E! News

Priyamani as Mammootty’s heroine

National Award winning actress Priya Mani first time plays the female lead opposite frontline hero Mammootty in forthcoming Renjith film Pranchiyettan and The Saint.

Mammootty, a three-time National Award winner plays the role of Francis, a rice merchant. Innocent plays the other title role as Saint. The film already gained the attention of the industry because of the star cast and title. The film is produced by Capitol Theatres.

Sequel to Mookilla Rajyathu 

Mookkilla Rajyathu, a superhit movie of the 90s will get a sequel and it will be directed by Thaha. The original was directed by director duo Ashokan-Thaha. Ashokan has left the filmdom and Thaha alone will call the shots in the new film. The original protagonists in the film Mukesh, Thilakan, Jagathy, Siddhique will feature in the same roles of nuts under treatment in mental assylum. The film will be produced by Star India Cinemas and a newcomer will play the heroine role in the film. Lal, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Kottayam Nazeer  also plays prominent roles in the film.

Jayaprada to produce Malayalam film

 

Yesteryears heroine and former Rajyasabha MP Jayaprada will produce a Malayalam film under the banner of Jayaprada Entertainments. Mukesh plays the lead as a railway employee in the film directed by art house filmmaker R Sarath. The heroine will be a fresh face and Jayaprada also dons an important role in the movie.

She recently quit politics after her disagreement with Samajawadi party leader Mulayam Sing. Jayaprada recently worked with Sharath in  Hindi film The Desire. She also rendered a hip-hop song for a new Hindi film with Adnan Sami and Bappi-Lahiri.  

Tejashree makes Malayalam debut in Female Unnikrishnan

Tamil glamour girl Tejashree will make her debut into Malayalam by playing the heroine role of Suraj Venjaramoodu in Female Unnikrishnan.

She had the luck to play a meaty role in her debut film as a girl with speech disorders. Her hero of the film Suraj also has a peculiar speech disorder in the film. The film will be directed by KB Madhu also stars Jagadheesh, Salim Kumar, Anoop Menon, Bijukuttan and Maniyanpilla Raju. Tejashree is  a favourite among her fans by playing glamour roles in Kalvanin Kadhali, Madhurai and Kodambakkam.

Making waves: Rashmi Vijayan

KK Moidu talks to the young talented singer Rashmi Vijayan about her interests

Rashmi Vijayan, the girl who has been raised in the UAE, has made a promising start in her music career as a playback singer in Malayalam and Tamil films. She also had the luck to work in the very beginning of her career with leading music directors of the industry like M Jayachandran, Vidyasagar, Ouseppachan, Gopi Sunder, Selva Ganesh, Babu Shankar and Stephen Devassi.

A good dancer, Rashmi, who trained in Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and folk dance has won acclaims from the audience by her electrifying performance in stage shows. She performed in many stage shows in India and Gulf along with well-known music personalities like Alphonse Joseph, Shankar Mahadevan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Sujatha, Vani Jayaram, Unni Menon, Venugopal, Vijay Yesudas, Usha Uthup, Rimi Tomy, Swetha Mohan, Jassie Gift, Jyotsana, Anwar Sadat etc.

Rashmi, the only daughter of Vijayan and Ragini, was in town recently for spending a short holiday with her parents after a successful stage show “Sopaanam 2010” in Doha, Qatar with Madhu Balakrishnan.

The gifted singer Rashmi made her debut into filmdom with a track for Red Chillies.

Over to her;-

Tell us about yourself?

I am from Palakkad, Kerala and brought up in UAE. I did my schooling at Our Own English High School, Dubai and completed my graduation in Media and Communications from Manipal University, Dubai Campus. I did PG in Broadcasting Communications from MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai.

When did you start learning music?

I started learning music and dance at a tender age from Symphony Music Institute, Ajman. I was trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music for several years by Babu John and Shiva Iyer respectively. Now I am pursuing my music career in Chennai and also learning music from Tanushree.

What was your initial experience in stage shows?

I started singing in stage shows of cultural organisations and Alumni’s in the UAE from my school and college days onwards. More offers started coming after the Radio4FM selected me as the best duet singer from more than 2,500 singers in “Reefmall Radiostar Contest”. I entered the semi finals of another contest “Ford Fusion Star,” a multi national western singing competition for selecting the singing sensation of the UAE.

Who encouraged you to become a singer?

My parents, music teachers and well wishers. When I started participating in reality shows and stage shows people like Stephan Devassi not only encouraged me but also advised to move to Chennai and that helped me for a good beginning in my career. The judges of music reality shows, other participants and guests like Suresh Gopi always encouraged me to become a singer.

Please list the musical reality shows in which you have participated?

