Kama Of Kingstone

MALAYALAM SONGS IN VASANTH TV

Vasanth TV is telecasting Malayalam songs every Saturday at 10am. Super stars Mamaooty, Mohanlal,Dilip, Manoj jeyan and Jeyaram film songs are the most popular one in this programme, this is a new trial in tamil television network.


VISARANNAI TELI FILM INKALAIGNAR TV

Writer Rajesh kumar’s short stories were going to telecast as Weekly stories in Kalaignar tv. Gravity entertainment P. Vijaykumar is going to produce this film.Weekly one story is going to be aired at 10 Pm from Monday to Thursday.

BY KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN


The most sought after tamil tv mega soap KOLANGAL is nearing its end a couple of days, according to sources.It is the story of a family comprising the children of two wives and the rivil over becoming a great millionaire by taking various house construction project.Director Thiruchelvam has intricately made each and every episode with a suspenseful ending everyday.The serial has won high TRP rates in the market as per the story line Thiruchelvam takes leave from his friend Abi (Devayani) all the 9 characters in this serial are properly justified with their respective rolls.

The serial has won accolades from all quarters for its exposure throughout its 6 years term. One has to reap the good and the bad as per one's individual actions.The theory is well explained in KOLANGAL, there may be some set backs in the play for drawing the audiences for a long time with minor incidences which could be strait with anyone having commonsense.This was not done because for dragging the serial for such a longer period than any other serials so for they did.

Kolangal in short sets standard to other producers with its portrayal of its story with proper dialogues and scene sequences

Vijayakanth is now getting ready to create waves in television in industry. The actor-politician has detailed plans for to use his ideas for his political upliftment by launching 'Captain TV. According to sources, The Captain channel would be on air from January 15 of the coming year.

Captain Vijaykanth's brother-in-law L K Sudeesh is at the helm of affairs of the channel and started roping some of the best talents in the industry.
According to Sudheesh the new channel to be launched would become one of the top three channels of the Tamil language.
It is likely, that Captain might direct some of his own serials or soaps as is being done for a film to be released in the near future, the sources added.

Television and film industry share a brotherly relationship and can co-exist, said actor Kamal Haasan.

Television was considered a potential threat by film industry when it began to roll out serials. It took time for people to realise that both are allied industries and can co-exist without facing competition from each other, he said at the launch of Abirami, a television serial.

“Some actors juggle film and television with ease, while some take time off from films to act in serials. Competition never existed between us,” he said. The reach of television serials was underestimated by many people in film industry, but the serials continue to have a strong impact on people, Mr. Haasan added.

Abirami would be aired on Kalaignar TV and it would be the comeback vehicle for many. After a few years of break, the acting career of Gautami will be revived with the serial. She plays the protagonist. Actor Kalpana is also returning to the Tamil entertainment industry through this serial.

On her project, Ms. Gautami said this serial would stand apart from the rest in terms of portrayal of the characters and is backed by a strong storyline. “Many veterans are part of the team and I am looking forward to be associated with this project, which I am sure would have a positive impact on people,” she said.

With a month left for the releases of Vijay’s Vettaikaran and Karthi starrer Paiyya, the films now had a near combat over small screens, as audio launches of both these films were to be aired at the same time over leading satellite channels.

For past one week, Sun Network has been airing promos about telecasting the audio launch while Kalainyar TV has planned for a Live telecast of Paiyya audio launch.

But due to TRP issues the program producers changed the schedule of Paiyya audio launch. Paiyya audio launch, which was a star-spangled occasion, brought together the biggies of Tamil Cinema together on dais.

The audio launch of Vettaikaran had the casts and crew sharing their working experiences, and the screening of exclusive songs from this film. The highlight of this function was Vijay crooning the title song ‘Naan Adiccha’.

