I'm ready, but is he?, asks KS Ravikumar. When the media is fiercely speculating about Rajini's next film, there are talks that Rajini-KS Ravikumar might unite after the success of the latter's 'Villain'.

After the fiasco of 'Baba', Rajini's fans are eagerly awaiting his next film. As far as his films are concerned, the director is the greatest celebrity after him.

So, according to tradition, everybody is curious about who the director is. Indicators are pointing towards KS Ravikumar, who is fresh from the success of his Deepavali release 'Villain'. The film has been declared a hit all over the state. KS Ravikumar too has been indirectly giving his consent with his recent talks.

Ajith had invited him to witness a car rally at Irungattukkottai. When KS Ravikumar turned up for the event, he was asked by the Press people if he knew something about Rajini's next film. That was when he said, "I'm ready, but he isn't."

This makes one thing clear- Rajini has picked up KS Ravikumar to direct his next film, but due to political situations he is maintaining silence.

 

Prashant, who has been enjoying the bliss of singlehood has decided to give it up one and for all.

Yes. Prashant and his parents have been looking for a suitable girl for him for quiet some time now. They were even ready to give up the caste, religion criteria but still weren't able to find a girl who met their requirements. As a last step, they have now begun to look for a bride on the net.

In Tamilmatrimony.com, a separate banner and page has been allotted to him. The information given in the

page about him is as follows-

Age: 29 years
Height: 5'10"
Religion Hindu

Along with the 'Are you the right girl?' question, there is a checklist. Here is the list:

1. You should be between 20-27 years of age.
2. You should be responsible.
3. You should have a great character and you should
love the family. 4. A good personality and looks are compulsory.
5. You should be from a good family.

Prashanth's parents have decided to get him married after 'Jai's release. So, Prashant and his folks are busy looking for a girl for him.

All you girl fans of Prashanth- feel free to log on to the site and send in your applications if you think you fit the description. Who knows, you might even end up as Mrs Prashanth?

After getting married to Boney Kapoor, Sridevi had sworn never to return to Tinsel town, but, the gorgeous lady is back. This time, she is targeting the small screen.

Even as a child, she had been working in the industry. She was paired with the top heroes of all the southern languages- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. She then shifted her base to Mumbai and ruled the Hindi cine world too.

Once she got married to Boney Kapoor, she quit the industry to give her undivided attention to raising her two daughters. Now that the kids have grown up and have begun going to school, she has decided to renew her position in the cine industry. As the first step towards it, she has accepted an offer to do a role in a serial that is being telecasted on Sahara TV. Her shooting schedule will commence shortly. Already there is a long list of silver screen mega stars who have failed miserably in the TV medium- names like Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Manisha Koirala, etc.

So, the industry is curiously watching the entry of Sridevi now.

Right now, she has got a South Indian SJ Surya to direct the Hindi version of 'Kushi'. This is to be followed by an attempt to launch Prabhudeva as a director in the next film.

Aishwarya, who stepped into cine world as an assistant director with 'Baba' is now changing gears to launch her singing career with the film 'Whistle'. Her co-singer in this song is Silambarasan.

Iman scores the film's music. The film launches Aadhitya as the hero. It has two heroines- Shereen and Gayathri Raghuram. Aishwarya and Silambarasan are lending their voices for the song that features Aadhitya and Gayathri Raghuram.

Aishwarya and Silambarsan were schoolmates in real life. Their friendship continues. Just when the gossips about an 'affair' between them were dying out, their singing together is raising quiet a few eyebrows.

After 'Kaadhal Azhivathillai', Silambarasan's next film has him teaming up with Kiran.

'Bhagavathi's director Venkatesh is going to start a new film with Silamarasan as the hero. Kiran has been signed up as the film's heroine. But, Kiran definitely looks older than Silambarasan. That's why most of the people who have heard the news are shocked. But, Silambarasan's father TR is adamant about having her as the heroine because both her films have been hits.

 

Like 2002, Vijay is going to treat his fans with three new films in the year 2003 too.

In recent years, Vijay is coming up with atleast three films a year. His score is continuing in the year 2003.

Next year's Pongal has Vijay- Sneha starrer 'Vaseekaraa' hitting the theatres. Selva Bharati directs the film. SA Rajkumar scores the film's music.

Vijay's next film will be 'Geethai'. Jagan, who was an assistant with director Cheran, makes his debut as a director with this film. The film has two heroines- Hema Malini's daughter Isha Deol and Meera Jasmine (the 'Run' heroine). The film is expected to be released on Tamil New Year day.

This film will be followed by a film for Kavithaalaya, which is to be directed by Cheran who is still basking in the success of 'Gemini'.

When he completes all these assignments, he intends to work for a film with his father SA Chandrashekar after a long gap.

Or should we say, hey! Can you imagine Sachin, Kapil Dev and Dravid appearing in a film that has nothing to do with cricket? Well, pretty producer Raveena Tandon is set to prove that they could.

Raveena is producing this film 'Stumped' as a mark of respect for all those Indian Army men who have died in the wars. Cricketing bigwigs like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvaraj Singh and Zaakir Khan have accepted Raveena's invitation to star in the film.

Raveena is anxiously waiting for her husband to return from the battlefield while her neighbors are riveted to the TV watching cricket matches. The film tries to figure out the why behind this.

The film, being directed by Gourav Panday, will be released on the 5th of February, 2003 to coincide with the World Cup Cricket tournament.

Raveena had this to say about it-
"Just because I'm making this film with Cricket stars, please don't assume that it is anti-military. The motive behind this film is to honor the Military men. Part of the movie collections goes to assist family members of soldiers who died at Kargil."

