CELEBS FACTORY

All eyes are on Kamal Haasan, when the news broke out that he was signed up for a project with Aascar Ravichandran. The actor's fans across the globe are very eager to hear about his next film after his magnum opus 'Vishwaroopam'.

It was reported that a mega budget film titled 'Thalaivan Irukkiran' was in the works but apparently, this project has been delayed because Kamal Haasan and the producers were keen to rope in Shankar, who didn't have the dates.

Now it is being said that Aascar films will make a comedy with Kamal Haasan.

Director K.S Ravikumar is expected to team up with Kamal Haasan again after films like Avvai Shanmughi, Tenali, Panchathanthiram and Dasavatharam.

Crazy Mohan will also join this team and word is that it is going to be a sequel to Panchathanthiram and will be a laugh riot. An official announcement is expected soon.

Will Simran be Kamal's heroine?

It's probably old news that Shankar and Vikram will be coming together for a new movie, tentatively titled Therdal (election), that is to be based on the Indian Electoral System and its corrupted practises in the process of election.

Director Shankar, after the success of his blockbuster 'Endhiran' with Superstar Rajinikanth has completed the scripting work for his next project and is scouting for producers.

Rumor has it that Aascar Ravichandran just might take the project up in his hands. But the next big thing would be the hunt for a heroine to be cast opposite Chiyan Vikram, who is currently shooting for A.L Vijay's Thaandavam with Anushka Shetty and Amy Jackson.

 Bollywood lass Deepika Padukone, who is presently shooting for the much awaited 3D film Kochadaiyaan, has been approached by director Shankar for his forthcoming film.

The rumour is that the leggy actress seems to be quite interested in the film. But the news hasn’t been confirmed yet as the talks are still in its initial stages.

Though his previous film Nanban is still going strong in theaters, the Endhiran director isn’t interested in laying back and enjoying the success of the film. Instead he has started working on his next flick. The buzz around the industry is that this untitled flick might even feature Surya or Vikram.

Shankar seems to have set his sights on his next project.

After lot of speculations about a multi-lingual involving Kamal Haasan now comes the revelation that Shankar has arrived at a central theme for his next film.

The theme will be developed into a full-fledged script in the coming months by Shankar in association with the writer duo Suba. This association now extends the relationship that Shankar has been having with some of the modern day literary stalwarts in Tamil.

After collaborating with Sujatha for a number of projects and also with Balakumaran, Shankar has joined Suba for the first time. The combination is sure to provide another treat too Tamil cinema buffs. While this is the first time that Shankar is associating with Suba, the writer duo is by no means new to the film industry. They have proved their mettle in scripting through recent blockbusters like Ko and Ayan; they are also involved in K.V. Anand’s upcoming Suriya starrer Maatraan.

In fact, they have been involved in all of K.V.Anand’s directorial ventures starting from Kana Kandaen.

The union with Shankar is however the biggest thing that has happened to the writer duo in tinsel town and one is sure that they will be putting their best foot forward in what will be another keenly awaited product from Tamil cinema. The basic nature of the theme has not yet been revealed. Nor have any details about the prospective cast been discussed yet. We will keep you informed on the latest developments about Shankar’s next after the whopping success of Nanban.

Will it be a sequel to Endhiran? Keep your fingers crossed!

Hollywood Superstar, Jackie Chan has been approached for a key role in Thalaivan Irukindran starring Kamal Haasan that is to be produced by Aascar Ravichandran.

It now seems like a sure thing as Jackie Chan has a lot of respect and affection for Kamal Haasan and he is also very familiar of the the producer as he interacted with both Kamal and Aascar Ravichandran during Dasavatharam and we hear he is intrigued.

This is already a much talked about project as the producer is hoping to rope in Shankar to direct the film and Katrina Kaif for the heroine's role.

Now it will certainly be a casting coup if Aascar Ravichandran can pull this off.

Nanban is in trouble once again with the Most Backward Classes Association sending a notice to the Producers’ Council Chairman S.A Chandrasekar, director Shankar and the Censor Board seeking deletion of the words Aandi and Pandaram.

