Kollywood springs back to life after strike
CHENNAI: Kollywood is back to life, with cinema halls overflowing during the weekend and 24-hour production beginning at several studios to complete films that were held during a 48-day long strike.
Kartik Subburaj’s Mercury was the first film to be released after the strike ended last week.
The silent movie starring Prabhudeva was released in every other state during the strike. The film is not a box office draw despite its gripping tale wrapped in mystery.
The next big movie awaited in Baskar oru Rascal, or Baskar is a rascal, a remake of the mega hit Malayalam film with a similar title.
While Mammootty and Nayantara led the cast of the family-romance film in Malayalam, Arvind Swamy and Amala Paul take the lead roles in Tamil.
The film talks about the lives of two single parents played by Arvind Swami and Amala Paul, who are polar opposites.
Both have a boy and a girl respectively, who are more like their parents. The rest of the story is about how the two families get along with each other.
Billion club director Siddique handles the Tamil version also.
Says Siddique, “We have made few changes in Tamil to suit the nativity of the audience here. It is a mix of romance, comedy and action.”
Produced by Harshini, the film has cinematography by Vijay Ulaganathan while stunts are choreographed by Fefsi Vijayan.
The film was planned for release on March 29. The strike postponed it, along with over 30 other films.
The film was an out-and-out money spinner at the box-office was well-received by the audience in Malayalam.
The Tamil vesrion also stars Nasser, Robo Shankar, Riyaz Khan and Siddique in supporting roles. Music is by Amresh Ganesh.
Meanwhile popular director Selvaraghavan has set his new film’s work from Monday.
The film,n gk, starssuriy as iv a kumar and Rakul Preet Singh in the lead. An action thriller, the movie has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja.
Bankrolled by SR Prabhu, the film is tipped for Deepavali.
Young superstar Vijay is getting back to the work of his 62nd film, yet untitled. Directed by AR Murugadoss, the film has Keerthy Suresh, Varalakshmi, Radha Ravi, Yogi Babu and Livingston in lead roles.