It’s not only critics and fans who are impressed with Amitabh’s Progeria act in the latest release Paa. Superstar Rajinikath, who watched the special screening of the movie, in which Amitabh starred as Abhishek’s son with a rare genetic disorder, was also astonished at the performance and called up Big B to congratulate him on the feat.

Rajini watched Paa on December 9, 2009 at the Four Frames preview theatre in Chennai with his wife Latha, daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya. Meanwhile, Paa has opened to rave reviews over the past week and is continuing to make good business at the box-office.

Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, along with other prominent faces of Tamil cinema, presented the Best Dialogue Writer award to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for the movie ‘Uliyin Osai’ at the State government’s film awards ceremony for 2007 and 2008 in Chennai Tuesday.

The two icons of Tamil film industry were presented the Best Actor awards by the Chief Minister at the colourful and glittering function that took place at the Madras University Centenary Auditorium.

While Rajini bagged the honour for ‘Sivaji’, Kamal Haasan was presented with the Best Actor award for 2008 for his ten-role performance in ‘Dasavatharam’.

Jyothika was presented the Best Actress award for her performance as a deaf and dumb in ‘Mozhi’. Sneha bagged the award for her performance in ‘Privom Santhippom’ for the year 2008.

The award for the third best film for 2007 went to ‘Pallikoodam’ and Thankar Bachchan, who directed the film, received the Best Director award.

‘Periyar’, a biopic on Dravidian movement founder Periyar E V Ramasamy won the award for the best movie under special award category for 2007. Sathyaraj won the special jury award for his role in the film.

Padmapriya was presented the Best Actress (special) award for her performance in ‘Mirugam’. Vairamuthu received the Best Lyricist award for 2007 for his work in ‘Periyar’.

For 2008, ‘Dasavatharam’ won the Best Film award with poet Vaali winning the Best Lyricist award. Special awards for Best Actor and Actress awards for 2008 were presented to Suriya for ‘Varanam Aayiram’ and Trisha for ‘Abhiyum Naanum’, respectively.

Maestro Illayaraja was received the Best Music Director award for his score in ‘Ajantha’. Mahathi received the Best Female Singer award for ‘Nenjathai Killathey’. Pelliraja was presented the Best Male Singer award for ‘Subramaniapuram’

The function, which was attended by almost the entire film industry, was preceded by a colourful performance by leading actors.

CHENNAI: Speakers commended actor Y.Gee.Mahendra and his UAA troupe on the occasion of the 100th show of its play ‘Swadeshi Aiyar’ here on Friday.

Lauding Mr. Mahendra for conveying a valuable message in an entertaining manner, actor Rajinikanth recalled the late seventies and early eighties when they worked together in several films.

“My friend Mahendra was the only comedian then. But, despite the demand for him in films, he was passionate about theatre,” he said.

Observing that it was a very interesting time for Tamil theatre, he said: “Even our guru KB sir [K.Balachander] has recently staged a play. It is a great feeling, because that is where we belong,” he added.

Actor Kamal Haasan also said that “everybody was in a mood for theatre.”

On the play, which is on a contemporary family being transported to 1945 through a time machine, he said all actors performed remarkably well.

Thuglak editor ‘Cho’ S. Ramaswamy lauded Mr. Mahendra for his dedication to theatre. Director Balumahendra said that after watching the play, he was tempted to go back in time, particularly on seeing Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Gowthami and Mahendra, with whom he had earlier worked .

N.Murali, Managing Director, The Hindu, said that Mr.Mahendra’s father Y.G.Parthasarathy had revolutionised Tamil theatre and explored a new genre with good humour and caste-less subjects. “Mrs.YGP’s work in the field of education and fine arts is legendary.”

He commended Mr. Mahendra for his “magnum opus Swadeshi Aiyar”.

The play has been scripted by ‘Chitralaya’ Sriram, and directed by Mr.Mahendra, who plays the lead role.

Even today, MGR’s films draw huge crowds whenever they are screened in the state. Three of the highest collecting re-issues of all times in Tamil are MGR films — Ulagam Sutrum Vallibhan, Nadodi Mannan and Adimai Penn.

 Now, Rajinikanth has truly achieved iconic status, as his all-time superhit is being released with brand new prints.

OK Films Mani says, “We are re-releasing Baasha in a big way as it is considered to be a landmark film in Rajini sir’s career. The film has been repeatedly shown on television, but there is a huge fan base for this film and people still love to watch it on the big screen.”

The film was directed by Suresh Krishna and produced by R M Veerappan, the veteran producer-cum-politician.  The film is an evergreen classic of the superstar and has what his fans think is his best punchline —“Naan oru thadavu sonna, nooru thadava sonna mathiri” (If I say once, it is like saying it a hundred times).

