Here’s some red-hot sweet news. The case filed against Kamal, accusing him of plagiarism, has been dismissed. The judge ruled that the scripts submitted to him had no similarity and hence the charge of Kamal’s office folks being involved was rendered invalid. This verdict nullifies the stay order on the release of Dasavatharam. Senthilkumar, the petitioner, has not ruled out appealing against the verdict though.

Some time ago, I came across this lovely mash-up of Pesum Padam aka Pushpaka Vimana aka Pushpak, by Thilak. The video covers most of the important portions of the movie. Beethoven’s symphony score in the background, though a little too sad, adds to the nostalgic value.

After watching the video, you might be interested in reading the creator’s thoughts at PassionForCinema.

Though it can be termed as a nuisance for Dasavatharam, the plagiarism case on Kamal is something fans would like to keep a tab on. The case has come for hearing at the Chennai High Court and a couple of days of proceedings are over. Firstly, Kamal filed a reply on the case refuting the charges. Then, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, Senthilkumar, has requested the judge to watch the movie to confirm if the story submitted in the court matches with that of the movie. Kamal’s lawyer filed the script of the movie in return and the case has been adjourned.

A delightful interview of Kamal given to a Malaysian TV channel is doing the rounds on the Net. Kamal appears more relaxed than usual. Also, the show is different since it is a live programme with audience and phone-in viewers too. Some highlights:

• Kamal is very frank about the necessity of fans for a star.
• He mentions the usual suspects — his mother, Balachander and Sivaji Ganesan — and even MGR. He later talks about his experiences with MGR — the days when he was dance assistant, the fitness tips he received and the appreciation he got.
• Kamal says that he doesn’t really live a role. He says that the performance is based on lot of preparation. He also later admits that he only does roles that suits him. He even extrapolates that people like Sivaji Ganesan, Sean Penn and Ed Norton did or do the same.
• He fondly recollects his association with Mani Ratnam. Also, he reveals that, for Nayagan, he did the make-up for himself.
• He talks about working with Nasser repeatedly, when questioned by the audience. He says that Nasser is a good friend, good actor, good human being, movie-lover and Tamil-lover. He goes as far as saying that Nasser’s presence improves the quality of his movies overall.
• About Hey Ram’s failure, he says that it’s also his fault that he didn’t prepare the audience sufficiently for it.
• For the cliched question of how did he act as the dwarf Appu in Apoorva Sagodharargal, this time, he says that he’s planning a TV series.
• Finally, he says that the movie industry doesn’t provide essential services and that we have to be aware of that.

Kamal’s follow-up to Dasavatharam will be with Saran — that’s not really fresh news. Saran has confirmed it yet again, this time over video, in an interview to Behindwoods.

Meanwhile, some details have emerged. Ayngaran International, the company involved in the distribution of Tamil DVDs outside India, is said to have struck a deal with Saran for the same. Hope this arrangement will help in the distribution of the movie overseas.