Thuppakki

Trisha and Rana’s alleged love affair:

A few months back the industry was abuzz with Trisha’s growing “closeness” with actor Rana Dagubatti. With their passionate photo shoot for a popular south entertainment magazine the rumour mills continued to trundle even faster. Though both of them rubbished all of this calling them mere rumours and terming each other as a good friend, the weeklies had their own stories to print.

While a Tamil weekly carried a special story of Trisha’s alleged marriage with Rana, the Telugu press reported that the duo got engaged at a secret and simple ceremony attended only by relatives and friends of both families.

There were also reports that said that Rana’s family were against the idea of him entering into wed lock with an actress.

The speculations came to an end when a miffed Trisha averred that her relationship with Rana was nothing more than friendship, during one her media interactions. Rana on his part reiterated the same and urged the media to show restraint.

Filming of Shwetha Menon’s pregnancy and childbirth:

In an unprecedented move, actress Shwetha Menon and her husband Sreevalsan Menon agreed to film Shwetha’s pregnancy and child birth for her film with director Blessy titled Kalimannu.

The movie crew consisting of director Blessy and cinematographer Jibu Jacob filmed the delivery using three cameras at a hospital in the suburbs of Mumbai.

Controversy erupted almost a month after the delivery when the actress arrived at the state film awards ceremony to receive the best actress award with her new born.

It spurred criticism from all quarters with most of them terming the filming of child birth an immoral act and commercial exploitation of a woman’s private moments.

An unfazed Shwetha menon said that she did not find it immoral and that she was a woman who had the right to do whatever she wished. Blessy on his part asked his critics to watch the film and asserted that he didn’t need the scene for his movie’s success.

Their response though did not stop the detractors from commenting. While the Assembly Speaker was of the opinion that the film should not be screened with the delivery sequences, a leading cultural activist said that a child’s right starts at its foetal stage and no one should deny that right.

Despite all the criticisms and controversies surrounding the film, the film’s makers are still confident of releasing the film in August, 2013.

Thuppakki:

Vijay’s Thuppakki hit the headlines for more reasons than one and has been the talk of the town before and after release. The A R Murugadoss directorial which has become one of the highest grossers of this year was caught up in a title feud with a lesser known film, Kalla Thuppakki.

The makers of Kalla Thuppaki filed a complaint against Thuppakki claiming that the they had registered the title first and the makers of the latter had acquired it using the influence of Vijay’s father S A Chandrasekhar who is the president of the producer’s council.

While the case in court showed no signs of abating, the makers were said to be toying with the idea of renaming the film with titles such as Saravedi or Thalaiva.

But eventually the row came to an end, when the producers of Kalla Thuppakki withdrew their case.

Kataari Veera Soora Sundarangi (KVSS)

It all started when producer K Manju appealed to the Karnataka film Chamber of Commerce to make an arrangement for his film Godfather starring Upendra to be released before the other two Upendra films(including producer Muniratna’s KVSS) that were about to release at that time.

Muniratna, who refused to succumb to any pressure decided to release the film on the scheduled date. Karnataka film Chamber of Commerce intervened and made a truce between the two, according to which, the producer who gets the film censored first would get a chance to release the film.

Meanwhile producer Manju interrupted a promotional show on a TV channel and insisted that, Upendra should not promote KVSS if his film is not released first, this irked producer Muniratna, and he backed out of the truce.

The tussle between the two producers finally ended, when the distributor of Godfather, Prasad, asked Manju to postpone the release and not to create a ruckus which would cost the film at the box-office because of bad-publicity.

Post release the film attracted another controversy owing to some of the controversial scenes and dialogues in the film.

The seers as well as the pro Hindu organisations like Sri Rama Sena headed by Pramod Muthalik and Bajarang Dal threatened to hold a state wide protest if some objectionable sequences were not deleted, but producer Munirathna was hesitant to give in to their demands.

However, Munirathna had to surrender when the activists stopped the screening in Cinemas theatres in Mangalore and tore down the cut outs and posters near the theatre.

A special screening was organised for the seers after the recommended cuts were incorporated and Upendra also apologised for any derogatory remarks about any community. With the controversies regarding the film finally settled, it amassed ticket sales becoming one of the hits in Sandalwood this year.

Srikanth’s Devaraya film’s sleazy sequences

Srikanth’s so called socio fantasy flick Devaraya landed in big trouble a few days before its release. Narayana Swamy Royal, President of an oragnisation called Kapu Nadu in Andhra alleged that the movie and songs showed the much revered King Krishnadevaraya in bad light.