BY KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN


The film, Passenger, is about to get a Tamil remake. Starring Sathyraj and Ganesh Venkatraman in the roles played by Sreenivasan and Dileep in the Malayalam version, the film will be directed by Selva. The Malayalam version was directed by Ranjith Shankar. The lead heroine of the film hasn’t been decided as of yet.
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BY, KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN

This year National Award Winner Actor Prakash Raj and his wife Lalitha Kumari (who was also an actress)is till set to get divorce, living seperately for the past one year. Now they came to the family court together and filed a joint petition for divorce by mutual consent. Judge with whom the couple was closeted for over an hour on friday, has adjourned the matter to November 18 for further proceedings.

Prakash first filed his divorce petotion in April this year, lalitha kumari however filed a restitution petition to be remitted with her husband. Later she again moved the family court seeking a monthly maintenanse of 2lakhs. Counsel for the couple have worked out an out of court settlement and the couple agreed to file a joint application for divorce by mutual consent.

The date for the marriage has been fixed. Both the jack and jill are happy over about their ensuing wedding. But a sudden problem arises before the marriage and the groom and the bride have to face a lot of problems. Have they succeeded in getting married. This is the story of Thirumangalyam, a new serial which is woven with single knot, but how about the other characters? " A lot" says the story-writer S.Venkateswaran who is also the producer for Kathiraj Entertainment will be aired through the Kalaignar TV Channel. Vazhi Muthu directs the serial and the music is scored by Johnson. Sanjay of Thirumathi Selvam doing the role of the hero, of course, he deserves better in stories like this when he faces problems domestically.
Bala Muralivannan writes the dialogues.

Subaleka Sudhakar, Sivan Srinivasan, Vasu Vikram, Sadhana, Gauthami ramachandran, varalakshmi and others are the Co-stars

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

For the first time in the history of giving away awards to the excellent serials, directors and actors of the Tamil Screen, a panel consisting of judges like directors Ezhil, Ramadoss, lyricist Kamakotiyan, music director Sirpi and the dance master Kadhal Kandhas will nominate three persons, asis being done Grammy Awards.

'Vision Time' Ramamurthy and small screen actor Vishvaa have undertaken the task of announcing the awards, from the 16 serials that were telecast in the year 2008.

The awards will be announced on November 14 and will be presented on the same day at a function to be held at the Chennai Kamarajar Arangam.

BY KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN

The film Sigapu Rojakal which had Kamal and Sri Devi in the cast is going to be remade, Bharathiraja’s son Manoj is going to direct this film. Vikraman and Ameer are frequenting the office of Bharathiraja to teach Manoj the nuances of directing as well as discuss the story. Manoj is of the opinion that Arya would suit the role which Kamal did in the original version. But Bharathiraja says that Dhanush would very well fit the role. They are yet to finalize the heroine

BY KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN

At the last the release date is set for Vettaikaran which has Vijay and Anushka in the lead roles. This film is to be released on 18th December. The reason for delay was because of Adhavan but now it seems that there also some other reasons for the delay of the film. Vijay had kept some political punch dialogues as well as some indicators about his future political advent. But Sun Pictures seeing this said that these scenes should be deleted and re shot. But Vijay camp was now willing to do so. They approached the producers AVM to get back the film. But they refused to do so. So Vijay had no other alternative than to reshoot.

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Chalo Chennai, says Kamal Haasan
In an international screenwriting workshop took place in Chennai, Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan plans to produce, direct and act in some short films. He wants those films' stories should be based on the Tamil Nadu capital.
Speaking on the occasion, the actor said that his whole life revolves around Chennai including his appearance in films when he was hardly six or seven appearing in films in Kalathoor Kannamma produced by AVM."I am surprised to see the old Chennai onscreen," Kamal Haasan told reporters after announcing his desire.
"Can we imagine the sight of chariot hurtling down the Mount Road and people walking leisurely on the stretch? Our attempt is not towards making some money, it is recording the historic memory of Chennai," said Kamal Haasan, who is known for his experiments on screen.
Stating that he would wield the megaphone for one of the short films, Kamal Hassan said: "From over 250 participants of the Chennai Screenwriting Workshop, we would handpick the works of 30. That would be added into short films."
Besides Kamal, veteran film maker and director of L.V. Prasad Film and TV Academy V. Hariharan would choose the scripts.
The initiative was inaugurated by acclaimed French director and Oscar winner Jean Claude Carriere, who recalled his association with Chennai.
"For me India is south. It is the land where strongest tradition of arts exists," said Carrierre, who has penned the script for Kamal Haasan's "Marudhanayagam", which never took off.

