Cine News Digest – 04 January 2025

Rajinikanth’s Coolie resumes shooting this month

Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie has completed 70% of its shooting. Rajinikanth shares the screen with Nagarjunna, Sathyaraj, Soubin Shahir, Sruthi Hassan and Upendra. Aamir Khan also makes a special appearance.

The cast and crew are set to travel to Bangkok for the filming of crucial scenes.

Anirudh Ravichander scores the music in his fourth collaboration with Lokesh Kanagaraj.

Madha Gaja Raja to release 12 years after completion

Sundar C’s comedy caper, Madha Gaja Raja is finally set for release this Pongal.

The film has Vishal, Anjali, Varalaxmi, Santhanam and Sonu Sood heading the cast. The cast also includes at least four actors who are no longer alive – Manivannan, Manobala, Mayilsamy and Chitti Babu.

Hansika and Karthika Nair were also scheduled to have been in the film in the initial stages, but dropped out because of changes in the film’s script and then its schedule

The film went to the floors in 2012 and was completed by 2013 but was not clearered for release because of a financial hitch, details of which remain sketchy, but did involve a financial dilemma faced by Gemini Film Circuit. Even a buy-out offer from Vishal backfired.

The announcement of its release this Pongal hopefully means that all issues have now been resolved.

R.Madhavan and Sathyaraj in a biopic

R Madhavan is to play the lead role in a forthcoming biopic on Indian inventor and engineer, Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu who was commonly known as the Edison of India.

Sathyaraj, Aparna Balamuralli and Priyamani are also in the cast. The film is directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar.

Shankar reasserting his position in the industry

Shankar has announced that his next film will be the ambitious project, Velpaari.S Shankar spent most of the lockdown writing this script which is based on the novel of the same title written by Su. Venkatesan. The book was described as a more authentic and more realistic account of the Tamil people than Ponniyin Selvan.

The period film required a massive budget and a fairly big cast. After the Indian 2 debacle, it would be interesting to see who has the confidence to back this project.

Mysskin’s Train wrapped up

Mysskin’s next film, Train, stars Vijay Sethupathi and Sruthi Hassan in the lead roles. Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu revealed this week that the film will be released this April.

The film’s impressive supporting cast includes Narain (Introduced by Mysskin in Chithiram Pesuthadi), Nassar, Vinay Rai, KS Ravikumar, Bhavana, Sambath Raj, Yugi Sethu, Ajay Rathnam and Raichal Rebecca.

Mysskin also scores the music in Train.

Meanwhile, Mysskin’s long-delayed film Pisaasu 2 has been confirmed fo release this March

2024 was the year of Maharaja

Nithilan Saminathan’s unusually crafted thriller Maharaja which had Vijay Sethupathi and Anurag Kashyap in the lead roles has dominated the film world. It was the most viewed Indian film on Netflix, the Most searched Tamil film on Google and the Most popular Tamil film in IMDB. It also became the highest grossing South Indian film in China. Nithilan Saminathan is set to officially announce his next project on 11 January 2025.

Manikandan’s next movie has a title

Pa. Ranjith is the producer of Manikandan’s next film, titled Makkal Thalaivan. The film will be directed by Kmar, a former assistant to Pa. Ranjith.

Manikandan is also working on the film Kudumbasthaan. directed by Rajeshwar Kalisamy, where he stars opposite Saanve Megghana