Rajinikanth’s introduction song in the film, tuned by Deva and sung by S P Balasubramaniam, Naan Autokaran … still remains the ultimate mass song in commercial Tamil cinema. Tamil film historians believe that the film was responsible for bringing down a government and making the Rajinikanth factor important in Tamil politics.

Says Sekhar, a leading film mediator, “The film has a tremendous recall value and is sure to do well as it has repeat audiences, especially in small towns and villages in the state.” The film is also releasing at a time when there will be no new releases in March due to examinations. So, theatres will also be free to screen it at least for a week.

“The resale market for old MGR, Sivaji classics is booming. A film like Ulagam Sutrum Valibhan fetched a resale value of Rs 50 lakh and Baasha, many believe, may get around Rs 20 lakh. The latest from the re-issue factory is MGR’s superhit  Enga Veetu Pillai. The movie will be re-released this march, 44 years after its release. It is expected to provide stiff competition to Baasha.

And with the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, these old classics of MGR and now, Rajinikanth with political overtones are going to add to the excitement surrounding elections in Tamil Nadu.  

In these days of satellite television, when at least a dozen old films are shown on television, there has been an audience in theatres only for MGR films. For Rajinikanth, it will be another feather in his cap as he joins this elite and exclusive club.

Soundarya Rajinikanth is all set to release her magnum opus, the animated film Sultan — The Warrior, featuring Superstar Rajinikanth in July.

Originally slotted for a Pongal release, the film was shifted to April 14. It would have been an ideal summer release, but alas! The post production work delayed the process. Since Sultan is an animation film and Soundarya wanted her dream project to be flawless, the unit is buying time to perfect the movie. Initially, a Hollywood house was supposed to fund the project, but now, it looks like Soundarya will have to complete and distribute the project. With AR Rahman busy with his international commitments, we wonder who’s scoring the music.

“We have been able to achieve a celluloid look because we motion captured him,” says Soundarya Rajinikanth, co-producer of Sultan the Warrior.

Soundarya checks the gray scale, then goes back to the original motion capture images. Forty eight cameras read only the glowing markers on a tight body suit that he wears. But Rajini does not merely go through the motions. His face, eyes, eyebrows, all come alive. “He is a director’s delight, and that is why we have been able to achieve a finish not attempted in India so far,” she adds.

Some of Hollywood’s best technicians have helped achieve the look. The facial animation (you have only around 200 muscles to replicate) has been done by Image Matrix, the company that did that fabulous work on Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. “We have outsourced nearly 30 per cent of our work and it all needs to gel together,” adds Soundarya.

The USD 5 million project has been in the making for a few years now. “Maybe I was a little too optimistic that the full length animation film (one hour and 45 minutes running time, as of now) could be finished in two years time,” she says and adds “Internationally, it is known that an animation film

with VFX takes much longer.” With a background in multimedia, how did she turn to direction and where did she get the story idea from? “Oh, it’s appa’s ‘knot’ actually,” she says. “We normally discuss stories and when he mentioned this one, I wanted to make an animated film at once. He said, ‘Come back to me with a screenplay and we will see’. I did and he gave the thumbs up,” says Soundarya.

Nearly 70 per cent of the film is done, says Ravikumar Anandaraj, chief technical officer and executive producer of the film.

It is a film set in the Chola period. With Rahul Dev having been motion captured as the villain who is also a classical dancer and a martial arts expert, will this be a kind of Sultan-meets-Bruce Wayne film? “No, he is not Superman, he cannot fly, but Sultan will connect with the warrior in every one of us. It is a commercial film with love, betrayal, revenge, action and humour,” she explains.

What about the trademark Rajni punch dialogues? “Adikkira kaathula parakkura Sultan elai illada, malai, asaikka mudiyadhu (Sultan is not a leaf to blow away in the wind, but a mountain. He is unshakable), ” Soundarya reels off one of the dialogues written by her.

“Shooting him was an awesome experience, we never had to go beyond one take, though when I said, ‘Retake’ he always obliged.”

Soundarya is also planning a glossy coffee-table book on the making of Sultan the Warrior. The mock up scenes will also be screened in theatres.

The film will be released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi simultaneously. The Japanese and English versions will be released “according to theatrical release norms of that country,” she adds. “India is a happening place today, which was not the case three years ago, when I participated at Mipcom at Cannes (where international content is showcased). Now, international distributors are keen to discuss our films complete with song, dance and the climax fight,” says Soundarya.

Any confusion over the release date? “All I want is to gift a good, classy product to my dad, and such a gift can be given at Diwali,” she says.

