Debuted into the industry as a child artist in 1993 with ‘Number One’ movie, Dileep shared the screen space with some star heroes in the industry. After playing some child artist roles in movies like ‘Bavagaru Bagunnara’, ‘Sneham Kosam’, ‘Annayya’, ‘Jayam’, ‘Bhale Mavayya’, ‘Dharmachakram’, ‘Pokiri Raja’, etc. Dileep now turned as a hero.

He played the lead in one or two movies but failed to grab the audience attention. The Aspiring actor is now all set to come up with a devotional crime thriller ‘Diksoochi’ this time. The shooting of the movie is already completed and the post production works are currently going on. Talking at the event, “Till now, no Telugu movie has came up with this kind of concept. It is a blend of three different genres. The movie is set in the backdrop of 1970 and will be entirely different from the routine movies. Just seeing the poster itself a big company bought the Hindi dubbing rights. We are confident that the audience will definitely like the movie as it has an extremely different story line.” Said Dileep.

Chandini, Suman, Doctor Rajitha Sagar, Bithiri Sathi, Chatrapati Shekhar, Sammeta Gandhi, Malladi Bhaskar etc are also a part of this film. Sailaja Samudrala, Narasimharaju Rachuri are bankrolling this project whereas baby Sanika Sai Sri Rachuri is presenting the movie under SRS Associates Private Limited banner.

Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) is an association which looks after the welfare of the movie artists in Mollywood. A general body meeting was held recently, which has drawn so much negativity around. The meeting was attended by Malayalam’s biggies Mohanlal, Jayaram, Mammootty etc.

A lot of things were discussed in the general body meeting, while actor Mohanlal takes a charge as the president of AMMA. Actor Dileep who is accused in an assault case has taken up his charges as an important member of AMMA. To protest against this, the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) have resigned to their positions in AMMA. Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambeesan, Geethu Mohandas have put their resignation to protest Dileep’s return in AMMA. We have to wait and see how Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) responds to this.

After being arrested in connection with the actress’ molestation case, Dileep has been alone in Aluva sub jail for more than 50 days. Last week, the Angamaly Judicial first class magistrate’s court allowed him to attend his father’s death anniversary rituals for some hours on Wednesday. Dileep’s wife Kavya Madhavan and daughter Meenakshi visited the actor in jail last week.

A day after Dileep’s wife, Kavya Madhavan and daughter Meenakshi visited him in jail on Saturday; many stars from the industry also visited the actor. Director Ranjith, actors Harisree Ashokan, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Suresh Krishna and Jayaram were among those who visited Dileep in jail.

All of them talked with Dileep for nearly 10 minutes each. This is the first time that colleagues other than actor-director Nadirshah have visited Dileep after he was arrested on July 10.

Jayaram also met him on Thiruvonam day at Aluva sub-jail. The actor, who is under remand at the jail as an accused in the actress assault case, was given an Onakkodi by Jayaram. “I gift an Onakkodi to Dileep every year. I didn’t want to break the habit even though he is in jail,” said Jayaram.

Meanwhile, there are rumours spreading that the action against Dileep taken by the actors’ organization AMMA has already been questioned by some of the members. Dileep was expelled from the organization a day after his arrest. Also, there are questions being raised on whose side each of the stars are right now.

We all are aware of Malayalam actor Bhavana’s molestation case. Now, there is a new update on this case. Popular actor Dileep was arrested and taken into police custody now. Now, Malayalam filmmaker Vinayan openly made some comments against Dileep that are the talk of the town. Apparently, the director told that Dileep has taken the grip of the film industry and controlled everyone. The director said that no one had guts to speak against him. He also said that it was him who is a big person in the case.

The complete details on the case are expected to be out soon. The police has taken the actor into the judicial custody, and he is going to apply for bail tomorrow.

Dileep starrer Avatharam, directed by Joshiy, came out to packed houses on August 1st, and the movie so far has been grossing well and is holding steady against its competition. The ‘popular hero’ is surely a title well earned by Dileep, as he seems to be effortlessly delivering one successful product after another.

Another name to be mentioned here is of course that of Lakshmi Menon’s! The young starlet who is the leading lady in the film finally has a hit on her hands in Malayalam, and not just that, she had the Tamil release Jigarthanda on the same day and that one is doing phenomenal business all across as well!

Fortune favours the talented, sure, but in the case of Lakshmi, it is just ridiculous the amount of success this very young diva has seen in her short career so far!
And now, there are rumours flying around that a Tamil and possibly even a Telugu remake of Avatharam may be in the works. We do not know the official details yet but the rumour mills have reported that a popular Kollywood production house is all too eager to bag the remake rights for Avatharam!

