T Rajendar, for Tamil buffs, is the celluloid all-rounder (he routinely writes the scripts and stories for his films, acts in them, directs them, wields the camera, writes lyrics and tunes them as well) with a penchant for rhyming dialogues. In fact, journalists unused to his ways have been startled when, in course of routine interviews, the man responds to any and every query in perfect, albeit impromptu, rhyme.

Another characteristic, of course, is garish extravagance -- but this time, Rajendar seems set to outdo even his own past record. Check out the Tamil-Telugu-Hindi extravaganza, Monisha, now under production, you'll see what we mean.

The film is being budgeted at Rs 100 million. And it contains a typically Rajendar-esque dream sequence, featuring Cleopatra and other beauties of legend and song, which alone weighs in at a whopping Rs 10 million.

Rajendar says that for the song, he drew inspiration from the legendary S S Vasan, credited with the first-ever song and dance extravaganza when he shot the famous 'drum dance' for Chandralekha.

The idea, says the producer-director-star-cinematographer-lyricist-music director, is to wow Bollywood, where he is making his debut. Given the few glimpses we've had at what's heading our way, it would seem that "impress" is not quite the right word -- audiences in all three states are liable to be left with a stunned feeling, like someone clubbed them on the back of their collective heads with a baseball bat.

And it's not just Bollywood he wants to wow -- the filmmaker is specially targeting the younger, MTV generation. How? By making his hero a pop singer, is how.

Now, if life were only that simple! Meanwhile, Rahul Saxena, Ravi Kiran, Kunika, and Kalpana Iyer play roles big and small in the film, while Rajendar himself plays a little cameo -- the crucial role, of the guy who unites the lovers. Raman Trikha, familiar to small screen buffs as a star of the serial Campus, will feature prominently in the cast of the film, which marks the debut of a newbie lass name of Mumtaz.

Mouthpieces

Producer Rama Naidu, looking for new worlds to conquer, is now targeting the Bengali audience with Asukh. It will be scripted and directed by Rituporno Ghosh, maker of critically acclaimed films like Uneeshe April and Dahan.

The film, about the conflict between a mother and her celebrity daughter, has Debashree Roy in the lead.

Naidu, of course, is also simultaneously producing a film in Hindi --Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain, with Anil Kapoor, Kajol, Anupam Kher, Parmeet Sethi and Sudha Chandran leading the credits and Satish Kaushik at the helm.

And to round off southern spice with some more Bengali doi, Shilpa Shetty -- whose career seems to be looking up after her engagement to Akshay Kumar (or is that just a coincidence?) -- will star in an Indo-Bangladesh joint venture to be directed by Sohan-Rahman of Bangladesh, with music by Bollywood's Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen duo.