G.V. Prakash for Kuselan?

It is almost certain that young music director G.V. Prakashkumar would do the music for superstar Rajinikanth’s next movie ‘Kuselan’ directed by P. Vasu.

The expectations are shooting up ever since the news on the project started leaking. K. Balachandar, along with the co-producers and the director P. Vasu gave a Pongal treat for the fans by making an official announcement on the movie on the auspicious Pongal day (January 15) at Taj Coramandel, in Chennai.

Rajini, who was eagerly awaited by the media persons, joined the event late in the evening. Pasupathy, who dons an important role, also attended the press meet.

The movie’s title is a fine and sensible selection. Kuselan, in Mahabharatha was a poor man and a dear friend of Krishna, the king. The epic talks at length about their deep friendship. Since the movie is about the friendship between a poor man and a celebrity, the title seems to be quite relevant.

The movie will be jointly produced by Seven Arts Vijayakumar, Kavithalaya K Balachander, Pushpa Kandasamy, and Vaijayanthi Movies Aswin Dutt (Telugu producer).

Rajini and Kamal for Kuselan ?

News about the superstar’s next venture, Kuselan, is catching up like wildfire. And the latest on this front is that the current heartthrob Nayanthara has been approached to play the lady lead for super star. While lead roles are mostly the director’s choice, the entire production unit of Kuselan feels that Nayanthara would be the best bet for their project. Talks are on with the actress, though she is yet to sign the dotted lines; however, it is

expected that she may do so.

As this movie is about an actor, director P. Vasu intends to rope in about 20 actors and actresses for guest appearances. When questioned about this, P.Vasu said, “We have approached twenty stars but their participation will depend on their availability.” As Balachander, the producer of Kuselan is the guru of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan and director P.Vasu is considered to be close to both of them. Will this association pave way for a guest appearance by Kamal in Kuselan? Moreover, the fans are also craving to see both the stars on screen for a long time.

Kuselan, a bilingual, will be made in Tamil and Telugu. Actress Ileana, very popular in Tollywood, was offered the female lead role in the Telugu version initially but she turned it down due to non-availability of call sheet. While Pasupathy has signed up for the Tamil version, Jagapathy Babu has bagged the same role in the Telugu project.

Superstar Rajini + KB + Vasu + GV Prakash :: KUSE(Y)LAN!

Before the excitement of Sivaji and its success could ebb down, announcement about Super Star Rajnikanth's forthcoming projects and the twin bonanza has generated a lot of frenzy among his fans and well wishers across the globe. Though the time taken to complete his grandiose venture Robot with Shankar could be a little longer,

Rajnikanth has ensured to sustain the exhilaration among his fans by featuring in a film to be produced by Kavithalaya and directed by P Vasu.

This film titled Kuselan is based on a Malayalam film Katha Parayumbol which featured Mammooty and Sreenivasan in the lead roles. The Malayalam version dealt deeply the friendship and relationship between a barber and a popular film star. In Kuselan, Rajnikanth will be playing the role of Mammooty and Pasupathy will take on Sreenivasan's character. Inside sources reveal that the name Kuselan is chosen from Hindu mythology where he happens to be Lord Krishna's childhood friend and the latter comes to his rescue when he is in a very bad state of poverty. Looks like the Super Star's Kuselan also will highlight the significance of true friendship. An apt title indeed.

Meena in Kuselan

The cast of Kuselan, the upcoming Rajinikanth film which is a remake of the Malayalam Katha Paryumbol is getting finalized. The pivotal roles will be done by Rajinikanth and Pasupathy and there have been varied rumors regarding the lady leads in the film. Many leading names were discussed but not confirmed. As regards super star’s

Meena

heroine, Nayanthara turned lucky for the third consecutive time and bagged the role.

Now for the role of Pasupathy’s wife, Tabu and Simran were considered but they were not able to give their consent due to their prior commitments. In the original version Meena was the wife of Sreenivasan and the mother of three children. When she was approached to do the same role in Tamil, she has also agreed. While talking to the media, director P Vasu said, “As per Kuselan’s script, Meena’s role is that of a young mother whose children are in the school going age group. Her performance was wonderful in Katha Paryumbol and we were very keen that she does the same role in Tamil too. We are also very sure that Meena is the right choice for this role and thankfully she has also agreed to do the film”

KUSELAN - Rajini & Vasu

Director P. Vasu's next directorial venture starring Rajinikanth has been named "Kuselan". It will be a remake of the Malayalam super-hit "Katha Parayumbol" in which Mamootty and Sreenivasan starred. It was released during Christmas last year and it became an instant success.

