Shriya Saran, one of the most beautiful actresses in Kollywood

Shriya Saran, one of the most beautiful actresses in Kollywood, is busy shooting for her first Hollywood film, titled The Other End of the Line. Her Tamil-Telugu super hit Sivaji opposite Superstar Rajinikanth bagged her this coveted role.

Shriya's debut

A trained Kathak dancer, Shriya stepped into acting without much effort. A music video in which her dance was featured caught the attention of the Telugu movie Ishtam's producer. Hence Shriya got a role in the film. Though Ishtam did not soar at the box-office, it fetched her a role opposite Nagarjuna in Santhosham; Santhosham topped the blockbuster-list, her rise in Tollywood began, and the rest is history. She has worked with top heroes like Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in her 22 Telugu films.

No stereotypes

During the initial phase of her career, Shriya focused on achieving star-status by declining films that limited her role to just a few scenes and songs. But now, after becoming an established star, she is happy to appear in glamorous songs (item numbers) in films.

Even while she was the toast of Tollywood with a long list of hits to her credit, she switched industries and did Mazhai in Tamil. Popular gossip and industry predictions forecast a resultant sharp decline in her career. But through her beauty and talent, Shriya silenced the cynics and disproved the gloomy predictions. Not only did she become a dream girl, she rose to become the Superstar's pair in Sivaji. The film brought out the best in her and raised her position in the industry.

In the meantime, she also featured in Mahesh Bhatt's Hindi film, Awarapan. Among the Kollywood Diwali releases, she is the heroine of Azhagiya Tamil Magan with Ilayathalapathy Vijay. Shooting for Kanthaswamy with Chiyaan Vikram is progressing. After the Hollywood film, Shriya will be seen in Apurva Lakhia's Mission Istanbul

Shriya's USP is her slim, perfect figure (even her female co-stars envy her slender waistline!), her glowing looks and of course a touch of class

The Hollywood project

Along with Shriya, the cast of The Other End of the Line includes Jesse Metcalfe, Sara Foster and Anupam Kher. The movie, a joint venture of Adlabs and MGM is co-produced by Ashok Amritraj, is directed by James Dodson. The story of The Other End of the Line deals with an Indian call-center employee who falls in love with a guy in San Francisco through her telephone conversations with him. She then travels to the country to meet him. Shriya says she just loved the storyline and her role. "It is a great project. All my co-stars are very encouraging and supportive. I work in a different system with all things planned," says Shriya

But how did Shriya get this role? Long ago, Shriya and Ashok Amritraj met by chance at an airport, but after that, neither of them kept in touch. When Amritraj decided to make this film, it was Shriya who came to his mind as the apt heroine.

sooting began in October 2007 and has completed schedules in Singapore, Delhi and Mumbai. Next, the crew proceeds to the next destination, New York. The movie will release in 2008.

"So far, the film has come out very well. I enjoy every moment being part of the great project," says a jubilant Shriya

Nitin a new 'Hero'

Nitin is now getting ready to act in hi new film. His latest film Victory turned out to be just an average film. Nitin pairs up with Bhavna in Hero. Manyam Ramesh is producing the film on the Manyam Entertainments banner. The Malayalam beauty Bhavana, who mad her debut in Telugu with Gopichand in Ontari is the heroine. It is said that Nitin and Bhavana are moving around closely.
The two are spending a lot of time in each others company. But Bhavana denies that there is anything going on between them. Bhavana ruled out having anyone connected with the film industry.

Rajini beats SRK in box office race

Shah Rukh Khan, it seems, has finally been beaten. And it's southern superstar Rajnikanth who has managed to the unthinkable. Rajini and Shah Rukh have been working on Kuselan and Billo Barber respectively. Both these films are adaptations of a Malayalam film, Katha Parayumpol starring Mammootty. And Shah Rukh wanted to release his film before Rajini. In fact, he was so keen that he even cancelled his annual family vacation and straightaway started shooting Billo Barber. But Rajini's film is ready and all set to release on August 15 while Shah Rukh's film will hit the screens only during Diwali.P Vasu has directed Kuselan while Priyadarshan has directed Billo Barber.

