Happy Birthday POOJA

Pooja has been elevated to a household name in Kodambakkam since the success of the stirring movie Naan Kadavul. Even though the movie dealt with a subject that was hard to digest, Pooja’s performance was appreciated by both critics and audience. Her performance as the blind beggar- Hamsavalli who is maltreated by the boss of the beggars was so extra-ordinary that she was congratulated by Superstar Rajinikanth himself!

Pooja is indeed a very special actress, not only because she accepted to do the role of Hamsavalli, which is not at all glamorous but also of a role of a blind, homeless and needy girl. It is very rare in Tamil cinema that heroines volunteer to come along dark- complexioned in a filthy costume all the time. The last heroine who did this is Jo as Shenbagam in Perazhagan, but she had an equation in her beautiful and bubbly look alike Priya. However, what adds to Pooja’s uniqueness and talent is her willingness to dub for herself. At times when in fact actresses who know Tamil are dubbed by the high, clear voices of Savitha and such, it is really pleasing to hear a natural voice on tabloid. Hence, we can consider Tamil cinema exceptional as it makes an actress of Sinhalese and Kannada origin to dub for herself in Tamil language!

Pooja is indeed very special, because she is the only actress who entered cinema with a Masters Degree in Business & Management! Most often actresses start their cinematic career at a very young age chaperoned by a mother/ father and are recruited for their blemish-less looks. Their immaturity manifests in skimpy dresses and item numbers as soon as they see themselves climb down the greasy pole. Pooja took off with Jeeva’s Ullam Ketkume along with other talented newbies like Arya and Asin. However, this honeysweet story of college students coming of age wasn’t released until her following successful movies Jay Jay and Attagasam with Maddy and Ajith respectively. Even so, Pooja was not always on the sunny side as Jithan and Thagapansamy came to nothing, and Thambi, Pori and Oram Po had only a decent run at the box office. But despite being unnoticed for quite a time and being a judge on TV dance shows, Pooja never shed her clothes, which was liked by her female audience very much!

Today, after the success of Pattiyal and Naan Kadavul, she settled herself as a versatile and talented actress in the industry. Her forthcoming movies are Venkat Prabhu’s Goa and Drohi directed by Mani Ratnam’s assistant Sudha. We wish her all the best and further success in her upcoming movies!

Aayirathil oruvan

Aayirathil Oruvan has already been completed sans a few graphics and sound mixing work. The film, in all probability, will hit the screens in September. Meanwhile, Time Focus, a graphic designing company is racing against time to complete the graphics work, which is proceeding in Chennai and Mumbai.

Following this, the AO team has plans to travel to London for sound mixing. Since AO is partly a period film, the director wanted the sound mixing to be on par with the international films, sources say.

AO is a mega budget film produced by Dream Valley Corporation’s Raveendran. The film stars Karthi, Parthiban, Andrea and Reema Sen.

T20 without Sachien Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar is not fit for Twenty20 cricket since he is neither inventive nor fearless, according to former Australia coach John Buchanan. Buchanan does not doubt the Mumbaikar’s greatness in Test and ODI formats but the former Kolkata Knight Riders coach insists Twenty20 is just not Tendulkar’s cup of tea.

“Tendulkar has been lauded, and rightly so, as one of the very top batsmen in the history of cricket…But is he an effective T20 player at this stage of his career?” questioned the former Australia coach in his latest book ‘The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20’.

“In the position he plays — as an opener of No. 3 – the T20 game requires not only the finesse and skills he has, but also the power and domination, an ability to take the bowlers on while being creative.

“You have to be inventive and fearless. And I don’t see those qualities as part of Sachin’s make-up at this stage of his career. Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player but not in this arena of T20,” Buchanan said in the book published by Orient Paperbacks.

Buchanan felt the performance of Tendulkar and a few other senior players in this format has been rather “subdued”. “…homegrown heroes such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman…were expected to influence, and on some occasions single-handedly win, IPL matches,” Buchanan said.