The Tamil version will be produced by Kavithalaya, the production house of Rajini's mentor K. Balachander. Panchu Arunachalam will also be associated with the project as co-producer. Vidyasagar will be the music director. Just days after the official announcement of Shankar's what is described as "heavy weight" "Robot" starring Rajini, P. Vasu told media persons about his plans to remake in Tamil the Malayalam blockbuster with Rajini in the lead.

Before the discussions started on the project, Sreenivasan, writer and co-producer of "Katha Parayumbol" had held a special screening of the film for Rajini who was said to have been impressed by the story. It is a sentimental comedy. The story revolves around a deep and abiding friendship between a struggling barber and a reigning superstar who are childhood friends.Mammootty played the superstar and Sreenivasan the barber in the Malayalam film while Rajini will play the lead role and Pasupathy will do the barber character in Tamil.

The title of the Tamil remake "Kuselan" is inspired by the story of how Lord Krishna helped his boyhood friend of the Gurukula days, Sudhama (Kuchela), when he was passing through hard times due to utter poverty. Work on the Tamil project will start soon and the film is expected to be ready for release by August, much ahead of "Robot".

Nayantara pairs with Rajini?

he latest buzz on 'Kuselan' is that the hot and sensational Nayantara might pair up with superstar in 'Kuselan'. Earlier it was said that the unit was in touch with Tabu to play the lead role. Now Nayantara's name is tipped to be the choice of the director.

If the news is confirmed, it would be third consecutive film for Nayantara to act with the superstar. She played the ladylove of Rajini in 'Chandramukhi' and appeared in a song with Rajini in 'Sivaji'. Will she hit a hat trick?

Meanwhile, Simran has told in a recent interview to a Tamil weekly that the negotiations for her participation in 'Kuselan' are still on. So, the question over Simran in 'Kuselan' seems to be far from over.

Who will act in 'Kuselan'? Nayantara or Simran or both? Let us keep our fingers crossed till the official announcement is made.

Kuselan, Rajni’s next

The tile of the quickie that Superstar Rajinikanth would be doing before Shankar’s Robot has been decided. The film, to be directed by P. Vasu, has now been christened Kuselan.

The film is about the friendship between a village barber and his friend, a movie star who comes to that village for shooting. Hence the title Kuselan, who according to Hindu mythology, is the poor friend of Lord Krishna. Rajinikanth plays the movie star while Pasupathi is touted to play the role of the barber.

This will be a remake of the Malayalam flick Katha Parayumbol, which was Mammootty’s X’mas offer in 2007, with Mammootty and Sreenivasan playing the lead roles. Rajinikanth, who watched a special show of the movie in Chennai, was inspired by it and decided to do it in Tamil.

P. Vasu and Rajni joined hands to give the blockbuster Chandrmukhi, which was also a remake of a Malayalam movie. Will they get lucky again? In all likelihood, yes! Furthermore, they will have the super resources of KB’s wisdom to tap into as well. Yes, the ace director’s Kavithalaya Productions will be producing the film.

Simran out of Kuselan

Even before Simran was officially signed by the producers of Kuselan, she
finds herself out of the project! The trouble with Simran is that she tries
to harass those who sign her up with unreasonable demands even before
the shoot of the film starts.
Recently after agreeing to all her demands, choreographer turned
television producer Kala Master did a few episodes of her reality dance
show Maanadu Mayiladu on Kalaignar TV, with Simran as the judge.

But once the dance show became a super hit, Simran changed her colours
and demanded more money and refused to come for the show! The buzz
is that Kala had to dump her and take Namitha, who made the show a
even bigger hit!

Similarly when P.Vasu started talking to her she put forward so many
conditions, that it became impossible to negotiate with her. The latest we
hear is that Simran has signed up with Jaya TV to do a reality dance show!

Casting

Despite from the role of Rajnikanth, Vasu intended to use entirely different casts in either version of the bilingual film. Upon announcement, actors Vadivelu and Nassar were added to the cast of the Tamil version, and yesteryear director S. P. Muthuraman agreed to play a guest role in the film. However the selction of the heroines in the film is still ongoing. Despite Trisha Krishnan's request to appear opposite Rajnikanth, Nayanthara has been approached, and is likely to accept the role, however finding a female lead opposite Pasupathy has been more difficult for the director, with Simran Bagga, Tabu and Sneha all being considered for the role in the Tamil version. It has also been indicated that several prominent Tamil actors, most notably Kamal Haasan, Ajith Kumar, Vijay, Vikram, Arjun, Sathyaraj, Trisha Krishnan and Namitha have been approached to be a part of a song in the project.

In the Telugu version, comedian actors Sunil, Brahmanandam, Tanikella Bharani and Venu Madhav all signed up to play the roles of Jagapati Babu's fellow villagers. Ileana D'Cruz recently turned down an offer to act in the film, citing date problems. Like the Tamil version, it has also been indicated that several prominent Telugu actors, most notably Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun and Ileana D'Cruz have been approached to be a part of a song in the project. Technicians confimed in the two films are G. V. Prakash Kumar who will operate as the music composer, whilst Arvind Krishna will be the cinematographer for the bilingual.

