Malayalam heroines are the best. Usually, this is the opinion everyone has in our film industry. This is the reason we are importing a lot of heroines from Malayalam industry. As per the latest buzz, it is revealed that Anu Emmanuel, the Malayalee beauty has been flooded with back to back offers in Telugu. She made her debut in Malayalam cinema with the film Action Hero Biju. Later, she was seen in the Telugu films like Majnu with Nani. She is now a part of Raj Tarun’s Kittu Gadu Unnadu Jagratha and Gopichan’s Oxygen.

She recently made some stunning and controversial statements about her own Malayalam film industry. “Telugu and Tamil film industries are the best and people don’t give much respect to heroines in Malayalam film industry,” says she. We are clueless about the situations that made her to speak like that.

It is an undeniable fact that Baahubali brought nationwide recognition to Prabhas.

After the gigantic hit of Baahubali, Prabhas is trying to expand his market to Malayalam and Tamil languages. His earlier Telugu films (mainly action) are now being released in Malayalam one by one. Every film of Prabhas is being promoted in the neighboring state as the movie Starring Baahubali Prabhas to score success.

The Puri Jagannath directorial film Bujjigadu was released as ‘Rudran’ in Kerala. Even though the Telugu version was an average affair, the Malayalam version clicked big time. The Rajamouli directorial Chathrapathi, was promoted by makers by incorporating half name of Rajamouli into the Mallu title ‘Chandramouli’. Thanks to Baahubali effect, it also brought good profit to makers.

After these successes, makers are planning to dub and release few more Prabhas starrers like ‘Rebel’, ‘Mirchi’, ‘Munna’ etc.

Mallu actress Shakeela, who ruled the southern film industry in 90s with her adult movies, has vanished after few years of ruling.

The sex bomb has opened up on why her career failed. She said that she ruled the Malayalam industry beating all that star heroes. She added that the male domination in Mallu land forced producers and distributes not to encourage her thus playing a foil for her career.

Shakeela alleged that even her close associates and relatives cheated her in monetary issues. Including her manager, many others looted her when was innocent and earning huge. Now, she is left with nothing. Shakeela said that contrary to her, actresses of this generation are quite brilliant as they are making money while in popularity.

Mollywood might be in a financial crisis but it’s never in need of ambition nor is it short of creative effort, and this is just another example of that. The movie in question here is John Paul Vaathil Thurakkunnu, an upcoming film being directed by Chandrahasan.

The film stars Deepak Parambol, Shruthi Menon and Darshana Chandran in the lead roles with a host of other supporting characters. It’s based on a story written by Punhathil Kunjabdulla and tells the story of a simple youth who shows up for an interview and is drawn unwillingly in to a series of events that stink of deceit, betrayal and vengeance.

The movie is an all out action thriller with a reasonable quotient of drama and other elements in there as well.

That’s not the real interesting part about the flick though.

Apparently, the film has over 250 CGI and VFx shots, and the main team behind the work is Lumicel, which is a Thiruvananthapuram based Technopark company, and also just happens to be one of the teams behind the third instalment in the Transformers series by Michael Bay!

The other team or company involved in the movie is the Kochi based Effects Mania.

Some of the shots in the movie include a daring bull chase or chases (?), rain shots which were created by CGI and finally something that is new in Malayalam cinema but popular in international cinema, and making its entry in to Indian cinema these days – a free running scene!

With all these things and more, the movie is starting to look mighty interesting, folks. Let’s wait for it to hit the screens to see for ourselves if the Hollywood visual magic really got brought in to Mollywood with this one..

Arjun Mohan of the Ministry of Movies is producing the flick.

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Finally we have some news on the Lijo Pellissery flick Double Barrel, also to be known as Eratta Kuzhal, and this time there are no rumours folks, because this comes straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

The majorly ambitious and creatively unique Lijo himself has announced the cast of the movie!

Yes, as reported earlier Prithviraj and Indrajith will play two of the main characters, but we have two new additions now – Asif Ali and Sunny Wayne!