Director Gourav Panday says,
" The film is primarily about cricket. There is a huge difference between a man going to the ground to play for his country and a man going to the battlefield to fight for his country and defend her borders. Winning is the ultimate motive in both cases. We give you the story of a man whose life revolves around both of them.

"Raveena is the only established actress in the film. The cricket stars are going to appear in roles that appreciate the sacrifices made by the Military soldiers. We appreciate the seriousness of war only when a family member is involved in it. We have divulged the truths behind being an army soldier and a cricket star in this film. "

So soon! This is the attitude of Tamil cine industry towards Shyam. On the 15th of December, Shyam is all set to get married at a ceremony to be held at his residence. There will be a wedding reception at hotel Le Meridian that evening.

Shyam, who had appeared as the hero in films like '12B' and 'Yei Nee Romha Azagaa Irukkae' is working in films like 'Leysa leysa', 'Bala', 'Iyarkai' and 'Pepsi'.

The Tamil Muslim Shyam is going to marry his collegemate from Bangalore, Kashish. The love that blossomed while in college is finally culminating in a wedding on the 15th of December.
 

Even cinema actresses wouldn't be such a pain! Only God should settle scores with her for her deeds' This was the comment given by fellow TV actresses when Bhuvaneshwari celebrated her birthday last year amidst her fans (!)

'Bhuvaneshwari is the reason why I'm in prison right now. I will see to it that she gets here too'- actress Madhuri swore when she was arrested couple of months ago for running a prostitution ring.

Bhuvaneshwari- from political patronage she fell right into the darkest slime pool and these days has earned the title of a 'Prostitute'. She should have been arrested when Dr Prakash controversy surfaced, but she evaded arrest thanks to her 'high level contacts'. These 'contacts' have enabled her to get a bail. She is temporarily free right now.

Bhuvaneshwari- this girl with a Tamil name made her entry into the media world through modeling. She kept looking for movie and TV offers as she continued modeling. Se got her break when Choza Creations gave her a role in their TV serial 'Soubarnikaa'.

Initially, her physique got her offers from Malayalam soft porn films. But, Bhuvaneshwari, who was not aware of the intricacies of the industry, refused them.

Though she didn't get movie offers, her repute as a TV actress was flying high. When other actresses were hesitant about doing vamp roles in megaserials, Bhuvaneshwari was very forthcoming. Her gray eyes and her smart personality suited her roles. This gave her her first movie break.

That was when she began to stumble, according to observers. The kind of fame and adulation that she earned in TV made her turn towards sex industry.

The political contact that resulted made Bhuvaneshwari arrogant. Soon, like the other political leaders, she wanted to have her fan clubs too. No other TV star had this fortune. To further establish her hold, she began celebrating her birthdays with her fans in events that resembled public functions. Now that she is out on bail, everybody is eagerly expecting some shocking revelations.

The cancer called prostitution is spreading more rapidly amidst TV actresses and junior actresses. People believe that if the police is given a free hand, there are bigger fishes (read : more established actresses) to be caught instead of occasionally netting a small fish like Madhuri or Bhuvaneshwari once every six month.

There is a debate raging in the unit that's working on Vijay-Sneha starrer 'Vaseekaraa'- to change or not to change the movie's name. Why? There has already been a soft porn film called 'Vaseegkaraa' starring The Shakeela.

When 'Youth' was released, there were objections to the English title. But, its director Vincent Selva justified the title saying that its Tamil translation 'Ilamai' will make the film sound like a soft porn film's title. That was why he had to settle for the English name.

But, the trouble continues to haunt Vijay. Shooting is in progress, noiselessly, of this film with Selva Bharati as the director. Selva Bharati was the director of another Vijay hit 'Priyamanavalae'.

The director and Vijay were not aware of the fact that a movie of the same name had already been made, a soft porn film featuring Sex Queen Shakeela in the lead. Fans and Industry insiders raised the alarm and now, Vijay is an enlightened man.

He wasted no time in talking about this to the producer and the director. But, they have decided that 'Vaseekaraa' is a very poetic name and not many would have seen Shakila's 'Vaseekaraa'. According to them, there's nothing to worry.

Still unsatisfied, Vijay is making all attempts to change the film's name because he doesn't want his image to get tarnished unnecessarily.

 

• The Vaigai comedian is walking high up in the clouds these days. This sudden change in attitude is the result of his becoming the hero of a film. The change hasn't been gone unnoticed and needless to say, not many are happy about it. "Bigger comedy stars have attempted to become heroes, but they fell flat on their noses. Let's see how his film performs. He can then start showing off as much as he wants," they say.
  
   
• The soaring career graph of the 'rose crowd' Kanth hero has made all the other heroes jealous, especially an older hero and the son-of-a-director hero. 'If not in the range of Ajith and Vijay, atleast ensure that we get regular movie offers'- this is how hey are pestering their dads these days.
  
   
• See, sundarrrr director is directing the latest film starring the Oscar dreaming actor, called 'Love is Shivam'. In all the interviews that the director gives, he has been saying that the hero is the one who is doing everything. He even says that the film isn't his actually. It is the brainchild of the hero. The director is full of admiration for the hero. But, the industry insiders think that these adorations are only lip-services. All the recent films of the hero have flopped. The director wants to make sure that the hero gets the blame if this film flops too. This is the director's way of maintaining his success record. Is it, Director?
  
   
• Lot of people are happy about the damp performance of Azageee director's 'the forgotten story' film. Happiest are the comedy actors who were rudely criticized by the director for their 'exorbitant' fee. Additional reason for their happiness is the failure of the comedy track done by the folk singer in the film. Maybe now the director should have understood the importance of One-Lakh-a-day comedy