The first posters of Unnaippol Oruvan and Eenadu are out!

Also, Unnaippol Oruvan now has a Facebook page — join the orgy!

[With inputs from Ananth]

Unnaippol Oruvan is nearing its day of release and this is a good time to recap on the updates we have got in the last couple of months.

The last available information is that it will release on August 12, to coincide with the release date of Kalaththur Kannamaa, Kamal’s first movie. Check out Sify.com, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com, Thatstamil, ChennaiOnline, Behindwoods and Cinegoer.com.

Here is what else we know through official and non-official means.

• Unconfirmed reports from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com say that veteran actress Lakshmi is part of the movie. She is said to be playing the role of Chief Secretary (to the Chief Minister). In the original A Wednesday, the Chief Minister himself had a significant role.
• We haven’t heard a lot about Eenadu, the Telugu version. Here’s an interview of Venkatesh in The Times of India, where he says that the role is modified to suit his image.
• Manushyaputhran too has narrated his experiences to the media. He told Mangaiyar Malar that the opporutnity to write a song for the movie came out of the blue one day. He revealed that the song about “the greatest tragedy of our times” is sung by Kamal himself. He was ecstatic about Shruti Haasan and has said that he is proud of writing the first song with her music.
• Meanwhile, Shruti spoke about her experiences to The Hindu and ChennaiOnline.
• Two younger generation actors who are part of the movie are Anuja Iyer and Ganesh Venkataraman. Anuja spoke about Kamal’s patience and being inspired by him to Kumudam, which was reported by Dinamalar. She was also featured on The Hindu and Galatta.com. Ganesh was heard on The Times of India and Galatta.com.
• Eric Felberg from Hollywood is the special effects supervisor. He has worked on Shri Anjaneya before and also was supposed to be part of Marmayogi too.
• Manoj Soni from Bollywood is the cinematographer. He seems to have been chosen for his experience with the digital medium. Hear him go ga-ga on Express Buzz and Galatta.com.
• Writer Era. Murukan was interviewed by Ergo. He talked about his experiences with Kamal and Mohanlal, while also giving us some insight into the script. Here’s some background on Era. Murukan from Behindwoods.
• Era. Murukan writes about his experiences on his blog,  now and then. In fact, in his most recent piece, he says that he’s writing a whole book based on it called Sight at Shoot! He writes about Kamal’s tirelessness and specifically about a shot in which Kamal impressed him.

‘That was an one-man symphony, kamal-ji’ – I told. He just smiled.

• Mohanlal is said to have wrapped up his portions in early June.
• Kamal talked about the movie during the promotion of Dashavtar to The Indian Express.
• The Times of India carried some details about the economics of Unnaippol Oruvan.

Neeraj Pandey, writer-director of A Wednesday, has expressed his opinion on the remake. He told India Abroad News Service that he’s looking forward to it. This is what he had to say on PassionforCinema.com.

Q) What do you think about the cast of Kamal Hasan & Mohanlal in the Tamil version?

Great casting.

We fans, await, first for the trailer and stills and then for the movie itself…

[With extensive inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Signalling the end of Unnaippol Oruvan shooting, Kamal appeared in a new get-up, reminiscent of Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu.

The first place he was seen was Balachander’s office / house, along with his family, to wish KB on his birthday. Surprisingly, the only Web-site to report it was Top10Cinema.com, with some casual pictures. Top10Cinema.com and Behindwoods carried the casual pictures.

The second event was the launch of hardum.com, a social networking Web portal. The site created by alumni of Anna University was launched by Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala. Check out reports and photos at Express Buzz and the Raj Bhavan site.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods / Raj Bhavan, Chennai]

[Updated 13 Jul 2009: Photos from Behindwoods]

The recently out Bollywood flick, Kambakkht Ishq, starring Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor, is said to be doing well. Though it was reported quite some time ago by news sites like Sify.com and OneIndia that it is a remake of Kamal’s Pammal K Sambandham, the fact that people like Akshay and director Sabbir Khan tried to hide it irked quite a few. That included Web-sites like Thatstamil and Adhikaalai.com. Finally, Behindwoods managed to get things clarified from PL Thenappan, who produced the movie for Media Dreams.

Kamal’s movies have been clobbered before by Bollywood, including Sathi Leelavathi as Biwi No. 1, which even got a Filmfare award for best story!

[With inputs from Ananth]

On Sunday, Kamal was present for the launch of Nee Indri Naan Illai, scripted by Kalaignar Karunanidhi, who is also the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Also participating were Manorama, Sivakumar, Surya, Bhagyaraj and Vivek.

