Aravind Swami as Major Srinivasan / Aarti is still Jeyam Ravi wife/ Ravi- Kenishaa public apperance

Arvind Swami, an acclaimed actor and director, has left an indelible mark on Tamil and Hindi cinema. The actor’s character poster from Anupam Kher’s directorial Tanvi The Great is unveiled where he will be seen playing the role of Major Srinivasan reports Bollywood Hungama.

Known for his effortless charm and nuanced portrayal, Swami will be seen playing a very important role in the film. The makers earlier announced Iain Glen, Boman Irani and Jackie Shroff joining the cast along with Shubhangi.

Talking about the role Arvind Swami shared, “It was such a pleasure to work with Anupam as a director. This subject is so close to his heart and I am glad that I could play a small part in this project. This is a film about hope, compassion, perseverance and the victory of the human spirit. It has such a talented cast with fantastic performances extracted by a director with great sensitivity and sensibilities. Honoured to have been a part of this.”

Anupam Kher took to his social media to share Arvind’s first look and said, “First time I saw #ArvindSwamy in Roja and I was blown away by the young and dynamic actor’s performance. Then of course I watched him in the film Bombay. And for me, that was the arrival of a unique actor on the Indian film’s horizon. It was much later we did a film- ‘Saat Rang Ke Sapne’ I found the most dependable and trustworthy friend for life.”

Kher continued, “So there was nobody else that came to my mind when I wanted to cast an actor for the role of #MajorSrinivasan for #TanviTheGreat. #MajorSrini as he’s called in the film is powerhouse of strength, courage and bravery. Arvind’s performance made me feel proud. Just like the INDIAN ARMY makes us all feel- SAFE, SECURE and DIGNIFIED. Thank you Swamy ji (as I call him) for your friendship, faith in me and your BRILLIANCE. You are not only a great actor but a great friend too. Your character of #MajorSrini will be remembered for years to come. Jai Hind! #Gratitude.”

Directed by Anupam Kher, with music by Oscar-winner M.M. Keeravani, Tanvi The Great is produced by Anupam Kher Studios and NFDC, in association with Lower Middle Class Corporation. The release date will be announced soon.

 

Aarti, former wife of actor Ravi Mohan ( Jeyam Ravi), continues to retain her relationship status on Instagram. Her bio reads "Married to Jayamravi_official". She has also retained her surname Aarti Ravi. Last year in June Aarti made headlines after she deleted all photos with Ravi and their sons, Aarav and Ayaan.

.Ravi Mohan and Singer Kenishaa, came together to attend the marriage festivities of Producer Ishari Ganesh’s daughter wedding that took place today. Ravi Mohan formerly Jeyam Ravi and his wife Aarti marriage broke up over the former seeing Kenishaa. The duo claimed that they were not a couple in love and that it was a professional one. Kenishaa is a therapist and Mohan is her client was her defense. Talking about link-up reports with Kenishaa, he said, “How did these rumours about this person start? Why should anyone drag a third person unnecessarily into this issue? I plan to start a spiritual healing centre with Kenishaa and we are looking for some suitable location. My divorce has nothing to do with this.”

Ravi shifted to Mumbai and divorce has since taken place. This is the first public appearance by the duo after the divorce. Ravi and Kenishaa wore matching outfits for the wedding. While the actor was seen in a traditional shirt and dhoti, Kenishaa wore  a gold-coloured saree with embroidery on the border.

Kenishaa Francis, a talented Goan singer, actress, and licensed psychologist, has recently been in the spotlight, not only for her musical talent but also due to her rumored relationship with Tamil actor Ravi Mohan. Known for her multilingual singing skills, Kenishaa rose to fame as a finalist on the reality show The Stage. She's also a spiritual healer and therapist, following in the footsteps of her mother, who was an artist and therapist.

Malayalee hearthrob Roma is a Diamond merchant / Mohanlal loses to Chiyaan on OTT

 Malayalam film viewers got an answer to where is Roma who acted in NoteBook, Chocholate ?. She was clicked by a fan at the Airport. She is busy looking after the Diamond business and has mines in Karnataka and South Africa. She is still single and full devoted to her family business. When she made her debut, her father owned a jewelry store in Sowcarpet, a suburb in Chennai which is inhabited by Rajasthan natives who mostly do trade in gold and diamonds. Roma’s parents are Sindhi’s but are from Trichy in Tamil Nadu. She made her debut in the Telugu film Mr. Errababu in 2005. Her first film in Malayalam was Notebook (2006), directed by Rosshan Andrrews. Her second film was July 4 (2007), directed by Joshiy. Her third film Chocolate (2007) which she starred alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran was successful. Vellepam was her last film in 2021. The movie, which is a romcom laced with fantasy, has Akshay play Joseman, who is a Jesus Christ lookalike in the film. Noorin Shereef plays the female lead in the film, which also has Roma, Sreejith Ravi and Leona Lishoy.