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( N.THYAGARAJAN)


J K Ritheesh whose film Nayagan which ran for more than 100 days won the Parliamentary elections on a DMK ticket from Ramnad. Now he is donning a new avatar as the producer of the mega -serial, Aandal, for Kalaignar TV channel which will begin telecast from November third or fourth week. According to K.Suresh, Executive Producer, actress Suganya dons the role of an IPS officer.

Speaking to the Deccan Chronicle, Suresh said that Ritheesh wanted the role of Suganya should be different from the stereotyped women police officer. He was very particular that the character should not have one dimension of a tough cop but also must very kind to those who are good. Story writer M.M.S.Murthy and Raj Prabhu who has written the screenplay has woven an interesting plot on these lines, ” said Suresh.

When contacted J.K.Ritheesh who had just arrived from Delhi told DC “ My wife has been telling me to produce a serial like this quite a long time. When the story was narrated, first I spoke to the Kalaignar TV and they have promised me to provide me a slot in the primetime. I am happy the way the serial has shaped out,"

As per the storyline, Suganya as Aandal as a citizen takes up the cudgels against those who commit atrocities on women and the helpless. She realises that she has her limitations and hence becomes an IPS officer and achieves what she aimed to do. “The story also a romantic angle set in the backdrop of a village. Leading artistes like Yugendran, Devi Priya, Sumangali, Latha, Rishi and Sivan Srinivasan play pivotal roles” says Suresh.

Ritheesh juggling his time between his film career and his duties as an MP has now added this new venture to his busy schedule.‘ I keep in touch with my production office on what scene they are going to shoot for the day and sometimes I might suggest changes. I played an offbeat role of a police officer in Nayagan and that was appreciated. In fact the inspiration for the role of Aandal is my wife who without my help manages the home and my public life demands,” says Ritheesh.

"So far, shoot more than 100 episodes have completed on a very tight budget, ” says the MP who is confident that his debut venture on small screen too will click.

Viduthalai is directing the Aandal for the Aarick Media Productions.

(BY N.THYAGARAJAN)

The Sun TV Channel has started producing its mega-budget game show Deal or No Deal. The show is the replica of the Irish Endemol’s game show, and is being produced in four different languages by the Sun TV channel to make it a big success.

Irish Endemol was the first person to produce the game show for his country and at that time many different countries began to produce the same game show with different versions of their own twists on their general format. Endemol’s show’s format was carried out in the countries like Albania, Argentina, the USA and the UK. The persons from different walks of life, including some comedians and other artistes of the films, hosted the shows.

The Sun TV Channel’s Deal-a or No Deal-a (in Tamil) is being simultaneously produced in other vernaculars like Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam too; to suit the participants belonging to other states. The weekly show scheduled to be telecast on Saturdays and Sundays will be aired through the Sun TV Tamil channel on October 31. However it will be November 7th for its other vernacular channels, according to the channels official.

The contestant in the game can win up to Rs.50 lakhs, provided he is able to answer to all the questions that are asked in the game and choose the right-box containing a huge sum. There will be 26 sealed identical boxes placed before the contestants and the ‘banker’ in the game alone knows the amount contained in each box. Once the contestant points out the number of six boxes, the banker may allow the contestant’s to use his discretionary either to continue in the game or not. The banker would ask the contestants as “ Deal-a or No Deal-a in Tamil. The game will have ten rounds, it is learnt.

If the contestant wills to quit the game, he would be allowed to take certain amount of money as per the games rules and regulations.

In Amitabh’s Kaun Banega Crorepati and Sarath Kumar’s Tamil Kotteswaran one might have seen, a handful of persons might have won in the game, because if their answers go wrong then they would lose the entire money they had earned by answering for earlier questions. But this game show is different, says the officials. “ There are ample of opportunity for each and every participant to win in the show, depending upon their Luck and one need not be too intelligent to participate in the game” says the official.