Lijo has confirmed that all four will play the male leads in the movie and also that each of them will get equal importance in terms of screen space and time. Swati Reddy and Rachana Narayanankutty will tackle the female leads in the flick.

Now, there were some interesting rumours earlier that the movie will be a retro style movie set in the ’70s but now the director has slammed those down, much to the dismay of the fans excited by the news.

No, it won’t be a retro movie but do not worry, it is promised to be a light hearted comedy entertainer that will keep you glued to your seats… and not an all out action movie like it was reported by before.

Indrajith in a candid interview did call the movie very ‘Pulp Fiction-esque’. So get ready for some dark humour and memorable lines folks..

Earlier reports were true in the fact that the movie will be shot mainly in Goa.

In fact, Lijo says that the Goan culture will provide the backdrop to the story. This makes sense given the names of Prithvi’s and Indrajith’s characters – Panco and Vinci.

The actors will also be getting a makeover for the film that suits the look and feel of the movie, apparently.

Lijo Pellisery’s other movie which is still shelved, for financial reasons supposedly, is Antichrist. Let’s hope that one gets a new life soon as well. After all, the young film maker’s maiden venture Amen was a breath of fresh air and his style seems very offbeat and intriguing.

Keep following Chitramala for more updates!

The Malayalam cinema industry’s financial crisis continues is still in top gear, and shows no sign of slowing down!

In the past six months, the number of movies released in Mollywood was 76. Now that’s an impressive number for such a small regional industry, and this year showed a lot of promise with many movies being declared successes.

At least, that’s how it looks to the average viewer who might ask, “Where’s the crisis then?”

Many movies like the blockbusters Drishyam and Bangalore Days and countless other hits like How Old Are You, 1983, Om Shanthi Oshana, Ringmaster and 7th Day give off the impression that Malayalam industry’s finances have nothing to fear.

But what has to be kept in mind is that these are but a very few out of the whole. In fact, out of 76, only a handful made profits for its producers, and this is indeed a big cause for worry. The total loss suffered can be rounded up to almost Rs 150 crores!!

Even many superstar flicks went down the drain in terms of box office collections, or didn’t make quite the impact that was hoped of them. The Aashiq Abu, Mammootty starrer Gangster comes to mind first and so does the Mohanlal starrer and child of controversy – Mr Fraud, which fizzled at the cinemas.

Though the new generation wave of Mollywood has brought with it a trend of new faces entering the field these days, many failed to make a mark in the biz, mainly due to the bigger star flicks overshadowing them.

And the constant bickering and out and out feuds between the various organizations in the industry aren’t helping matters any.

If this trend continues, the loss suffered financially at the one year mark when 2014 winds to a less than satisfying conclusion, might be staggering!

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Shutter was the directorial debut of Joy Mathew, and was a surprising gem in the thriller genre to hit Mollywood in recent years. The flick was a success, both commercially and critically, and proved to be one among many of Mollywood films to be remade in other languages.

Well, the Marathi version just finished its filming, and now there’s news that a Tamil remak eis in the works. The man who will produce the remake is none other than director AL Vijay, the husband of actress Amala Paul.

However, it looks like the Deiva Thirumagal director won’t be the man wielding the megaphone this time, as sources indicate that he is more likely to stick to the role of the producer. In fact, many say Joy Mathew may be the one at the helm in the Tamil version as well.

The details regarding the cast or crew haven’t been announced yet.

The original Malayalam version starred veterans Lal and Sreenivasan in the lead. The plot revolved around an ill fated return from the Middle East, an auto driver and a prostitute. The nail biting but soulfully rich thriller was well received by the audiences in Kerala.

Joy Mathew is currently rumoured to be working on a new story in which he himself plans to star, opposite none other than the golden girl of Malayalam cinema, Manju Warrier! It is unclear how or if this proposed project would conflict with the other one in any way.

AL Vijay, on the other hand, is a man busy with life and love these days as he just got back from his honeymoon with his new bride Amala in the Maldives, and is beaming with professional pride as his latest venture Saivam has been a success so far and is doing good business at the box office.

