A remake of Hindi hit ‘Delhi Belly’, the film is taking shape on a fast track. Director Kannan is shooting the movie without any break and has neared completion, it is learnt.

The film produced by UTV Motion Pictures has Hansika Motwani, and Anjali as the leading ladies. Music is by Thaman.

The director, it is said, has taken the basic idea of the Hindi original and modified the script as per the expectations of the Tamil audience.

Thaman is said to have come out with youthful songs which would strike an instant chord with the young audience.

Kannan who earlier remade ‘Jab We Met’ as ‘Kanden Kadhalai’, says ‘Settai’ will be totally different from his previous ventures.

“This one is a lively entertainer and a laugh riot. Scenes involving Arya, Santhanam and Premji will tickle well the funny bones of the audience,” he says.

Recently, Kannan received the surprise of his life when his mentor Mani Ratnam walked into the sets of ‘Settai’.

The ace director of Indian cinema, it is said, was impressed with the way the film was taking shape and predicted that it would wow the audience.

When Mani Ratnam himself saying so, there can be no stopping for ‘Settai’ from hitting the bull’s eye.

NR Raghunathan has composed the tunes for this film to some profound lyrics of Vairamuthu. GV Prakash has sung a song titled ‘Para Para’, which has already visited music countdowns.

At the audio launch function of Neerparavai, Seenu Ramasamy was confident that Vishnu would get a National Award for his performance in this movie. Udhayanidhi Stalin and his Red Giant Movies are bankrolling this film, which is expected to be a realistic and emotional tale.

Neerparavai has joined the Deepavali race and is slated to release on November 13 for the festival of lights. With Red Giant Movies’ prior expertise in marketing and releasing movies in a grand manner, Neerparavai is in safe hands. And with a competent cast and an award winning director, the signs appear promising indeed.

And it is doubly so for ‘Alex Pandian’, since it is the name of a popular character played by Superstar Rajinikanth in ‘Moondru Mugam’.

‘Alex Pandian’, directed by ‘commercial specialist’ Suraj, features Anushka Shetty in the female lead role, while Santhanam plays a pivotal supporting character. Devi Sri Prasad composes the music.

The film will be released simultaneously in Telugu as ‘Bad Boy’. Interestingly, this will also be Karthi’s first film to be released with a dubbed version in Malayalam.

Says the director, “Both Karthi and Anushka are known for their dedication and they have proved it once again in Alex Pandian.”

Elaborating, he says, “They shot for a risky fight sequence on a running train. The highlight of the scene was both the actors jumping into a river from the rooftop of the train.”

As per the story, Karthi and Anushka are travelling on a train and they are chased with vehicles and helicopter by Suman and Milind Soman.

“Though Karthi and Anushka were insisted to use body doubles, they dismissed the idea and performed on their own. The scene was choreographed by Ganesh and was shot by Saravanan. Rs two crore was spent on it.”

With this narration aptly explaining how ‘Alex Pandian’, produced by K E Gnanavelraja’s Studio Green, is going to be, should we say more and more?

The story revolves around five students who take revenge against their teacher. The problems which follow are the main film, we hear.

Kalla Thuppakki is having a solo release this weekend, after the makers of Thuppakki decided to push their release date to November 13th.

Produced by J Anbazhagan of Anbu Pictures, the film is ready for release. It has music by Yuvan Shankar Raja and the audio launch was held in Canada recently.

The movie features ‘Jayam’ Ravi in two different get-ups, it is learnt, and one of the two looks is expected to give a surprise to the audience.

Talking about the film, ‘Jayam’ Ravi says, “I am a great fan of Ameer and watched all his films. I am happy to do the lead role in Aadhi Bhagavan which I expect to be a milestone in my career.”

He adds: “We all have worked very hard for the movie, under the captainship of Ameer. He has shaped up Aadhi Bhagavan as a racy entertainer with a difference.”

Ameer, on throwing light on how he teamed up with Ravi, says, “Ravi and I were talking about doing a movie for nearly two years. That’s how Aadhi Bhagavan took off.”

“This is a city-based subject, and Ravi, Neetu Chandra and others have given their best. I am sure the audience will like the movie,” Ameer adds.

The film has been shot in several locations, including Rajasthan, Goa and Thailand.

Says its producer Anbazhagan, “Ameer came out with a stunning script and he has now made it into a gripping movie. Film-buffs are in for a treat once Aadhi Bhagavan hits the screens.”

In such movies with unusual premises, it is necessary that convincing visual effects are in place so as to optimize the viewing experience. VFX of the movie has been supervised by Srinivas Mohan under whose guidance the crew went to the US for special facial scanning. Given Anand’s oeuvre it’s expected that the movie will portray the case of conjoined twins convincingly. Besides, since Maattrraan is also the first Indian film to use the performance capture technology so the odds are for it.

