Everything That Made News In Entertainment From The South (20th – 26th December)

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 Gopi Ganesh Pattabhi, Godse is an upcoming Telugu action-thriller film, starring Satya Dev and Aishwarya Lekshmi in the lead roles. He will play a vigilante who uses ‘Godse’ as his name and fights against powers that be. The cinematographer is Suresh S and the film is also editor Sagar Undagandla’s debut. Sunil Kashyap is roped in as the music composer.

An action packed teaser of the upcoming Tamil film, Yaanai, shows Arun Vijay in a fierce role. He fights and challenges his opponents while protecting an idol of Lord Ganesh. Priya Bhavani Shankar will also be seen along with Samuthirakani, Yogi Babu, Ammu Abirami, KGF Ramachandra Raju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Aadukalam Jayapalan, Imman Annachi, Rajesh, Aishwarya, Bose Venkat, Sanjeev and Pugazh. The film is directed by Hari with music composed by G.V.Prakash Kumar.  

The trailer for Radhe Shyam, directed by Radha Krishna Kumar was released at an event in Hyderabad with huge fanfare. Starring Prabhas and Pooja Hegde, the film is a love story that is set in Europe. Visuals of a sinking ship and a catastrophic earthquake show that the film could be tragic. Produced under the banner of UV Creations, Radhe Shyam will release in seven languages – Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Chinese and Japanese – indicating pan-world intentions, on January 14, 2022.

The trailer of Malayankunju, set to A.R. Rahman’s tune introduces Fahadh Faasil as Anikuttan, whose emotional range goes from angry to irate – whether it’s a baby’s cry to nosy neighbours. The film marks Sajimon Prabhakar’s debut as a director, also starring Rajisha Vijayan, Indrans, Jaffer Idukki and Deepak Parambol. Screenplay and cinematography is handled by Mahesh Narayanan and is produced by Fazil. 

The actor released a trailer for the upcoming cop drama, Salute, while announcing that the film will hit the theatres on January 14, 2022. His character, Aravind Karunakaran, is seen chasing a case from many years back. The film is directed by Rosshan Andrrews and also stars Diana Penty, Manoj K. Jayan, Saniya Iyappan, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Saikumar and Ganapathi S Poduval. The film is produced by Dulquer Salmaan himself under the banner of Wayfarer Films. 

My Dear Bootham, directed by N Ragavan, is a film about a young boy and a genie who only he can see. The trailer introduces Prabhu Deva as the genie who helps with everything from homework to flying into the clouds. Music for the film is composed by D. Imman, cinematography is handled by U.K. Senthil Kumar and San Lokesh is the editor.

Makers of Veeramae Vaagai Soodum released an action packed trailer this week introducing Vishal as a common man who takes justice into his hands. A theme music, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja titled ‘Rise Of A Common Man’ also released this week. The film also stars Dimple Hayathi and Yogi Babu, directed by Thu.Pa.Saravanan. Kavin Raj is the cinematographer and the editor is N.B. Srikanth. It is produced by the actor Vishal himself under the banner of Vishal Film Factory. It is set to release on January 26, 2022.

Naaradhan, starring Tovino Thomas, Anna Ben, Indrans, Renji Panicker, Sharaf U Dheen, Rajesh Madhavan and Navas Vallikkunnu, is a newsroom drama. Tovino Thomas is a leading anchor who is struggling to find his mojo as others prey on his position. The film is directed by Aashiq Abu, shot by Jaffer Zadique, edited by Saiju Sreedharan and produced by Santhosh Kuruvila, Rima Kallingal and  Aashiq Abu. It will be released on January 27, 2022.

Senapathi, directed by Pavan Sadineni marks the OTT debut of the veteran actor, Rajendra Prasad. In a burra-katha like narration, the teaser introduces the world that the crime thriller is set in. The film also stars Naresh Agastya, Gnaneswari Kandregula, Harshavardhan, Josh Ravi, Jeevan Kumar and Rakendu Mouli. It is produced by Sushmita Konidela and Vishnu Prasad under the banner of Gold Box Entertainment. Senapathi will begin streaming on Aha on December 31, 2021.

Amal Neerad directorial, Bheeshma Parvam, is set to release in theatres on February 24, 2022. The film is a gangster drama starring Mammootty, Sreenath Bhasi, Shine Tom Chacko, Soubin Shahir, Farhaan Fazil, Dileesh Pothan, Jinu Joseph and KPAC Lalitha. It is produced by the director himself under the banner of Amal Neerad Productions and distributed by Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films. 

Choreographer Brinda is making her directorial debut with a romantic comedy film, Hey Sinamika, starring Dulquer Salmaan. A first look poster showed many vibrant and cool avatars of the actor’s character, Yaazhan. The film also stars Kajal Aggarwal and Aditi Rai Hydari. Music for the film is composed by Govind Vasantha. It is produced under the banner of Jio Studios, Global One Studios and Viacom18 Studios and will be released in theatres on February 25. 

After fighting it out for the festival release dates during Sankranti, makers of Bheemla Nayak have postponed their release date to February 25, 2022. The starring Pawan Kalyan and Rana Daggubati was initially slated for a release on January 12, 2022, only five days after the release of S.S.Rajamouli’s RRR (January 7) and in the same week as Prabhas’s Radhe Shyam (January 14). Anil Ravipudi’s F3, starring Venkatesh Daggubati, has now been postponed to April 29, 2022 to avoid any clash.

Writer-director Venky Atluri’s next is a bi-lingual film starring Dhanush in the lead role. The film is titled Sir in Telugu and Vaathi in Tamil. It is expected to be a social drama film. This will mark Dhanush’s first direct Telugu release as well. Produced by Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya under the banner of Sithara Entertainments along with Fortune Four Cinemas, music is composed by G.V. Prakash Kumar. 

Directed by Sathyasiva, starring M Sasikumar, the film is titled Common Man. Makers released a gritty video showing the actor in a studio where he is recording foley sound for a butchering scene. “The most important thing in life is family,” says the video as it introduces the actor as a common man. Music is composed by Ghibran, cinematographer is Raja Bhattacharjee and edited by Srikanth N B. The film is produced by T. D. Rajha and D. R. Sanjay Kumar under the banner of Chendur Film International.

Thalaikoothal is written and directed by Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan, starring Samuthirakani, Kathir and Vasundhara in the lead roles. The film commenced shooting this week. It is produced by S. Sashikanth under the banner of YNOT Studios.

S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR is a fictional tale about two revolutionaries – Alluri Sitaramaraju and Komaram Bheem. The makers have released a song about the latter, titled ‘Komuram Bheemudo.’ M.M. Keeravani has composed the music which his son, Kaala Bhairava has sung. The lyrics are penned by Suddala Ashok Teja. The film stars NTR, Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn, Alia Bhatt, Olivia Morris, Samuthirakani, Alison Doody and Ray Stevenson.