Some surprising facts about Charlie who turns 65 today
Velmurugan Thangasany Manohar is better known to audiences as Charlie, a name given to him by K.Balachander, the director who introduced him to films through the 1982 film, Poikaal Kuthirai. Balachander told him that he would have a remarkable career like Charlie Chaplin and, out of respect to K. Balachander, he retains the name to […]
Playback singer Kalpana refutes rumours about her attempted suicide
The film and music worlds are reeling from shock about the reported attempted suicide by playback singer Kalpana on Sunday. Kalpana had gone alone to their Hyderabad residence. When her husband failed to get a response to his calls and texts, he alerted the neighbours who had to break a door to enter. They found […]
Nassar: A talented actor and director with a nose for quality roles
Muhamed Hanif, better known by his screen name, Nassar, was introduced to the screen by K.Balachander in the 1985 film Kalyana Agathigal. Although the film failed at the box-office, audiences and critics appreciated th performance by Nassar, albeit in a minor role. After playing negative roles in Rajinikanth’s Velaikaaran and Karthik’s Vanna Kanavugal, he played […]
Selvaraghavan Birthday Special
Selvaraghavan is the elder brother of actor Dhanush. He made his unofficial debut as a director through Dhanush’s debut movie, Thulluvadho Illamai where their father, Kasthuriraja was credited as the director. His official debut came with Kaadhal Konndain in 2003 – probably his best work to date. He then made his foray into other themes […]
Sripriya – Versatile and talented actress
Actress Sripriya starred in more than 300 films in various languages, with approximately 200 of them in Tamil. She has also directed films in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, including the 2014 Telugu remake of Drishyam. She made her debut in the semi-religious film Murugan Kaatiya Vazhi directed by P.Madhavan and soon found herself sharing the […]
Review of “Suzhal 2 – The Vortex” – Web series on Amazon Prime
A series like Suzhal is an extremely tough act to follow, as the series had a huge budget, featured prominent actors and – most importantly – was brilliantly crafted and tastefully presented. Created by Pushkar and Gayathri, the directors of the critically acclaimed Madhavan-Vijay Sethupathy starrer, Vikram Vedha, Suzhal set new standards for Tamil and Indian […]
How South Africans were robbed of celebrating Illaiyaraja’s genius
With the countdown on for the official launch of Illaiyaraja’s Symphony Number 1, the first symphony ever by an Indian composer, it is important to reflect on the way Illaiyaraja is seen by South African- Tamilians of all ages and, more importantly, on how this perception of Illaiyaraja and his music came about. Illaiyaraja made […]
Film Preview: Good Bad Ugly
The teaser for Ajith Kumar’s next film promises a treat for fans of mass action movies in general and for Ajithkumar fans in particular. 17 hours after the release of the teaser, it had crossed 21 million views on YouTube. The teaser features Ajith Kumar in various looks of his career and looks set to […]
TOP 20 Tamil songs for week ending 28 Feb 2025
This Week Title Film/Album Singer/s Lyric Music Last Week 1 Yedi Nilavukku Enmel Ennadi Kodam Dhanush & Jonita Gandhi Vivek GV Prakash Kumar 2 2 Idhayam Sonaal Ketkatha Once More Vineeth Srinivasan Vignesh Srikanth Hesham Abdul Wahab 3 3 Aiyaiyo Independent Samuel Nicholas Mohan Raj & Samuel Nicholas Samuel Nicholas 4 4 Vaa Kannamma Once […]
Gautham Vasudev Menon – Overcoming challenges in style
Bold. Audacious, Outspoken, Courageous. These are just some of the adjectives one can use to describe maverick director Gautham Vasudev Menon whose films set in urban India have found particular favour with those living outside of India, while still delighting a significant percentage of Indian movie fans. Gautham’s walk to his current level of success […]