Development

Early in 2008, Rajnikanth signed up for S. Shankar's Robot, making it highly unlikely he would sign up to another film for a couple of years, due to Shankar's tendency to take two years shooting his films. However, in a sudden turn of events, Kuselan was launched at the Taj Coromandel in Chennai on January 14, 2008 coinciding with Pongal.[2] The director, P. Vasu signed up Rajnikanth and Pasupathy to portray the lead roles, while noted director K. Balachandar agreed to produce the Tamil version of the film alongside Seven arts Productions, while Aswani Dutt agreed to produce the film in Telugu with Rajnikanth and Jagapati Babu in the lead roles.[3] The film was announced to be remake of Malayalam film, Katha Parayumbol which was written and starred in by Sreenivasan, whilst Mammooty essayed a guest role in the film.

Kuselan

Kuselan is a forthcoming bilingual drama film to be directed by P. Vasu, who with Kuselan, will direct his fifth feature film with Rajnikanth. Rajnikanth, playing a guest role, is the only only common actor in the bi-lingual which is to be made into Tamil and Telugu respectively. Various other regional actor shave been signed up for the film, with Pasupathy, Vadivelu and Nassar playing roles in the Tamil version, whilst, Jagapati Babu, Sunil and Brahmanandam portray roles in the Telugu version. Whilst, G. V. Prakash Kumar and Arvind Krishna have confirmed their parts as members of the technical crew, the rest remain unselscted, as does the role of the heroine. The film which is expected to be released in July 2008, will be produced by prominent director, K. Balachandar for the Tamil version and Ashwini Dutt for its Telugu version. The film is a remake of the Malayalam claasic, Kadha Parayumbhol.

Kuselan Confirmed

Based on reviews about Katha Parayumbol, the film revolves around the friendship between an actor and a barber. Childhood friends years ago, the film focuses on how the barber's life changes when the actor arrives in his village for a film shoot. Mammootty plays the actor while Srinivasan, who also penned the script, plays the barber and Meena plays the barber's wife. Kuselan will ofcourse have Rajni play the actor with Pasupathy playing the barber. The rest of the cast hasn't been finalized/announced. It seems like an apt title considering the folklore where Kuselan was a poor man who asked for nothing from his rich friend but was given everything. With Kuselan obviously referring to the barber's character, its interesting that Rajni, after Chandramukhi, is once again acting in a film not named after him.

I have absolutely no regard for P.Vasu as a director. While I didn't mind that he foisted a string of maudlin, sentimental movies upon us, his biggest crime, in my opinion, was the massacre of Bharatham, one of the classics of Malayalam cinema and one of my personal favorites. Not content with stripping the film of all its subtleness and emotional impact, he further compounded our misery by casting himself in the role played by Nedumudi Venu, one of the finest character actors Malayalam cinema has seen (he pretty much massacred Manichithrathazhu too but was saved by the fact that he cast Rajni and ended up giving him his career's biggest hit). So a groan was my first reaction when I read that he would once again be directing Rajni in a Malayalam remake. But now that the news is confirmed, I've resigned myself to the fact and have been trying to see something positive in it (its kinda the opposite of the chee indha pazham puLikkum story!).

Along those lines of seeing a silver lining, my first thought was on who else could've been chosen to direct the film and I'll admit to not coming up with too many alternatives. Directors who I would've liked to see Rajni act under, like Murugadoss and Dharani, are out because of this film's sentimental theme. We've had a few directors like Vasanthabalan(Veyyil) and Radhamohan(Mozhi) impress us with sentimental movies recently but they are too new to direct Rajni, who obviously prefers to work with established directors. So the only other director I can think of is K.S.Ravikumar and apart from the fact that he is probably busy with finishing up Dasaavathaaram, he's not particularly good at directing sentiments either. The other scary part is imagining how Vasu will kill the original in the name of modifying it to fit Rajni's image. Vasu has already said that Rajni will have a bigger role than Mammootty had in the original and that the film will have typical Rajni-film elements. This was expected but this doesn't scare me as much this time because of the storyline. The fact that Rajni will play an actor - a superstar actually - will allow songs, fights and other elements to be inserted without much awkwardness. They could always be explained away as being part of a film shooting(Mammootty himself did this in No.20 Madras Mail where he played an actor and so appeared in a variety of get-ups for film shoots)! And finally, there's the fact that Vasu is always known to wrap up his films fast, which means that we will probably see Kuselan hit theaters this year itself. I'm hoping for a Diwali release since its just been too long since we had a thalaivar film for Diwali.