Keep following Chitramala for more updates!

The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists or AMMA had its annual general body meeting yesterday and it was quite an event, with all the stars of Mollywood gathering under one roof to discuss problems affecting the industry and other relevant topics.

You can imagine the sheer ‘star value’ of the meeting with everyone from Mohanlal and Mammootty to all the young stars and veterans in attendance!

The selfie trend becoming quite the ‘in thing’ these days in such high profile events, the Mollywood biggies too posed for a couple of those, which, needless to say, have become extremely popular in the social media and is now bordering on that coveted viral status.

Now, in the meeting, several key decisions were made and some things were finally voiced out loud for the media to hear.

Actor Innocent, who is currently the Member of Parliament from Chalakkudy, was hoping to step down as the President of AMMA (a post which he has held for years), in order to concentrate more on his new responsibilities. But the organization requested Innocent to complete his current tenure and so it looks like the beloved comedian will continue at the helm of AMMA.

There was also another issue raised at the event – harsh movie reviews on television channels!

Yes, it seems certain movie review shows on the air, specifically those on channels Reporter and Indiavision, are being a bit too hard on the movies being released these days.

That by itself wouldn’t be much of a problem – it’s a free country after all – but AMMA feels the extreme critiquing and severe reviews aired almost immediately as the movies are out, mostly for entertainment value, adversely affects the people’s opinion of the flicks and by extension their financial prospects. So they say with no reservation that this has to stop!

Do they have the right to say that? Not really, or so one guesses, but it will be mighty interesting to see the reaction of the channels to this rather authoritative demand.

AMMA also stated that television channels should pay the organization the money it’s due for holding award shows and such. That’s only fair as they are cash cows for the regional channels these days and a welcome relief from regular programming at times.

All in all, a productive day for the movie industry as a whole and a spectacle for the media..

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Young director Santhosh Nair’s maiden flick Manirathnam had gained some attention early on for its lead pairing – none other than the real life star couple Fahad Fazil and Nazriya Nazim who are set to tie the knot in August this year. But later on Nazriya had opted out of the film as she hadn’t made up her mind about continuing acting after the wedding.

Sources now tell us that she may infact be quitting the movie industry post wedding, which is a shame given the phenomenal success her latest film Bangalore Days is having. In fact, almost all her movies have been hits including Neram, Om Shanthi Oshana, Vaayai Moodi Pesuvom and so on.

In any case, this left the director with the difficult job of finding a new talent for the role and it seems he found his lead in the Niveda Thomas, the 18 year old starlet who turned heroine after a successful career as a child artist in television and film (Malayalam and Tamil).

Actually, Niveda landed the state award for Best Child Artist for her performance in the surprise family hit of 2008, Veruthe Oru Bharya, starring Jayaram and Gopika.

Recently though, she has played roles in hit Malayalam and Tamil movies like Thattathin Marayathu and Vijay mega hit, Jilla. She played Vijay’s sister and Mohanlal’s daughter in the flick. Incidentally, she also played Vijay’s sister in Velayudham.

And now, it looks like the beautiful actress is ready for her big ticket role, and that’s a starring role opposite the very talented Fahadh Faasil – although, making her entry as a replacement for the hugely popular Nazriya, she is making quite a statement.

The movie itself is reported to be a comedy oriented one and is set to start shooting in June, with a release set for Onam.

After a long retirement from Malayalam cinema which lasted nearly 21 years, Sreekumaran Thampi, the multi talented artist who pioneered Mollywood in some of its best times,is coming back as a director in a unique film that stars not young sensations but two legendary veterans.

The movie titled Ammathottil stars Madhu as Joseph Pushpavanam, a poet and a lyricist, and actress Sharada as Sulakshana, his old flame. It sheds light on the almost extinct joint family system in Kerala from many perspectives.

Though the director made it known that another leading actress will be joining the cast, he refused to divulge the details in the press meet he called.

