Vijay backs Nelson despite Beast flop

 Thalapathy Vijay has assured director Nelson that he would do a film for him at the earliest. Beast collections have dipped badly and below 50 % of the first two days. Sun Pictures and Vijay who is a personal friend of  Tirupur Subramanian , head of exhibitors body, have asked him to ask movie halls to at least hold the film for one more week in main screens. From Monday onwards, big screens that were allotted to Beast are shifting to KGF 2.

Rajinikanth saw Beast at a private show and the next day he saw KGF 2. Rumours say that the producer of Rajinikanth's next film has said that trade has conveyed a negative rating to the Nelson- Rajini combo. As Annaatthe was only an average hit and Beast a just scraped through film from director Nelson , trade feels that this combo has two minus to start with.

Vijay is said to have taken the stance that he had clearly approved the film screenplay and the failure blame being put on Nelson was not right. He said that misjudging the success of KGF 2 in Tamil Nadu was also another reason and the fault lay with Sun Pictures. Going by previous track record of a lesser Star Karti film Kaaithi pitted against Bigil doing reasonably well, Sun should have postponed the film by a week and this would given Beast a breathing space and away from the direct firing line of KGF euphoria. 

Sun Pictures seemed to have been over confident  and result was that the production house and it's distributor Red Giant are now asking movie halls to retain the film in big screens. Vijay said to his inner circle that though Nelson came with a novel story line, it was he who chose a ` safe' film subject and ended up with mud on his face.

Sources say that Sun Pictures might back Vijay- Nelson project . Nelson after Rajinikanth film and Vijay after the Vamsi- Dil Raju film is expected to reunite. Though Vijay is not known to repeat directors who failed , in this case he feels that Nelson is not the culprit. Sources point out that En Tamizh Magan in which he played a dual role was his brain child and directed by Bharthan but  it flopped. He gave another date for Bharathan and it was Baairava.

Was Bigg Boss Ultimate winner Bala short changed by Disney+ Hotstar ?

'Bala ( Balaji Murugadoss) was declared winner of the Bigg Boss Ultimate reality show and viewers were suprised that he was given a replica of a cheque with amount Rs35 lakhs. The advertised prize money was Rs 50 lakhs to the winner. Why was Rs 15 lakhs deducted ?. Bala and other contestants who signed the contract with Disney Hotstar was informed that the prize money was Rs 50 lakhs and it was subject to prevailing Income Tax rules. ncome tax rule says As per section 194B of the income tax act, all the winnings over and above Rs 10,000 will be subject to a TDS of 30%. With cess and surcharge, the effectual rate will be 31.2%. This TDS is supposed to be deducted by the company or organisation distributing the prize money. Hence Bala was given Rs 35 lakhs. In case of Shruti, another contestant who walked with the brief case of Rs 15 lakhs as she accepted the option to quit, would be getting a lesser amount around Rs 10 lakhs. Those in the know say that prize money's tax component is paid on behalf of the contestant by the company that conducts the show.The practice has been so far that the contestant got the full prize money and as per GST rules prize money does not come ume under the term ` supply'. The contestants signed without reading the fine print and did not ask for the channel to pick up the TDS bill. In earlier seasons too, contestnts who are paid weekly fee as participataion money found GST deducted and some payments were with held as in case of Kasthuri. Even at the finale, Sruthi said that she had yet to get the money. In case where ready to occupy flats are given , the builder advertises the full amount of the completed flat as prize money. The winner has to pick the registration GST charges and TDS deducted amount is considered for the prize value. If the winner can pay the difference amount after the TDS deducted amount and the GST for registration, he/ she gets the advertised flat or ends up with a downgraded model of the flat.

Ishwarya Menon in Valimai villain Karthikeya film

Ishwarya Menon has signed two Telugu films - one opposite Karthikeya who played the baddie in Ajith film Valimai produced by UV creations and another opposite new comer Nikil directed by Gaury under ED Entertainment. She is popular in Tamil after Naan Sirithal opposite Hip hop Thamizha.

Vaaitha marks CPI leader Mahendran's son debut in Kollywood

Produced on behalf of Varaha Swamy Films. the movie 'Vaaitha' is produced by Vinod Kumar. The film is being released by Om Films across Tamil Nadu. One of the leading leaders of the Tamil Nadu Communist Party of India c. Mahendran introduces his son as the protagonist of the famous Mahendran story. He is paired with actress Pauline Jessica. Professor M. Ramasamy has played the lead role with them. R. J. Sethu Murugavel Angaragan has done the cinematography for this film. Lokeswaran has composed the music.producer C. V. Kumar, the producer of the film Q. Vinod Kumar, director Mahivarman, newcomer Pukal Mahendran, songwriter Umadevi, Saranya, a representative of DIPS, which owns the rights to publish the audio of the film, Pauline Jessica, the heroine of the film, Jackie, the art director and Naresh Gunaseelan, the cinematographer were among those present. producer C. V. Kumar, the producer of the film Q. Vinod Kumar, director Mahivarman, newcomer Pukal Mahendran, songwriter Umadevi, Saranya, a representative of DIPS, which owns the rights to publish the audio of the film, Pauline Jessica, the heroine of the film, Jackie, the art director and Naresh Gunaseelan, the cinematographer were among those present.