And not just that, it also says that Ilaya Thalapathy Vijay maybe a leading candidate to star in the Tamil version. Well, it is not much of a stretch after all – Kaavalan, which starred Vijay in Tamil, was a remake of the Dileep starrer Bodyguard!

Will history repeat itself here?

Avatharam is a mass masala entertainer with all the right ingredients, so the notion that Tamil/Telugu audiences will love it with a few tweaks and the right casting is a certainty.

Also, will this mean that Lakshmi Menon, who is currently hot property in Kollywood, will tackle the role in the remake as well?

My, my… so many questions and not many answers. As always, let us wait and find out…

Keep following Chitramala for more updates from the world of entertainment!

There it is, folks – finally a sign that things might turn out for the best in the end after all. Well, relatively speaking of course.. we’re still talking about the ending of a marriage here. Sigh.

But Dileep and Manju Warrier have been gearing up for the big battle in front of a judge for weeks now, with the entire fan community waiting with bated breath to see what happens.

Dileep was the one who filed the petition for divorce in the beginning of June, after a year of seperation, and he was the one who set the tone for things to come, so to speak, when he alleged that Manju had been subjecting him to emotional abuse for years. He also filed caveat petitions in two other courts so that Manju couldn’t make any legal moves against him.

Now, Manju had taken a different approach entirely, some would call it even dignified and the overwhelming majority of the public support, as a result, was with her through all of this and continues to be.

The biggest gesture from her part that pretty much stunned everyone and raised a lot of questions was when she decided to return the joint property she owned over to Dileep without a protest- assets worth over Rs 80 crores!

However, this seems to have expedited matters somehow or pacified Dileep to the point that now the couple have agreed to a divorce by mutual consent to avoid further legal hassles. They did not show up for the first hearing in their otherwise adversarial divorce proceedings, which was set for today.

This hearing has been postponed to August 16th and the court has granted them six months to consider their options now that they have decided to cooperate with each other regarding the terms of the dissolution of marriage.

The couple have one daughter, Meenakshi, who has stayed with Dileep since the separation by choice.

Well, at least both parties may now move on with their lives and make things easier for each other.

Keep following Chitramala for more updates!

Punjabi House was a landmark comedy movie by any standards and it certainly marked a milestone in Dileep’s career. Who can forget the iconic comedy scenes in the movie which was a consistent laugh riot? It’s one of those flick the television channels still feel comfortable with using as high value entertainment filler, even though it’s been a decade and a half since its release.

Director/Writer Rafi and Mecartin, the duo behind it and other comedic blockbusters, parted ways later leaving the fans disappointed. But guess what, now they’re back together and the project on their minds is none other than a sequel to Punjabi House 2!

This is not just an industry rumour, folks. Rafi himself has confirmed it and he has also responded to the question that’s been nagging everyone – will Dileep reprise his role in the sequel?

The answer’s yes! He will!

It has not been announced if the rest of the cast from the first movie will come back to the fictional house of Sardars in Kerala. There are of course, tragic losses involved here – Cochin Haneefa and Thilakan.

Rafi said it will be hard to find anyone who can replace Haneefa in particular. The fans would remember, it was the comedic genius and ridiculously witty banter between Haneefa and Harisree Ashokan that filled much of the highlight roll of the first film.

In any case, with much of the questions left unanswered, the directors have signed off for now. However, they mentioned one thing – the movie will not take off till the next year.

So looks like it’s going to be a long wait, fans.

Keep following Chitramala for more!

Whoa!! That’s the first response that comes to anyone’s mind when they hear this and rightfully, that should be so! This is by far the latest shocking development in the saga that is the Manju Warrier – Dileep divorce proceedings, which has captivated the people of Kerala for some time now.

Yes folks – in an unprecedented act in such matters, at least in recent memory, Manju Warrier has decided to give away, without a fight, the property in her name earned during the period of her 14 year marriage, to her ex husband actor Dileep!

And this property, which legally and justifiably belongs to both of them, is worth a total of nearly Rs 80 crores!!

Manju has already instructed her lawyers to go ahead with the decision, sources say.

Talk about taking the high road, if indeed that’s what the beloved actress is doing here.

Dileep had initially resolved to an all out attack, in divorce terms, when he filed a petition in court saying the reason he wants an immediate divorce from Manju is because she has been and still continues to emotionally abuse him.

And now Manju’s response to that is one for the books! Surely, this makes Dileep look.. ahem, not so good, to put it mildly.

