Category — grapevine

Folks, it cannot get any better than this. Latest buzz in the filmi circles is that, none other than Kamalhassan will feature in Robot. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, sources close to Shankar’s camp said that Kamal was approached to lend his voice for Jeeno, the robotic puppy that is playing a pivotal role in the movie. Kamal enthusiastically agreed to play this role. He reportedly even went for a voice test that happened in Ramoji Rao Film City in Hyderabad last month, where he tried different modulations of his voice. Both Kamal and Shankar were quite happy with the results, we hear.

There is a trend in hollywood to use superstars’ voice for animated movies. Such movies turned out to be huge blockbusters. To name a few, Shrek, The Bee Movie, Finding Nemo, Shark Tale are such movies. Super stars such as Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro who lent their voices added life to the movie, so to speak. Shankar is introducing another hollywood phenomenon to Indian cinema. Hats off to him!

Jeeno the robotic dog, was an important character in Sujatha’s original ‘En Iniya Iyanthiraa’, a novel on which the Robot movie is based. This character reached such a cult status, that Sujatha named the sequel after the dog ‘Meedum Jeeno’. This character captured the readers’ imagination in that legendary novel. We have to wait and see if Shankar can recreate that magic in silver screen.

There is no better person to lend the voice for Jeeno than Kamal. I remember a hilarious scene in Punnagai Mannan where Kamal playing the role of Chaplin Chellappa, tries hard to pacify a crying child. He would mimic different animals like a dog, a rooster and a monkey, to make that kid smile. He amazed with me with the perfection that he brought to the not-so-important scene of the movie. Lets see if he can use his animal instincts to add depth to Jeeno’s character in Robot. Cant’ wait to see!!!

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Some vernacular media reported today that P.Vasu is making heavy changes in the screenplay of the movie to suit Rajini’s image and his massive fan base. These magazines further reported that Rajini is not quite happy about these changes and that is one of the reasons the commencement of the movie is delayed. It may be recalled that the movie was supposed to go to floors today, the 15th of February.

In the original movie Mamooty comes in only few scenes and still made a lasting impact on the movie. One of the main reasons why Rajini liked the movie was its storyline and its simple treatment. Rajini seems to be concerned that any major changes to the script might rob the soul of the movie.

Reacting to the news reports P.Vasu said he is indeed making changes to the script and he wants to make a Rajini movie not a movie where Rajini plays a guest role. He said that although Rajini was initially apprehensive about it, now he is clearly convinced. However the script is not finalized and once it is finalized the shooting will commence only after obtaining Rajini’s approval, said P.Vasu.

There are also other industry reports that suggest that Aiyngaran is keen in starting the work on Robot earlier than planned. If that news is true, it is going to cause a conflict with Kuselan’s schedule for sure. Lets see how both the teams work it out.

Day in and day out the news on Kuselan just puring in. Latest is that the Director (Vasu) has approached Kamal with a request to appear in a scene in the movie. If the recent reports are to be beleived, it is not just Kamal but many leading stars of the Tamil film world are to appear together in that specific scene. Absolutely needless to mention the details of the scene which is nothing but a facilitation ceremony of the Super Star who plays the same role in the movie.

Meanwhile, the possibility of Simran’s pairing up with Pasupathy has surfaced again. Earlier it was ‘rumoured’ that Simran’s “unacceptable conditions” made director P. Vasu to look for other choices. Now it is learnt that Simran is very much interested in the project. She could not allot the required dates for ‘Kuselan’, as she was committed to act in a TV serial for Jaya TV.

Meanwhile, Vasu tried to rope in Tabu, but that couldn’t be materialized. Then he came back Simran and asked her to give just 15 days of call sheet. Simran was quite pleased to accept the offer and decided to talk with the concerned parties. It is believed that she would get the nod from the producers of the TV serial.

According to the grapevine, the hot and happening actress Ileana turned down offer to pair with Rajini in telugu version of Kuselan. However there was no official confirmation about this news story.

She acted in a film titled Kedi opposite RaviKrishna that was released a year ago. This movie turned out to be a box office disaster and she was quickly forgotten by the tamil audience. However she made it big in Tollywood.  She starred opposite Mahesh Babu in Telugu Pokkiri (the same role that Asin did in Tamil) and few other movies in Telugu.

