CINE NEWS DIGEST – 23 Nov 2024

A week of contrasts for A.R. Rahman

Only a day after the shocking news of the separation of AR Rahman and his wife Saira Banu, came the announcement that the Oscar Winner had won the 2024 Hollywood Music in Media award for Best Original Score in a foreign language film for the Malayalam film Aaadujeevitham: The Goat Life. The accolade, however, was not enough to deal with the wild rumours that were circulated about the reasons for the 29-year marriage coming to an end. On Saturday, A.R. Rahman’s legal time indicated that they would take civil action against anyone spreading baseless rumours about the reason for the separation.

Exciting Developments for Sivakarthikeyan’s 25^th film

The cast of Sivakarthikeyan’s 25^th film, Purananooru, is currently being finalized. Last week, there was discussion about whether Jayam Ravi or Vishal would be signed on to play a role with negative shades. Now it has been confirmed that Jayam Ravi will be playing that role. Atharva will appear in a pivotal role and the female lead will be played by Sreeleela. The film is written and directed by Sudha Kongara who directed Madhavan’s Irudhi Suttru and Suriya’s Soorarai Pootru. GV Prakash Kumar scores the music. Sudha Kongara will also co-produce the film with Aakash Baskaran of Dawn Pictures. The film was originally scheduled to have Suriya in the lead role but he dropped out of the project for unknown reasons.

Release date locked for Ajithkumar’s next film.

Director Adhik Ravichandran will wrap up the final shooting for Ajithkumar’s Good, Bad Ugly on Sunday 24 November 2024 at an undisclosed location in Bulgaria. The film, which marks Ajithkumar’s 63^rd film, is scheduled to release worldwide on 10 January 2025. The supporting cast includes Trisha, Prabhu, Prasanna, Arjun Das, Sunil, Rahul Dev and Yogi Babu. Devi Sri Prasad scores the music, marking his second collaboration with Ajithkumar, the first being the 2914 film, Veeram.

Director of Lift collaborates with Harish Kalyan

Vineeth Varaprasad, the director of Lift is to direct Harish Kalyan (Parking and Lubber Pandhu) in a forthcoming film which will be formally launched in December. Preity Mukundan, who played Meera Malarkodi in Kavin’s Star will play the female lead. This will be her second Tamil film and her first female lead in Tamil.

Release date announced for trailer and audio launch of Viduthalai Part 2

The long-awaited sequel to the 2023 hit film Viduthalai directed by Vettrimaran will be released on 20 December this year. The trailer and full audio launch will take place on Tuesday, 26 November. The first single. Dhinam Dhinamum was released on Sunday, 17 November and featured lyrics and music by Illaiyaraja. Dhanush has also recorded a song for this film. Part 1 featured Soori, Bhavani Sre and Gautham Vasudev Menon in pivotal roles. Vijay Sethupathi, who appeared briefly in the first part dominates Part 2, with Manju Warrier playing his love interest. The hard-hitting film which deals in part with the issue of police brutality was lauded by critics, especially the stunning acting performance by Soori in his first lead role.

No more guesses about Dhanush and Sivakarthikeyan

The internet has been abuzz for many months about a possible rift between Sivakarthikeyan and Dhanush, fueled by the fact that neither party would comment on the reports. Last week, some media houses reported that Sivakarthikeyan had chosen to support Nayanthara with her issue against Dhanush. However, A warm interaction between Sivakarthikeyan and Dhanush at the wedding of producer Aakash Baskaran (Producer of Purananooru and Idly Kadai) on Thursday, 21 Nov indicates that the two still share a cordial relationship.