A Diwali release? She laughs and responds with a question, “Or maybe an early new year gift?”
“What matters is that he is the first southeast Asian star to be animated, and it will be a classy work, something India will be proud of. Our animation work has never crossed the oceans. It’s time it did,” says Soundarya.

So how are things with Warner Bros, with whom her company had tied up for joint ventures? She opens a mail from Richard Fox of Warner Bros and reads it. “‘It’s going good and we have many projects in the pipeline. Warner Bros has been and will continue to work with you. Together, our companies have a number of south Indian language projects in various stages of production. We will announce these projects at the appropriate time. But, any rumour that suggests otherwise is simply not true’, said Richard Fox executive vice-president International, Warner Bros,” she says.

FOR THE FIRST TIME SHANKAR IS SPEAKING ABOUT HIS UPCOMING MOVIE ROBO BEFORE RELEASE :

Tamil Fans and even the world Rajini fans and all the movie freaks are expecting a single movie for one year tat is the moive named “Enthiran - The Robo“

Half of the Movie shooting is over now and around 200 crores where been invested in this project by the Sun Pictures Group. This is the first movie ever the sun pictures straight producing Picture. Many of the stories had came about this film till now and we are reading them daily.

But all are mostly rumours and the stories written by their own ideas.. We dont Know which news is real and Which one is reel.. Even Reels are going about the movie, the director of this film wont open his mouth for anyone of his movies til now even after the release.. But for the first time he  has open his mouth and Given interview for the much awaited movie robo even before the Release

The Reason he gave for this interview is due to the recession in economy we have to keep the movie in safe hands and not be allowed to the unwanted Rumours.. So Here is the Interview

Shankar :

In tamil Fantacy and super hero stories should come in more numbers.. there is a talk of the super hero and fantacy stories wont be popular in tamil. Tats not the fact.. Our tamil fans are very great in watching movies and giving ratings to the gud movies.. They will accept the movies of any kind if the movie is given in right manner in right time to their hand. The market has been open to the tamil cinema in the world cinema. there is a place for tamil cinema in the cinema world.. Robo is Really a dream project for me and also for Rajini Sir.

In Robo we have used a new technology Called Animatronics. This is the new technology used by the hollywood film makers in this current period. In previous movies animation movies are taken in the method of first they will draw in had and then convert them in to animated graphics . But in this movie we have used electronics plus robotics technology and gave life to the robo dolls and make them to act.

The sets used in this movies are fully “futurestics” which had came in pucca manner. Every song in this movie had given a great music and also gud lyrics

With Rajini :

After Shivaji i am joining hand with rajini sir for the second time for the movie robo. am very happy about tat. Its really a great experience for me.. To the fact after i started to work with him i came to know how humble, power ful man he is.. He is so humble tat even the person working with him will get tat humble from him and tat is the fact ofcourse.

There is no comedy Track in Enthiran but the comedy will be along with the movie. Actor “Karunas” and “Santhanam” are doing the comedy roles in this movie. there is a song in this movie which is many times greater than style song present in shivaji. Rajini sir really gave a gigantic performance in this song.. Prabhu Deva who choreographed for this song had he himself  said tat i didnt put a tuff steps in any of the movie i choreographed. Tat much of tuff steps i  had used in this song.. Like tat Super Star Had gave a wonderful Performance for this song and give his Style for This..

Really “Enthiran - The ROBO” Wil be a Treat and also a challange for the World cinema from Shankar and Super Star.. Lets Wait for this wonderful movie.

Last three days, Enthiran shooting was carried out at Ennur Port. Rajini and Aishwarya Rai dream scenes were shooted from 9pm to 3am daily. Therefore, tight police security was provided at the port.

Last day shooting was carried out at that port. Rajini normally drives his car from Poes Garden via Redhills and Ponneri and reach Maneli. However, yesterday he drived through 100feet road to reach Maneli. Unfortunately, he was caught in heavy traffic with hundreds of cars and buses standing still for few kilometers.

Immediately, he contacted Director Shankar and informed about the situation. Shankar proposed to postphone the shooting but Rajini informed him that the shooting shall not be cancelled due to him.

Director Shankar arranged  4 motorbikes immediately and he went to Rajini’s location with few stunt masters. They requested Rajini to wear rain coat and helmet. Rajini sat behind one of the stunt master bike and they drove him to the shooting spot within 30 mins via short cut. All the cine personalities at the shooting spot were excited to see Rajini coming by motorbike.

See wat a man he is,, he is the superstar. he could have cancel the shoot but tats not our thalaivar.. he always rocks.. tats superstar..