In the notice, it has been stated that Aandi and Pandaram community belong to the Most Backward Classes. It is hurting to hear dialogues about these communities in the film. Further, they have also sought the deletion of the words Paari, Poori, Kakoose Sorry.

It has been furthered that the community members will go on a fast until the offending words are deleted.

What more could an actor expect than getting a pat on the back from none other than the legendary Kamal Hassan?

Ulaga Nayagan who was at the Four Frame Preview theatre to watch the film Nanban on Saturday was all praises for Vijay.

Vijay accompanied Kamal for the screening of Nanban.

The film is one of the best things that has happened to Vijay in terms of collection and appreciation, it is stated by industry pundits.

Director Shankar, After having wrapped up Nanban in a record time is heartened with the positive reviews that the film has been getting.

Shankar is already looking forward to his next project for which the script has been readied.

We hear that Shankar's next is to be produced by AGS Entertainment.

Shankar is to consider having Vikram as the lead for his next film as the character of the script suits Chiyaan Vikram.

Vikram and Shankar has teamed up before for Anniyan, that created box office history. They are now, again believed to be a hot combo.

So far Shankar has neither confirmed nor denied the reports but it is expected that he will release official details about his next film soon.

Nanban is all set to be released on January 12th, and there has been a sudden outbreak of news alleging that Sun Pictures have snatched up the rights to Nanban. However, there has been debate about whether Sun Pictures has bagged the distribution and theatrical rights or merely the satellite rights if any.

What makes it interesting is that prior tussles have been reported between Vijay and the family that controls Sun Pictures owing to different political allegiances and other issues. Insiders are waiting for official confirmation.

Nanban, an upcoming Tamil comedy drama film directed by S. Shankar features an ensemble cast that includes Vijay, Jeeva, Srikanth, Ileana D'Cruz, Sathyan and Sathyaraj with music scored by Harris Jeyaraj.

Harris Jayaraj, the music director of Nanban, has said that the final mixing of the audio is currently on.

The musician is now focusing on Nanban’s music album as the plan is to launch the music during the first week of December.

With the deadline been set for the audio launch, Harris is concentrating on completing this within the expected time frame.

Meanwhile...,

"Nanban will hit the screens for Pongal 2012," stated director Shankar, who is very busy with the post-production work that is expected to be wrapped up soon.

The film’s dubbed version in Telugu, 3 Rascals, was originally planned to be released along with Nanban but now we hear the release has been postponed.

Vijay claims there have never been any kind of tension between him and Shankar during the filming of Nanban co-starring Ileana, Jiiva and Srikanth.

In a recent interview to a tabloid, Vijay mentioned of his friendship with director Shankar that runs way back to the days, when Shankar was assisting his father S.A. Chandrashekar.

"He is an absolute delight to work with and I enjoyed working with him in Nanban," said Vijay.

The actor was also content with good words about his costars Srikanth and Jiiva

Though Vijay’s penchant for mass masala themes is a common knowledge, the actor is consciously trying to change his image.

Choosing Gen Y directors like Shankar, Gautham Menon and Murugadoss for his future offerings after completing half century in Tamil cinema is proof of the same.

Reacting to this, Vijay said, “Whatever came my way I accepted it. Even now, these directors approached me with suitable scripts and I was too happy to be a part of it.”

Can we expect a new Vijay from these films?

“I also hope that they will project me differently,” mused Vijay.

The Velayudham star could not stop raving about director Shankar. “I will call him the Spielberg of India. His technical expertise simply amazes me. He acts out each and every scene including minute details, which made our job easier. I simply go to the spot without any preparation.”

Rajnikanth starrer Endhiran has been adjudged as Asia’s Best Movie in Japan.

Superstar Rajnikanth has a great fan following in Japan ever since his Muthu released there some years ago and since then almost all of his film releases are screened there on a regular basis.

Endhiran was a record smasher at the box office when it was released last year and did good business world over.

