Bollywood South Indian

Sadha is Getting Busy in Bollywood

Written by Andrew Stephenson on September 18th, 2008

Southern actress Sadha is the latest Southern hot property to move north and become embroiled in the Bollywood machine. She’s currently making three movies there – “I’m doing Love Kichdi with Randeep Hooda, Click directed by Sangeet Sivan with Shreyas Talpade and Khalbali with newcomer Nikhil,” she says, “I am also considering doing a Tamil [...]

Rajini Courts Ileana and Asin

Written by Andrew Stephenson on September 17th, 2008

It’s rumoured that Vijay has been trying to tempt Ileana away from Tollywood to appear in his next Kollywood epic, Vettaikaaran but has so far failed. Asin has also been rumoured for this role. The film has two heroines in the script so if they both make it, it would be a tremendous pairing. Mumbai-born [...]

Himesh’s heroine Jennifer Loves Kannada

Written by Andrew Stephenson on September 1st, 2008

She will soon be seen in Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekkh Mudh Mudh Ke with Himesh Reshammaiya but despite picking up offers from Bollywood, Jennifer Kotwal says she will never turn her back on Kannada and says she still prefers to work there. “No way will I leave,” she says, “Kannada is still my first [...]

Rambha has Food Poisoning

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 29th, 2008

Rumours spread like wildfire when top South actress Rambha — dominant in all four centres for many years — was rushed to a private clinic a few days ago. Many believed it was a suicide attempt, but this has been strongly denied by the classy actress. “I was uneasy after food poisoning and was kept [...]

Record Payment for Namitha

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 27th, 2008

Namitha, the top glamour-puss of Tollywood and Kollywood, has just won a record payment to appear in the Mollywood production The Black Stallion. Kalabhavan Mani will play the hero in the movie. Namitha first grabbed people’s attention with Engal Anna opposite Vijayakanth and did well earlier this year with Billa. She is currently filming four [...]

Haripriya wants to be like Aishwarya Rai

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 22nd, 2008

Sandalwood actress Haripriya has set herself tough targets in her career — she claims she wants to be as big as Aishwarya one day. In order to build her career in the right way, she is being very careful about which scripts she accepts. “I’m not just accepting any offer that comes my way,” she [...]

Vimala Raman Dreams of Cleopatra

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 13th, 2008

Former Miss India Australia, Vimala Raman has not had the best of luck with her movies so far but things look set to change with Twenty:20, the high profile movie starring both Mammootty and Mohanlal – and it doesn’t come much bigger than that in Mollywood! Vimala’s dancing skills as a Bharatanatyam dancer are used [...]

Priyamani has eyes on Bollywood

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 7th, 2008

With stars like Asin and Genelia leading a new Southern invasion, more Tollywood stars are setting their sights on Bollywood. Amongst these is talented actress Priyamani, currently enjoying a hit with Hareram. The actress, known also for her glam roles, recently won a National Award for her work in the Tamil film Paruthiveeran, the Filmfare [...]

Meenakshi About to Impact on Bollywood

Written by Andrew Stephenson on August 5th, 2008

Following the trail of many Southern actresses before her, Meenakshi — of Karuppasamy fame – is about to sign up for a big Bollywood debut. “Yes, it’s true that I have a good Hindi movie offer, with a big banner,” she says. “I have expressed my consent and am waiting for an official announcement.” Currently [...]

Reeth Mazumdar Heads for Lollywood

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 27th, 2008

The successful 3rd South Asian Film Festival in Goa at the beginning of this month brought together filmmakers from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Its theme of dissolving boundaries produced a very positive response and continues to have effects even now that the festival is over. At the festival, south actress Reeth [...]

Kollywood Kat-Fight: Trisha & Nayanthara

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 25th, 2008

Although we are used to cat-fights between the superstars of Bollywood as they juggle for space at the top of a very narrow pyramid – and dog-fights too, if the recent SRK/Salman spat is anything to go by – it is less common in the more peaceful and rural surroundings of the south – but [...]

