Everything That Made News In Entertainment From The South (10 – 16 July)

Here’s a recap of the significant stories in entertainment across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films, and sometimes the odd television series as well.

Written and directed by Madonne Ashwin, the title announcement video of the film gives us a glimpse of a unique action sequence starring Sivakarthikeyan, which ends with a bunch of comic strips narrating the events. The bilingual is titled Maaveeran in Tamil and Mahaveerudu in Telugu.

It is produced by Arun Viswa under the banner Shanti Talkies and has Vidhu Ayyanna handling the camera. Bharath Sankar is the music composer and Philomin Raj is the editor. Though Kiara Advani and Mysskin are said to play prominent roles in the film, the information about the rest of the cast is not made official yet.

Pa Ranjith’s Natchathiram Nagargiradhu is a romantic film based on the theme “Love is political” and traces the story of theatre artists. The makers released a character introduction video with the ensemble cast of Kalaiyarasan, Dushara Vijayan, Kalidas Jayaram, Shabeer Kallarakkal, and others. They all play the members of a theatre group and the video gives us a glimpse of each person’s opinion on love. It presents us with some interesting perspectives like love is pain, love is not straightforward and love has the power to abolish gender.

Natchathiram Nagargiradhu co-stars Hari Krishnan, Vinoth, Subathra Robert, Regin Rose, Damu, Gnanaprasad, Vinsu Rachel Sam, Arjun Prabhakaran, Uthaiya Surya, Stephen Raj, Sherin Celin Mathew, and Manisa Tait. The film has music by Tenma and lyrics by Uma Devi and Arivu. It will be lensed by Kishor Kumar.

Akhil Akkineni and Mammootty join hands for Agent. In the teaser, Mammootty plans to catch a notorious spy played by Akhil, who is regarded as a ruthless patriot. The film is heavy on action and gun sequences.

Surender Reddy is the director of Agent. It is produced by Ramabrahmam Sunkara and co-produced by Ajay Sunkara and Pathi Deepa Reddy under the banners AK Entertainments and Surender 2 Cinema. It is a Hip Hop Thamizha musical and Vakkantham Vamsi has penned the story. Rasool Ellore has handled the camera and Naveen Nooli has edited the film. 

The second teaser of Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam sees Mammootty masterfully enact Sivaji’s popular dialogue from the 1973 Tamil film Gauravam at a local bar. As Mammootty finishes the monologue in a state of inebriation, he is met with an emotional round of applause from his drunken audience. The first teaser of the film, which was released earlier this year, had montages of humans and animals enjoying their sweet afternoon naps.

Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakam is directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by S Hareesh. The film also co-stars Asokan, Ramya Pandian, Thennavan, Prashanth Murali and Kainakary Thankaraj. This movie further marks the reunion of Mammootty and Asokan after 30 years, who were last seen together in the film Amaram in 1991. The film is produced by Mammooty under the banner Mammootty Kampany, in association with Amen Movie Monastery.

A writer files a complaint that the characters he writes are threatening him. As the police dismiss it as weird, all of his writings, which are mostly murder and thriller stories, start to happen in real life. Arulnithi and Madhoo play police officers who try to figure out the mystery. What is the solution to this? Should the writer continue writing or stop it?

Directed by Arvindh Srinivasan, Dejavu releases in theatres on July 22. The cast also includes Achyuth Kumar, Ragav Vijay, Smruthi Venkat, Chetan, Kaali Venkat, and Mime Gopi. The film is produced by Vijay Pandi K and has Ghibran composing the music. PG Muthiah has cranked the camera and Arul E Siddharth has handled the editing. 

Malayankunju is an AR Rahman musical starring Fahadh Faasil in the lead role. In the trailer, Fahadh gets irked by the constant cry of a baby and tries to point the torchlight at the baby to stop it from crying. However, the family files a complaint and he is warned not to insult the family or create any nuisance. Cut to a scene, he is stuck underground and tries to save a baby named Ponni. How did he get stuck? Who is Ponni? These are a few questions the film tries to answer.