Kamal and Karunanidhi extended their mutual admiration society, lavishing praises on each other. The latter recounted an incident during the shooting of Dasavathaaram when Kamal surprised him in the old lady get-up. The below video of Kamal’s speech comes from Top10Cinema.com.

Read more from ChennaiOnline, News Today, Dinamani, Dinathanthi, Maalai Malar (1 | 2), Webdunia and Dinakaran. Check out photos from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com and SivajiTV.

Kamal also met Karunanidhi privately, possibly on the same day.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Last week, Kamal attended yet another wedding, this time the one of Sreedevi, youngest daughter of Vijayakumar, who has co-starred with Kamal in numerous movies. Kamal looked smashing in an orange-coloured T-shirt.

See more photos from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, and ChennaiOnline (1 | 2). We have reports from Thatstamil and Dinathanthi.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Here’s the second episode of our report from the shooting spot of Unnaippol Oruvan, where Shankar ‘Ulagam’ got to witness Kamal in action! Shankar was so thrilled and speechless that we had to try very hard to get words out of his mouth!

• Shooting happened on 20 June (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and 21 June (6 to 11:30 a.m.).
• The location was the same school for the blind, deaf and dumb and involved Kamal’s scenes. Let’s avoid the description so as to not give out the story further.
• Other actors were MS Bhaskar (Broadway Kumar of Dasavathaaram) and Santhana Sivaji (”Saar, neenga engeyo poyitteenga” / Apoorva Sagodharargal).
• Kamal was very active, walking up and down across the set. He was having fun, especially with MS Bhaskar. His rest breaks were never more than an hour, during which he was seen reading books.
• Shankar was struck by his sharp eyes.
• Kamal finished his takes in no time. He provided some inputs to Chakri on the direction front.
• On the first day, he was joined in the evening by his family and left along with them.
• The shooting happened for both Tamil and Telugu versions. Chakri was using a mix of Telugu, Tamil, English and Hindi.

One of the famous movie theatres of Chennai, Kamala re-opened after renovation a few days ago. Who better to cut the ribbon than ‘Kamala’haasan?

The guest list included Manorama, Sathyaraj, Napoleon, Vijay, Silambarasan and Vivek. See more photos from Behindwoods, Top10Cinema.com and SivajiTV.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Shankar ‘Ulagam’, creator of the Lyrix in Pix series on this blog, was lucky to take part in a day’s shooting of Unnaippol Oruvan! Here is an account of his experiences. Portions which reveal part of the story are marked with [SPOILER ALERT] warning.

• He witnessed a few scenes filmed in a set at a school for the blind, deaf and dumb in Poonamallee area of Chennai. [SPOILER ALERT] The sequences were actually meant to happen in a police station in Anna Salai. After the police station receives a call alerting them of a bomb in the premises, the bomb squad searches around using metal-detecting equipment.
• Kamal did not take part in the shooting as he was not keeping well. Actually, his introduction scene happens in the same location. [SPOILER ALERT] Kamal’s character comes to the police station to file a complaint.
• Shankar recognised Chakri Toleti the director but none of the actors.
• Though Shankar is sad that he could not get to see Kamal, he hopes that he will get a chance soon.

From Shankar’s description, the shooting seems to be progressing at break-neck speed. Hope to hear more soon!

Kamal kept his word again, this time about the Chennai International Screenwriting Workshop being just a start. The batch of 250 people who attended are invited to meet Jean-Claude Carriere in person on June 19!

Additionally, the official Web-site / blog is flowing with more information starting with a message from Kamal. Here are some excerpts:

No one has the final word on this business yet. For that matter, any business.

I have a clear vision for our crowd, a dream if you fancy it. My vision though, should never be mistaken for a directive or a rule. I can only blaze this trail with willing walkers. Leading is not the top priority for me… reaching our goal is.

The screenwriting workshop is a means to an end. One good way to tell a story is when you have decided the end. I have.

Also, there are:

• Movies recommended by Kamal for their scripts (dominated by European movies and including Amelie, Ennadhaan Mudivu, Kallukkul Eeram and Paruththiveeran among others)
  
• Kamal’s recommendations on movies based on books (including A Clockwork Orange, The Last Temptation of Christ, Trainspotting, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump and of course the godfather of them all)
• Telugu movie recommendations by Gollapudi Maruthi Rao (Shiva by Ram Gopal Varma being the most recent one)

Now, this blog is giving a great peak into the mind of the movie-making genius that is Kamal!

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]