Revathy's 'Mad Dad'

After a few notable films in Hindi and Tamil , director Revathy S. Varma will start canning her first movie in Malayalam shortly. Titled as 'Mad Dad', the movie will have Lal and Shwetha Menon in the lead roles with able support from Archana kavi, Harishree Ashokan, Salimkumar, Lalu Alexand Janaardhanan. The movie which will start its shoot at Ernakulam and surrounding areas will be produced by P N Venugopal in the banner of P N V associates.

The same cast of Lal and Shwetha will once again come together in another movie titled as 'Sreekantan Kuzhappakaranalla' which will be directed by S P Mahesh.

Lal to get leaner, leaves for Spain

As various strikes are taking their toll on Mollywood, superstar Mohanal has decided to make the best use of the time.The actor who had been working in continuous schedules for quite some days in the sets of 'Oru Marubhoomikkadha', 'Tez' and 'Casanova', has completed the  portions in the movies and is taking a break from films. He has already left for Spain with his family, where he will spent at least a month celebrating the holidays. The actor is also said to be under some treatment which will be making him look leaner and help him lose some weight. Lal has decided to to have a fit look for his next film  with director  B Unnikrishnan which in his immediate project. The superstar will be cast as an intelligent police officer in this film titled 'Grand Master' which will be produced by UTV motion pictures.

Reports are that Mohanlal will also visit Norway, before he comeback to Kerala to join the sets of 'Grand Master' by the last week of December.

'Shutter' completes its first schedule

Media person and former actor Joy Mathew (Of 'Amma Ariyaan' fame) has completed the first schedule shoot of his debut directorial venture 'Shutter' at Kozhikkod. Featuring Lal and Sreenivasan in the lead oles, the movie will try a different route to present the social realities of the times. This is the second movie by Rasool Pookkutty in Malayalam, who will be attempting a mesmerizing sound design. Vinay Fort, Sajitha Madathil, Vijayan karanthoor, Apunni Sashi, Riya, and Nisha Joseph are in the cast of the movie which is cinematographed by Hari Nair.'Shutter' is produced by Sathyan Booklet in the banner of Abra films international.

Mollywood reopens with Jayaram starers and a DAM

After a month of no activity, Mollywood finally awakes with the release of two Jayaram starers and an English 3D movie from a Malayalee director. The two Jayaram movies that will clash today are Kamal's 'Swapana Sanchari' and Jayaraj's 'Nayika'. And the English movie is the controversial 'Dam 999' by Sohan Roy.

This is the first time that a Jayaram film is clashing with another Jayaram film in the recent years. Though 'Swapna Sanchari' with Samvrutha as the heroine was expected to open today, the arrival of 'Nayika' suddenly came as a surprise. It is something to be seen whether this movie produced by Benjamin and featuring Jayaram, Padmapriya and old timer Sharada can also make good returns as the Mollywood viewers are eagerly looking for Malayalam films.' Nayika' has music by MK Arjunan and is releasing in 65 screens.

Lal, Shwetha again

After the big hit of the year 'Salt'N Pepper', senior stars Lal and Shwetha seems of be one of the super hit pairs of the times. Both of them will be seen together once again in the new film titled as 'Sreekantan Kuzhappakkaranalla'. This film would be directed by Mahesh S P, whose earlier films include 'My Big Father' and 'Changathypoocha'.

Produced by P A Sebastian under the banner of Times Ad Entertainments, the movie will also have Jagathy, Salim Kumar, and Guinness Pakru in the cast lines. Vayalar Sharath-Berny Ignacius team will handle the music section of the flick, which   will be distributed by Time Ads..

A parade for release dates

As the strikes are almost over, Mollywood is suddenly left with a multitude of films, getting ready to take a go in the theatres within a few weeks. 'Swapan Sanchari' and 'Nayika' will open in theatres today while 'Oru Marubhoomi Kadha' (Mohanlal-Bhavana) 'Venicele Vyapari' (Mammootty-Kavya Madhavan) , 'Beautiful' (Jayasurya-Meghnaraj), 'Asuravithu' (Asif Ali-Samvrutha Sunil) ,'Innanu Aa Kalyanam' (Rajasenan) are movies that will be on theaters in a short while.