Manju’s enormous popularity among the people, especially with her blockbuster hit of a comeback film How Old Are You becoming a shining beacon of hope and promise to women everywhere, had already made sure that Dileep’s public image takes many hits in all of this. The very talented and dignified Manju had personally chosen to maintain silence.

But this move by the Mollywood sweetheart sure takes the cake, and is sure to keep the people talking for ages to come. She has certainly walked the talk when it comes to women, no matter what age or status in life, being self sufficient and respectful of themselves and others.

Way to go Manju!

The court will now hear Dileep’s arguments on the case in a confidential hearing to be held on the 23rd of this month. Both parties will be present but no media.

Keep following Chitramala for more updates from the world of entertainment!

Okay so that’s quite a few name changes for one movie still in production!

First we heard of the flick, it was called Njaan Aara Mon and then it was rechristened to Budhettan. Now it seems the director has had another change of heart and the name (hopefully the final one) has been changed to Villaaliveeran!

Apparently, the film maker doesn’t want there to be any controversy regarding the title of the flick, and he thought ‘Budhettan’ might be problematic on that front.

In any case, the film is shaping up to be quite an entertaining one as far as reports go. It is promised to be a full on comedy entertainer, and is the cast is anything to go by, we have ourselves a winner!

Apart from Dileep playing the lead as vegetable seller named Siddharthan or Siddhu/ Siddhuettan, we have comedians of the calibre of national award winner Suraj Venjaaramoodu, Kalabhavan Shajon, Kottayam Nazeer and Shaju Kodiyan in the supporting cast.

As if that’s not enough, to round up the talent, we have veterans with a knack for humour like Lalu Alex and Nedumudi Venu too, along with Vinaya Prasad, Neena Kurup, Valsala Menon and others.

Mythili and Namitha Pramod play the two female leads.

The story is set in a village and shows the events in the life or rather the lives of these characters though it was reported early on that some of the film’s shooting will also take place in Mumbai. So there is some scope in the plot for that.

The film is being directed by debutante director Sudheesh Shankar and it is being produced by Supergood Films, the popular Tamil production company, who previously produced the Major Ravi flick Keerthichakra. Ramya Movies is to distribute the movie.

Villaaliveeran features the music of S A Rajkumar, set to the lyrics penned by Murukan Kattakada and Rafeeq Ahamad.
The filming of the movie is in progress.

The Dileep – Manju Warrier divorce proceedings are set to happen next month, and the shock waves created by Dileep filing for it have had several unexpected impacts. None more interesting than the fact that people are sending letters to the Family Court, addressed to Dileep, blaming him for his much beloved wife’s professional plight!

To be fair though, they are not talking about Manju’s career highlights now; she is without a doubt Mollywood’s top female star, with her amazing comeback film How Old Are You getting immense responses everywhere.

No, the fans are blaming Dileep for ‘destroying’ her career trajectory over the years they were married!

This is in fact a common opinion of the Manju Warrier fan base as a whole, from what can be gathered. She had kept a very low profile for the entirety of almost a decade and half of marriage, and had never appeared in anything media related with regard to her own artistic talents.

Let’s not forget that Manju is also a talented and trained classical dancer!

The actress, who was in her early twenties when she wed the actor, retired from movies then in spite of being at the top of her game. Her return to acting was something greatly looked forward to by the fans and her decision to finally do it was the primary cause for the dissolution of their marriage – even according to Dileep.

He had even admitted to ‘sabotaging’ her original planned comeback opportunity by going behind her back and talking to the director of the project to excuse Manju from it.

So it came as quite a shock to the people when Dileep filed for divorce a few days ago and formally alleged that he had been suffering emotional abuse at the hands of Manju for years.

And so the letters have been flowing to the Court addressed to Dileep formally, and since no one by that name works there, it was opened and read by the concerned authorities. There are a few letters supporting Dileep in there as well – to balance things out..

The divorce proceedings will be confidential and will have no media presence as Dileep filed for it to be so, and we will have to wait and see how things pan out for the couple. Their daughter Meenakshi is staying with Dileep now, while Manju has moved back in with her parents.

Dileep’s next flick which was publicised as Njan Aara Mon has been renamed as Budhettan now, and it is the directorial debut of Sudheesh Shankar – well, kind of.. he has been a television director so far in his career.

The film which has started filming already (since June 9), will be shot mostly in Thodupuzha and Mumbai. The reasons for the rather diverse locations are unknown as of now, as it has to do with the details of the plot.

