Back to familiar terrain
The man who's given us some of the industry's best films such as “Moodupani”, “Moondram Pirai” and “Veedu”, is gearing up for his next project. Says veteran Balu Mahendra: “The film will be from director Sasikumar's production house. I'm testing a new camera, and have already shot a couple of scenes. A seven-year-old boy is the protagonist. The shooting will begin in April or June, after the boy completes his examinations.”
Norway, ahoy!
The Tamil film industry has had an unlikely patron — Norway! For the last two years, the country has been hosting the Tamil Film Festival, giving away awards for the best Tamil films released that year. And now, it's time for the third edition — to be hosted at Oslo and Lorenzo from April 25 to 29. Vaseeharan Sivalingam, the director of the festival, says it's gotten bigger this time around. As many as 15 films compete with each other — “Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai”, “Vaagai Sooda Vaa”, “Aaranya Kaandam”, “Engeyum Eppodhum”, “Vengayam”, “Ko”, “Poraali”, “Mayakkam Enna”, “Paalai”, “Uchithanai Mukarnthal”, “Varnam”, “Mahaan Kanakku”, and “Narthagi”. Says Vaseeharan: “In the last two years, we've had big names such as Cheran, Samuthirakani, Sasikumar, S.P. Jananathan, Mysskin, Prabhu Solomon, Vetrimaran and Radha Mohan screening their films here. This year, there will be a short-film section that includes ‘Pachai Kudai' directed by Annakkili Selvaraj, and a film directed by Subash Kaliyan on ‘Palam' Kalyanasundaram.”
Champ to a hero
The film industry has always embraced people from many fields, and the latest to join the list is ace swimmer Arun Balaji. The boy who broke Kutraleeswaran's record will play the lead in “Sevarkodi”, directed by R. Subramanian and produced by Maranth Kamalakar for his Paganeri Pictures. He's paired with Bama, a known face in Malayalam films. The cast includes Pavan, ‘Pithamagan' Mahadevan, Sri Ranjani, Manimaran, and Sai Jagan. The music is scored by C. Sathya of “Engeyum Eppodhum” fame.
The director says: “The film begins on the day of Soorasamharam and ends the next year on the same occasion.”