“ Anyone can participate in the game and there are no restrictions. The contestants have a mixture of old, young, male, female, loud and quiet contestants,” said one of the officials of the game.

When the Deal or No Deal was introduced, it has attracted the attention from mathematicians, statisticians and economists as a natural decision-making experiment. A team of economists has analyzed the decisions of people appearing in European and US episodes of Deal or No Deal and found, among other things , that contestants are less risk-averse or even risk-seeking when they have seen their expected winning tumble. In their follow-up article they find that contestants behave similarly in ten different versions of the show, despite large differences in the amount at stake; amounts to be evaluated in relative terms, for example in proportion to the initial average and not in terms of their absolute monetary value. The research project received a great deal of media attention of the USA and the UK.

There were more than a lakh of applicants, when the channel invited participants through its channel network and Suriyan FM. Only a few thousands were selected to participate in the show, says the official.

Shankar who was one-time assistant to the cinematographer Jeeva is directing the show. Earlier he had the experiences of organizing various game shows. He did his Visual Communication from the Loyola College. There has been a plan to organize the game show on all the important festivals and birthdays of various leading film personalities, politicians and other great leaders.

Another interesting thing about the game show is that 26 models from Delhi and Mumbai are brought to the show to guard the 26 cash boxes, and it seems the channel had spent a huge amount as salaries for them.

Rishi, another Visual Communication student is the anchor of the Tamil game show for the Sun TV Channel. He has acted in a K.Balachander’s tv serial.
He has also done anti-hero role in Ananda Thandavam film. Film Star Mukesh hosts the Malayalam game show while actor Sai Kumar anchors the show for Kannada and Telugu game shows.

Only the time has to tell whether the show is viable or not, despite being lakhs and lakhs of money given to the prizewinners.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

Actress Asin is acting as a Carnatic musician and dancer of the South India in the film London Dreams. Asin who has really did Arangetram on Bharatha Natyam now has the chance to act as dancer in this film. Like Shobana who did her dance performances in many of her films, Asin now has taken over. She is acting in the film with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan. The film is to be released on Oct.30, the sources said.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

Namma Veetu Kalyanam and Raj TV Channel fame Shilpa Menon who recently toured Dehradun shares her joy with friends and whatever be the article that she had brought from there gives them as gifts.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

Popular Carnatic musician and Arasi serial's charming face Anuradha Krishnamurthy is now appearing for the Kalaignar TV Channel's Matrimonial programme. She interviews all the grooms and brides who are willing to enroll themselves through the Tamil Matrimony dotcom. Unlike other channels which organise the very same programme in a different manner, she questions the grooms and brides about the sort of hobby they follow and the way they wanted their jacks and jills. If the grooms needed a particular qualified brides, then she would not hesitate in asking them reason for such demands. When the programme is on, the tv viewers forgetting that they witness a carnatic musician and an actress who is talking in a gentle manner as they never would have dreamt about her intrinsic value.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

One-time TV serial director now film director and actor Samuthirakani has now good stories with good scripts. The director has become popular after his Nadodigal film never misses to think back his past life. Samuthirakani had the experiences of directing Radaan TV's various tv serials. Hence, the director is now thinking of directing some more serials, for which he has come out with a story as an initiative measure for some other producers to come and produce trusting the calibre of Samuthirakani.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

Most popular Jaya TV Channel's compere Mahalakshmi who is now doing a role in Radaan's Chellamey is going to act in another mega-serial of the Jaya TV Channel. Mahalakshmi has been popular among the Jaya TV Channel viewers, when she was at the peak of the channel's compere. Mahalakshmi was attracted by many with her glamorous dresses wherever she went to participate in various functions. Besides Mahalakshmi another compere is likely to act in the Jaya TV Channel's new serial.

