G.V. Prakash Kumar – An Eventful Musical Journey from 16 to 37
G.V. Prakash Kumar, born on 13 June 1987, is the son of G. Venkatesh and A.R. Reihana (sister of A.R. Rahman). His first foray into the film industry was when he sang the opening lines of the hit song Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku Rayilu from Gentleman which had music scored by his uncle, A.R. Rahman. […]
Vikatan Cinema Awards – All the Winners
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Magazine has been rewarding excellence in Tamil Cinema since 2008. These are the winners for 2024 film as announced last night. Category Winner Best Film Kottukaalli Best Director Mari Selvaraj: Vaazhai Best Actor Vijay Sethupathi: Viduthalai Part 2 & Maharaja Best Actress Sai Pallavi: Amaran Best Supporting Actor Karunaas: Pogum Idam Vegu […]
Remembering Master Director A.C. Thirulokachander on his 95th Birth Anniversary
A.C. Thirulokachander was born on 11 June in 1930. He began his film career as an assistant director in MGR’s 1952 film, Kumari. After working on the story and script for Vijayapuri Veeran and Paarthaal Pasi Theerum, he made his directorial debut in the hit film Veerathirumagan. His second directorial, Naanum oru Penn, released on […]
Justin Prabhakaran – Carving his own musical path
Justin Prabhakaran was born in Madurai on 10 June 1986 to Christian parents. He showed an early interest in music and dabbled with music composition while he was still in college. He began his film music career in 2010 as an assistant to music composer Harris Jayaraj, assisting in soundtracks like Nanban, Thuppaki, Ko, 7aum […]
Pandiraj – A Director with Fresh Perspectives
Pandiraj was born on 7 June 1976. He began his working career as an office assistant in K. Bhagyaraj’s weekly publication, Bhagya. He soon moved up to writing articles for the publication. Afer showing a keen interest in Tamil cinema, he was appointed first as an assistant to director Cheran, and then to Thangar Bachchan […]
Actress Saritha turns 65 today.
Saritha is a veteran of more than 150 films in a career spanning more than 45 years. She was introduced to the Tamil screen by K. Balachander who cast her in the female lead opposite Rajinikanth in Thappu Thaalangal. She went on to have a successful career in Tamil films, often playing challenging and unusual […]
TOP 20 Tamil Songs for Week ending 06 June 2025
This Week Title Film/Album Singer/s Lyric Music Last Week 1 Sittukoru Kattupada Othuvaruma School Shweta Mohan, Srisha Vijayasekar & Pariya Mali Illaiyaraja Illaiyaraja 3 2 Jinguchaa Thug Life Vaishali Samant, Shaktisree Gopalan & Adithya RK Kamalhaasan AR Rahman 5 3 Idhayaa Idhayam Murali Thaman S & Vishal Mishra Vivek Thaman S 1 4 Second Chance […]
“Thug Life” Film Review
When Mani Ratnam and Kamalhaasan announced their second collaboration in November 2022, I knew that whatever they came up with could never match the cinematic heights reached by their first collaboration – the 1987 film Nayakan (pronounced Naayagan). This was not a pessimistic prediction but one that recognized that Mani Ratnam had peaked as a […]
OPINION PIECE: Kamalhaasan’s Thug Life Response to Karnataka
The recent controversy surrounding Kamalhaasan’s comments about the Kannada language have ignited lots of discussions on both sides of the issue after Kamalhaasan announced that Thug Life will not release in Karnataka. This follows a threat to ban the film if he did not apologise for comments he made about the Kannada language. It is […]
Remembering the Golden Voice of S.P. Balasubramanyam on his birth anniversary.
S.P. Balasubramanyam was born on 04 June 1946 into a Telugu family in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. He received six national awards across songs in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi – a feat that will be extremely difficult to replicate. He has also won 32 national awards, the Padmashri, Padma Bhushan and the Padma […]