The Malayalam original tells the story of a friendship between a superstar, who goes to a village for a shoot and a local barber. While Rajinikanth and Shah Rukh Khan play the stars, Pasupathy and Irrfan Khan play the barbers.Adding to Shah Rukh Khan's woes is Akshay Kumar whose film Chandni Chowk to China (Warner Bros' first Hindi film) also releases around the same time

Tabu is now getting ready to act in a bold new film.

Tabu is known to take on bold projects and come out with flying colours. After acting in such offbeat roles in films like Cheeni Kum, Namesake and Chandini Bar, Tabu is now getting ready to act in a bold new film. The film is based on a real life incident. Tabu plays the role of a poor village girl who is married to a rich NRI boy. She goes to the US with band. Her husband neglects her and enter into an illicit affair with another woman. Around this time, a cousin of her husband rapes her. How Tabu, who is a poor illiterate girl, takes revenge on the assault on her body and mind forms the basis for the rest of the story. Tabu is being paid a fabulous sum for her role in the film. Incidentally, the role was first offered to Ramyakrishna. But she refused to do the role and it has now been lapped up by Tabu

Rambha soon settle down as a housewife

The sexy Rambha may soon quit films and settle down as a housewife. Rambha is well known for her hot and sexy performance in films. She has also been fondly nicknamed as ‘Thunder thighs’ by her fans.
Rambha has had several comebacks in Telugu but her latest has turned out to be a disaster. She even did some hot item songs but even they did not do anything to revive her career. Rambha’s family members are now keen to get her married. They are in search of a suitable groom for the 30 ear old Rambha. Many eligible bachelors have shown an interest in marrying her and if everything goes to plan, she may get married by the end of this year.

Malavika files case against Anjaneyulu

Actress Malavika is now acting in the film Samrajyam. Malavika has alleged that she could not perform some dance steps as she was pregnant. The producer of the film Anajaneyulu then entered her caravan and asked her to show whether she was really pregnant. Malavika says that Anjaneyulu has misbehaved with her

The producer denies this and he said that it was Malavika who was harassing him. She had not been reporting for shooting for some time and this had resulted in the film getting delayed. The two are now sticking to their respective stand and are ready to fight it out in court.

Anjaneyulu says that he will file a defamation case against her in court and seek 75 lakhs as compensation. Malavika had alleged sometime back that actor Rajendra Prasad had kissed her on the lips during the shooting of a film

Audio track list of Superstar's Kuselan

First time in media, Oneindia.in proudly presents the exclusive, complete audio track list of Superstar's Kuselan. Directed by P Vasu, the quickie has already created lot of expectations among the Rajini fans community. Especially, some of the publicity stills which carried Rajini's slim and stylish looks in Kuselan really rock the tinsel town for the past couple of weeks.

The Tamil and Telugu audio of Kuselan will hit the stalls officially on 1, but the launch function is being held on a day before at Hotel Le Royal Meridian. Here is the complete list of Kuselan's impressive tracks composed by GV Prakash Kumar.

Kavya Madhavan attempts suicide

Malayalam leading actress Kavya Madhavan, who made headlines recently for being a part of a Mallu masala film scandal, has attempted suicide, some sources said.

She reportedly made the attempt on Saturday night (14 June), immediately after some ugly gossip about her began circulating that the clips showing her performing a special pooja with a swamiji without any clothes, have hit the internet. It was also said that she was shown in an intimate position with swamiji in an MMS

When she heard the news that she was dragged into a scandal involving a well-known swamiji, she was disturbed a lot, sources said. The suicide attempt was foiled by her family members

The entire story began when a self-proclaimed 'swamiji' was arrested in Kerala. It was said that a number of leading heroines used to visit him for some special semi-nude poojas that he performed. In the said list, Kavya Madhavan's name was also reportedly found.

However, online circulation of Kavya Madhavan's blue film is still unconfirmed. Many claim that they have seen it, others state that there is no such thing. Perhaps mischief-makers may be circulating the rumours for their own interest!