By N.Thyagarajan

Sethu film fame Abhitha who married a few months ago, has been planning to act in Malayalam film serials. Now she is acting for the Sun TV Channel's mega-serial Thirumathi Selvam. The actor who is now living with her husband in Kerala spends 15 days in a month in Kerala comes back to Chennai to act in the Tamil Serial. She is also acting in another serial Thangamana Purushan. After completing her roles in both the serials, she is going to concentrate only on Malayalam mega-serials.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

Jaya TV Channel has been planning to introduce many mega-serials in order commemorate completion of ten years of its launching. The serial will have film artistes like Sangavi and compere and tv anchor Ammu. The channel is going to produce Savithri, the story of a film actress in which the two populars have given their assent to act. The serial is likely to be directed by C.J.Bhaskar. The channel has been planning to produce one more mega-serial, Ovia, about the chilling experiences of many with evil spirits. According to sources, the people may not have good sleep after seeing the thriller. The time of the serials will make known to the public as and when the shootings for both the serials were started, says the source.

Joa Chim, the well known Guinness Record trend-setter who is also in the second rank among highest Guinness Record holders, has successfully completely his 100-hour Kharoke at the Chennai City Center situated in Dr.Radha Krishna Salai.

Hundreds of people who were watching the young record holder and film actor who was singing moving on the Centre's stage. He has the memory of almost all the new films and also films of 70s. People were panicked when they saw this young Guinness man was keeping turkey towel on his throat whenever he felt his voice could not be raised, for he had been singing all these 100 hours. But, finally he has achieved it.

Immediately after completing his record hour of 100, people surrounded him on the dais and many with garlands paid tributes to him. His voice was louder when he shouted in happy mood'Tamil Vazhga' in the midst of the crowd through his mike. He feels, it is the 'Tamil' which had catapulted him to achieve his 60th Guinness Record.

There was a big collection of money and the organiser said that the money would go to the depressed class people's welfare.

BY N.THYAGARAJAN

The 100-hour Kharokee comprising only film songs began here in Chennai on Wednesday evening around 2.30 PM. Suresh Joachim, known for his second rank in the World Guinness Record began his songs with his orchestra at the Chennai City Center at Dr.Radha Krishna Salai. The songs would be carried by him, however, a ten-minute rest will be allowed to Suresh to have a wash and cleanse his face. The Kharokee will last till Sunday evening. On the final day, the kharokee will end with Kamal Hassan and other leading film personalities presiding over the function.

Breaking Guinness World Records is not a new one to Suresh. Earlier he had broken more than 50 records of the World Guinness Book of World Records. Suresh Joachim is from Canada is a Tamilian by birth.

He has produced Sivappu Mazhai a feature length film produced in 11 days 23 hours and 45 minutes in Chennai which is to be released in September 2009. He has done a leading role in the film with Meera Jasmine. The film is directed by V.Krishnamurthy and Music by Deva, Dialogue Prabhakar.

Suresh Jochim is a multi-talented in different areas. He began his World of Guinness Book of World Records since 1996. His first record was 1000 consequtive hours of running. His another record was he started drumming continuously for 84 hours, followed by running treadmill for 168 hours. His next achievement was he carried 4.5 Kilogram of brick without using any gloves in an uncradled downward position and walked for more than 126.675 kilometer and also dribbling a basketball for 156.71 km in 24 hours, running 100 km on a treadmill in just over 7 hours.

On the inaugural day of the Kharokee Suresh said, " Next my achievement will be pulling of car upto 60 kms with my head: Jochim had sought the blessings of all.

Nellai Sundararajan has arranged all the arrangement works for the Guinness man and took the responsibility of the PRO for press and media of various genre.

'Ninaithale Inikkum', the Tamil remake of the Mollywood superhit, 'Classmates', will be released on September 4. The producers of the film, Sun Pictures, have already started an aggressive TV campaign to promote the film.

The campus film stars Prithviraj, Priyamani, Karthik Kumar and Sakthi in important roles. The film is being directed by Kumaravel. For Prithviraj, who played the protagonist in the Malayalam original as well, this film may turn out to be his ticket to the big league. 'Classmates' was directed by Lal Jose.
Foot tapping music, scored by Vijay Antony, would be one of the highlights of 'Ninaithale Inikkum'. The movie promises to be a racy entertainer.

Shooting, post-production and censor formalities are complete for Jagadguru Sri Shirdi Saibaba directed by G Ramakrishna and produced by BV Reddy under the banner of SRR Creations. The producer himself plays the title role in this movie and the film is slated for release in the second week of September.

