Southern Spice: News in brief

Not many comedians get to play the lead role in a film.

But Tamil comedian Karunas has managed to do that in two films, namely ‘Dindigul Sarathy’ and ‘Ambasamudram Ambani’, both of which were well-received.

In debutant R. Radhakrishnan’s upcoming film, ‘Chandamama’, Karunas once again plays the central character.

“This is the story of Santhanakrishnan, an ordinary individual who aspires to be known as a writer of renown and in this pursuit, he calls himself Chandamama,” says Radhakrishnan, who has assisted several Malayalam directors, including Shaji Kailas and Vinayan.

Santhanakrishnan pays people to queue outside book stores to buy his books and very soon, they all start flocking to his house. His father encourages him to publish books even at the cost of selling land.

“The narrative progresses to reveal the ups and downs Santhanakrishnan faces in this pursuit,” adds the director, who is a writer himself. But the story has not been inspired from his life. “It is a love story laced with humour,” he adds.

Shweta Basu plays Karunas’ lady love in the movie. She won the national award for Best Child Artist for her role in Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Makdee.’ You might also recall her from Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Iqbal’, where she played Shreyas Talpade’s sister, Khadija, the cute little girl with the smart lines.

Produced by Classic Cinemas, ‘Chandamama’ has music composed by Srikanth Deva. Noted Malayalam cinematographer Anandakuttan has handled the visuals.

Kili Poyi — a youth-oriented thriller

Vinay Govind is only 24 and ‘Kili Poyi’ is his maiden directorial venture in Malayalam. A vis-com graduate from Chennai’s Loyola College, Govind promises that ‘Kili Poyi’ will be an entertaining thriller.

Based on a script Govind co-wrote with two friends, Joseph Kurien and Vivek Ranjit, the movie is the story of two guys who work in an ad agency.

“Chacko is the easy-going one, generally chilled out,” says Govind who assisted Malayalam director V.K. Prakash before going solo. “His friend and colleague Hari supports him, even taking on his work load.”

The two friends take a break and go to Goa where something goes wrong. Life is not the same ever again for the two friends.

Produced by SJM Entertainments Ltd., ‘Kili Poyi’ has Asif Ali and Aju Verghese in the lead roles. Other cast members include Sandra Thomas, Sampath, Sabrine Baker, Samata Agrawal, Mridul Nair, Sreejith Ravi and Raveendran. Music is scored by Rahul Raj. Pradeesh M. Varma has handled the camera.

Ann Augustine plays an athlete

Malayalam director Sunderdas says women-oriented films have always fascinated him. And that’s what drew him to scriptwriter V.C. Ashok’s story on a woman athlete, Rebecca Uthup. Ann Augustine plays the title role in Sunderdas’ film, ‘Rebecca Uthup Kizhakkemala’ (RUK).

“In Kerala, most women athletes hail from hilly districts,” says Sunderdas. “They are down-to-earth and go through immense struggles before attaining recognition. Rebecca too hails from a hilly region, a village named Kizhakkemala. My story is not about on-track events, but instead it talks about her emotional journey, especially her bond with her father, a rubber plantation farmer.”

The story gets rolling after Uthup wins the Asian Gold and aspires for the Olympics. Preparing her towards this goal is coach Arjun, played by Siddharth Bharatan (son of late director Bharathan). Playing Uthup’s fiancee is Jishnu Raghav while Nirmal Jaic plays an engineering student and Rebecca’s admirer. Things get complicated when this admiration turns into possessive love. Sai Kumar and Shari play Uthup’s parents. Mercy Kuttan, a former Olympian athelete, was consulted while sketching out Uthup’s character.

Sunderdas, former assistant to late director Sibi Malayil, began his career with ‘Sallapam’, a hit film that marked the debut of Manju Warrier in 1996. RUK is Sunderdas’ 10th film.

Produced by Venkatesh S. Upadhaya, RUK has music scored by Ratheesh Vega. Cinematography is by Jibu Jacob. RUK hits the screens on March 1.

Bappi Lahiri croons for ‘Karuppampatti’

Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri was in Chennai for the audio launch of his first south Indian film ‘Karuppampatti’. Bappida, as he is better known, has sung a song, ‘Disco, Naughty Raja Raja’, to tunes set by composer Kannan.

At the audio launch, the composer, sporting dark glasses and glittering jewellery in his signature style, said: “I am in Chennai after a long time and this city has been lucky for me. I travel all over the world with my body guards since I wear a lot of gold, but here I don’t need a body guard. Chennai is a safe place.”

Praising the film and the music, especially the title song which he loved, Bappida added: “The song that I have sung is reminiscent of the disco era of the 80s. In the past two years, my songs, be it ‘Disco Dancer’ of Golmaal 3 and The Dirty Picture’s ‘Oolalaa’ were received well. Both the films made it to the Rs100 crore [Dh67.89 million] mark. Karuppampatti will do well too.”

Directed by debutant Tha. Prabhu Raja Cholan, ‘Karuppampetti’ features Ajmal and Aparna Bajpai in lead roles.