have its audio release on Friday April 25. As planned earlier it will be a big bash at Nehru Indoor stadium in Chennai, where leading stars from Bollywood, Tollywood and Malluwood are expected to take part.

The news that Jackie Chan would be coming for the launch, is yet to be confirmed. The buzz is that he is asking for a special chartered flight from Hong Kong to Chennai and back, entire top floor of a five star hotel in Chennai to accommodate his entourage which includes his personal bodyguards. All this would cost upwards of one million US dollars (Rs 4.5 crore).

But Oscar Ravichandran is still talking about Chan participating in the event, as it has become a prestige issue with him. Added to that, unless the audio is released, the film cannot make it to the theatres in May. The latest release date tossed around in the trade is May 23.

Vijay, Dhoni, Hayden, Murali & Nayan! :
A promotional music video is being made by film and ad film maker Rajiv Menon for IPL’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK). It will feature our ‘Ilayathalapathy’ Vijay, CSK captain M.S Dhoni, stylish opening batsman Matthew Hayden, leading wicket taker Mutthiah Muralidharan, queen of Kollywood Nayanthara and dancers from Mumbai! The shoot of this video album, which will have music by Mani Sharma, will happen in the next one week probably in Chennai. Rajiv Menon is trying to work out a story board for the video, which will be a mix of Cricket, Chennai and Kollywood. Menon and the organizers of CSK are now trying their best to coordinate Dhoni’s dates with Nayan and Vijay. Dhoni, Hayden and Murali will have to go through a crash course in Kollywood style dancing to make this video a musical hit.

Arai 305il Kadavul - Another Comedy riot: :
Two years after that blockbuster Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi director Simbudevan is back with his new film Arai 305il Kadavul, starring Prakash Raj as God with Santhanam playing hero and Ganja Karuppu as his side-kick. Madhumita is the heroine. The audio of the film which has music by Vidyasagar, is being released in the market today (April 3) without any fanfare. It may be for superstitious reasons, but Simbudevan as per the advice of his numerologist has officially changed his spelling to Chimbudeven in all publicity material of the film. For old time sake if he had 23 in the title of his debut film, here he has 305, which add up to producer director Shankar’s lucky number 8! The film is slated for release on Friday April 18. However the grapevine is abuzz with rumours that Arai 305il Kadavul, is said to be inspired from Jim Carrey’s comedy Bruce Almighty about a guy who complains about God too often is given almighty powers to teach him how difficult it is to run the world. It is said to be mixed with another Hollywood oldie Oh God when God appears as an assistant manager in a super market as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world. Chimbudevan’s Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi was heavily inspired by the old Sivaji Ganesan classic Uthama Puthiran. But its Chimbu’s packaging and presentation that made the difference. Chimbu a former journalist is well adapted in the art of scriptwriting, and light hearted humour is his forte. Meanwhile our Chandramukhi director P. Vasu had a few weeks back made a rehash of Bruce Almighty in Telugu titled Krishnarjuna.

Kuruvi take off delayed! :
Ilayathalapathy Vijay, Trisha and director Dharani who was supposed to fly off to New Zealand for shooting a song for Kuruvi yesterday evening (April 2) has now kept their departure on hold.
Vijay and Trisha have instead decided to take part in Friday's Unnavirutham from 8 am to 5 pm to be held at Chepauk in Chennai by the Tamil film industry to "condemn the attack on Tamils by pro-Kannada outfits in Karnataka on the Hogenakkal issue"

Nikhil Murugan, "Ulaganayagan" Kamal Hassan's PRO, says; "Kamal sir is now abroad discussing his next project. But he has decided to cut short his trip and is rushing back to Chennai to take part in the protest and will join others by Friday afternoon." Captain Vijaykanth has also promised to be there, while superstar Rajinikanth is also likely to attend, as producers of Kuselan has temporarily cancelled the shoot in Hyderabad and have rushed to Chennai.
Meanwhile Sarath Kumar on behalf of the Tamil Film Producers' Council has insisted that all actors, producers, directors, in fact everyone involved in the industry should turn up at Chepauk on Friday.

'Jalsa' fever in Chennai :
Pawan Kalyan's new Telugu film Jalsa releasing worldwide today (April 2), has had the biggest ever advance booking for a non-Tamil film in Chennai. Pawan, younger brother of Chiranjeevi is a superstar in Telugu and in Chennai too his films have taken bumper openings.
Pawan's latest Jalsa directed by Trivikram, will have the biggest ever release for a south Indian film with roughly 1000 screens, out of which 750 are in Andhra Pradesh. In Chennai territory Jalsa is the first Telugu film which will open in seven screens, including Sathyam Cinemas big screen with four shows daily!
The advance booking for Jalsa in all the seven screens in Chennai territory has been awesome. Says Meenakshi Sundaram of Mayajaal: "For the first time for a non Tamil film we are having six shows daily, due to the pressure for tickets." Jalsa is releasing big and is sure to top the CBO this weekend.

Rajinikanth is a Winner :
Rajinikant has come out with all guns blazing, and has walked away with all the "thaalis" and public sympathy following Kollywoods show of strength at the Unnavirutham organized by the industry at Chepauk in Chennai.
On April 4, Friday, all top stars except the superstar turned up by 11 am at the special ‘shamiana’ put up by Kollywood organizations to voice their protest on the Hogenakkal issue. There was suspense all around whether Rajinikanth would make it for the event or not.
Remember that Rajini is constantly under the scanner in the eyes of a section of Tamil politicians and actors as he is a Maharashtrian born in Karnataka and some people believe he did not take a stand favourable to Tamilnadu earlier on the Cauvery issue.
Anyway all that is history as he made a dramatic entry around 11.15 am, but looked tensed and ill at ease. He was not his normal "cool" self and was sweating due to the humid wind blowing from the Marina, and barely acknowledged the presence of other actors on the make shift stage.

There was a seething rage in the man, and you could see it on live television as it boiled over and exploded in his speech. In a hard hitting diatribe he accused the politicians from Karanataka of whipping up sentiments on the Hogenakkal issue because of coming elections and condemned the violence against Tamils in that state.
He said the issue was sensitive and unless politicians from both states sit across the table and sort it out, it is not going to go away. Rajni went hammer and tong at former Chief Minister SM Krishna and BJP’s Yediyurappa.
Rajini made it clear that Krishna had no business to jump in to the fray because he wants to head his party in the coming elections. Said Rajinikant: "An elderly man who I respect, came down from Bombay said that it was Karunanidhi who provoked the whole thing. How shameful is that? Don't think that the public are fools."

He blamed Yediyurappa of creating the problem by going to Hogenakkal, located in Tamil Nadu, and staging a demonstration there and opening up old wounds. Rajnikant wondered how Karnataka could oppose the scheme, water which would be used from the Cauvery running within Tamil Nadu.
"Those who are raising the issue are doing it for the elections. The issue should be nipped in the bud," he said, terming the opposition as dangerous to the sovereignty of the country. Rajinikanth also added for good effect- “Top politicians are fuelling this crisis which was not an issue before elections were announced in Karnataka. Please note I’m not making any kind of political speech, Iam speaking the truth”.
Every word of his was lapped up by a large gathering of fans waiting in the hot sun and lakhs of people who got hooked on to the live coverage on television, as though it was some famous punchlines in his films. By evening the tables were completely turned as Rajinikanth once again became hero in the eyes of the common man on the streets in Tamilnadu, by his hard hitting thought provoking speech.