Thalaivan Irukkindraan (not Thalaivan Irukkiraan) is official! Even though no more details are available, Kamal confirmed that Marmayogi has been postponed and announced his new movie. Here’s coverage from CineSouth, Thatstamil, Adhikaalai.com, Nakkheeran.in and TamilCinema.com.

Rumours and news have been flying back and forth for the past several days — Mohanlal agreeing to star with Kamal, actors recruited for Marmayogi being used for TI, so and so forth. If you care for them, check out The Hindu, Sify.com (1 | 2), Yahoo, MSN, The Times of India, DNA, IndiaGlitz, Thatstamil, Galatta.com (1 | 2), IndiaGlitz, CineSouth, News Today, Adhikaalai.com (1 | 2) and TamilCinema.com.

Pyramid Saimira, for their part, already denied that Marmayogi was dropped altogether. Read reports from Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Adhikaalai.com and TamilCinema.com.

Anyway, as for me, I don’t totally believe the Marmayogi part of the news. I think it has indeed been dropped due to the risk of high budget.

[Image courtesy: Keerthivasan Rajamani]

[With inputs from Ananth]

We have bad / sad news (from reliable sources) on the eve of Kamal’s birthday — Marmayogi has been shelved! The murmurs were going on about Pyramid Saimira not being able to continue with a mega budget movie after their recent losses (including Kuselan). Other production companies seemed to be in the fray, but finally the project has been dropped postponed. This was also hinted by Kamal’s shortened beard, seen recently in the protest fast for Srilankan Tamils. Kamal, as usual, seems to have moved onto his next project titled “Thalaivan Irukkiraan Irukkindraan” (some kind of irony, huh?). Hope we will have a formal announcement soon to make everything official.

There was an interesting group of actors — Hemamalini, Trisha, Shriya, Shobhana and Venkatesh. Even photo sessions seem to have been done. But unfortunately, yet another movie of Kamal’s has been put aside. Marudhanayagam comes to the mind immediately. Anyway, we can trust Kamal to come up with interesting and great movies in the future.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Srilankan Tamils are suffering under the onslaught of the Srilankan army and government. The politically-inclined Tamil film industry has geared up to protest against it. Similar to the Cauvery protests a few years ago, there has been much internal conflicts and confusion. Finally, the actors are set to stage a fast on November 1 in Chennai. Read reports from Behindwoods, Thatstamil, Dinathanthi and Dinamalar.

Kamal and Rajni are likely to participate. However, it is said that there will be no speeches this time (OneIndia). One would recall what happened at the last protest, for the Hogenakkal issue. Here’s more from Sify.com and IndiaGlitz.

The Srilankan Tamil problem was highlighted on the passing in Punnagai Mannan (1986), starring Kamal and directed by K Balachander, his mentor. There is also a rumour doing the rounds that Kamal once planned a full-fledged movie on the issue but was dissuaded from going ahead.

[With inputs from Ananth]

The shooting for Marmayogi is said to be starting on September 25, though the official launch will only be in October. We are aware that Kamal, being an atheist, does not go for the traditional ‘pooja’.

The shooting is said to begin at Shivanasamudram Falls in Karnataka. Behindwoods claimed that Iguazu falls in Brazil is also one of the planned locations! Some photo sessions involving Trisha and Shriya are said to have been wrapped up already in AVM Studios, Chennai. Other info coming in is that Gautami is fully into costume-designing for the movie and that a new spray make-up technique will be employed.

Read reports from Sify.com, ChennaiOnline, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Thatstamil, CineSouth (English | Tamil), KollywoodToday.com, Webdunia, TamilCinema.com, Adhikaalai.com, Maalisudar and Express Buzz.

Trisha and Shriya are in training on Tamil diction, according to Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz, Thatstamil, KollywoodToday.com, Galatta.com and TamilCinema.com.

Meanwhile, the latest buzz is that Telugu actor Venkatesh has been signed up for Marmayogi. That’s a typical business ploy from Kamal! Venkatesh is considered on par with Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna and Nagarjuna in Telugu movies. Check out details from Midday, Thatstamil, IndiaGlitz, Galatta.com, CineSouth and TeluguCinema.com.

Still Padmpapriya too hasn’t gone out of the picture entirely. That is, if you believe reports like these — Thatstamil, Dinathanthi.

As the unofficial news and rumours pile up, we await the official announcements.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Here are a few photographs of Kamal at the star-studded wedding reception of Sibiraj and Revathy.

Sibiraj is, of course, the son of Sathyaraj who has had a long association with Kamal, starting with his first movie, Sattam En Kaiyil to Khakhi Chattai, Vikram, Kadamai Kanniyam Kattuppaadu and so on. Personally too, they share a close bond especially due to their atheistic beliefs. Also, Sibiraj is said to be a die-hard Kamal fan.

