Rafi-Mecartin to direct Hello

It was on this Monday that the pooja of Rafi-Mecartin's new film was done at Lal studio.
The script of 'Hello' is Rafi-Mecartin's and of course the direction too is done by them.
Alex Paul will do the music. Alex Paul was introduced to the field by Rafi-Mecartin in the film Chathikkaatha Chanthu.
Anyway the duo have enough reasons to be happy. Mayavi, the film they scripted last is running successfully & Mecartin seems to have resurrected from his personal troubles.

How Pridhviraj got the state award

Pridhviraj is not an actor without talent. But when compared with Mammooty, Mohanlal etc., he of course is too far behind. It is because of this plain simple fact that, this years state film awards surprised/baffled many. Pridhviraj bagged the award that not even Dileep could manage to win.
Jury chairman Rajeev Kumar very well justified the decision by pointing out that they had considered only one film of Pridhviraj- Vasthavam- and were nominating him dumbstruck by the performance.
But what about Mammooty's excellent characters in the three films, Karutha Pakshikal, Kayyoppu & Palunku?
And now meditate this too- Declaring Sai Kumar the second best actor, Rajeevkumar explained the Jury reached the decision after considering Sai's roles in different films like Chakkara Muthu and Ananda Bhairavi.
Considering more than one movie to measure an actors performance- That is nice. But what about the Jury seeing only film of Pridhviraj?
So what actually happened to Rajeevkumar? Or to the Jury, for that matter?
Sources closely related to the field say it is just another simple case of pressurization. Pressure from high places. Mallika Sukumaran, Pridhviraj's mother just found it convenient to invoke the influence she has upon her best friend Betty, who happens to be the wife of MA Baby who in turn happens to be the Cultural Minister of the State.
Sreenivasan, who many expected to bag the award for the stunning performance in Thakara Chenda, too has talked about some highly placed people exerting pressure upon the Jury.

Siddique & Dileep join hands

Siddique is nowadays busy with a new project. The script for a Malayalam film with Dileep as hero is getting ready. Though the heroine and other actors are not yet decided, unconfirmed reports say Johny Sagariga would be the producer.
A few years back Siddique had wrote script for a Telugu film, Satyam Sivam Sundaram. But something gone wrong between Siddique & the producers and the movie is yet to come out. Actually Siddique had plans to do a Tamil film after the release of Satyam Sivam Sundaram. But the delay in Satyam Sivam Sundaram project upset it all. That is how the veteran script writer decided to go for a Dileep film. Because humor is the forte of both Siddique and Dileep, their first project together is awaited with much expectations.
Let us wait for the most hilarious Malayalam cinema of the decade !

Will Deepa Mehta's water bag Oscar?

In the academy of motion picture award, Water is not an Indian entry. But the film is already much talked about in India.
The reasons are many- Like the Indian theme; the presence of Bollywood hot property John Abraham; the publicity it got because of the strong protest of Hindutwa brigades even as the shooting was going on in India. And it was because of this opposition that the shooting venue was shifted to Sri Lanka. (Who said Sri Lanka is not safe!). The theme also was popular - Woman empowerment, something very dear to Deepa. And there were enough sentiments, wits & drams- all mixed together in an elegant way.
Deepa always tends to show what the West would like to see in films about India- Uncultured people, the brutal & illiterate villagers, the patriarchal cruelty...Okay, but will these bring in the Oscar?
Not likely, if go by speculations.
And those who watch things closely see much things in favor of the Mexican film 'Pan's Labyrinth'.
The Labyrinth is about a young girl who is so captivated by a fairy tale that she imagine herself to be the lost Princes in the story.
In the wake of her mothers remarriage to a cruel fascist officer, young Ofelia explores a vast stone labyrinth, where she encounters the faun Pan and is given a series of three tasks to perform.
For Water also, the center character is a young girl.
The story of Water takes place in India during the era of struggle for independence, where as Pan's Labyrinth portrays the violent period following the Spanish civil war.
While Water has managed to get nomination for only one category -Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, Pan's Labyrinth has five more nominations: Achievement in Art Direction, Achievement in Cinematography,Achievement in Makeup, Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) and Original Screenplay.