Greatness is not just about ... Dr. Kamal Haasan

Jack of all trades and master of many, may be all.’ If this is true of any one person it has to be the one and only - Padmashree Dr. Kamal Haasan. Greatness is not just about how good you are, it is about how good you continue to be over years and decades, that separates the good from the great. Greatness is about being in the right place, doing the right things and living a life that puts the pursuit of perfection at the top of all priorities. If this is greatness then Kamal Haasan is surely one of the greatest that cinema has seen and will ever see. As his glowing 50 year celluloid life is poised to hit a crescendo, ready to shine at its brightest, we thought about taking all Kamal fans back in time- from the days of the toddler in Kalathur Kannamma, through the young lad learning the nuances of bharathanatyam, the assistant dance director, the beginner, the star, the master, the director, the producer, the visionary- all the way to Universal Star. Retracing the steps that took the boy from Paramakudi to the pinnacles of celluloid perfection; Kamal-the making of a legend

Some say, ‘legends are born’. Others beg to differ, they say ‘legends are made’. When each person is born they are nothing but a mound of earth waiting to be molded, a stone waiting to be cut to diamond, a sapling waiting to be tended. Destiny chooses few among us to mold, cut and tend to greatness. Kamal Haasan was one such chosen by the hands of time to be shaped to hold greatness, not as an ornament or an attainment but as a way of life. What sets Kamal apart from other greats is that his greatness neither precedes him nor follows him, it is a part of him. Each time he performs it is not his reputation that speaks, it is that performance which is perfection personified. He does not rest on laurels nor lives in the past, he strives to construct monuments through each frame, each shot and each movie. Everyone has but one masterpiece but Kamal is one whose career is strewn with masterpieces. ‘Masterpiece-ing’ is just another day in the office for him and now he awaits us with another masterpiece which we believe will outdo, outclass and outshine all masterpieces that have been put before us in the past.

Dasavatharam is almost here and it might be the most appropriate time to revel in the genius of Kamal. But this is not just about Dasavatharam or any one movie. Dasavatharam or not, all that has been said above about Dr. Kamal Haasan holds true. It is not about 10 roles or one big movie, it is about the dedication of one man to what he does, the pursuit of excellence that made him the legend.

Poorna ---- "Chinna Asin"!

Scene 1- On Monday evening, at Landmark in Chennai, Asin had a farewell party of sorts after an impressive innings in Tamil cinema.

She was being launched by an international fashion magazine as the cover girl announcing her as the new hot girl in Bollywood for being featured as Aamir Khan's heroine. Her last film in Tamil Dasavatharam had just released.

By late evening she was back on board a flight to Mumbai to chase her Bollywood dreams.

Scene 2- Cut to the swanky Asiana Hotel in Chennai's IT corridor. The newly-opened hotel was holding its first ever Kollywood big bash- the audio launch of Bharath's new film Muniyandi Vilayangiyal oondrammaandu (MVM). After the trailer and songs from the film was played for the invitees, Ilayathalapathy Vijay, in his speech said, "The heroine of the film reminds me so much of Asin, especially in her dance movements and expressions. She has a bright future in Tamil cinema".

Everybody in the packed ballroom of the hotel craned their necks to take a better look at the demure girl on stage. Kollywood's biggest superstar after Rajinikanth and a man of few words, Vijay praising a girl he was seeing for the first time took the gathering by surprise. After Vijay's speech the rest of the film fraternity took the cue, and had something nice to say about - "Chinna Asin"!

So who is this 17-going-on-18 girl who has become the new sensation in Kollywood? Meet Poorna alias Shamna Kasim, a Malayalee girl now residing in Kochi, the heroine of MVM. Her claim to fame was that she had done three Malayalam films with the superstar Mohanlal as his foster sister in Ali Bhai, as heroine's friend in Flash, and finally the second heroine who comes in a flashback in College Kumaran. Though she was close to Mohanlal, her film career in Malayalam never took off as all her films bombed.

It was at this time the MVM director Thirumurugan, who made a name for himself as the director of Mettioli, the longest running soap on television, chose her to be his heroine. "I picked her after screen testing nearly 100 other people for the crucial heroine's role. I make only family movies.

