Mani Ratnam chooses his Hanuman

Mani Ratnam’s project with Aishwarya Rai, Vikram, Prabhu, Priyamani and Karthik is shaping up really well. It was mentioned in these columns just a few days ago that Prabhu plays the role of Vibheeshanan in the film. The actor, who is seen sporting a beard these days, has raised many an eyebrow over his role.


Now the buzz is that Karthik, who had been in hibernation for long, will play the role of a forest officer. In terms of the epic Ramayana, on which the story is based on, Karthik’s character is akin to Hanuman’s role. It may be recalled that Mani Ratnam churned out two mega hits in the past with Karthik. One is Mouna Ragam in which he played a guest role and the other is Agni Natchathiram where he co-starred with Prabhu.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Sneak peak on Mani Ratnam’s next….

India’s ace director Mani Ratnam is gearing up for his next project and the industry is abuzz with a variety of colorful speculations. It is being said that the project will be a bilingual to be made in Hindi and Tamil. Aishwarya Rai will be the screen partner for the heroes in both the languages. Prithviraj and Priya Mani also are reported to be in pivotal casts.

An interesting fact about this project is that Karthik who made everyone sit up and notice his performance, albeit a small one, in Mani Ratnam’s Mouna Ragam would be making a comeback as a villain. In fact Karthik’s role in Mouna Ragam is considered as a benchmark even now for guest appearances and the actor brought in a fresh lease of life in the short but intense role and made a memorable impact on the audience.
As regards off screen cast, cinematographer P C Sriram was to handle the camera for this project but due to prior commitments, he is said to have opted out of the project and in his place comes Manikandan who has worked in prestigious projects like Anniyan in Tamil and Om Shanthi Om and Main Hoon Na in Hindi. When a question was raised about the main plot of the film, it was understood that it would be based on the story of the epic Ramayana. Readers may recall that Mani Ratnam had earlier made Thalapathy drawing inspiration from Mahabharata.


Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Karthik: Rahman's blue-eyed-boy

He is one of the most popular of AR Rahaman's discoveries and this playback singer, who has just bagged the Filmfare award recently sang for Rajinikanth in Baba.

Karthik of late has become the blue-eyed-boy of every composer. He says AR Rahman has his own style to push him to do better each time.

"If there is a particular tune and I sing it a couple of times, he will say you are 80 per cent there, go again. Now 95 per cent. He'll ask me to add more feeling to the song, " Karthik said about Rahman.

Karthik who is trained in both Carnatic and Hindustani classical music, sings in six languages, and writes his lyrics in Hindi.


Courtesy: ndtvmusic.com

Spell Bound, Courtesy : A R Rahman

All roads led to St.George�s School grounds on sunday evening for A.R Rahman fans. The Times of India, Changing Notes concert was a tremendous and splendid event for the concert thirsty Rahman Fans... With the crowd of more than 50,000, the area was jam packed even before the scheduled time. The gates were closed by 6.30 and the late comers were not let in... Swaying to the music, grooved in the set-up!

Rahman started the show by stating that the crowd and the cheering was awesome� With a terrific line up of singers and orchestra the show had no pit falls... The concert began with Ella Pugazhum - ATM and had all marvelous numbers by the maestro. Concluding songs were Antha Arabic Kadaloram � Bombay and the song which kindles patriotism amongst all Indians- Vande Maataram.

The who�s who of the music fraternity (especially those loyal singers of ARR) gave their power packed performance. A live show by our Chennai Mozart after a long gap proved to be a real treat for fans who were longing for such an event. The concert had Shivamani, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Blaaze, Nithyashree, Sadhna Sargam, Madhushree, Javed Ali, Naresh Iyer, Karthik, Aslam and chinmayee.

Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan sang two of their hit numbers� The crowd went ga ga over Newyork Nagaram song by our very own A.R.R. Some of the note worthy performances were Munbe Va by Naresh Iyer and Chinmayee, Jaage Hain, Varaha nadhikkarai oram by Shankar Mahadevan, Dil Se by Javed Ali, Vaji Vaji song took the crowd to their feet by the stunning performance of Hariharan. , Girlfriend by karthick was also renditioned well.

Certain Hindi songs were also equally enjoyed by the fans� After all world is an oyster for ARR. Songs like Mayya Mayya, Rubaroo, Jashne Bahar, In Lamhon Ke, Chaiyya Chaiyya, were a huge hit among the audience.

Kannodu Kaanbadhellam, was a very special presentation by Nithyashree as she sat on the stage to present it in the typical carnatic way� Valayapatti Thavil and drums sivamani gave their bit of performance too without the singers. Steve on the guitars had a solo performance which was followed by Girlfriend song of Karthick.

The entire setup was amazing and so was the crowd. A land erected for the crazy fans of A.R Rahman. The lightings, the sound system, the stage setup, everything was just awesome and was done to perfection by the event coordinators.

Fans sitting next to me were more than delighted to even explain their happiness. He�s the best, that�s what most people said before, after and during the concert.

Courtesy: chennaionline.com