The producers who had been waiting with these films in their cans for quite some time has already been inflicted by some losses due to inability to go for a right release at the right dates. Movies like 'Oru Marubhoomikkadha' and 'Venicile Vyapari' has already spent lakhs on their pre-publicity which has already went in vain. Now that if they won't propel a different looking campaign at the time of the release, moviegoers are not likely to get the feel of a fresh release.

Anyhow, the balance sheet of the strike will include the constituting of a Joint Consultation Committee (JCC) with members from the FEFKA, AMMA and KFPA which will meet every fortnight. JCC will conduct a pre-analysis of the commercial viability of a movie, to help the producers who are not familiar with production and distribution aspects.

The other important outcome is the shifting of the release of the superstar films originally slated for Bakrid, which is likely to upset the release of many more in the future including the big budget flicks 'Casanova' and 'King and commissioner'. Reports are that they will be pushed to January or even March of 2012.

The 'good' villain is here

After donning some difficult characters in Tamil movies like 'Porkalam' and 'Aadukalam', the 'good' villain of Tami cinema -Kishore is finally landing in Mollywood. He will be cast in the role of an MLA from Madurai in the new Padmakumar film 'Thiruvambaady Thampaan', which is currently on sets. Kishore finds himself lucky to share the screen with Jayaram, who amazed him in 'Thenali'. He also finds that his role in the movie written by Suresh Babu is as prominent as that of the hero.

The soft, gentle man in Kishore is the one who makes you rethink of the typical image of villainy in films. Rightly this lecture turned actor is known as a 'good' villain in the Tamil film industry. Also a part timer in costume designing for films ,he cites his roles in movies like 'Aadukalam', Pollathavan', 'Porkalam', 'Shaithan' and' Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu' as his favourite ones. Seems like Kishore is going to give a run for their money for the typical villains of Mollywood.

Muneer to mediate Lal and Azhikkod

State minister M K Muneer has offered himself as a mediator to end the ongoing verbal fights between superstar Mohanlal and orator Sukumar Azhikkod. Muneer will hold discussions with both the shining stars of the Malayalam cultural arena, soon after Lal returns from his Spanish trip.


Azhikkod has recently expressed his desire to end the fight saying that he is ready to withdraw the case filed against the superstar, if the later can say a sorry even through a phone call.


The war of words between the Azhkkod and the superstar broke out in 2010 when the orator came in support of thespian actor Thilakan, when he was served a show cause notice by the actor's association, AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists). Thilakan was later sacked from the association and many films on grounds of indiscipline.


Azhikode then started attacking Mohanlal, (also an office bearer of AMMA), citing that the superstar is much old and he should now limit himself to roles matching his age and figure. He also criticised the actor for endorsing jewellery and beverage brands and said that it was his makeup that keeps him in the younger outfits.


The superstar actor who normally don't react to such criticisms retorted saying that Azhikode must be having some "hallucination" which make him issue statements that looks like "aged uncle's joke". The superstar allegedly said the writer may be mentally deranged to make such statements, following which Azhikode filed a defamation suit in the courts.

Don't need Prithvi -Roshan

After the recent reports that Prithvi is shown the way out of the new Roshan Andrews project 'Mumbai Police', the director is now all set to open up the issues that forced him for that.

"I signed Prithviraj for the role because it was written in such a frame. But now I feel that I don't need him in the film. I wan't an actor who can dedicate his full time for the movie for which he has given a call-sheet of sixty days. I don't want my actors to go for acting in other films, after starting the shoot of mine" says Roshan.

"Prithvi has now emerged as an actor with plenty of works and busy schedules. But everyone has got their own busy deals. Since I am confident on my story lines, I believe i can make a good film out of it even with an young newcomer in the same role" adds Roshan who is eagerly awaiting the release of his latest big budget movie with Mohanlal 'Casanova'.

 ''Directors must have the guts to say that they are not waiting idly for the stars to complete their other projects. All we need are stars who can have a dedicated work psyche and mood to cooperate in good ventures. Roshan makes his final point.


News are also on that Mammootty will be now cast in the role that Prithvi was originally slated to do. Also featuring Tamil star Arya in an equally important role, 'Mumbai Police' is scripted by Bobby -Sanjay.