Malavika – The Other Side of the Coin

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 25th, 2008

Producer Anjaneyulu and director Veera seem to have the knives out for Malavika after she jumped ship from the big budget movie Karthigai. It was good news, however, for Priyanka Kothari who picked up the role and we covered her story yesterday. But is it really a case of Malavika being unprofessional? She claims that [...]

Navneet Kaur’s Rebirth

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 23rd, 2008

Twilight Zone movies are on the rise in Tollywood and Navneet Kaur’s latest — due for release next month — forms part of the trend. Kala Chakra is a tale of reincarnation and beyond. “I play the central character in the film,” she says. “Believe me the film will spook you!” Navneet’s own career appears [...]

Pooja Gandhi in a Bikini

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 22nd, 2008

Kannada actress Pooja Gandhi is working hard to develop her career and move up the ranks to Tollywood and beyond. In her latest movie Kodagana Kolinungitha, she is seen wearing nothing but a bikini. Does this pose a risk to her image? “It is only one scene and it has been shot aesthetically,” she explains. [...]

Rambha is Back

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 22nd, 2008

After a gap of three years that left her fans desperate, Rambha is back in Kollywood with Vidiyum Varai Kathirru. “I am thrilled to be back to the Tamil screen. It took three years. But I think I took the right decision to wait for a good role,” she said. Rambha recently made a big [...]

Charmi all set to charm Kollywood!

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 20th, 2008

Hot Tollywood actress Charmi is spreading her wings with her first Tamil movie for five years, Ladam. It’s a fast-paced thrilled with Aravindan, with whom Charmi has a lip-locking moment, for which it’s rumoured she got paid extra. Apparently, there was no reason to pay Aravindan extra to kiss Charmi. She plays a girl called [...]

‘Happy Days’ at the 55th Tiger Balm Filmfare South Awards

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 19th, 2008

Two films dominated the 55th Filmfare South Awards held at Chennai’s magnificent Nehru indoor stadium. They each took six awards. The first was the Tamil (Kollywood) mega-hit Paruthiveeran and the second, the Telugu (Tollywood) language Happy Days. The stars were out in force in Chennai that night with the brightly shining starlets in the audience [...]

Udhayathara Signing Her Name

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 5th, 2008

Rapidly rising Mollywood star Udhayathara may be appearing in Autograph 2, Cheran’s sequel to Autograph. Navya Nair and Sneha have already been cast in the movie. Busy Udhayathara has also recently completed Thee Nagar with Karan and Kannum Kannum with Prasanna. She will soon be appearing in a second movie with Karan called Malayan, directed [...]

Bollywood Actresses Moving South

Written by Andrew Stephenson on July 5th, 2008

A number of very talented Bollywood actresses are moving south towards Hyderabad and the Tollywood industry — Shraddha Das is one of them. She is soon to be seen in the movie Target, along with another ex-Bollywood actress Mumaith Khan and local hero Siva Balaji. Shraddha will also be seen in Allari Naresh’s new film [...]

Ileana is not deserting Tollywood

Written by Andrew Stephenson on June 7th, 2008

After the success of Jalsa, many people were expecting Ileana to concentrate on developing a career in Bollywood but she is not going to desert her Tollywood fans. Recently, she has signed up for three new Telugu movies. Mumbai-born Ileana lives in Goa and made her debut in Devadasu co-starring Ram. Her big breakthrough, however, [...]

Namitha travels back in time

Written by Andrew Stephenson on June 7th, 2008

Former Miss Surat, the sultry Namitha continues building a flexible career in the regional film industries and has also appeared in an English-language film, Maya. Her next big film is likely to be 1977 opposite Sarath Kumar. Namitha first shot to fame in Engel Anna, which also starred Vijayakanth and progressed to other well-received movies [...]