“Yet their subdued performances highlight that Test match temperament does not necessarily ensure prolonged success in the T20 game,” Buchanan said.

He in fact went on to say that the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman were unfit for cricket’s shortest format.

“I was constantly battling with the fact that I believed he (Ganguly) — along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman — was not suited to T20 cricket,” he said. “The same could be said about Rahul Dravid. Dravid is a great representative of Indian cricket, a team man, humble, a well-spoken gentleman.

“But unfortunately he could not score a single run in the early rounds of the IPL, and in my opinion, is not suited to this form of the game.

“I am certain Dravid’s performances were also affected by the off-field drama created by his franchise owner Vijay Mallya,” he said.

About Laxman, Buchanan said “he is not up to pace”. Buchanan likened Ganguly to Australian great Ian Chappell and said, “Ganguly was the model for the new breed of confident and combative Indian cricketers. Ganguly showed that Indian cricket could stand up for itself. He is similar in that way to Ian Chappell who stood up for what he believed and was not afraid to take on the administration,” he said.

On the other hand, Buchanan felt Ganguly was always comparing himself with Australian greats like Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

“He has an inquisitive mind and wanted to know all about Ponting, Warne and McGrath. I sensed he was measuring himself against them, checking to make sure that his methods were comparable to that of the greats of the game,” he noted.

Even though his multiple-captaincy idea at Knight Riders created bad blood and Ganguly was eventually sacked form the captain’s job, Buchanan described their relationship as cordial.

“How did I perceive him? Well, we never had any major disagreements. I think our relationship was extremely cordial…I enjoyed working with him, even though I believed all along that he was not the right person to be captain,” he said.

Shruthi Hassan in bikini

Shruti Haasan’s bikini scene in the recently released Luck is the talk of the tinsel town. However, the lady seemed to have no inhibitions in donning a two piece bikini when the directors instructed her to do so.

Speaking about her bikini experience, Shruti said that when she was told about the scene she thought it was just logical to the film and nothing more. The scene was shot in Cape Town when the temperature was down to two degrees.

Luck’s director Soham Shah said, “Shruti did work out to get a toned body. Moreover she worked more hard to maintain it. We shot the sequence in Cape Town. The temperature was only two degrees. She had to brave the icy weather for the shoot.”

Kutty Dhanush

Dhanush was lately spotted at a railway station where he was shooting for the film Kutty. A dance sequence, in which Dhanush was seen shaking a leg with Meghna Naidu, was captured by the camera at the railway station in Tamil Nadu. When fans came to know that Dhanush was present in their town, there was a frenzy to catch a glimpse of their star. Though this resulted in minor skirmishes, the actor obliged all his fans by taking some time off his schedule.

Kutty is directed by Jawahar Mithran. Dhanush once again pairs up with Sriya Saran after the astounding success of Thiruvilayadal Aarambam.

Kanthaswamy’s story

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NAMITHA

Indra Vizha, which stars Srikanth, Namitha, Hemamalini and Ragasiya, is due for a release sometime soon. The director of Indra Vizha, Rajeshwar said that Namitha’s character in the film is the centre of focus and she had ample scope to exhibit her acting prowess.

Equating her role to that of the female protagonists in ace director K Balachander’s films like Aval Oru Thodarkathai and Aboorvaragangal, Rajeshwar said Indra Vizha also explores about relationships. Namitha plays a model in the film, he added.

Speaking about the publicity of the film, he said that since Namitha’s role is very important she is being projected during the promos.

Asin’s refusal

Asin’s popularity and career graph is soaring high with each passing day that the actress is being roped in not only for film and ad assignments but for social welfare activities too. The latest in the line is an invitation from the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to promote vegetarianism.

However, the actress declined the offer as she is a strict non vegetarian and includes non veg diet almost every day. Though the likes of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor and Manisha Koirala have promoted vegetarianism in the past, Asin’s refusal to be a part of the campaign seems to be valid.