The Thilakan saga refuses to die down –  more and more celebrities, reel heroes, cultural heroes and some zeroes are jumping to the fire, some get burned, some come out unscathed. This post covers the controversy as it unfolded and we have made it a sticky post and will be constantly updated. Tell your grand children that you read all about it in VarnaChitram.

1. Here’s a brief history.
2. Thilakan out of Christian brothers and blames Mammootty for that.
3. Thilakan threatens Dharna(sit-in) at Christian Brother’s Shooting location.
4. Goondas Disrupt the shooting of Christian Brothers
5. Thilakan denies involvement.
6. Thilakan recieves a death threat for making a derogatory statements about Mammootty.
7. Thilakan says Mammootty not to blame for his ouster from Christian brothers, says its another superstar.
8. Director B.Unnikrishnan is a mimicry artist!
9. AMMA has delusions that it’s supreme court and serves a Show Cause notice to Thilakan.
10. Thilakan, a lifelong communist, asks CPI(M) to support
11. CPI(M), a party which runs capitalist businesses, says no
12. Thilakan expelled from AMMA and FEFKA.
13. Sukumar Azhikkode parachutes into the controversy.
14. Satyan Antikkad alleges that Azhikkode admitted that he never watched a movie.
15. Azhikkode abuses Mohanlal
16. Mohanlal says Azhikode is hallucinating.
17. Azhikode says Mammootty took 5.5 Cr for acting in Pazhassi Raja
18. Thilakan is planning to create a parallel universe by producing movies with Vinayan and acting in those movies.
19. Dr.Mammootty maintains a dignified silence.
20. Renjith mocks that Azhikode takes 5 lakhs per speech and is jealous of super stars.
21. Punathil Kunjabdullah says Mammootty and Mohanlal are nothing compared to Thilakan who is an international star.
22. People in Kazhakstan say they have never heard of Thilakan
23. A researcher came up with a study on the influence of Megastar Mohanlal on the cultural and historical scenario of the state during the last twenty five years – We are waiting for Thilakan’s and Mr.Azhikode’s comment on that.
24. Innocent suggests that Sukumar Azhikkode should spend rest of his time praying and watching good Malayalam movies.
25. It gets more bizarre, Sukumar Azhikode alleges that Mohanlal snatched  late brother’s property.  He also finds out that Antony Perumbavoor was Mohanlal’s driver.
26. Mohanlal erased Sukumar Azhikode from his mind.
27. Azhikode reads English dictionary: finds Innocent means Idiot.
28. Meanwhile Innocent reveals that he was also chucked out of Christian Brothers. We are stunned and speechless at this revelation.
29. Sify reports that superstars have become closer since this controversy, produces pictures as evidence.
30. Jobless youth attack Thilakan.
31. Mammootty attempts peace.
32. Vellapally Nadesan parachutes in, bit late for the party though.
33. Ambili offers a role for Sukumar Azhikode.
34. Thilakan: I  lost  the Hollywood role due to FEFKA’s efforts.
35. Sukumar Azhikode and Mohanlal to sue each other.
36. Tension inside AMMA: Mammootty accused of one_upmanship. And here’s a neat analysis by Berly.
37. Thilakan comments that Mammootty as uninvited mediator – likens to a joker.
38. Supreme court of AMMA temporarily suspends Thilakan from AMMA.
39. This video clip is awesome.
40. Mohanlal to  act in advertisements for Khadi clothes – that too for free!  Take that Mr.Azhikode.
41. Thilakan out of ‘Hollywood movie’ DAM 999 – as FEFKA threatend to pull out all the technicians from this Hollywood movie.
42. Sukumar Azhikode calls Supreme court justice V.R. Krishna Iyer an old man!
43. Making Mohanlal goodwill Ambassador of Khadi is bigger crime than murder of Gandhiji – Sukumar Azhikkode.
44. Shaji.N.Karun ready to cast Thilakan in his movies if needed.
45. Stink spreads, K.G.George blames star system for his inactivity.
46. Thilakan ready to give explanation to AMMA.
47. Rajat Kapoor replaces Thilakan in Dam 999, the hollywood movie.
48. While everyone is getting weary of this off screen drama, Thilakan submits a 5 page written explanation to AMMA.
49. Thilakan ponders approaching court to sue FEFKA for denying him work.
50. Thilakan’s curse. Dam 999 packs up from Kerala.
51. Thilakan expelled from AMMA – for life!
52. Thilakan accuses Siddique and Edavela Babu of attempting to manhandle him.

Watch this space more updates …

Image courtesy: mathrubhoomi.com

The incredible Mohanlal has done it again. He has completed Bhagavan, directed by Prasanth Mambulli in 17 hours flat and has created a new record. The film is a thriller set in a hospital where terrorist takes over and kidnaps the Home Minister who is undergoing treatment there. Mohanlal plays Dr. Venugopal, who bravely fights back the terrorist using tact and intelligence. The film is just two hours long and an incident that takes place between 9 to 11 AM in the morning. The shooting took place at Allied Ayurvedic and Research hospital at Arthattu near the temple town of Guruvayoor.