Nothing about the plot other than the fact the movie is an action thriller is ever revealed to the media. Anand has been successful in keeping the story under the wraps so speculations about the movie having been inspired by the Hollywood flick Stuck on You will have to wait until it’s actually released. The movie has an interesting mix of actors including Kajal Aggarwal, Vivek, Sachin Khedeker, Tara and the contemporary dancer and star Isha Shervani in a cameo role.

Maattrraan went on floors mid last year and has travelled all over the word including all over India (especially Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat), the Balkan region, Latvia, United States and Norway. Said to be Suriya’s biggest release, Maattrraan is simultaneously being released in Telugu in a dubbed version titled Brothers. Karthi has been roped in to dub for the brother character in the Telugu version as he is fluent in the language.

Harris Jayaraj’s has tuned Maattrraan’s five songs with Sony Music owning the rights of the audio. Maattrraan’s songs are penned by Na. Muthukumar, Madhan Karky, Pa. Vijay, Thamarai and Viveka. The audio release was held in Singapore and the audio was subsequently well received. Produced by AGS Entertainment and distributed by Eros International and Gemini Film Circuit, Maattrraan is releasing this weekend amidst huge expectations.

As is customary with other Sasikumar movies, Sundarapandian also has many lesser known actors other than the actor – director himself. The film’s female lead, Lakshmi Menon, is from Kerala and is debuting in Tamil with Sundarapandian. Other than her, the film also stars Vijay Sethupathi, Appu Kutty, Inego, Suri, Thennavan, ‘Aadukalam’ Narain and Sujatha.

Sundarapandian’s audio was released recently and has five songs. The film’s score is composed by music director NR Raghunathan, whose earlier credits include the National Award winning Thenmerku Paruvakaatru. According to Sasikumar, the movie “is a love story with all the elements to invade the box office.” Sasikumar also promised to have a different role in the movie as a love-struck youngster other than the usual angry young man roles he is known to play so far.

Produced under the Company Productions banner, Sundarapandian is releasing this weekend all over. Like Sasikumar’s other movies, this one is also expected to provide enough discussion fodder for critics and fans alike.

MPM is about what happens in a coffee shop between 6.30 to 8.30 pm and is expected to be a different take on romance. The director and writer of MPM is Narayanan Nagendra Rao, one of Mysskin`s favourite assistants.

The cast list comprises Aari and Shubha Phutela in the lead roles, with Subbu Panchu, Sivaji and Balaji in supporting roles. It has been censored with a clean U certificate.

Mayuri Sekar produces the film with cinematography by Gopi Amarnath. With fans on a heavy action diet in the past weeks with Billa 2 and The Dark Knight, MPM is expected to present a stark contrast in the form of a breezy romance.

Strangely other than Ajith, all the actors playing their lead roles will make their debut in Tamil roles. Parvathy Omanakuttan,who was crowned Miss India World in 2008, is making her feature film debut with Billa 2 and the Arab – Brazilian model Bruna is also playing an important character opposite villain Vidyut Jamwal in the movie. Written and directed by Chakri Toleti, Billa 2 was earlier supposed to have been directed by Vishnuvardhan who was replaced by Chakri.

Extensively shot in South India (Goa, Hyderabad) and Georgia, Billa 2 took about 6 months to complete from its commencement in July 2011. Although the movie was completed in December 2011, there were still post production works pending that extended the release date by another six months. The movie is also one of the first Indian movies to be shot using RED EPIC camera.

Billa 2′s soundtrack is composed by the Ajith regular Yuvan Shankar Raja. The songs were released on Ajith’s birthday, May 1, and immediately climbed the charts as soon as they were released. The six song album is distributed by Sony Music, the music label bought the rights at never before price, and has Billa’s theme music. RD Rajasekhar handles Billa’s cinematography and Suresh Urs is the editor.

Releasing this weekend to unprecedented anticipation levels set by Ajith fans and general movie going public, Billa 2 is also being released in Telugu as a dubbed version, David Billa.

Starring: Ajith Kumar, Parvathy Omanakuttan, Bruna Abdullah, Vidyut Jamwal, Sudhanshu Pandey
Direction: Chakri Toleti
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Production: Suresh Balaje, George Pius, Sunir Khetrapal

Touted to be a fantasy, the movie is made at a budget of about 25 crores and will have extensive CGI and VFX visuals. Owing to the use of advanced and expensive technologies, the movie has been in production since 2010. The only other detail available about the movie is that Sudeep is said to play a negative role.

The movie has limited publicity in Tamil although it’s being widely promoted in Andhra. Naan Ee is produced by PVP cinemas. A dubbed Malayalam version is also planned as Eecha and is being released this weekend as well. M M Keeravani scores for the movie.

Starring: Nani, Samantha, Sudeep
Direction: S S Rajamouli
Music: Maragatha Mani
Production: PVP Cinemas