Santhanam's Kick gets OTT premiere

Santhanam's last outing, Kick, is now available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar. Also starring Tanya Hope, the film hit theatres on September 1 and opened to negative reviews. 

Kick marks Santhanam's 15th film as a lead actor. Prashant Raj has written and directed the comedy film. Tanya Hope is the female lead of this film, which also has Senthil, Mansoor Ali Khan, Thambi Ramaiah, Senthil, Brahmanandam, Sandhu Kokila, Manobala, YG Mahendran, Rajendran and Vaiyapuri, among several others. 

Arun Janya has composed the music for Kick, which also features cinematography by Sudhakarr S Raj and editing by Nagooran Ramachandran. 

Here's our review of Kick. 

Let's Get Married gets OTT premiere

Harish Kalyan's last outing at the theatres, Let's Get Married, is now available to stream on Prime Video. Helmed by Ramesh Thamilmani, the film hit theatres on July 28 and opened to unfavourable reviews. 

Centring on a road trip, the film also stars Ivana and Nadiya in the lead roles. While the latter plays Harish's mother, Ivana plays his girlfriend. Apart from them, LGM also stars Yogi Babu and RJ Vijay.

Let's Get Married is bankrolled by cricketer MS Dhoni with his wife Sakshi Dhoni, under their production house Dhoni Entertainment. 

The technical crew consists of cinematographer Viswajith Odukkathil who shot Hridayam in Malayalam, and Love Today technician Pradeep E Ragav who handled the edits. Besides direction, Ramesh composed music for the film which features five songs. 

Read our review of Let's Get Married.
 

Vijay Antony's next is titled Hitler 

Actor Vijay Antony will be joining forces with filmmaker Dhana for an upcoming action thriller titled Hitler. The makers unveiled a first-look motion poster on Thursday. Dhana, who is directing the film, has also written the script. Hitler is produced by Chendur  Film International, who previously produced Vijay Antony's Kodiyil Oruvan.

 

As per a press release, the crux of Hitler "is an ordinary man's revolt, and the battle to bring an end to the dictatorship." 

The film stars Riya Suman as the female lead. The film also features an ensemble cast, including Charanraj, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Redin Kingsley, Vivek Prasanna, Aadukalam Naren, and director Tamizh, among others. 

The film's technical crew comprises music composer duo Vivek-Mervin, cinematographer Naveen Kumar, and editor Sangathamizhan E. 

Meanwhile, Vijay Antony, last seen in Kolai, has an upcoming film, Ratham, gearing up for a release on October 6. 

Madhurr Mittal-starrer 800 clears censorship formalities

Ahead of the release of Muttiah Muralitharan's biopic 800 starring Madhurr Mittal in the lead role, the film has cleared censorship formalities and has been given a clean U certificate.

Directed by MS Sripathy, 800 also stars Mahima Nambiar, Naren, Naaser, Vela Ramamurthy, Riythvika, Arul Das, Hari Krishnan, and Sharath Lohithaswa. 800 is co-written by Booker Prize laureate Shehan Karunatilaka.

800 was extensively shot in domestic locations like Chennai, Chandigarh and Kochi, in addition to international locations like Sri Lanka, England and Australia. Ghibran is the music director of the film, and it has cinematography by RD Rajasekhar and editing by Praveen KL.

The film, originally shot in Tamil, will be released in Telugu, Hindi and English as well. 

800 is slated for a release in theatres on October 6.

Second single Badass from Vijay's Leo is here

The much-awaited second single from Vijay's Leo was released by makers today. Titled Badass, the song has been written by Vishnu Edavan with music crooned by Anirudh Ravichander.

Earlier, the makers had released a promo of the song and now the lyrical video has been unveiled. Sharing the video, Lokesh Kanagaraj, the director of the film thanked Anirudh for the song and said, "Thanks for the double nuclear blast, Rockstar Anirudh." 

Seven Screen Studios, the production house backing the film, said, "Pala Rajakala paathachu da.. Ivan kaththi romba kooru achu da #Badass unleashed-u ma."

The first single Naa Ready was released back in June and was a huge hit among fans. Composed by Anirudh Ravichander, the single also has vocals by the music composer along with a rap portion by Asal Kolaar. Naa Ready currently has more than 100 million views on YouTube.

Apart from Vijay, Leo stars Vijay, Trisha, Myskiin, Priya Anand, Mansoor Ali Khan, and Sanjay Dutt, among others.

The makers of Leo are yet to announce whether the film is a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe which already consists of Kaithi (2019) and Vikram (2022). The film has cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa and music by Anirudh Ravichander.

Backed by Lalit Kumar's 7Screen Studio, Leo marks the sophomore collaboration of the actor and filmmaker and will hit the screens on October 19. 

Vishal alleges corruption at CBFC  

Actor Vishal has released a video on his social media handle, alleging that he had to bribe the officials at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Mumbai. The actor claims that he had to pay a total of 6.5 lakhs to get the Hindi version of his recent film Mark Antony released in North India. 

Vishal then goes on to name a mediator by the name of Menaga and also tagged the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the post, in an effort to bring it to their attention. According to the actor, two transactions of 3 Lakhs and 3.5 Lakhs were paid to get the censor certificate for the film. In the X post, Vishal also provided the bank account details to which he had transferred the amounts. 

The Vishal starrer Mark Antony is directed by Adhik Ravichandran and also stars Sj Suryah, Abhinaya, Ritu Varma, Sunil, Selvaraghavan, and Redin Kingsley. 

Kamal Haasan praises Siddharth's Chithha

Chithha, starring Siddharth and Nimisha Sajayan in lead roles, was released in theatres today. While the film has been receiving positive reviews and critical acclaim from fans and celebrities, actor Kamal Haasan has joined in to express his views on the film. He praised Chithha and shared that it is important to watch this film.