When asked about the reasons behind his retirement and comeback, Mr Thampi pointed his finger at the superstars in Mollywood (metaphorically of course). Well they were not directly responsible for the him leaving the industry, no – but rather he left because he couldn’t stand ‘them calling the shots’.

According to Thampi, the director makes the actor not the other way around. The superstars in the industry, namely Mohanlal and Mammootty, held all the power and that’s why he left, it seems, on principle.

“Well, that’s no longer the case now,” says the state and national award winning filmmaker/author, “This is a new phase for Malayalam cinema when independent films and filmmakers have their chances and say in how things go. The day of the superstars are coming to an end.”

So Sreekumaran Thampi has returned to an industry he helped build in many ways decades ago, and he also says his new film will reflect his thoughts and views in this fashion – “looking at old things in a new way and sense.”

Nandini Nair, a popular television anchor for the Malayalam channel Mazhavil Manorama, exposed on her Facebook page yesterday a so called ‘film producer’ who demanded sexual favors from her through a Facebook chat, for the price of Rs 5 lacs in return for the chance to act in one of his movies!!

The anchor was stunned by the sheer sleaziness and reacted angrily to the producer who immediately went offline and even changed his profile name! The name which went with the original account was ‘Sheethalan Kochi’ – for those of you who are curious.

Now, the enraged and indignant anchor wasn’t done – she pasted a picture of the chat on her page and added some haughty words to go with it!

She says the unknown man who claimed to be a producer and was going to work on a new movie to be directed by Rosshan Andrrews’ assistant, sounded genuine at first but then revealed his true intentions when he spoke of her having to make a few – get this – ‘adjustments’!

Yes, the ‘adjustments’ were sexual favors, which he said was a common thing in the industry and offered her a payday of Rs 5 lacs (which the angry anchor refers to as ‘meat price’) for it.

Here’s what the anchor posted on her Facebook page:

I’d like to say Sorry to a lot of genuine artists, producers and directors who considers cinema sacred and their way of life.

What is attached over here is a chat a so called producer had with me last day…and he gave my meat a value of “5 Lakhs”. According to this producer it’s not something new and it’s a fact of the industry.

A whole new level of rape “Consensual Rape”.

I would like each and every one of you who is coming across this to read this, share this and be fully aware of what is happening in the name of films. Also every artist who is a part of film industry to please refuse to work with any such producers, directors or artists who might be using film for their personal pleasures and not the art itself. And if you are part of the film industry and the inside meat industry please go kill yourself, you are not even worth spilling out some words for!

P.S.This doesn’t generalize the entire film industry!

A bold woman indeed and a righteous one at that! Kudos to you Nandini for having the guts to do this and holding on to your values and principles! Let’s see what happens on the days to follow and if the slimy ‘producer’ will be brought to light and the judgment of the people…

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.

Yes folks, it’s really happening! Mohanlal and Prithviraj are sharing screen space in Major Ravi’s new film, Picket 43!

As all fans know, Major Ravi hasn’t made too many movies yet and almost all of them starred Mohanlal – in one way or the other. It was a big surprise to many to learn that his latest venture wouldn’t have the presence of Lt. Col. Mohanlal and now, those fires have been put out with this breaking news!

Mohanlal is to do a cameo appearance in the Prithviraj starrer, which would last about 20 minutes, though we do not know in what capacity (not a villainous one we hope).

The movie, of course, as with all of the ex soldier turned film maker’s flicks, is a war movie which focuses on the real lives and struggles of our men in the armed forces. But this one has a twist – instead of a rivalry or patriotism fuelled hatred, the plot revolves around an unlikely friendship!

That too between Indian soldier and a Pakistani soldier! Now there’s a ‘twist’ for you…

Prithviraj’s character, a soldier with the Indian army, is abandoned due to certain circumstances with just a dog as his companion when he chances upon a Pakistani soldier in the same situation. Then events unfurl which develop into a strong narrative and fosters a camaraderie between the two.

Most of the film was shot in areas of Rajasthan which was modelled to look like Pakistan for the scenes due to logistical reasons, earning it the nickname ‘mini Pakistan’.