Check out more photos at Sify.com, Behindwoods and IndiaGlitz. Read reports from CineSouth and Adhikaalai.com.

Meanwhile, there is an interesting rumour that Sathyaraj is set to do a spoof of Dasavathaaram.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Yes, it’s not officially announced yet. But it’s pretty much confirmed that Trisha and Shriya will feature in Marmayogi.

There was a lot of buzz for Trisha some time ago (Sify: 1, 2 | Behindwoods | IndiaGlitz | News Today | KollywoodToday.com | Adhikaalai.com | TamilCinema.com) and last week came the real news. It is said that she has alloted bulk dates to the movie.

Shriya was in the rumours much earlier; she herself denied them. But now, she’s actually in. She is said to be playing a smaller role. We had rumours regarding Kamal calling her up on her birthday and such stuff (OneIndia | Thatstamil | Galatta.com | Behindwoods | AOL India).

In any case, the photo shoot and launch seem just around the corner. We’ll get more details then.

While I’m personally not excited about either heroine, we can definitely trust Kamal to get a decent performance out of them. Of course, Kamal going for market-friendly actors is nothing new.

Read more at OneIndia, Thatstamil (1 | 2), IndiaGlitz, Webdunia, Galatta.com, KollywoodToday.com, CineSouth and GreatAndhra.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]

Here’s some more old news…

In July, Kamal, along with Rajni and Karunanidhi, attended the preview of Uliyin Osai, a movie scripted by the Chief Minister and starring Vineeth and Keerthi Chawla. While the movie received appreciation from some quarters, Kamal kept it to a minimum. Read reports from Behindwoods and IndiaGlitz.

Last month, Kamal was invited to a function in Thanjavur, where Sivaji Ganesan’s statue was to be inaugurated. There were doubts if he would attend considering the political background of the event. Kamal rightly skipped it, avoiding controversy.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Finally, we had to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Though Pyramid Saimira had issued clarifications earlier, it just wasn’t enough. Yesterday, they brought Kamal to make an official declaration on Marmayogi. Check out videos of Kamal’s statement in English and Tamil.

The movie will be a joint production with Raajkamal Films International, putting to rest speculation in the media involving Warner Brothers, Soundarya Rajnikanth’s Ocher Studios and so on. They aren’t yet ready to make any annoucements on the cast and crew. So, all rumours involving Kajol (Thatstamil | IndiaGlitz | Dinakaran), Padmapriya (Webdunia | Galatta.com | Behindwoods | TamilCinema.com) and even Nayantara can hibernate for now. Remember, even Sathyaraj and Vaiyapuri weren’t spared!

Marmayogi will be launched on September 14. As is the norm, it will be a trilingual and there is also a possibility of an English version.

News reports are available at Sify.com, Behindwoods, IndiaGlitz and KollywoodToday.com.

On a side note, we can notice Kamal’s growing hair both above and below the head.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Not much information has come in since the last post on Marmayogi, especially the authentic kind.

There has been some talk of the music by AR Rahman. In a function felicitating him, we heard that Kamal sent in a video message. With South Africa, Switzerland, Latin American music and a story set in the 7th century in the mix, Kamal and/or the media keep our heads spinning.

Also, Kamal had expressed his desire to have Amitabh Bachchan on board. The efforts don’t seem to have fructified yet.

Meanwhile, after pounding us for long with Kajol, there was a brief flutter caused by the media throwing up the name of Shriya Saran. Finally, it seemed like a rumour circulated by the lady herself for the sake of publicity.

[With inputs from Ananth]

[Picture courtesy: BehindWoods]

Amidst the Dasavathaaram euphoria, news of Kamal’s movie has found space, even if sometimes just to fill the lack of news of the former. Marmayogi is said to be launching this month in Mumbai. Atleast the press has shifted the date from 13th (Sify.com | IndiaGlitz | Thatstamil | Galatta.com | Chennai Online) to 25th (Galatta.com | Behindwoods | Chennai 365). The movie is to be co-produced by Pyramid Saimira (Behindwoods | Webdunia) on first-copy basis.

Several rumours have been flying around. Kajol is said to the heroine (The Times of India | Galatta.com | CineSouth | Chennai 365). Hemamalini was confirmed by Kamal himself at the Dasavathaaram audio release function. But whispers are that she plays the villain! Another certainty is AR Rahman as the music director (IndiaGlitz | Galatta.com).

On the technical side, we have Kamal trying out new things, as usual. This time around, it is the Red camera (IndiaGlitz | Webdunia).

Kamal has been talking about it here and there. Check out other news at Behindwoods (1 | 2), IndiaGlitz and Tamilcinema.com.

[With inputs from Ananth]