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May 5, 1998
QUOTE MARTIAL
MAKING WAVES
SHORT TAKES
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES
MOVIES CHAT
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Karisma's in hot company
Rajitha
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Karisma Kapoor. Click for bigger pic!
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We'll kick this one off with more on Karisma Kapoor, and her imminent foray into Tamil films.
Like, the man who will direct the Kapoor gal's debut Tamil outing is a certain Perumal who is making his own directorial debut with the as yet untitled film. Perumal, for those who came in late, is one of Mani Rathnam's chief assistants, now flying solo with his mentor's blessings.
And hotter...
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Arvind Swamy. Click for bigger pic!
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Of more interest, though, is the identity of Karisma's co-star -- a certain Arvind Swamy, no less. Come to think of it, the guy who first captured attention in a coffee ad, which he has parlayed into a successful film career, has everything going for him just now.
Consider his two upcoming projects -- in the one, his co-star is Karisma; and in the other, his leading lady is no less than Madhuri Dixit -- who, and remember you read it here first -- is also slated to make her Tamil marquee debut shortly.
To be very accurate, though, the film about to go on the floors will not be Karisma's Tamil debut, strictly speaking. The Bollywood belle has already shot a song sequence for producer Kunjumon's (Gentleman, and the Nagarjuna-Sushmita Sen starrer, Rakshagan) upcoming film Kodishwaran.
The song and dance brigade
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Sonali Bendre. Click for bigger pic!
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Karisma's appearance in the film is limited to a song and dance sequence, for which she was specially hired. Talking of which, that seems to be one of Tamil cinema's latest fads -- hiring a Bollywood babe for a song-dance sequence. There was Sonu Walia gyrating with Rajnikanth in the Mani Rathnam-helmed Dalpathi, Sonali Bendre flashing leg in another Mani offering, Bombay (in the eminently hummable Humma Humma number) and Pooja Batra, making her first-ever screen appearance, in the Shock Adikkudhu Sona song from Aasai.
A son as a possible star
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Kunjumon. Click for bigger pic!
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Reverting to Kunjumon's under production film in passing, it introduces a new hero -- the producer's own teenage son, Ebby. A shade too young perhaps for celluloid herodom? Kunjumon agrees, then pleads helplessness. People I've helped tend to forget me afterwards, says the moustachioed producer with a penchant for big-budget entertainers, "I wanted to cast Abbas in my film, but he let me down, so I had to cast my son."
Simran's new sapne
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Simran. Click for bigger pic!
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Taking off from the earlier item on Kunjumon and his son Ebby, guess who the co-star is? Another Bollywood product now making it big on the Madras marquee -- Simran, to give her a name.
The Aankh Maari girl who debuted in ABCL's Tere Mere Sapne has been landing all the big offers, lately -- none bigger, mind you, than superstar Rajnikanth's next outing. The film, Ramakrishna, is being helmed by rising director Suresh Krishna.
Rajnikanth's latest, we learn, has him playing the driver of a school bus -- pretty close to his roots, or had you forgotten that the dusky superhero, when he was just plain Shivajirao Gaekwad was a bus conductor?
The film, by the way, also has Shalini, that 'baby' turned babe, who recently figured in one of the biggest hits of all time in southside cinema, in the cast....
Which, in turn, cues us into the next item.
More remakes for babe Shalini
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Shalini. Click for bigger pic!
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The fact that director Fazil, the man who first introduced Shalini the child star to the marquee in Ente Mammattikuttiammaku, then went on to cast the grown up version in Aniyathi Puravu, that said film became one of Malayalam cinema's all-time highest grossers, that it was subsequently remade in Tamil as Kaadalukku Mariyadhai and that this remake in turn went on to become a runaway hit last year, is now history.
The news is that the film is now being remade, yet again -- this time in Hindi, with Priyadarshan, not Fazil, at the helm.Doli Sajake Rakna, the film in question, adheres to the original storyline, but the cast and credits have been completely altered. Thus, Akshaye Khanna plays the leading man opposite debutante Jyothika.
A perfect set
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Nagma.
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And thereby hangs a tale -- for Jyothika is none other than the youngest sister of Bollywood reject Nagma who went from also-ran status in Hindi to become one of the biggest stars in Tamil and Telugu cinema. Jyothika's entry into films, in fact, completes a perfect set -- earlier last year, Nagma's other sister, Roshni also debuted on the Tamil marquee.
The film, now complete barring one song sequence to be picturised on Akshaye and Jyothika, is being made under Raj Kumar Santoshi'sbanner, with cinematographer K V Anand, the guy who earned a national award for cinematography on his debut, rejoining the Priyadarshan A-team.
Missing Miss Madras
Meanwhile, these items were sparked off by Shalini, so we'll come full circle, and end with a little snippet on her for the trivia buffs -- like, did you know that Shalini, before reappearing as an adult star, made a bid for glory of a different kind when she entered the Miss Madras beauty contest in 1996? Didn't get too far, though -- she was placed third, if I remember right. But she should worry -- the success of her first film as a full-grown star has made her the hottest property, that side of Cuffe Parade.
The big hit
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Aishwarya Rai. Click for bigger pic!
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And while on beauty queens, Aishwarya Rai should be smiling now --Jeans, the film directed by Shankar, which co-stars her with Prashant, is running to packed houses in Tamil Nadu. So Ash has a hit at last -- and Shankar adds to his whizkid aura with his fourth hit on the trot, following the success of Gentleman, Kaadhalan and Indian.
Jeans -- the Hindi version thereof -- is due for release on the Bollywood marquee soon.
Hidden costs
That brings to mind a peculiar problem that Shankar is facing, with this film. The 'costliest film ever made' has people coming out of the theatres down south, gushing about the music and Ash's dancing and emoting and the unusual handling of a cliched storyline... But what is puzzling audiences is, where has all the money gone?
I mean, when you spend unnumbered millions in the making of a film, the audience expects it to show up there on screen, in garish technicolour. None of it, though, in Jeans -- you'd think it was pretty small budget, as budgets go.
As an insider said, the problem is that the money didn't go into the erection of mammoth sets or the hiring of hundreds of extras -- in fact, the entire film has just about eight characters in it. The expenditure, thus, is disguised.
"Think about this," says the insider. "For just one song sequence, Shankar shoots around the seven wonders of the world. Look at the expenditures involved -- first, the director, and cinematographer, scouted the locations. Then the unit, with the stars, went to each of the countries involved, stayed there during the labourious process of obtaining permission and shooting, then flew to the next locale...
All this, for just one song... unlike in other films, here you have to look behind the scenes, to see where the money has gone..."
Fiery stuff
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A R Rahman.
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To end on a slightly lyrical note, we turn to A R Rahman. Who, between tuning for mega-budget films, is busy working on his next solo project -- an album, to wit, centreing around the fiery poetry of Subramania Bharati.
Rahman is setting the poems to music, and also busy shooting the accompanying video. In charge of the visual presentation are the Bharat Bala-Kanika team -- two friends who teamed up to produce videos for southside music-makers, and who are now setting the standards in that part of the world.
Incidentally, it was this same team that helmed Rehman's earlier project, the big-selling Vande Mataram album.
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