Mythili and Namitha Pramod will be starring opposite Dileep in this one, and the ‘Popular Hero’ will be playing a vegetable trader named Chinnan. Chinnan is a man who lives for others and doesn’t send any money on himself. Initially, it was also rumoured that he will be a tricky fellow and pulls quite a few stunts in order to help others. Maybe the generosity of the character is the reason for the new title of the film.

Apart from the leads, Siddique, Lalu Alex, Nedumudi Venu and Vinaya Prasad too will be appearing in the movie in supporting roles. The production is being handled by Super Good Movies, while the scripting was done by Dinesh Pallath. SA Rajkumar has composed the tunes for the film.

Dileep is known for delivering consistently successful movies. Though his personal image is under public scrutiny right now, as the ongoing divorce proceedings between him and Manju Warrier are hogging the media spotlight, this movie too shows signs of being another victory for the actor.

His last film Ringmaster was received by the audience well, and if the rumours are true, Dileep will be playing the role of the late holyman Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the upcoming epic Telugu film Baba Sathya Sai.

It is also rumoured that Dileep, who will be playing the role of the Baba from age 25 onwards, will be paid a remuneration of Rs 7 crores for the film, making him the highest paid actor in Malayalam cinema.

Yes, that’s what it sounds like anyways! Manju Warrier was recently invited to be in an FM radio show and that’s when the actress revealed her plans for personal life in a somewhat metaphoric way.

The Rj had asked Manju who her chosen companion would be if she were to go on a long trip now and the actress immediately, without hesitation or pause, replied that she would much rather travel alone to any destination now and for the rest of her life!

Don’t be mistaken though – the entire conversation was rather bright and the actress appeared neither upset or crestfallen about recent events.

And who can blame her for wanting to stay single, if indeed that’s what she meant, given all the controversy surrounding the ending of her first marriage that’s currently in the media spotlight.

Her ex husband, from who she had been separated now for over a year, actor Dileep – the popular hero – filed for divorce last week and sources have revealed that in the confidential petition filed to the family court, the actor claims that he has been suffering mental and emotional abuse from Manju which necessitates an immediate dissolution of their marriage.

Whatever be the truth to this allegation, this move by the actor has surprised many and what’s more he also petitioned the court to make the hearing of the case confidential – meaning he wants the media banned from it! One wonders why though… as hurting Manju’s reputation or her image among the fans is clearly not a problem for the actor.

However the events may play out in the days to come, one thing is for sure – the fans and the public in general, are 100 % behind Manju on this one so far and would stand by her.

Her come back movie How Old Are You, directed by Rosshan Andrrews, has been declared a major hit and the actress’s career seems to be travelling on a steep upward curve with offers pouring in from multiple industries in the south.

Dileep too is doing well professionally and his reputation as someone who delivers hits consistently remains untarnished as his last flick Ringmaster has also been a success. The couple’s daughter Meenakshi has chosen to stay with Dileep, while Manju has been staying at her parents’ home in Thrissur.

Will the divorce at some stage become even more ugly with dirty laundry being aired in public and will Manju contest Meenakshi’s custody and was Dileep’s pre emptive strike, so to speak, a calculated move to prevent that? Only time will tell…

Keep following us on Chitramala for more updates.

Well, all one can say is that it has been coming for a while and nobody is surprised – actor Dileep has filed for divorce from his wife Manju Warrier formally in the Family Court. But what has surprised many is that the ‘popular hero’ has petitioned for a closed and confidential hearing in the case, banning all media presence!

This also goes with the other shocking twist in the saga, according to which he claims that he has been suffering emotional and mental abuse at the hands of Manju, who is currently the golden girl of Mollywood with her hit comeback film How Old Are You!

Dileep had prior to this openly admitted to the media that it was Manju’s decision to re enter the movie world and acting that had led to their separation, which happened over a year ago.

He also had quite simply ‘confessed’, in a manner of speaking, of trying underhanded tricks like speaking to the director of Manju’s supposed comeback movie then, in order to persuade him to not make the film with her as the star.

These admissions, along with the public’s (especially women’s) sympathy and admiration for Manju as a woman tied down by her husband and for her tremendous and captivating acting skills, got the actor a lot of hate – the gossip surrounding his alleged relationship with actress Kavya Madhavan, who has been before and since portrayed as the ‘other woman’ in this scenario, didn’t help matters any.

Now that Manju has made her return to the big screen and that too with a bang, the time seemed ripe perhaps, for the actor to make his move and dissolve the troubled marriage permanently.

The major fact to be noticed in this case, however, is that the daughter of the couple – Meenakshi – has stuck by her father through all of this. Something that speaks volumes to many…

In any case, the case is to be heard in the court on July 23, according to reports. It will have to be seen how ‘confidential’ the proceedings are and if it will involve smear campaigns or ugly divorce tactics by either parties.