 L2 Empuran  released with Chiyaan's Veera Dheera Sooran and both came same day on OTT but different platforms. Empuran lost the viewership to Veera and in JioHotstar it is competing with a B grade Hindi film Meri Husband ki Biwi. Read on 

Mohanlal L2 Empuran failed to beat the debut week viewership of Chiyaan Vikram’s Veera Dheera Sooran, which arrived in the same week.

Veera Dheera Sooran arrived on Prime Video and garnered a viewership of 3.2 million in its debut week. Chiyaan Vikram’s film took second place on the list of the top 5 most viewed films that arrived on OTT this week.

Rated 7 on IMDb, Veera Dheera Sooran stars Chiyaan Vikram along with SJ Suryah. The Tamil period drama earned 42.71 crore in its lifetime in India and ended up being a losing affair at the box office. Meanwhile, Malayalam action biggie L2: Empuraan was also a losing affair despite earning 106.6 crore at the box office!

Mohanlal’s L2: Empuraan, after a roaring box office run, has arrived on the JioHotstar and opened with a decent viewership in the first week. In fact, it garnered 57.8% higher views than the Hindi film Mere Husband Ki Biwi, which is also streaming on the same platform.

Mohanlal’s action biggied managed to garner 3 million views in its debut week, taking the third spot in the list of most-watched streaming originals in India for the week of April 28 – May 4, 2025, estimated based on audience research by Ormax.

Kantara 2 hit by crew member death / Atlee - Allu Arjun to have Bollywood STAR

 Kantara 2 unit faced a third mishap with a unit hand from Kerala being swept away in the river. His body was later recovered by the police team. Though the film unit has yet to report this reports say that On May 6, a 33-year-old junior artiste, MF Kapil from Kerala, drowned in the Souparnika River near Kollur during a break in filming. The incident took place around 3:45 pm while the crew was on lunch. Kapil had gone for a swim but got caught in a strong current and was swept away. Rescue teams from the fire department and local authorities searched the area and recovered his body later that evening.

Kapil was from Moosarithara, Vaikom in Kerala. His body was sent to the Kundapura Government Hospital. A police case has been registered, and investigations are ongoing. The film’s production team has not yet released an official statement. This is not the first issue the production has faced. Last November, a minibus carrying 20 junior artistes overturned in Mudoor, Jadkal, leaving several injured. Earlier, a costly film set was damaged due to unexpected heavy rains and storms.

In January, the crew faced criticism and legal trouble after reportedly assaulting villagers who questioned their use of explosives in a forest area. The forest department also began investigating the team for disturbing the local habitat in Sakleshpur without proper clearance. People on social media believe that this most awaited sequel might be jinxed.

While the filming of Kantara 2 is still in progress, post-production work has already commenced!

The sequel is expected to be a grander spectacle than its predecessor, introducing prequel and mythological elements into the storyline.

The film's high-budget visual effects require significant time investment in VFX, which explains the planned Summer 2025 release date.

"The team is not compromising on post-production and visual effects at all," sources added.

Atlee is hunting for a Bollywood STAR for the Allu Arjun film . Yes, Atlee is back to the dual hero formula that he has in mind and got dropped as no hero was willing to come on board with Salman Khan. At that time Atlee wanted a South Star with Salman and the price that South biggies were asking was too heavy. In fact the risk factor of recovering the investment was very risky. Now it is Atlee or Sun Pictures who has the doubt on running on strength of Pushpa franchise is not known , but a Bollywood STAR is become inevitable.

One reason is that whether the Hindi audience will come in huge numbers to see Allu Arjun without the Pushpa tag ?. For something like Rs 500 cr running on salaries, the banking of Pushpa factor to bring in the initial crowds is seen risky. Mrunal Thakur and Jhanvi are on board. Now which Star is going to join ?. So will Salman come on board for this new project. Remember that Atlee’s storyline for Allu Arjun was not what he told to Salman .

Suriya - Venky film OTT deal closed - Retro 4th Top Grosser

Though Suriya’s upcoming film with R J Balaji OTT rights has not been closed, his  film with Venky Atluri which did not even go on floors yet, but the movie’s digital rights have already closed for a massive price of 85 Cr by Netflix. Venky Atluri’s brand is working big for Suriya’s film, and his previous film, Lucky Baskhar, created a sensation in theaters/OTT and an all-time record viewership on Netflix. With Sir and Lucky Baskhar, Venky Atluri created a big brand in audiences. 

