Pongal releases sink!

Four major movies were released this Pongal, including one from the king of the Tamil box-office, Vijay.

However, none of the releases fared well -- not even Vijay's Thirupachi. The movie had the star treading the beaten path, and could not be a hit like Gilli even though he was paired with Trisha Krishnan in both.

The question is, was it because of the tsunami the films did not do well, or was it because the movies were bad? If the tsunami had wiped enjoyment out of the lives of the people of Tamil Nadu, how come a small film called Kadal from Shankar's production house is doing so well, that too in tsunami-affected places like Nagapattinam and Cuddalore?

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Kadal, a low-budget film with a schoolgirl as its heroine and Bharath (of Boys and Chellamey fame) as the hero, not only stood up to the mega-budget Pongal releases but also toppled them in the numbers game.

Kadal was in the news recently, for the wrong reasons, when its music director Joshua Sridhar, a married man with two kids, disappeared with his girlfriend and keyboard player Natasha. Natasha's mother has lodged a complaint about her missing daughter.

Earlier, Bharath was caught copying in a university exam!

Pioneer Prashanth

While a top hero like Vijay sticks to formula, Prashanth dares to experiment.

He had the courage to remake Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot in Tamil as Shock without any masala or songs. Though the film was not as big a success as the Hindi original, it was noticed. Now, he will star in Adaikkalam, where he has no songs and no romance.

The film is about relationships in a family of four. Prashanth's father Thyagarajan acts as his reel dad while Saranya plays his mother and Uma his sister. The other character in the film is the maternal uncle, played by Radha Ravi.

Sensational smooch

Though Hindi Bollywood heroes and heroines are now kissing on screen, the lip-lock is still a no-no in Tamil movies. The exception, of course, has been Kamal Haasan.

But the most talked-about kiss of recent times is the passionate smooch 'Jeyam' Ravi gave Telugu heroine Shriya in Mazhai, the Tamil remake of the Telugu blockbuster Varsham. Mazhai is produced by playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam.

Woman on top

In Tamil movies, women directors are a rarity. Priya, who worked as an assistant to Mani Ratnam, is about to become an exception -- she is working on a love story. The producer of the film is the National Award winning actor Prakash Raj. He had earlier made a small but successful film called Azhagiya Theeye.

Prasanna, who acted in Azhagiya Theeye, plays the lead in Priya's film as well. The movie also stars Karthik Kumar, Laila and Revathy.

The movie is a triangular love story, but with P C Sreeram behind the camera, it is likely to be different. He is one cinematographer who would not accept a project unless he felt passionately about the story.

Young moms

With young and petite Nadia Moidu playing mother to 'Jeyam' Ravi in M Kumaran, s/o Mahalakshmy, the image of mothers in Tamil movies has changed drastically. The film's success and Moidu's performance have given other filmmakers the courage to look for young and glamorous ladies in their late 30s to play mothers' roles.

Now, actresses like Aishwarya (Lakhsmi's daughter), Seetha, Saranya and Nirosha are getting ready to play screen mothers to heroes like Dhanush, Bharath and Ravi, who are in their early 20s.