Malayankunju is directed by Sajimon Prabhakar and produced by Fazil. Mahesh Narayanan has cranked the camera and Arju Benn has handled the editing. The film stars Fahadh Faasil, Rajisha Vijayan, Indrans, Jaffar Idukki and Deepak Parambol. It releases in theatres on July 22. 

The long delayed film Maha is scheduled to hit the theaatres on July 22. Hansika Motwani and Silambarasan TR play a couple, who belong to different religions. Centered on kids being kidnapped, the film traces the story of the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and how far she will go to save her daughter. Srikanth plays an important role as a cop in this film. 

Maha stars Hansika Motwani, Silambrasan TR, Srikanth, Karunkaran, Thambi Ramaiah and Baby Manasvi. It is directed by UR Jameel and has music by Ghibran. Laxman has done the cinematography and John Abraham has edited the film. 

Naga Chaitanya’s Thank You teaser showed him as a successful but self-centered person, who has a past that completely changed him. Following up on it, the trailer gives us glimpses of how his past included college days, fights, romance, and his days of success and glory. 

Directed by Vikram K Kumar, Thank You also stars Raashi Khanna, Malavika Nair, Avika Gor and Sai Sushanth Reddy. The story was penned by BVS Ravi. The film is produced by Raju and Shirish and co-produced by Harshith Reddy. PC Sreeram is the DOP and Thaman S is the music composer. 

Raghava Lawrence’s next with director P Vasu is Chandramukhi 2, a sequel to the Rajinikanth blockbuster Chandramukhi. The film went on floors on Friday and Raghava Lawrence took to his Twitter to announce the same. He sought the blessings of Rajinikanth before the shooting began. Vadivelu who was part of the first installment will be seen in the sequel as well. 

Interestingly, Raghava Lawrence, Vadivelu, and P Vasu had earlier joined hands for the 2017 horror film Shivalinga. RRR fame MM Keeravani will be scoring the music and RD Rajasekar will handle the camera. 

Kiran Abbavaram plays a cab driver in the film, and Baba Bhaskar plays his sidekick. Kiran falls in love with a girl and what happens next forms the plot of this romantic action entertainer. Kiran Abbavaram, Sanjana Anand and Sonu Thakur make the cast of Nenu Meeku Baaga Kavalsinavaadini. It is directed by Sridhar Gadhe, and the screenplay and dialogues are penned by Kiran Abbavaram. Produced by Kodi Divya Deepthi, the film has music by Manisharma, cinematography by Raj Nalli, and editing by Prawin Pudi.

Gulu Gulu teaser promises a wickedly chaotic comedy riot, along the lines of Saroja and Naanum Rowdy Thaan. It follows the lives of a typical serious villain, a sirippu useless villain, a gang of amusing kidnappers, and a group of friends. The teaser has a dialogue – “When surrounded by jokers, even a fool will look like a wise man”. And this is the very premise of the plot — a gang of misfits unite for a witty project. 

Directed by Meyaadha Maan and Aadai fame Rathna Kumar, Gulu Gulu stars Santhanam, Athulya, Namitha, Pradeep Rawat, Mariyam George, Sai Dheena, ‘Lollu Sabha’ Maaran, ‘Lollu Sabha’ Seshu, TSR, Bipin, Mahanathi Shankar, and others. It is produced by Raj Narayanan and distributed by Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Movies. Vikay Kartik Kannan has handled the camera and Philomin Raj has edited the film.

Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga marks the directorial debut of Gireesaaya in Telugu. He earlier made his debut in Tamil with Adithya Varma, a remake of Arjun Reddy. Ranga Ranga Vaibhavanga was scheduled to release in July, but has been postponed to September 2. This rom-com entertainer has Vaisshnav Tej and Ketika Sharma play the lead roles. 

Devi Sri Prasad has composed the music for the film and Shamdat Sainudeen has handled the cinematography. The film is produced by BVSN Prasad under the banner  Sri Venkateshwara Cine Chitra.

Sathish Kasetty, a National award-winning director, will be helming Mareechika, headlined by Anupama Parameswaran, Regina Cassandra, and Viraj Ashwin. The makers announced the title with a poster that had the wording “Love, Betrayal, Revenge”. The film is produced by One More Hero Media and Lakshmi Bhupala Entertainment. It is an Ilaiyaraaja musical.