Director Prakash was very keen that the film should be shot in 12 hours but due to a cloud formation, the outdoor shoot in the hospital garden was delayed. They started the shoot at 7 AM in the morning, which went up to midnight. Besides Mohanlal the other actors are Lakshmi Gopalasami, Tamil villain Daniel Balaji, Sreenath, Srijit Ravi, Sudish. The camera chief was Lokanathan. Says Prasanth, the director: “We shot with seven cameras and a steady cam camera, one Jimmy Jip, two 40 feet cranes, a mini crane and lights. We canned 64 scenes out of which Mohanlal is there in 57 scenes. There are two songs including the title song in the film. There were nearly 255 strong unit members from light boys to assistant cameramen and associate directors who made it possible.” Added Mohanlal, who did not have even have his lunch as he was busy moving from one set to another set in the hospital location: “It’s incredible that these boys could shoot a full length movie in 17 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the film, which had a great concept.”[read full article here]

Its’ not clear what is the aim here, to have a new Guinness record or to have a good movie. All that matters is if the film does well or not. If the movie flops, no one would even remember that there was movie made in 17 hours. We don’t understand this obsession with making movies in few hours, they could stage a drama instead.  Question – Did they pay Mohanlal the full amount or was it prorated? If it was prorated then this should be a method which Producers assocaition must look into to reduce cost.

We are familiar with the trend of Actors migrating to the lucrative world of cinema from stage. Recently. Mohanlal from his comfortable perch in commercial cinema made forays into theatre by acting in a Sanskrit play named Karnabharam, written and directed by Kavalam Narayana Panikker.

Mohanlal has taken time off his busy shooting schedule in Hyderabad for a fortnight-long rehearsal at Kavalam’s Sopanam Art of Performing Arts, Trivandrum. The actor is busy learning the basic steps under the tutelage of Kavalam and his experts. Mohanlal has already mastered the Sanskrit dialogues made available to him in cassette form.

Though Mohanlal thought Sanskrit would be beyond his grip, learning it did not pose any problem for him. “The language was very kind to me. I have been able to grasp the finer points of the rich language,” he said.

Both director and the actor are excited about the project. Kavalam said he was hopeful of exploiting the full potential in the actor, who has always shown the humility to learn more and work hard in his quest for excellence. He said that the work that Mohanlal put in to learn Kathakali and Kalaripayattu for his previous films would come in good stead for Karnabharam.[Mohanlal's new Obsession]

Mohanlal followed it up with another stage drama – Chayamukhi.

The Malayalam play, ‘Chayamukhi,’ which features actors Mohanlal and Mukesh, will be staged by Kalyan Silks at the Lulu International Convention Centre here on March 12.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Mohanlal described the play as a ‘labour of love.’

“The stage has always attracted me. I wanted to associate with a stage production after I did Kavalam Narayana Panicker’s ‘Karnabharam.’ I found ‘Chayamukhi,’ written by Prasanth Narayanan, interesting and decided to act in it.,” he said.[Chayamukhi to boost theatre]

Mammootty was not far behind. Recently he acted in the stage adaptation of Randamoozham.

The show titled ”Bhemman” was organized by Malayala Manorama, where the actor displayed his ease in stage acting too, in the roles of Bheema, Arjuna, Karna and Yudhishtira. Directed by T K Rajeev Kumar and Pramod Payyanoor, the show also had multimedia projections and backdrops with eight screens via four projectors working in tandem. The deep voice and intense performance of Mammooty supported by 13 other actors in lesser roles definitely moved its creator M T vasudevan Nair deeply. The veteran who discovered the star in Mammooty in the seventies, congratulated the actor for his mesmerizing performance and blessed all his future endeavors.

Mamootty who saluted MT for infusing meaning to every pregnant silence of Mahabharatha through the master work ”Randaamoozham”, was more than happy for his mentor’s whole hearted blessings. Mammootty later said that the offering was a gurudhakshina  for M T , who made him read  serious literature in his childhood. He also stated that MT was a writer who wrote very strong characters for his screen performances.[Mammootty plays Bheeman, charms audience]

If there is a piece of literature we fervently wanted to see on silver screen, it was MT’s Randamoozham. Over the years, we had heard rumors about that novel being made into a movie, but they remained rumours. Probably the logistical challenges and huge budget involved deterred producers from financing it. It could also be that producers were worried about that MT’s exploitation of silences in Mahabharatha may not find success unlike the case of Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha where MT exploited the pregnant pauses. Randamoozham would have been an ideal choice for AMMA, to be made as a movie, to leave an indelible mark in cinematic history, instead of circus vaudeville act known as Twenty-20. But there is limit to what to expect from Dileep-Uday-Sibi team.

We need a revival of theater. These two gentlemen, maybe inadvertently helping that cause. Theater can adopt classics without the expense of cinema as exemplified in the cases above . Also it would give good competition to the current crap being dished out in Malayalam cinema.  With these worthies involved, theater can withstand competition from TV. Isn’t these the stuff Utopian dreams are made of?

Photo courtesy sify.com

The first posters of this movie created a furore among Lal fans in Kerala. Its a tricky situation – whoever is in the middle – the fans in the opposite camp would create trouble. We would like to suggest a way out of this mess. Put Prithviraj’s(conspicuos by his absence in the poster) picture in the middle! But this will give heartburn to Mohanlal fans.

We object to the fact that in a state where majority is women there is no woman on the poster,so in all fairness Nayantara should be at the center and this will calm all fans.

Photo courtesy sify.com