Speaking on the occasion, the producer and artiste BV Reddy said, “There are seven songs in the movie and all of them are situational.
We are sure that all the songs would attract the audiences. Mohanbabu, who watched the movie, complimented that the film has been brought out well. Senior director B Gopal too expressed his happiness after watching the movie.”
Director Ramakrishna said, “We have portrayed some new elements in Baba’s life which have never been described on the silver screen earlier.”

Source - http://entertainment.oneindia.in/telugu/top-stories/2009/jagadguru-shri-shirdi-saibaba-200809.html

BY KARPAGAM THYAGARAJAN

Film: “Vamanan”; Director: I. Ahmed; Cast: Jai, Santhanam, Priya, Lakshmi Rai, Sampath, Rahman and Urvashi; Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja; Rating: **
Seemingly inspired by the great mythological character of “Vamanan”, debutant director Ahmed has dished out a movie that is about an ordinary young man who gets into a tangle and emerges successfully against all odds.
After making a mark for himself by doing a couple of experimental movies, Jai is finally seen in a full-length commercial film that has loads of romance, action and humour.
Right from frame one, Jai makes his intentions very clear, delivering a performance that has influence of mass heroes like Vijay and Silambarasan complimented by his body language and dialogue delivery.
The story of the film is as old as a hill. A prominent minister (Delhi Ganesh) is killed by his colleague and a video tape that captures the crime goes missing. The murderer, who is an influential man in society, searches for the tape in connivance with some policemen.
As it happens, it eventually reaches the hero and what follows is the crux of the story.
Anand (Jai) wants to make a career in acting. He sets out of his village and comes to Chennai. He takes refuge in his friend’s (Santhanam) house, who works as a cameraman with a satellite TV channel.
Anand tries his best to find a chance to enter the tinsel town. One day he comes across John (Rahman), whose antics and valour impress him. And they soon become good friends.
Anand, in the meantime, meets Divya (Priya) at a railway station and romance blossoms between them. He also comes across Pooja (Lakshmi Rai), a model, and befriends her. The twist in the tale is that the much sought-after video tape that captured the minister’s murder by his colleague Anbu Chezhiyan (Sampath) lies with her.
Coming to know of it, the cops and Anbu Chezhian’s henchmen are behind her. One day she gets killed and the blame falls on Anand. He manages to escape from the police and meets John. Only through John, he comes to know about the tape.
Anand manages to get the tape from Pooja’s house after much search. It’s now the cat and mouse game between him and Anbu Chezhiyan before he gets a surprise in the form of John.
Jai manages to leave a mark playing an aspiring actor. In the company of Santhanam, he does evoke good humour. Newcomer Priya plays a typical heroine. She loves Anand, shakes a leg to a couple of songs and disappears suddenly.
Lakshmi Rai plays a role that she has been doing for sometime now. As a model, she wears stylish costumes and even does a pole dance. Sampath, as a menacing villain, is good.
Santhanam walks away with honours. His hour does evoke laughter.
The scene-stealer is cinematographer Arvind Krishna. His lens captures the wild chase well, besides picturising dry Chennai in a fresh tone. Yuvanshankar Raja’s music is a letdown. The songs are average and give a ‘heard before’ feeling.
The major flaw is that one gets a feeling of dejà vu as scenes unfold, especially in the second half. Also, the lengthy second-half badly needs trimming.
“Vamanan” had promised big, but falls short.

In collaboration with Bharatidasan University, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, popular Telugu channel Subhavaartha Television will launch Subhvaartha Television Technology Training Institute on September, offering three diploma courses in Television Program & Direction, Television Camera Technology and Television Editing.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, Subhavaartha TV chairman Nehru Dhyriam and managing director N. Ashvin Dhyriam said that the minimum qualification required is 10+2 pass and admission is open to men and women with age no bar. The course fee is Rs 50,000 and can be paid in two instalments.
The media of instruction will be English and Telugu. The course content is modelled on Geoffrey R. Conway School of Broadcasting, a famous media institute in Canada.