Expressing his thoughts on a video, he said, "I really like that this film doesn't leave you with a heavy heart but provides a caution that there are certain incidents happening in society and we have to be careful.

We need to see children as children and not as men or women. I really appreciate the director for not showcasing a murder explicitly, but narrating it via a gut-wrenching FIR report. A good filmmaker should make an impression on fans' hearts so much that it leaves a mark. All of it is here. Even when I was speaking with Ramesh Aravind about why the film is good and explained four scenes, he too agreed these are important."

He further said, "The film's producers also need to be praised, including Siddharth. It is important to watch this film. If a question arises about taking kids to watch the film, they absolutely need to. This is not an 'Adults only' film. If their inspiration was Mahanadhi, then this is better than that. I hope that this film wins in earning money. This film's victory is that they have shown the characters look like our neighbours. Just like 16 Vayathinile, this film should also win."

Chithha is helmed by SU Arunkumar. The film also stars Nimisha Sajayan as the female lead.

Chittha is backed by Siddharth's home banner, Etaki Entertainments, which has previously produced Kaadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi and Jil Jung Juk. 

The film will also be released in Telugu as Chinna. The technical team of Chithha comprises music composer Dhibu Ninan Thomas, cinematographer Balaji Subramanyam and editor Suresh A Prasad.

Team Leo cancels much-awaited audio launch   

Leo, Vijay's upcoming film with Lokesh Kanagaraj, is all set to hit screens on October 19. Ahead of the release, the fans were anticipating an audio launch where their matinee idol would tell one of his 'kutty stories' in his speech. However, Seven Screen Studio, the producers of Leo announced on Tuesday that they have decided to not conduct the film's audio launch. 

The makers said, "Considering overflowing pass requests and safety constraints, we have decided not to conduct the Leo Audio Launch. In respect of the fans' wishes, we will keep you engaged with frequent updates. P.S. As many would imagine, this is not due to political pressure or any other reasons."

This news came as a shocker for many, especially since there were speculations that the audio launch would be held at Chennai's Nehru Indoor Stadium on September 30. Team Leo deciding not to conduct the grand audio launch citing safety reasons comes close on the heels of the backlash AR Rahman received for his recent Marakkuma Nenjam concert. Many attendees of that concert alleged that they had suffered both physical and emotional trauma due to overcrowding and poor management at the concert venue.

While the makers have cancelled the audio launch, they have promised to engage the fans with frequent updates about the film. There has been no official announcement about an audio launch happening at a different venue on a different date. 

Leo, which marks Vijay's second collaboration with Lokesh, also stars Trisha, Arjun, Sanjay Dutt, Mysskin, Gautham Menon, and Priya Anand among others. It is also speculated that Leo might be part of the famed Lokesh Cinematic Universe, which comprises Karthi's Kaithi and Kamal Haasan's Vikram. 

With Anirudh Ravichander composing the music, Leo has cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa, and editing by Philomin Raj.

Here're the Tamil films that almost made it into the Oscars 2023

On Wednesday, the Malayalam film 2018 – Everyone is a Hero was selected as India's official entry to the 96th Academy Awards under the foreign language category by a committee that congregated in Chennai.  The committee was led by noted filmmaker Mr Girish Kasaravalli. 

2018 – Everyone is a Hero has been chosen from as many as 22 films in contention. The shortlisted films comprised a fair representation of the Tamil language films that were released in the year. The Tamil films shortlisted include Viduthalai Part 1, Maamannan, Vaathi and August 16, 1947. Apart from the Tamil, the final list consists of a significant number of Hindi language films, as many as 11 films, 4 Telugu films and 2 Marathi films. Interestingly, 2018 was the only Malayalam film in the final list. 

Regarding winning the prestigious Award, a credit is long delayed for India. Three films, Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan, were the only films that made it to the nomination list.

It is to be noted that as many as 10 films were earlier picked for the Oscars as the nation's official entry from Tamil over the years, including Deiva Magan, Nayakan, Anjali, Thevar Magan, Kuruthipunal, Indian, Jeans, Hey Ram, Visaranai, and Pebbles. 

Vijay's Leo second single to be out on this date

Director Lokesh Kanagaraj, who is awaiting the release of his fifth film Leo with actor Vijay, dropped a surprise update for fans regarding the second single of the film.

Titled Badass, the single is set to be out tomorrow, September 28, announced the director while sharing a new poster from Leo. 

It is to be noted that this update comes a day after the makers decided not to conduct the audio launch of the film owing to "safety constraints". The post shared by Seven Screen Studios said, "Considering overflowing passes requests & safety constraints, we have decided not to conduct the Leo Audio Launch. In respect of the fans' wishes, we will keep you engaged with frequent updates. P.S. As many would imagine, this is not due to political pressure or any other reasons."

The first single Naa Ready was released back in June and was a huge hit among fans. Composed by Anirudh Ravichander, the single also has vocals by the music composer along with a rap portion by Asal Kolaar. Naa Ready currently has more than 100 million views on YouTube.

Earlier, as a part of promotions, the makers had shared four posters in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. Each of them carried a unique tagline, probably reflecting the core of the film's plot. 

Apart from Vijay, Leo stars Vijay, Trisha, Myskiin, Priya Anand, Mansoor Ali Khan, and Sanjay Dutt, among others.

The makers of Leo are yet to announce whether the film is a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe which already consists of Kaithi (2019) and Vikram (2022). The film has cinematography by Manoj Paramahamsa and music by Anirudh Ravichander.

Backed by Lalit Kumar's 7Screen Studio, Leo marks the sophomore collaboration of the actor and filmmaker and will hit the screens on October 19.