Let’s hope sparks of talent fly and the fans get their much awaited moments of celebration when the two leading men – the young superstar and the universal star – the rising young man and the industry legend – come together onscreen for those few minutes.

If it’s on the internet it’s pretty much forever, and here’s the latest proof of that cyber saying – the ‘vagina tightening gel’ ad starring actress Aparna Gopinath that has become quite a sensation on the interwebs among Mollywood fans!

Don’t get too excited – the tastefully and humorously created video ad for the ‘18 again’ gel, isn’t a new ‘bold’ statement from the actress or something; in fact Aparna acted in the ad two years ago, before movie stardom came to her, during her days as a theatre artist.

It looks like the ad resurfaced on the social media again because someone made the connection and recognized the actress.

The sensuous but unassuming young starlet says such auditions for ads were common when working in stage acting, and that she doesn’t regret doing the now sensational advertisement.

Actually, Aparna finds the whole thing rather funny, especially about people not wanting to talk about the other ads she has done, and really not wanting to talk about this ‘product’ … in open, that is.

“I was surprised when some people asked me if I had gotten any samples when I did the ad.”, Says the talented beauty.

Aparna, who is obviously secure in her image and rejects false personas, says she doesn’t mind if people share the ad in social media and what not, since she doesn’t endorse the product and isn’t the face of the product’s marketing.

“It’s not like I’m saying – Hey, try this. It’s awesome.” She adds.

Aparna believes there will always be an audience or interested people who will find the time to talk about stuff that borders on the superficial; like a ‘hot’ ad that was nothing special two year ago when the actress in question wasn’t a ‘star’.

However, in this case, she is more than happy if the ad makes people talk more about the ‘gel’ and other such things out in the open.

Watch the sensational ad below:

Actress Monika, who has appeared in multiple languages in south Indian cinema as both lead and supporting characters, made the big decision yesterday to convert to Islam and has been rechristened as M G Rehima!

The Kerala born young starlet, who is known to Tamil audiences for playing the character role in Vijay movie Bhagavathi among others and to Malayalis, for her pivotal role in Mammootty starrer Phantom in Malayalam, says her decision was because of her deep belief and attraction to the tenets of the religion and not due to anything else.

With this conversion of faith, she has also announced that she will be quitting the movie world and soon entering in to wedlock.

Did the impending marriage perhaps have something to do with the conversion, as it often happens? We do not know and the gorgeous 26 year old denies it does.

But her parents, she says, support her decision completely and are happy for her.

With her appearance before the media after her conversion, the pictures of the ‘new’ Monika or rather Rehima are now floating around the web – the starlet clad in the traditional Islamic Burka attire.

Congratulations on the big decision and on the upcoming wedding Rehima, and may you find happiness in your new faith and marital life..

Young superstar Prithviraj has had several memorable police roles in his career, in fact, he has donned the Khaki uniform 16 times in a career of just over a dozen years! Now, it looks like the versatile actor wants a change because though he is set to play a cop in Tamar Padar, he has made it a point to mix it up this time by playing a thief – in two movies no less!

Yes of course, one would be Anil Randhakrishnan Menon’s Sapthamashri Thaskaraha which features quite the ensemble cast; the other flick where Prithvi will be portray a thief is going to be Aashiq Abu’s Valathu Vashathe Kallan (the thief on the right side).

The title is a reference to the biblical tale of the thief who was crucified along with Christ, on his right hand side and was the compassionate and good hearted one. But Aashiq has made it clear that the movie itself has nothing to do with mythology or religion but will be a satire of sorts.

He also said that he is on the lookout for fresh faces for the supporting cast.

The film will launch sometime around August hopefully, according to plans now and if the actor’s schedule cooperates.

Prithviraj is arguably one of the busiest actors in the business with multiple projects going on at the same time. His upcoming flicks right now include Sapthamashri Thaskaraha, Picket 43, Ennu Ninte Moideen, Tamaar Padaar, Kaaviya Thalaiva and Double Barrel (possibly).