Suriya’s Retro in all probability will be the fourth highest grosser of Kollywood 2025 after a 55% drop on Monday. So far it has overtaken Chiyaan Vikram’s Veera Dheera Sooran to be fifth grosser and will beat Madha Gaja Raja to take the 4^th place. The box office figures are: As per estimates, Retro earned 3.40 crores on day 5, a drop of 56.12% compared to Friday’s 7.75 crores. It’s an alarming sign and the film must maintain a steady pace for a decent week 1 collection.

According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Retro barely pulled in ₹3.38 crore (India nett) on day five. Despite an okay opening of ₹19.25 crore on 1 May, the film crashed the next day—same old story. Suriya’s previous film Kanguva followed the exact same script an initial ₹24 crore opening, followed by a free fall to ₹9.5 crore on day two—a humiliating 60% drop. Retro did even worse, plummeting 61%.

Theaters showed the damage. Day two of Retro saw average occupancy at just 40.23%, with morning shows scraping together 23% and even night shows barely touching 53%. 

Including Monday’s collection, Retro stands at 46.55 crore net at the Indian box office, as per Sacnilk. With this, it has comfortably crossed Chiyaan Vikram’s Veera Dheera Sooran (42.71 crores) to become Kollywood’s 5th highest-grossing film at the Indian box office in 2025.

It will soon surpass Vishal’s Madha Gaja Raja (48.70 crores) to grab the 4th spot on the list. However, it won’t be able to beat Vidaamuyarchi‘s 81.58 crores.

 Kollywood grossers at the Indian box office in 2025 (net collection):

• Good Bad Ugly – 153.43 crores
• Dragon – 102.55 crores
• Vidaamuyarchi – 81.58 crores
• Madha Gaja Raja – 48.70 crores
• Retro – 46.55 crores
• Veera Dheera Sooran – 42.71 crores
• It is reportedly made on a budget of 65 crores. Already, the film has recovered 71.61% of the budget.

 

 

Oppam Hindi - Saif Ali Khan blind and Kalari expert v/s Akshay Kumar

 

• Those who have seen Oppam the Malaylam film directed by Priyadarshan should read this. Others will not understand what is being written here. Report based on  Mid-Day states that Saif Ali Khan will be learning Kalaripayattu for his role in the Hindi remake of the Malayalam film "Oppam". He will be taking a two-month break after finishing Rahul Dholakia's movie to attend workshops on how to play a blind man and then travel to Kerala to train in the martial art. The character in the remake is described as a skilled martial artist who is also blind. 
• We think CVN Kalari in Thiruvanthapuram would be right place for Saif to learn.

Now it seems Priyan in his second innings in Bollywood is going to remake Oppam and of course it is Akshay Kumar and with Saif Ali Khan. Both owe a lot to Priyan as in their earlier career stages , it was he who gave them films. Now you may think that Akshay is doing Mohanlal role and Saif the Samudrakanni role. Saif after declaring that his Adipurush outing was a mistake has decided to correct it by playing Lalettan’s role. Akshay’s film after film as a patriotic guy wants to play Samudrakanni role. Remember Robot 2 0 ? . At first Priyan wanted Samudrakanni itself to act in Hindi but Akshay wanted it.

So you imagine them in the respective roles, Now Saif as blind guy and Akshay as bad guy is fixed. Other regulars of Priyan will fill the other roles. You can let the imagination run riot.

Now the biggest surprise is that Saif is learning Kalaripayattu, Kerala’s martial art. So the blind man is going to use Kalaripayattu to fight bad guys. Oppam’s USP was that Lalettan as blind man and his helplessness in fighting those who want to frame him for murder. But in modern Bollywood, Saif is not going to get any sympathy like Lalettan gets from Mallu audience and so he has to fight his way against his enemies and that includes Akshay.  Imagine physical clash between blind man who is Kalari expert and tough guy. Goosebumps ! Even Saif intro can be in a Kalari class. Finally you wonder if Saif is really blind.

Oppam does not have glam element but can Bollywood go without it. So Priyan would elevate the roles of lady SI and also the caretaker role played by Sona Heiden. Even the role played by Meenakshi of the kid that Lalettan carries on his shoulder could be upgraded to a teen girl and a Loverboy wooing her.

• Music played a big role in Oppam’s suucess. Wonder who is doing it as Priyan usually brings guys from Chennai to do it and that too in his Chennai studio.  M G Sreekumar song a must.Brinda Master choreography is inevitable. Priyan has always said that no one in Bollywood can match Lalettan. So no comparisons here. Difficult to get even actors  to replace  Chemban Jose. We are in for exciting times. So far Priyan has been good at remakes and wishing him all luck.