Rosshan Andrrews’ movie How Old Are You which served as the comeback vehicle for Manju Warrier is doing phenomenal business and a lot of it can be attributed to Manju’s loyal fan base, but the success of the movie has also given rise to some other interesting ‘observations’… to put it mildly.

Well, let’s just say the plot of the movie which is about a woman in her thirties, who fights society’s preconceptions and prejudices about age to realize her dream, was somewhat reminiscent of Manju’s own comeback saga; and the actress herself agreed that the character resembles her in many ways.

Be that as it may, with Manju being called the protagonist in the plot, the bad guy would have to be her husband in the story and the fans have been whispering quite a lot among themselves that the whole movie is an indirect but obvious jab at Manju’s real life ex husband – Dileep, the Popular Actor.

It’s a known fact that Dileep was the one preventing Manju from coming back to acting and that her comeback was the reason for their divorce. See how the reel life story parallels the real life tale of the ‘woman batting the odds’?

In any case, the public drew this conclusion and this seems to have reached the ears of the director of the hit flick, Rosshan Andrrews.

He has come out in vehement denial of this theory and has stated clearly that the similarities are purely coincidental.

Manju had not even signed on for the movie when the script was completed and they had not thought of her playing the lead until it was announced that her much publicized return project with director Ranjith had been cancelled.

Things just worked out the way it did for both the director and the amazing actress, and movie magic just sort of happened. Whatever the reality may be, the movie has captured the hearts of the fans and given many people something to remember for years.

Kudos to the film maker and the actress for making a brilliant film, and also appreciate the class act of not ‘rolling with the rumors’ to get with the public…

Whatever the controversies surrounding him may be, Dileep, aptly dubbed as the Popular Actor, is consistent in one thing – making entertaining movies.

His current movie Ringmaster has been a big success and with many projects in the pipeline, including the epic Telugu film Baba Sathya Sai, the actor will soon start filming for his next flick Njaan Aara Mon directed by Sudheesh Shankar.

Dileep reportedly plays an innocent villager in the film and is paired opposite two heroines, Namitha Pramod and Mythili. Chinnan, as he is called in the movie, is a man who does many ‘tricks’ for a living.

Namitha’s character is an ad film maker in the story. The duo had been paired opposite each other before in the film Sound Thoma.

Veteran actors Lalu Alex and Siddique, along with others like Kalabhavan Shajon form the rest of the cast.

The film has been scripted by Dinesh Palluthu and is the maiden directorial venture of Sudheesh Shankar. It is rumored to be a fully fledged family entertainer, which of course is right up Dileep’s alley and is looking like it could shape up to be another hit for the actor.

The shooting, which will start on June 1st, will be located mainly in Thodupuzha, Alappuzha and Mumbai.

Dr Biju had come out with a stream of ‘accusations’ in the recent days, about how many of the stars in Malayalam cinema had rejected his nationally acclaimed movie Perariyathavar initially and had, in some cases, allegedly been quite rude in their conduct to him. Now, the stars have responded to the film maker’s statements to the media through the media itself!

Here are the accusations and responses in sequence:

Dr Biju: Dileep had shown interest in the project initially but then didn’t give me any confirmation. After delaying the project for almost a year he backed out.

Dileep: I had been interested in the script but couldn’t give him any dates out of my schedule just then due to other commitments. Later I read in the papers that he was moving forward with the film with Jayasurya in the lead. I didn’t call him after that point. I am not interested in doing a movie that doesn’t necessarily require me. I only believe in doing unique roles that mandate my skills and talent.

Well, that’s that then!

But wait Dr Biju wasn’t done – here’s his accusation against actor Biju Menon…

Dr Biju: I had presented the story to Biju Menon who agreed to meet with me. But after waiting for hours to see him and not being able, I had to leave.

Biju Menon: I wasn’t really interested in the script. But I did agree to meet with him ‘after’ I was done with my engagements for the day. I was shooting for a film then and the shoot got over at 10 pm. And I made it a point to call him then too.

Seems reasonable enough… After all, actors are busy people.

Dr Biju had also accused Kavya Madhavan of rejecting a role he had offered her in his previous film Saira, solely because she did not like his ‘looks’ as a director. Guess we’ll have to wait and see if Kavya, who’s keeping a low profile these days, will step forward to give her side of things as well.

Well, in any case, Dr Biju sure isn’t making any friends with these ‘revelations’ he seems so keen to make…