Is RRR really a Pan Indian film like Baahubali 2 ?

Why did RRR not cross or touch the Baaubali 2 box office figures ?. One reason is that those who saw Baahubali in OTT - TV channels apart from the theatere goers, were all keen to know Why Katappa killed Baahubali ?. This sparked a massive opening in all non Telugu markets and took it to a historic box office record. Baahubali dubbed in many languages was like a curtain raiser for the sequel. For RRR, the track record of director Rajamouli and Baahubali was the only opening card. Another factor was that the postpontment of release dates worked aginst it in many other languages. In Tamil, it did beat Suriya's ET hollow but the first date could have doubled the collection. It was the case in Kerala and Karnataka. The box office in these three States show that the Baahubali 2 still stands tall. In Hindi heartland, the film should have doubled the collections but it did have only a big opening but not the kind of eupheria that was expected at the booking windows. The audience reaction to RRR was more of a wait and watch and not a must see at all costs. Only after the word spread that RRR is a theater experience did box office started lifting up dramatically. RRR banked on US market and postponed the release for this region. Here Baahubali 2 tally is $20 million plus and RRR is $12.65 million. Reason being that audience or the non Telugu movie goers saw it as a big budgeted Telugu film from the makers of Baahubali and nothing more for them to rush and book tickets. Baahubali 1 and 2 were truly seen as a Indian film and not a Telugu film made good. RRR was a Telugu film made good and a paisa vasool. Going by Baahubali 2 experence, Pushpa could be the next real Pan Indian film. KGF 2 does appear to bring in the first part connect but how far it will tug at the viewrs heart has to be seen.

Grandpa Vijaykumat- son Arun Vijay and grandson Arnav Vijay in Oh My Dog

Thalapathy Vijay's Sun TV interview v/s STR Bigg Boss Ultimate Finale

As `Beast' release date ( April 13 ) draws near, Star Vijay is readying for a live telecast of Bigg Boss Ultimate on April 10th and simaltenously have it run on Disney Hotstar to take on Sun TV that is telecasting Vijay interview on same date. Bigg Boss Ultimate Finale will strea on Disney from 6.30 PM in Disney and a few minutes gap the event will telecast on Star Vijay at the same time. STR a confirmed Thala fan has had direct clashes with Vijay at the box office. In 2004 Diwali- Kathal Ayivithuley of STR- Charmi v/s Vijay Bhagwati. Both ran for 100 days but latter was termed a hit. Next was Pongal 2006- Vijay's Aaadh v/s STR's Saravana. STR won.Incidentally both were Telugu remakes. Last direct clash was in November 2012 when Vijay's Thupakki and STR's Poda Podi released. Poda Podi was Vignesh Shivan's ( Nayan's BF) first directorail and Varalaxmi Saratkumar's first heroine film. Thupakki was a block buster. Later during the release of Vaalu, Vijay publicly supported STR in a dispute with te producer. After that STR called Vijay his Anna and TR attended Vijay's film audio launch. Coincidentally, both actors were launched by their father - director and in 1984, both the actors made their debut as child actors. STR was then 6 yrs old. As Vijay is coming with the interview on Sun TV and a first publicised after 10 years for a channel, it will have a captive audience. So far Vijay's film's audio release function would be coming on TV. Promos show Vijay answeing some questions not related to Beast like Why did you come on a cycle to vote when you have four cars at home ? . Why did you stop meeting press in the past few years ? As far as I know the reason being that the press meet that Vijay convened last was to celeberate Velayudtham ( Telugu remake) sucess meet. He gave a one gm coin to all press members who turned up. I was not present and instead my reporter was present. Next day, a group that were down riding Vijay's films on twitter by putting box office figures to show it was a flop got annoyed. Reason being that one of the invitees was a self styled industry tracker who put out figures according to the money he got from the producer. He took money and put out figures to show that Vijay film was a record breaker.Here again, he had a package deal by which he got publicity for the hero in a website that was fairly popular then. Result was that tweets came out that box office figures that came out were bought by Vijay for one gm gold coin and even a photo of the coin was posted. Since then Vijay shut doors to the press ( public meetings, I mean).