Made in Madras

(From left) Karthi, Shanmughapandian, and Richard

Early serving

Get a taste of Karthi’s Biriyani a few days early. “Since we expected Kochadiyaan to release for Pongal, we advanced our film schedule to take advantage of the Xmas holidays,” says director Venkat Prabhu. The film will release on December 20. “It’s the first time that I’ve tried the crime-investigation genre,” adds Prabhu, but he reassures his fans that “like my earlier films this, too, will have a multi-track narrative. Only, they will converge much earlier in the narration.”

New innings

Yet another star kid is donning make-up. It’s none other than Shanmughapandian, actor-politician Vijaykanth’s second son. The film, Sagaptham, is a home production and will be made on a mega budget. While many industry bigwigs sent him messages, the Captain’s
contemporaries like Prabhu and Karthik graced the introduction-meet to personally bless the debutant.

A ‘dark’ return

Richard (aka Rishi to Telugu film goers) has had an on-off tryst with Tamil films. After a fairly long hiatus, former actor Shalini’s brother is back with Ner Edhir. Directed by debutant Jaypradeep, the suspense thriller revolves around five characters. According to the director, the film’s USP is that “it’s been shot totally at night.”

– Malini Mannath