Wishing you all A Very Happy New Year

Another year ends and a new year is on its way. Let us all greet it with a happy heart and open arms. Wishing one and all of you a very very happy new year and a wonderful year ahead.
Bharath & Aarthi.

Latest News on Super Star's 'Sivaji'

Sivaji Rao alias Super Star Rajnikant, is the "Thalaivar" - Matinee Idol of millions - including me. This film persona has fans distributed across three generations since 1975, recording the maximum number of fan clubs across the globe. With his recent blast 'Chandramukhi' running the 250th day in many theaters worldwide, he continues to rule. Rajni's autographed photo (which I received for commenting on his movie 'Valli') is one of my priced processions. For some of you who might not recollect, my name is one of Rajni's hit movie - "Mr.Bharath".

One word that each of his fans think of everyday is 'Sivaji'. The most-hyped movie in the Indian Film history has the shoot rolling . The combo includes three giants: Rajni-Shankar-A.R. Rahman, a 'dream-come-true' venture for his fans. Needless to say, Super Star's 'Sivaji - The Boss' is the latest buzz in the media all over the world.

Sivaji, is most probable to be released on Deepavali day next year. But the expectation is sky-high and all distributors (including overseas) are very keen on getting the rights for the screening of this blockbuster of 2006. In this column, I will be sharing with you the latest media reports / gossips about this mega-movie in the making:

1. The opening scene & punch dialogues is of paramount importance for the fans. In 'Sivaji', Rajni's introduction scene will have the Superstar walking in the streets of New York downtown, Manhattan. The punch dialogues are penned by script-writer Sujatha. (Do you have a punch line in mind for the Boss? Visit http://www.chennaionline.com/film/News/2005/12rajni.asp )

2. Rajni comes in two get-ups, young son, old father. The Rajni you see on the ad promos is the young Rajni. Shreya pairs with him. Old Rajni has the looks as he appeared in 'Murattu Kaalai'. Who is his pair? Does he have one at all? We have to wait and watch

3. Rani Mukerji has been signed up as another heroine of the movie. Mohan Lal/Aishwarya Rai are also in discussion with the unit

4. The first shooting schedule had a song sequence canned in Ramoji Rao film city, Hyderabad. The 2.75 Crores worth set resembling a palace was used. The grandeur and richness associated with Shankar's song sequences can be expected in this song as well

Do you have an update? Please share it with us.

- Bharath

Rain.. Rain Go Away...

Whenever rain lashes Chennai, Velacherry (where we stay in Chennai) hits the headlines for the wrong reasons. This fast developing locality and its neighbourhood reel under massive inundation due to the recent cyclone and 'fanoos' (should appreciate the media for hyping words like these - Tsunami??).

The flooding of the Velachery main and bye-pass roads got confounded with many apartments and a couple of factories pumping out water from their premises. Being one of the victims at Ground Floor, we had taken shelter at R'thi's uncle's place at T.Nagar (Thank god, it was on the second floor)

Adyar river going in full spate gave some residents jitters as any overflow would virtually isolate Velachery and surrounding areas from the rest of the city. In many of the households including ours, the residents woke up, after a horrifying night battling mosquitoes without electricity, to find rain water entering their apartment premises. Scared by waist-high water on the roads, some of us were even frightened after seeing some strange "reptiles" and other insects in the water. You will not believe we had a raft floating into our apartment. Also, we could locate fresh-water fish species, in our parking area !!


Glimpses of that horrifying weekend which I captured, while wading through the once "common area" and "entrance", on my way to buy some essentials for survival !!

Sunday Morning with 'Chiyaan' Vikram

I had won a Slogan contest, as a part of "Cool Coke Dhool Diwali Offer" - An Ad behind Coke 500ml pet-jars. Needless to say, I am a major fan of Coke - despite R'thi's "health" warnings. My winning slogan was "Vikram and Coke goes together because both of them are cool, have great taste and an exciting treat to have".

Vikram promoted his latest film "Majaa", spent time with his fans and played his role as brand ambassador for Coca-Cola. We got four tickets for the special screening of "Majaa" at Albert theatre, Chennai.

About 200 people turned up for the show bright and early, a good number of them with children in tow. Vikram sportingly provided the sound effects and back-up vocals for the singers. The highlight of the interaction was supposed to be a game of Housie, the winners of which would get prizes and a photo with the actor. But due to much confusion about the rules, the game extended for over an hour.

However the audience seemed to be having a good time, with many false alarms about getting a `Jaldi Five' or a full row. And every time a winner was identified, Vikram would ask for an `O' and the fans would delightedly oblige. And when it was time for the photo shoot, the docile crowd turned more aggressive as they tried to get an autograph from their idol.

Unfortunately, we could not get close to Vikram or even get an autograph, but managed to click couple of photographs !!