Cine Mini News Digest – 05 Nov 2026

Unexpected setback for Suriya’s Scene

While the South African screenings for Suriya’s remain unaffected, there has been consternation across major centres in Tamil Nadu where cinema theatres have cancelled many shows and refunded those who had already paid. This includes Full-House shows.

Some theatre owners have tried to explain the cancellation as a means of cashing in on the strong footfalls for Jailer 2, but many suspect that there is much more to the issue than appears because the slots from the cancelled Scene screenings are being allocated to Sundhar C’s Mookuthi Amman 2 and not Jailer 2. Of course, it must be pure coincidence that the distributors of Mookuthi Amman 2 are Red Giant Movies, a company owned and run by Udhayanidhi Stalin,

The producers of Scene will be unaffected as non-screening income like television and OTT rights have already secured a profit for them, but many are incensed at the injustice to Suriya, the Scene team and film fans in general.

Dhanush impressed by two scripts

Dhanush was highly impressed by scripts narrated to him by Venkat Prabhu and Jithu Madhavan (Scene). It is likely that he would accept both roles, but finding free slots will remain a problem.

Apart from the recently released project with Maniratnam, Dhanush also has in line biopics on Illaiyaraja and President Abdul Kalam as well as films for directors Vettrimaran, Mari Selvaraj, Nelson Dilipkumar, H. Vinod and Vignesh Raja.

Sasikumar’s period movie gets a title

Dharani Rasendran’s Sasikumar starrer now has a title – Death Railway. Set against World War 2 and the Burma attack against India, the film also stars Ashok Selvan, Samuthrakani, Kishore and Bhavani Sre.

The film introduces Sarthak Kalyani as a music composer.

Kamalhaasan places a question mark over Shankar’s Indian 3

Now that Shankar has secured funding for the completion and release of Indian 3, he faces another hurdle. There remains 15 days of shooting and Kamalhaasan is busy preparing for Sandiyar, directed by S.U. Arun Kumar.

Apart from the time that needs to be allocated for filming, there is the added problem of the new look that Kamalhaasan will be sporting in Sandiyar.

Kamalhaasan, who turns 72 this weekend has imported special gym equipment to help him achieve a more muscular and toned body for his role in Sandiyar.

Meanwhile, Shankar is facing pressure from the financiers and other members of the cast of Indian 3 to have the third and final instalment of the franchise completed without further delay.

R. Madhavan’s next Tamil film

R. Madhavan and Vidya Balan come together on screen again for the first time in more than 19 years in a forthcoming Tamil film tentatively titled Maami Rocks.

The film will be directed by R. Balki (R. Balakrishnan) in his Tamil debut. Balki is famous for his Hindi directorials like Cheeni Kum, Paa and Shamitabh.

The film will mark the first full-length feature of R. Madhavan that will have music by Illaiyaraja.

Meanwhile, the news that R. Madhavan is to play the role of director Maniratnam in the forthcoming biopic on Illaiyaraja remains unconfirmed.

Vijayakanth’s son in a new movie

Shanmuga Pandian, the son of the Late actor and politician,Vijayakanth, will soon be seen in the film Vaana Vedikkai. Shivani Rajasehkar, Jayaprakash and Saravanan are also in the cast.

Vaana Vedikkai is directed by Thiru (Theeradha Villaiyaatu Pillay, Samar and Naan Sivappu Manithan). Sam CS scores the music.

The trailer for this film will release on Thursday, 05 November at 17h00 IST (14h30 South African time).

New thriller to release soon

Santhosh Prathap (Sarpatta Paramabarai, Pathu Thala and Aranmanai 4)heads the cast of the new racy action suspense thriller Signal at 11.30. Bhavya Trikha (Jinn The Pet and Bun Butter Jam), Pujita Ponnada (Seven and Jolly o Gymkhana), Jayaprakash and Munishkanth are also in the cast. The film is directed by Malarvizhi Natesan (Thiruvaalar Panchankam) and has music by D. Imman