She suited my character - a small-town village girl. She came out with a knockout performance and has a good screen presence", says Thirumurugan. Added Bharath, who has worked with Malayalee heroines like Sandhya, Bhavana, Gopika, and Meera Jasmine, "After MVM , Poorna is going to go places. She is not only a good-looker but can also emote on screen. And like Vijay said, she does in some ways resemble Asin."

Meanwhile Poorna was swept off her feet and was speechless after Vijay's comments that she looked like Asin. "I was dumbstruck, because Vijay is my favourite hero and I have seen Pokkiri four times! When he compared me with Asin 'Chechi', who is my role model my day was made."

Suddenly a halo has been created around Poorna’s head, as she got three calls early next morning from top directors and a hero from Kollywood asking for her dates. She will become the first Malayalee Muslim born and brought up in Kannur, to debut in Tamil cinema. It may be coincidental but those who have played Mohanlal's sister and later heroine have made it big in Tamil. You need look no further than the numero uno actress Nayanthara!

Dimple Kapadia way is Bipasha Basu

Going the Dimple Kapadia way is Bipasha Basu who is romancing all younger men in her next three films... and all debutants of 2007.There’s Ranbir Kapoor in Siddharth Anand’s Bachna Ae Haseenon, Neil Nitin Mukesh in Jehangir Surtia’s Freeze and Maradonna Rebello in Sudipto Chattopdhya’s Paankh.

In the past, Dimple romanced Akshaye Khanna in Dil Chahta Hai, Saif Ali Khan in Being Cyrus, and Amol Mhatre in Leela.“So what if these actors are younger, is there an issue,” asked the Bengali actress testily. “My pairing with these younger men looks good. With Ranbir, I have great chemistry onscreen. Neil and I complement each other thanks to a fabulous script.

They are cool and contemporary,” said Bips. In the third film, unfortunately, she’s only a diva who lives in actor Maradonna’s fantasy.

The ‘Aap Ka Suroor’ star Hansika Motwani is hardly in her 17s but has Hansika Motwaniworked with Bollywood stars, who are more than double her age. But, she feels that age has nothing to do with working.

Recently, the cute-faced actress has also disclosed that she has no problem in wearing a bikini, and if the character demands she would surely wear it.Hansika also garnerned lots of publicity recently for her alleged spat with co-star Celina Jaitley because she was sporting more glamourous dresses in the movie ‘Money Hai Toh Honey Hai’.

But Hansika cleared the air by saying that their looks have been clearly defined, she is being cast as a drama queen, whereas Celina essaying the role of a fashion designer, and there were no problems between them.

On argument with Celina, she said, “I don’t know who’s cooking up these stories that I had a problem with Celina just because she was sporting more glamourous dresses in the film Money Hai Toh Honey Hai. Our look has been clearly defined in the film. I am playing a drama queen, whereas Celina is essaying the role of a fashion designer. Why would we have a jhagda over this?”

Hansika Motwani, who started her career as a child artiste in Bollywood and worked in films like Koi... Mil Gaya, Escape from Taliban, Jaago and Aabra Ka Daabra, is surely on cloud 9 these days as she has big budget movies like ‘Money Hai Toh Honey Hai’ (opposite comedy star Govinda) in her kitty. And of recent, she has quite a few south Indian hits to her credit too.

On working with multi-talented star Govinda, she said, “Working with him is an experience in itself. When people ask me as to how I feel romancing a much older person like him on screen, I really feel funny. Acting, after all, is about playing a character and I can even play an 80-year-old woman with ease on screen. Moreover, when you are working with an actor like Govinda, you end up giving your 110 per cent.”

So, here is another actress with dare-to-bare feelings. Gone are the days of ‘Sati-Savitri’ heroines, here comes the ‘Bikini-Brigade’, really, Bollywood industry is becoming hotter day-by-day!

Saloni in Ram Charan’s new film ‘Dheerudu’.