Suriya 45 v/s Dhruv Bison on Diwali / Trisha not part of Gangsters in Thug Life

 Suriya 45 and Dhruv Vikram are headed for a Deepavali clash, as per trade circles. Dhruv- Nari Selvaraj film Bison has already locked October 17 as release date. Though Retro for Suriya has proved that he has the opening and pull at box office, it did not be his comeback after Ganguva disaster. The R J Balaji film will in all probability do the trick as the Director is apt in bring out the box office potential of an actor. Surya’s last Deepavali release in theatres was 7 AM Arivu and later Sooraraai Pottru on OTT. With no Vijay- Ajith- SK in line, Deepavali would be the best chance for Suriya to take a bash at the box office. Trisha who is part of many box office hits is the leading lady in Balaji- Surya film. From what insiders say the vintage – boy next door Suriya comes to fore in the film.

On her birthday, Trisha Krishnan's elegant first look from Thug Life has been revealed. Fans praised her raw appearance, while she shared inspiring experiences working with Mani Ratnam and Kamal Haasan. The film releases in theatres on June 5. In the poster, we can see Trisha sitting on steps, dressed in a simple white shirt and a flowing red skirt, with a calm and thoughtful expression. Soon after the release, fans couldn't keep calm and lauded the raw look. During the pre-release event, Trisha talked about her character and said, "I am not there in the gangster portions, but I've heard it has come out really well."

The much-anticipated Tamil sports drama Bison Kaalamaadan is all set to hit theatres on October 17, 2025, as the biggest Diwali celebration in Tamil cinema this year. Produced by Applause Entertainment and Neelam Studios and directed by the acclaimed Mari Selvaraj, this gripping tale of guts and glory promises to captivate audiences.

Starring Dhruv Vikram in a transformative role, Bison Kaalamaadan brings together a stellar ensemble cast including Anupama Parameswaran, Director Ameer, Director Lal, Pasupathy and Rajisha Vijayan.

Directed by Mari Selvaraj and produced by Applause Entertainment and Neelam Studios, this film marks another significant milestone in Applause’s journey into Tamil cinema, continuing their commitment to collaborate with top-tier talent and deliver powerful, story-driven films.

 

Nivin Pauly walked out of set to join another / Nakshatra Indrajith Lalanna on MUBI

 Did Nivin Pauly walk away from his commitment to shoot for a film that he had agreed to and that too in the middle of the shoot ?. Producer Listin Stephen sparked a controversy by accusing a major star from the Malayalam film industry of committing a grave mistake. It was during the launch event of Dileep's upcoming film Prince And Family on Friday that Listin levelled the accusations. Without naming the actor, he said, "I've been in the Malayalam film industry for around 15 years and worked on quite a few films. A prominent actor has now ignited the sparks of a major controversy by committing a grave mistake, which should have been avoided. He must be listening to this, so I'm reminding him not to continue with it. If he repeats, it will lead to bigger repercussions."

It is widely speculated on social media that Listin's comments were directed at actor Nivin Pauly for abandoning the shoot of their ongoing film Baby Girl and joining the shoot of Akhil Sathyan's film. The actor is yet to respond to the allegation

Nivin Pauly was once expected to be the next superstar of Mollywood. Many believed he would reach the stature of Mohanlal and Mammootty. However, over time, he seemed to lose his box office appeal. His last commercially successful film was back in 2019, a significant fall from grace. 

Actor Indrajith and Prithviraj Sukumaran's niece Nakshatra Indrajith  portrayal in Lalannas song of the titular character earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards. is now available to stream on MUBI. Written and directed by Megha Ramaswamy, the 34-minute film first premiered in 2022 and has since garnered international attention on the festival circuit. Set over the course of a seemingly ordinary evening, Lalanna’s Song follows two women attending a child’s birthday party. What begins as a routine social gathering descends into a surreal and unsettling psychological experience, triggered by the enigmatic presence of Lalanna, a young girl whose haunting song carries ominous undertones.

Megha Ramaswamy's atmospheric short smoothly melds the everyday with the uncanny to portray women's routine experiences.

Starring Parvathy, Rima Kallingal and Nakshatra Indrajith, LALANNA'S SONG is now streaming on MUBI

Nakshatra Indrajith  portrayal in Lalannas song of the titular character earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards. is now available to stream on MUBI. Written and directed by Megha Ramaswamy, the 34-minute film first premiered in 2022 and has since garnered international attention on the festival circuit. Set over the course of a seemingly ordinary evening, Lalanna’s Song follows two women attending a child’s birthday party. What begins as a routine social gathering descends into a surreal and unsettling psychological experience, triggered by the enigmatic presence of Lalanna, a young girl whose haunting song carries ominous undertones.
Megha Ramaswamy's atmospheric short smoothly melds the everyday with the uncanny to portray women's routine experiences.

Starring Parvathy, Rima Kallingal and Nakshatra Indrajith, LALANNA'S SONG is now streaming on MUBI