MUMBAI: Kalaignar Television Network that runs channels in the GEC, comedy, music and news category is now foraying into the kids' entertainment space with Chithram. The network has already acquired the licence for the kids' channel that will compete with Sun Network's Chutti TV in Tamil.
The network currently operates GEC channel Kalaignar TV, music channel Isai Aruvi, news channel Seithigal and comedy channel Sirippoli.
Says Kalaignar Television Network VP operations Humayen Ali Ahmed, "We are currently working on the programming mix of the channel and we plan to launch it in the next 90 days."

Meanwhile, the network is also gearing up to launch Kalaignar TV as Kalaignar Asia in Singapore and Malaysia to tap the Tamil audiences in the region.
"We have already got the government clearance for Kalaignar Asia and will launch it prior to the launch of the kids' channel," states Ahmed.
Earlier Indiantelevision.com had reported that I&B Minister Ambika Soni had decided to give composite clearance to all proposals which were found fulfilling the requisite conditions. The list included Kalaignar Asia.

CHENNAI: Fire broke out in the famous AVM studios in Vadapalani early on Friday morning, destroying the sets of under-production Tamil film

Vettaikaran' starring Vijay and Anushka. The fire, which broke shortly before three in the morning, gutted floor numbers 6 and 7 of the studios. The sets for the film was erected on floor 7. The damage, according to studio sources, is estimated to be Rs 8 crore. Inquiries reveal that the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit in floor 6 and spread to floor 7. The two floors are part of one large building, partitioned by a wall, facing the lawns of the studios. Floors are separate structures in a studio where several films can be shot simultaneously. Around 2.50 am on Friday, a security guard noticed smoke emanating from floor 7. He immediately alerted the studio incharge and fire personnel. "Fire kept leaping out of floor 6. Within an hour, the entire floor was gutted. Vijay TV had erected its sets there," a fire personnel said. A fire personnel at the spot complained that the studios did not comply with fire safety norms and did not have even the basic infrastructure to cope with a fire accident. KK Nagar police have registered a case and further investigations are on. As soon as the news spread, units hands of Vettaikaran' rushed to the sets and managed to retrieve some expensive cameras, lighting units and audio devices. "We had just completed 106 days of shooting in Andhra Pradesh. Here we were shooting a fight scene between Vijay and Telugu actor. The first day's shoot finished at 6 pm (on Thursday) after which we packed the equipment and left them behind. We were hoping to finish the shooting for the film in another 35 days. We managed to save the two caravans, one for Vijay and another for Anushka, and also equipment worth lakhs of rupees," a production executive of Vettaikaran movie told The Times Of India. The AVM studios started functioning at its present location in Chennai in 1949 (after having started off as Pragati Studios at Santhome in 1945, but due to acute power shortage during World War Two, its owner A V Meiyappan shifted for a while to Karaikudi). Hindi cinema, right from the time of Raj Kapoor, has enjoyed a strong bond with AVM studios. The building comprising the two floors that were gutted on Friday looked old-fashioned from the outside, but inside it was well-equipped to create a make-believe world. The studio was designed with foam, thermocol and coir, which only fuelled the fire and gave a tough time to the fire personnel. "We received the fire call at 2.58 am. At least 11 fire tenders and 10 water tankers were pressed into service. By the time we came, fire had already engulfed floor 6, so we concentrated on floor 7 to prevent the fire from spreading to adjoining sets. We brought the fire under control at 5.15 am. By 9 am, it was put out," divisional fire officer (south) Priya N Ravichandran said. R Gowri Kumar, manager for M Balasubramanian, the producer of Vettaikaran', said, "I got the information at 3 am and I rushed here after informing my boss. We are yet to come to a conclusion about the cause of the fire. We are assessing the damage to file for insurance claim.

KAMALHASSAN WITH NEWLY MARRIED MEENA AT A RECEPTION ACCORDED AT CHENNAI.

Soon Rajshri Media will be launching Rajshritamil.com in four 4 regional content video websites like Bengali, Tamil, Telgu, and Marathi. This they had analysed before they foray into regional/vernacular video content. They have also launched a youtube channel each for these regional sites.

