Prabhu on cloud nine

Veteran actor Prabhu is on cloud nine because of two reasons. The actor, who played the lead role in over 100 films, settled down to play character roles. He played the prominent roles with ease in ‘Unakkum Enakkum’ and ‘Billa’. 

Now the latest buzz doing rounds in Kollywood is that Prabhu would play a prominent role in Mani Rathnam's movie, tentatively titled as ‘Ashokavanam’. The movie is reportedly based on the epic Ramayanana. Prabhu had last acted in 'Anjali', directed by Mani Ratnam.  

Also another talk is that Prabhu has been assigned to act in 'Endhiran', directed by Shankar. He plays a prominent role alongside Rajinikanth in the movie. The duo was last seen together in 'Kuselan'. 

The path seems to be all green for Prabhu.

Courtesy: indiaglitz.com

Is Mani’s movie retelling Ramayana?

After directing 'Dalpathy' based on the relationship between Karna, Duryodhana and Arjun, director Maniratnam is said to be eyeing the tale of Ramayana in his next bilingual.

Said to be a simple story of Ram, Sita and Ravana, the movie has real life couple Abishek and Aishwarya in the lead in Hindi, with Vikram playing the role in Ravana. In Tamil, Viram will play Ram and Prithviraj, Ravan.

Music for the movie is, expectedly, by AR Rahman and the camera is handled by Manikandan.

The movie, yet to be titled, is expected to begin next month, and actor Karthik is said to be playing an important role in the movie.

Courtesy: newindpress.com

Vikram to kidnap Aishwarya Rai

Very recently, Vikram, in an interview to Behindwoods disclosed about his upcoming movie with Mani Ratnam and how thrilled he was about the project. Now news from Kollywood is that the movie might in fact be a modern day adaptation of Ramayana. And it is learnt that Vikram might be playing the modern day Ravana.

Mani had, in the past, adapted Mahabharatha in Thalapathy. Other directors have also adapted Ramayana earlier. For instance, Vishal's hit debut movie Chellamae, with Bharath and Reema Sen, being one of them.

Aishwarya Rai is supposed to play Seetha. Prithiviraj and Priyamani are also said to play important roles in this multi-starrer.

So can movie buffs get to see Vikram kidnap Aishwarya Rai?

Music will be by A.R. Rahman. Camera is said to be handled by Manikandan

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Vikram to play Rama and Ravana

Director Mani Ratnam seems to be fascinated with ancient Indian epic stories. Mani Ratnam's only film with Rajinikanth 'Thalapathi' was based on the Duriyodhana – Karna episode in Mahabharatha. The character of Shakuntala was very evident in the female lead of 'Roja' and now Mani Ratnam seems to be inspired with Ramanyana for his next project that'll have two versions – Hindi and Tamil.

For the Hindi version the characters based on Rama and Seetha will be played by real life couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Vikram would play the character based on Ravana.

However, for the Tamil version Vikram would replace Abhishek Bachchan and would pair up with Aishwarya Rai. Prithiviraj would play the baddie in this version.

Plying two different characters at one go would be something of a 'terrific exercise' in acting and would probably do a world of good for Vikram who is already a National Award winning actor.

'I am thrilled to be part of this film and to work with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. I know them very well and we are good friends' said Vikram. Incidentally Vikram was introduced to filmdom by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited in 1990.

Courtesy: indiaglitz.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