I was the first runner up of the Zee TV “Saregamapa ME Muqabla 2006” auditions. It was participated by singers from all over the Gulf and won appreciation from luminaries like Kumar Sanu, Adesh Srivastava, Jatin Pundit, Ismail Darbar and Shaan, who hosted the show. My participation in “Indian Idol 3” on Sony TV was a new experience and won accolades from lyricist Javed Akthar and noted singer Udit Narayan. I was selected in the final 28 participants from all over India and UAE in prestigious music talent hunt “Indian Idol 3.” I reached the top 11 from more than 20,000 contestants from all over the world in the “Super Star Global” at Amrita TV.

What was your experience as a musical reality show participant?

Though I couldn’t win the first prize in reality shows, the experience and appreciation from the judges, guests, other participants and the audience helped me to improve a lot in my singing and performance. If I have not been eliminated from the reality shows like “Indian Idol 3” and “Superstar Global,” I couldn’t have been attended my degree annual examinations in UAE.

Many parents are now training their children for participating in musical reality shows, what you think about that?

Training will definitely help the participants and it is a must for those who want to continue their career in music. Some parents are compelling their children to learn music by aiming only reality shows. And these children may not have talent or interest in music. It is a cruelty to the children and the audience.

Some good teachers and training institutions only teach those who have talent, but few others train all the children and consider this as a business.

You are born and brought up outside India. Don’t you have problems with Indian languages?

I have friends in schools from other parts of the country like North India and didn’t have problems in singing Hindi songs during my participation in ”Indian Idol 3” and “Saregamapa ME.”

Malayalam is my mother tongue and I know Tamil also very well.

Who introduced you as a playback singer?

Music director M Jayachandran in Red Chillies.

What are the films you have rendered songs?

Red Chillies, IG, Happy Husbands in Malayalam, Kanden Kadhalein, Siddu Plus Two in Tamil.

What kind of songs do you like to render in films?

I am a beginner and I want to sing all kinds of songs in films. As a stage performer, I am mainly singing fast numbers and that are widely accepted by the audience.

You are a singer, stage performer. Is there any such chance for you to turn as a dubbing artiste too?

I have already dubbed for advertisements like Bhima Jewellers. Nobody offered me to dub for films and I haven’t thought about that.

Who is your favourite Indian female singer?

Shreya Ghosal.

Which music director you dream to work with in future?

AR Rahman.

What are your current projects?

Amal Neerad’s Prithviraj starrer Anwar in Malayalam, the music is composed by Gopi Sundar. I am also planning to launch a music album.

Photographs: Kamal Kassim

3 Idiots sweeps IIFA Awards

Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan (Paa)

Best Actress: Vidya Balan (Paa) and Kareena Kapoor (3 Idiots)

Indian International Film Academy (IIFA) awards were presented at a glitzy ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital and was attended by Bollywood heros like Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan, Vivek Oberoi etc and Bollywood beauties like Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Dia Mirza etc.

Amir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’ bagged eight awards including the Best Film on this years IIFA. Big B won the Best Actor award for his performance as progeria-affected child in Paa.

Kareena Kapoor and Vidya Balan shared the Best Actress award for their roles in 3 Idiot and Paa respectively. The Best Director Award winner was Rajkumar Hirani for 3 Idiots and he along with Abhijat Joshi and Vidhu Vinod Chopra won the Best Story Award for the same film.

3 Idiot on the backdrop of a top engineering college was nominated in 12 of the 13 main categories in the Indian International Film Academy awards and has already won eight of the 12 technical awards announced last month (Best Screenplay, Cinematography, Dialogue, Background Score, Editing, Best Sound Recording, Best Song Recording, Sound Re-recording).

The Best Male Supporting Actor award went to Sharman Joshi for his role in 3 Idiots and the Best Female Supporting Actress award was received by Divya Dutta for her role in Dilli 6.

Bomman Irani won the award for his negative role in 3 Idiots. The best performance in comedy role went to Sanjay Dutt for his role in All The Best.

Pritam is the Best Music Director for the film Love Aaj Kal. Shaan is the Best Male Singer for his song Behti hawa sat ha woh in 3 Idiots and Kavita Seth was adjudged as the Best Female Singer for Iktara in Wake Up, Sid!

Best Lyricist is Swanand Kirkire for the film 3 Idiots.

Best Debut Female Actor Award was shared by Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez and Mahie Gill for their performance in Aladin and Dev D respectively. Omi Vaidya shared the Debut Male honours for his role as Chatur Ramalingam of 3 Idiots with Jackky Bhagnani for Kal Kissne Dekha.

Bosco Caesar won the Best Choreography Award for his best moves in Love Aaj Kal and Anahia Shroof and Dolly Ahluwalia won the Best Costume Designing Award for the same film.

Sabu Cyril got the Best Art Direction and Charles Darby (Eyecube Labs) won Best Special Effects (Visual) for Aladin. Sham Kaushal won the Best Action Award for Kaminy and international make-up artists Christien Tinsely and Dominie Till fetched the award for Paa.

Legendary filmmaker J Om Prakash and former heroine of Bollywood Zeenat Aman were felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award.