Saloni is a young actor who is still struggling to establish herself in Tollywood. She acted in films like Oka Oorilo and Kokila and Dhana 51. But none of her film could make a mark and she later moved to Sandalwood and tried her luck there.Saloni made a good mark in Kannada and has some successful films to her credit.

She has now bagged a big offer in Telugu. Saloni will play the second heroine in Ram Charan’s new film ‘Dheerudu’. Rajamouli is the director. Kajal Agarwal is the heroine. Saloni hopes that her role in Dheerudu will finally bring her recognition and help her bag offers in Telugu.

Victory Venkatesh is now busy with .....

Victory Venkatesh is now busy with his latest film Chintakayala Ravi (software engineer) directed by Yogi. Anushka is the heroine. After that Venkatesh will act in a film tentatively titled as ‘Krishna Mukunda Murari. Krish of Gamyam fame will direct this film. Venkatesh has agreed to act in a film to be directed by Srinu Vaitla. Vaitla is now a hat trick director with three straight hits – Dhee, Dubai Seenu and Ready. Vaitla is now directing Nagarjuna and Trisha for the film titled ‘King’. The Venaktesh-Vaitla film will go to the sets only in 2009.

Barack Obama didn't attend the BET Awards

Barack Obama didn't attend the BET Awards, but that didn't stop attendees from talking about him."If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America," Sean "Diddy" Combs told the crowd Tuesday at the Shrine Auditorium before chanting "Obama or Die" — a declarative remix of his neutral "Vote or Die" motto from the 2004 presidential election, when he attempted to boost the youth vote.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was just a few blocks away at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for a fundraiser with a Hollywood guest list that included supermodels Heidi Klum and Cindy Crawford, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard and movie stars Samuel L. Jackson and John Malkovich.

While Obama didn't make an appearance at the BET Awards — either live or on tape — his presence was felt.As she picked up her award for best female R&B artist, Alicia Keys told the crowd that it's time for black people to erase the word "can't" from their vocabulary."Together we can do anything," she said, playing on the Democrat's "Yes We Can" mantra before shouting: "Obama y'all!"

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, John McCain, failed to merit a shoutout by any of the BET presenters or performers."For the first time in history, we have the opportunity for somebody who's not in the good ol' boy network to get into office," rapper David Banner told reporters backstage. "People talk about his lack of experience, but there's people with much more experience who haven't done such a good job."Stephen Hill, executive vice president of entertainment and music programming at BET, said there was talk of having Obama attend the BET Awards but it didn't work out."We would've loved it if he would've stopped by," said Hill.

During his monologue, host D.L. Hughley cracked jokes about Obama. Other attendees were more flattering. Backstage, Humanitarian Award winner Quincy Jones said he wanted Obama to be elected and create a Secretary of Culture position. Actress Nia Long beamed about possible first lady Michelle Obama."Michelle is graceful, beautiful and not afraid to be exactly who she is," Long said backstage. "It's wonderful to see their love in the midst of all the political madness. They have something we should all be proud of. She's smart. She's educated. And she's fearless. I'd love to have tea with her one day."One attendee used fashion to show her support for Obama. Actress-comedian Kym Whitley, who revealed she'll be appearing in a small role in the upcoming "Transformers" sequel, donned a tight purple shirt that read 'Barack Obama 08' in glittery black letters"I don't know him, and he doesn't know me," she said. "But we're gonna make eye contact one day."Longtime Obama supporter John Legend affirmed the importance of voting in the upcoming election: "I'll be working to make sure people get out to vote this fall."