Latest news is that Nayanatara is likely to don the role in Telugu too.  Ileana’s loss is Nayan’s gain.  Good luck Nayan!

The latest news on Kuselan is that Nayanatara might pair with Rajini in Kuselan. We reported in this website that Nayan is likely to play a role in Robot too.

In the original malayalam movie, Mamooty had a very short yet a powerful role but without a herione. It appears P.Vasu is making several changes to the script to suit Rajini’s fans. Who would want to watch a Rajini movie without a heroine?

Meanwhile industry sources revealed that Kuselan will hit floors on February 15th. Official announcements are expected sooner than that. We will keep you posted.

If ToI reports were to be beleived, Ash has given her nod to do the lead role in Robot.

Report also suggests that Ash is impressed immensely with the script but is yet to finalize the dates for the shoot. Shankar’s original choice was Kareena when he decided to do the project with SRK. But then, since it is now planned for a simultaneous release in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu, Ash has turned to be a natural choice.

Let us wait and see what else unfolds…

No, this is not about Ganguly or Dravid - but it is Simran who was dropped from the Kuselan squad.

This is the outcome of some of deliberate big  conditions which has eventually paved way for some one else to pair with Pasupathy in the upcoming Kuselan, it is learnt. Tabu is on the race as also Meena who did  the same role in the original version in Malayalam - who would succeed ? All would be known in few days.

This  is second time that Simran is losing the opportunity of working in a Rajini’s movie with earlier being the title role in Chandramukhi. 

Also most likely Nasser and Vadivelu are to don key roles in the film. Vadivelu’s comedy in Chandramukhi was talked about a lot but it was Shankar who preferred Vivek for Sivaji. This time around, since the movie is village based it is more apt for Vadivelu to take the lead in comedy scenes.

Meantime from New Delhi, the Super Star has  proceeded to Badrinath from where he took a trip Himalayas by walk. He would stay & meditate there for about two weeks before returning to Chennai and get ready for Kuselan. It’s a routine that Rajini goes to Himalayas ahead of start of a new project and no wonder he went again now. Afterall its a blast all over after Rajini as nodded yes to two feature and one animation film all the same time. Not in the past two decades it happened this way. Isn’t it ?

Updates to follow…

Times of India reports that Rajini and Shankar are likely to co-produce Robot.  This news makes sense since Rajini’s and Shankar’s remuneration will be a big piece in the total budget of 120 crores.

This report also adds that Aishwarya Rai is being approached  to pair opposite Rajini. It appears Shankar was in Mumbai recently to discuss  with her and she has not made up her mind yet.

Full story can be read here: http://movies.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2710623.cms 

Lets hope she doesnt turn it down this time!

Many speculations has already surfaced about the story line of the movie and the latest one is that it is based on what the renowned Tamil writer Sujatha penned in a tamil weekly in two different parts a couple of decades ago.

Titled as Yen Iniya Iyanthira and Meendum Jeeno respectively the novel revolves around a Robot in the form of a dog. A stunning thriller-cum-science fiction, its not a surprise that the story impressed the Spielberg of India, Shankar, that he chose to do it as his dream project on the celluloid.

Shankar has suggested few changes like the form of the Robot being changed into a man-like model and two heroines instead of one as in the original. It is learnt that even Rajini has suggested some changes and Sujatha while agreeing with them, also in the process of tinkering the story line to suit to present trend (though the story happens on a futiristic date)

And another interesting update is that Manikandan is still in the race for the cameraman’s spot. It is interesting in the sense it was one of the key issues why SRK dropped the project since he felt that Mani was instrumental in the success of OSM, while Shankar had a sore relation after Anniyan. So a lot is happening behind the scenes as are the speculations and only time has to tell which is right.

Watch this space for further updates.

Some portals report that the name of Robot will be changed to get the tax benefit from Government of Tamil Nadu. But when we enquired the same, the production house told that they will not have any such idea since it is a multi lingual film!

Almost all the major hit movies are debut in multi lingul. ‘Sivaji’ just got fit in name category. But ‘Robo’ is going to be a problem, lets wait and see what shankar has in his mind about the title confusion.