Sex, Lies, Color Photos & Money

And now it is yet another blackmail story unwrapping in Malayalam Movie industry.
The main character (Villain or Hero ? That is yet to be ascertained) is Mecartin, the Director. (Of Rafi-Mecartin duo).
The early episodes of the story was set in the scenic village of Varappuzha on the banks of Kochi backwater.The first female character was a housewife. Name was Treesa. Her husband was away from home at Thiruvananthapuram doing business. Treesa and her daughter's only company at home was her husband's aged parents. To this tranquility of a village housewife's life another woman, Bindu, one day appeared. Bindu was Treesa's old friend and she one day introduced Mecartin and then his friend one 'Devadas' to Treesa.
This much is only background and now Treesa's husband alleges that Mecartin had taken some nude photos of his wife in another man's company and that Mecartin made her pay him nearly Rs 2.5 lakhs threatening to publish the pictures.
Treesa says it was after making her drink some sedative mixed soft drink that Devadas made her co-operate in those acts the pictures of which Meccartin took. After Treesa came in to the knowledge of the existence of the pictures, Bindu had advised her to pay Rs 50,000 to buy back them with negatives and all. The desperate Treesa made the payment. But that was only a beginning. More pictures surfaced and more money demanded and paid. To cut a long thriller short, Treesa had to pay around Rs. 2.5 lakhs in addition to a few silk sarees, jexellary etc. And at last the cornered Treesa had confessed all this to her husband and he lodged a complaint with the police.
And now for Mecartin's version.
Mecartin swears that it was he who was being blackmailed all these months. A failed local business man had approached him to tell that they would make it public that Mecartin was trying to blackmail a woman using some pictures. To not to open the lid of Pandora's box Mecartin should pay handsomely. But Mecartin now says what he said was an outright 'no'. He don't know Treesa, Bindu or that mysterious Devadas, for that matter.
And that Devadas is now turning in to a real intriguing character.
No one seems to know who this Devadas really is.
In the pictures Bindu handed over to Treesa, the face of Devadas is not there. In no photos he is facing the camera.
And there is another curious story too in the complaint Treesa submitted to the police. She says one day Bindu took her to Devadas's place of residence and while she was waiting outside, Bindu came out with hand dripping in blood and she uttered these words: "I killed him, he won't bother you anymore..for you I finished him".
After that scary incident Treesa never could see Devadas again. And all her phone calls went unanswered.
The story this much had already appeared in Dailies by now. But there are enough indications that it is only that proverbial tip.
Let us wait for the rest.

The Million $ (honey trap) Question

When the Sabarimala Thanthri sex scandal was very much hot in the media, there was a related report in a leading Malayalam Daily that many read eagerly. The report said Becchu Rehman, the alleged brain behind the flat-Shantha-Shobha drama, had similarly trapped a leading Malayalam film actor years back in a Gulf country.
The Daily of course did not divulge the million dollar name. But the inquisitive readers found out many hidden hints in the story and many reached the conclusion (though wrongly) that the actor, or star to be more precise, was Mohan Lal. And some argued it should be Suresh Gopi.
The honey-trap was laid by a Kanhirappally lady with full support of her husband. When the drama reached the eventual climax, Bechu appeared on the scene as if by pure chance and became the negotiator in no time. It is still not known how much money changed hands, but Bechu's profit itself was lakhs of Rupees.
And the innocent (not noun- the 'i' is not capital) actor never realized Bechu was the actual villain..Thus went the report.
Okay. But who really was that actor?
Saikumar.
Yes, Saikumar was the unfortunate victim.
And Sai need not be much too ashamed, though. Mohanlal too had paid money in similar circumstances more than once. Though that was years back. Now who will dare to entrap the Rakshasa Rajavu?
But the real hero of all blackmail events was actor Siddique.
Once in a similar situation, when he was asked to pay money, Siddique simply advised them to telecast the film (the sky colored one, of course) they had just made.
What money if the victim make it clear that he has nothing to loose.

Kalabham: A Curious Case of Music After Death

A campaign is being run in Kerala now for the new film Kalabham making use of the reputation of late music director Raveendran. His photo is all over there in the posters of the film.
But the fact is that Raveendran might never have even heard of the film during his life time.
What that great man had actually done was doing music for a movie Minnale. But Minnale never reached the theaters.
Realizing the sudden jump in Raveendran's songs market value both because of his untimely departure and the huge success of Vadakkumnadhan's songs, the Kalabham people were deciding, very cleverly, to hijack the Minnale music.
Anyone who see the film can easily realize this. The story and the songs stand poles apart.
Tamil actor Bala is in the lead role. Navya Nair is his heroine. Director Anil (Anil Babu duo ).