Rajinikanth’s ‘Kuselan’ completed

With the shoot for Rajinikanth’s ‘Kuselan’ completed, the film is expected to be released in the last week of July.Director K. Balachander’s Kavithalaya, along with Seven Arts, is producing the film, the Tamil remake of Malayalam hit ‘Katha Parayumpol.’Rajinikanth plays a super hero. The shooting started at Ramoji Rao Film City, Hyderabad, which is considered a lucky venue: it was here the mega-budget film ‘Sivaji’ was shot.P. Vasu, who directed ‘Chandramukhi,’ has finished the shoot for ‘Kuselan,’ working round the clockThe story revolves around the friendship between a village barber and his friend, who is a mega star. The star comes to the village to shoot for his film, and what happens there is the rest of the story.In ‘Katha Parayumpol,’ Mammootty and Sreenivasan played the lead roles.Rajinikanth plays the role of the superstar, while Pasupathy acts as a barber.Meena plays the wife of the barber, while Nayanthara pairs with Rajinikanth. Actor Prabhu, too, plays an important role. The camera is handled by Aravind Krishna and the music is scored by G.V. Prakash Kumar.According to Mr. Vasu, shooting for both Tamil and Telugu versions of the film is over. “We have shot for nearly 81 days, and I must give credit to my cameraman Aravind Krishna for his speedy work. We want to release the audio on June 30 and the film in July.In a song, ‘Cinema Cinema,’ we are highlighting the hard work done by those in the film fraternity.”It was written by lyricist Valee and sung by Shankar Mahadevan. ‘MGR Sivaji Sir NTR Rajkumaru Evargal Eruntha Cinema, Inimel Idhupol Varuma,’ the song goes on. To mark the 75 years of Tamil cinema, I wanted to do some thing, and I think I have done it, in my small way, through this song.”

I leave for the world tour with the Bachchan -Preity Zinta

Preity Zinta has put the highs and lows of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and her Mohali team behind and is busy with as many as four pending films and looks forward to the Bachchans' world tour.She too needs a well-deserved break and is now raring to go."I didn't realise how much I had put behind. I've so much pending work. Four films are at different stages of completion. I've to immediately start dubbing for Harr Pal and Heroes. Then I leave for the world tour with the Bachchans."In Heroes, she is paired opposite one of her favourite co-stars, Salman Khan. And she has even agreed to do a cameo in the Salman-Kareena Kapoor starrer Main Aur Mrs Khanna."It's Salman's home production ... and he is a buddy. But it's not an item song really. It's an interesting cameo. And I've agreed to be in the film because the director, Prem Soni, is a dear friend. And since Salman has played Prem so often, let's just say this one is for Prem," she chuckled.She is also excited about her Punjabi film Heaven On Earth with acclaimed director Deepa Mehta. And the filmmaker has apparently said that Preity is the best actress she has ever worked with."I love Deepa for that. When she signed me for the film, she told me she wanted the actress, not the star. That sounded so corny. But when I reached Toronto to shoot Heaven On Earth I knew exactly what she meant. I'm dying to see the complete film," says Preity.Looking back on the IPL experience, Preity says "it was one helluva learning experience"."It was also very annoying to hear rubbish like 'Preity sat on a cricketer's lap'. Does it make any sense for me to make a public spectacle of myself? I mean that's hardly me. I don't sit on people's laps," she remarked.But the actress, who was the co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, stressed that it was a positive experience on the whole.

Villu --Vijay's new film with Nayan

Vijay's new film Villu starring Vijay, Nayanthara, Vadivelu and others. Direction Prabhu deva.

Vikram Bhatt moved away from his marriage?

Do people beyond a certain age have the right to get married?

That’s a fairly valid question and it emerges from the creases of comedy in Mere Baap Pehle Aap. In the film the son arranges for his aging father to marry the woman he loved and lost.
Two years ago Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, known in real life to have share more than a passing fondness, played aging single parents who find love. The film Pyar Mein Twist bombed. So did Hamare Tumhare where Sanjeev Kumar wanted to marry Rakhi. Basu Chatterjee’s Khatta Meetha got a slightly better opening. Maybe Ashok Kumar and Pearl Padamsee looked like they were married anyway. So nobody minded.

The alarming part of Mere Baap Pehle Aap is that Paresh Rawal and Shobana who are supposed to be ‘old’ people discovering belated love together, are both in their 40s.


Is that old? Especially in an industry where women are too taken up with their careers to worry about their biological clock. They tend to ‘settle down’ a little late in life. Or not at all. Look at the screen divas who made it, and those who didn’t. Hema Malini and Sridevi found love and motherhood in the arms of a married man. Both Hemaji and Sridevi in spite of breaking the social code have conducted their married lives with extreme dignity and grace.