The film had Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai playing the lead pair with Shankar directing the flick produced by Sun pictures. the film.

Speculations that Vijay is appearing in a song donning up as Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in Nanban seem to be unsubstantiated.

A source close to director Shankar denied such scenes being a part of the film saying that there is no base for any such rumors to arise.

However, it's true that the film's lead Vijay and Ileana are appearing in four different garbs presumably as a tribute to the famous film stars in the industry.

But we will only get to know about that when the movie releases.

Now that Vijay’s ‘Velayutham’ is released the next release of Ilayathalapathy Vijay is the Shankar directed Nanban. The film has high expectations amd is much awaited as Vijay has teamed up with Shankar for the first time.

Nanban is expected to release during Pongal 2012.

‘Nanban’ is a remake of Bollywood blockbuster ‘Three Idiots’ with Vijay, Srikanth, Jiiva, Ileana D’ Cruz, Sathyaraj in lead roles with Anuya Bhagawath and S J Suryah playing pivotal ones. Harris Jayaraj has scored the music and the post production work for the film is full on.

Vijay plays an engineering college student, whose ideas are always out of the box. Jiiva and Srikanth are his friends. A major portion of the film was shot in Darjeeling and Ooty. Surprisingly Shankar has completed Nanban in a record time unlike the usual Shankar films that take at least a year to complete.

Shankar himself has said that Nanban has shaped out very well in all aspects and the highlight of the film will be its characters and the excellent performances of the stars.

Looks like Nanban will be a superb film to look out for . . .

There has been a lot of bad press for Ileana in recent times accusing the actress being a tantrum - throwing, unprofessional diva.

Farah Khan, one of the top choreographers in the country as well as director of hit films like Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om dismisses these reports as vicious fabrications.

Farah said that she has worked with Ileana on the sets of Shankar's forthcoming film Nanban that stars Vijay, Jiiva and Srikanth in the lead roles adding that she found Ileana to be the consummate professional.

"Ileana is an absolute trooper. She had her legs badly injured performing some intricate dance sequences and wanted to continue despite being in pain," said Farah.

Farah further defended the slender Goan beauty requesting the libelous reports about Ileana to be neglected.

Thala Ajith will be lending his voice for the dubbed Tamil version of Vishnuvardhan’s next film Panjaa starring Power star Pawan Kalyan.

Director Vishnuvardhan’s next is a Telugu film titled ‘Panjaa’ and he has plans to have the film released simultaneously in Tamil as well. For this he got in touch with none other than his close friend Ajith to lend his voice.

Sources report that Ajith has even agreed to this despite of his busy schedule shooting Billa 2.

Panjaa is a gangster film that stars Pawan Kalyan in the lead along with Sarah Jane Dias and Anjali, whereas Jackie Shroff plays a pivotal role in the film. Yuvan Shankar Raja scores the music. The film will be released by the end of this year.

There are rumours that Ajith will be joining hands with director Vishnuvardhan shortly after ‘Billa 2 but there are other media reports saying that Ajith is to work for a film with director Shankar.

Well there is some news making rounds in Kollywood regarding Superstar's period film 'Rana' being directed by KS Ravikumar. Superstar will be joining the filming team soon and the latest reports indicate that Goan babe Ileana has been roped in to play one of the Superstar's heroines.

Since the film will see Superstar in three different roles spanning different generations, and Deepika has bagged one of the main slots, Superstar's pairs for the other two roles were under discussion. Though many popular names of leading actresses were discussed, sources close to the 'Rana' team have reportedly revealed that Ileana will be sharing screen space with the Thalaivar.

There has been no confirmation regarding this neither from director Ravi Kumar's office nor from the actress involved. But Ileana's career seems to be getting better by the day. The actress is at the moment working with director Shankar's team in 'Nanban' where she will be seen opposite Vijay.

Now if there is an official confirmation that Ileana has confirmed her place in 'Rana' then it will do a whole lot of good to the actress' already impressive career profile.