On the youtube front Rajshri became the number one most viewed YouTube channel in India with more than 100 million viewers. Rajshri Media part of 60 year old Rajshri group which is one of the oldest and largest entertainment group has leveraged its offline content repository and even made tie ups to scale its online presence.

Rajshri Media has a huge collection of movies,archived TV content,original content on its website Rajshri.com. It also hosts content of various other languages like Bengali, Tamil, Telgu, Marathi which makes it N0 1 media channel with a huge audience base.

What makes them hit in India is their content repository which includes all time hit epics like Ramayan, Shaktimaan, Mahabharat etc which make them unique and front-runner in providing the content which may have lost with time...

.Rajshri has been able to draw lot of eyeballs for the Web Video content but we feel what is even more promising is the upcoming domains i.e mobile which will gain more traction with the introduction services like 3G etc. We had reported that rajshri is soon to launch Rajshrimobile.com which would be a mobile vas download site. Rajshri can very well encash its early mover advantage in the web video domain and use the same for mobile video once the technology (3G) is in place. As it has all the content and has the capability technologically as well (given their tryst with mobisodes)

“I will not do glamour roles. That means I will not wear revealing clothes in films. I know that taking the glamour route is the easiest way to stardom, but you will not last long. I do not want to mention names, but where are the stars who wore revealing costumes? What are they doing today? The life of a glam girl is very short in cinema, while actresses of substance have a longer run, depending on the performance of their films at the box-office,” says Valmiki Telugu film Meera Nandan.

The actress has decided to act in the film in de-glam roles.

While talking about her role in Valmiki she said that her character was very strong in the film and the film's director Anantha Narayanan had brought best things from her. She hoped that audience would appreciate her role in films. Ilayaraja has done quite a fab job with the music; let's hope the story and screenplay is as great as the music.

By N.Thyagarajan

This is the title of a Tamil film to be produced by Daya Nidhi son of Minister M.K.Azhagiri. It is the story of making fun on the films produced in Tamil for commercial purposes. Mirchi Siva has taken a vow to find out various idiotic that are going on among the producers to make their films successful. Wait for the day when this film will be released, if it is released then it will be a veritable tamasha among the people of Tamil Nadu.

BY KARPAGAM N.THYAGARAJAN

Veteran actress Lakshmi, known as " South Indian Oprah Winfrey" for her popular talk show 'Kathaialle Nijam', makes her debut on Kannada TV as the host of the talk show. The show, titled 'Idu Katheyalla Jeevana', is very similar to her hit show in Tamil. The show will go on air from June 22, every Monday to Friday on Suvarna channel.

'Idu Katheyalla Jeevana' aims to bring to light and discuss taboo subjects such as homosexuality, adultery, abuse at the work place, domestic violence and adolescent issues.

In each episode, a specific case will be chosen and those involved in the case will be featured on the show. It gives the audience a chance to stand witness to the many faces of truth and reality. The show also attempts to provide solutions.

The DTH service of BIG TV group of the Reliance ADA Group, is expanding its channel with the addition of ten more new channels. These channels would be made available from June, according to a release of the company. The channels would include KBS and WB and English entertainement channels.
The rest of the eight channels include leading regional channels in India; DD Podhigai (Tamil), NE TV (Telugu), India Vision (Malayalam), Star Jalsa (Bangla), Star Pravah (Marathi), Mahua (Bhojpuri), DD Kashmir (Urdu / Kashmiri), and TV99 (Rajasthani).
BIG TV would be offering these channels across various subscription packs.

The Sun TV Network has bagged the Tamil version rights of the Hindi language Police Police which recently received A from the Censor Board. The film with Prithviraj and Sri Ram in the lead and Kamalini Mukherjee as the heroine was cleared by the Censor Board. Manmohan has directed the film and Chandu is the producer. The film is produced in Tamil and Telugu.
The post-production works are now going on. The film will be released in Telugu and Tamil on the same date. The producer and director claim that the film is quite different from the many police films that have been made so far. The film will enthrall all sections of the audience, claim the film makers.