He urged the makers to remove the sleazy scenes and songs that the organisation believed made a mockery of the adept ruler, and said that they would burn the reels if the movie was released without removing the demeaning sequences.

The movie was censored with a U/A certificate, after the makers agreed to incorporate the 14 cuts that included some of the condemned sequences, and was released on December 7.

Thaandavam controversy, Ameer’s Resignation:

Controversy’s favourite child director Ameer Sultan did not shy away from courting controversies this year too.

The very vocal actor-director assumed the president’s chair in Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) this year. He is also the general secretary in the Tamil Nadu Film Directors Association (TANTIS).

A few months back, director Radha Mohan’s assistant Ponnusamy accused the Thaandavam team of plagiarising the script he had narrated to UTV Dhananjayan at a private sitting. Director Ameer tried to settle the issue out-of-court, but a fraction of the members of the director’s union accused Ameer of mishandling the issue that led to an unjust outcome for Assistant director Ponnusamy.

An upset Ameer put down his papers. Ameer said that a few persons including some Committee members of the director’s council had been making false allegations against him and under the guise of rebuking him they were criticising the functioning of the entire administration of the Council. He further indicated that he was resigning from the post of secretary (that he held in the Directors Union) in order to save the union from further disgrace.

Ban imposed on Prithviraj:

In a strange twist of events, the Producers Association of Mollywood decided to introduce a ban on acclaimed actor Prithviraj Sukumaran from acting in any new films in Malayalam. This was in effect of the complaint from producer Palakkottil Murali, who was making a movie with Prithviraj titled Raghupathy Raghava Rajaram.

According to reports, the filming of Raghupathi Raghava Rajaram, an action film directed by Shaji Kailas started two years ago but was shelved when differences of opinion crept between the makers and the crew.

Now that the director has rewritten the script, the producer wants Prithvi to complete the film before moving on to other projects. The producers’ association has also insisted that none of the members should start any new project with the actor before he completes Palakkottil Murali’s film.

The actor, who has shifted shop to Mumbai, is yet to respond to this.

Prem Adda

Director Prem’s second flick as hero, Prem Adda was also mired by a number of controversies.

Firstly, producer B K Srinivas had raised an objection about the title of the film. Prem who had registered the title, Adda, under his banner did not renew the title. Hence the title was given away to producer B K Srinivas. Despite that Prem went ahead and announced the film. B K Srinivas objected to it and Prem renamed the film as Prem Adda. Srinivas went a step ahead and said it was wrong to keep the title as he had already registered a similar name and it may affect his film in the future. KFCC tried to intervene but Srinivas who refused to budge, filed a case against the makers and KFCC.

Later Srinivas and Prem were said to have arrived at a consensus and Srinivas decided to let go of the title. Srinivas also said that he will withdraw the case and will start his film, Adda, after Prem Adda is erased from the minds of people.

The second controversy surrounding the film was because of the song “Melukote Hudugi Oblu…” which created ripples among the people of Melukote. They protested against Prem and the film for showing their town and the girls of the city in bad light. After a series of protests, Prem changed the song’s lyrics from Melukote to Elukote.

Actress Nayana slapping director Rishi at Kotlallappo Kai Press Meet

Actress Nayana Krishna slapped director Rishi at the press meet of Kotlallappo Kai, for not returning the money she had invested in the film.

The actress barged in to hall with her relatives and demanded Rishi to pay her back immediately. Nayana also produced an audio recording in which Rishi allegedly cusses her. And, when Rishi tried to walk out of the press meet, the actress slapped the director with her slippers and her relatives beat Rishi black and blue.

Rishi tried to flee from the scene only to be caught by women outside the conference hall. Later, Upparapet Police arrived and escorted Rishi away from the spot.

CCL Finals Controversy

The final of CCl witnessed a feisty combat between perceived rivals Chennai Rhinos and Karnataka Bulldozers. The Chennai team which was on the verge of losing the game won it by beating Karnataka Bulldozers in the last ball of the match.

Karnataka Bulldozers cried foul and were seen making hand gestures and faces at the winning Chennai team. Though the captain of Chennai Rhinos, Vishal, said that all issues and differences-of-opinion had been sorted out and were friends now, the discontent on the faces of the opposing team said it all.

It also became the hot topic of discussion on all the local news channels in Karnataka and actors and supporters of the Karnataka team were seen condemning the Chennai Rhinos.

Though Vishal repeatedly said that all was well between the two teams, fans weren’t convinced. In an attempt to right all wrongs and make his stand clear Vishal hugged Sudeep at the recent press meet of CCl that was held to introduce two new teams.