Coming Attractions

TELUGU
Vasmodarakudu
Balakrishna’s next
Mass hero Balakrishna began the year with the thunderclap hit, Samarasimhareddy and later had a slight setback with the average grossers Sultan and Krishnababu. Now he has to prove all over again that his old magic is still intact, with his next release, Vasmodarakudu. Produced by MS Reddy and T Subbirami Reddy, the film is directed by Balakrishna’s favourite, Sarath and has script by the veterans, Paruchuri Brothers.

Ramya Krishna and Sakshi Sivanand play the female lead with veteran actor and BJP MP, Krishnam Raju, playing Balakrishna’s father, in the family drama. When SCREEN visited the sets at Talakona Forests, the unit was seen shooting the climax scenes with Balakrishna and a few stuntsmen, in the thick of the jungle. Balakrishna sets out to save his captive ‘father’ and after a few takes, stunt director Vijay okays the shot. Without further ado, the unit moves to the next location.

MS Reddy is known to be a very involved producer, but this time, he has left the job on the sets entirely with Balakrishna and the Paruchuri brothers. A big hit like Samarasimhareddy is what he expects from them, no less.

Unn Arugae Naan Irunthal
Parthipan, Meena teamed
Selva, the director of many successful movies like Pooveli and Rojavanam, directs Parthipan for the first time in Unn Arugae Naan Irunthal. He tells the story of a taxi driver, for whom his taxi is everything, including family, since he has no kith or kin. Into the life of the orphan youth, who eats at wayside hotels and sleeps in his taxi, comes a girl seeking help. And he offers it readily. Help turns to sympathy and, in turn, love. Soon, he is in total confusion as to whether he should hide his feelings and go on like before, or confess his love hoping she loves him, too.

The sensitive love story, directed by Selva has Parthipan in his usual rugged role, this time seasoned with a touch of the romantic hero. Meena, Rambha, Anand Raj, Manorama, Anju Aravind, Vadivelu, Vivek and Santhana Bharathi are in the cast. Music by Deva, cinematography by Raghunath Reddy The film, produced by K Muralidharan, V Swaminathan and G Venugopal under the banner of Laxmi Movie Makers, has music by Deva and cinematographyy by Raghunath Reddy.

Vanathepol
Vijaykant in a double role
Vijaykant is currently on a high with the success of Kannupattu Pokuthayya, a family drama more than an actioner. His next release will be Vanathepol, directed by Vikraman whose films, Suryavamsham and Unn Edathil Ennay Koduthen were all time hits. In Vanathepol, Vikraman tells the story of three brothers (Vijaykant, Livingstone and Prabhu Deva).

Said Vikraman, “It’s the story of an elder brother who carries the burden of providing for his joint family, and heeping it united at all costs. Vijaykant may be known for his actioners, but a look at his career graph shows, he has been more successful in films with fewer fights and more of family stuff. Similarly, Prabhu Deva too is not the dancing acrobat in this film, but a real performer.”

Vijaykant also plays a brief role as the eldest brother in a flashback, and Vineetha stages a comeback as his heroine. For the younger Vijaykant, the heroine is Meena, while Anju Arvind has been paired opposite Livingstone and Kaushalya opposite Prabhu Deva. The film is produced by Midas man, Ravichandran of Oscar Films. The former distributor hit his first jackpot, distributing Kathalakku Maryathai, which made him a crorepati. Since then, he has been lucky with all the films he bought, including the Ajit starrer, Amarkallam. For this, his first film as producer, he has planned a massive publicity campaign. Already, its audio rghts have been sold for a very high price, which as Vijaykant confesses, is the highest ever among his films, and “close to the price of AR Rahman’s music.”

“To date, Ravichandran has not visited the sets even once. I hope, for his sake, the film does well, for he has vowed to introduce several new directors, if this one one clicks. This is a safe project for Vijaykant films generally have housefull boards in the first three weeks. The subject is good, and it should pick up thereafter, with word of mout publicity,” said Vikraman.

Music by SA Rajkumar is yet another highlight. Devan, Ramesh Khanna and Rajiv Anandraj are in the cast. Cinematography is by Arthur Wilson.

Ayyappa Prasad