MORE DETAILS ABOUT BABA

Ever since Rajnikanth made the official announcement about Baba there has been almost no other talk in Kodambakkam and rumours are flying about the movie almost every day. Here is some of the latest news about the movie.

The above picture is the artwork for the title of Baba. Manisha Koirala is going to be the heroine. Earlier there had been talk about Aishwarya Rai being picked but she is no longer in the race. The reasons are said to be both non-availability of bulk dates from her and her high salary. It is rumoured that Simran will be the other heroine. A.R.Rahman will score the music with lyrics by Vairamuthu. Prakashraj and Ashish Vidyarthi(who was the villain in the recent hit Dhill) have been selected as the villains.

The 'puja' for Baba is going to be held at 10.30am on March 24 in AVM studios and shooting will start the same day. A huge set is being constructed at Cola grounds in Chennai for the movie. Though the movie was earlier supposed to be released for Diwali, now it is being said that it might be released as early as August 15.

MEETING WITH KARUNANIDHI

Rajnikanth recently started several rumours when he met Kalaignar Karunanidhi at his office. The meeting lasted 20 minutes and both of them said that it was non-political and took place so that Rajnikanth could talk to Karunanidhi about some ideas he has for Baba

HE'S BAAA...AAAACK!

After three long years, Rajnikanth has ended the suspense and finally announced his next movie! There have been several rumours about this ever since Padaiyappa ended but it is now official since he himself has made the announcement. The movie is Baba and will be directed by Suresh Krissna, who has given us three of Rajnikanth's biggest hits - Annamalai, Veera and Baasha.

Announcing the movie on Sunday February 17 in a fax, Rajnikanth said that he himself will pen the story for Baba based on a true story he heard. The movie will also be produced by him and the proceeds will be donated to Sri Raghavendra Educational Trust.

No other details about the movie have been announced at this point. The first choice for heroine is Aishwarya Rai and A.R.Rehman is the pick for music director. But it is assumed that it will be difficult to get dates from them since they are extremely busy and director Suresh Krissna is said to have gone to Bombay to talk to them both. There will most likely be another heroine and Sneha is the front runner for that role.

The movie is likely to be started on Tamil New Years day and will be released on Diwali(November 3). The countdown has begun!

TENALI SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

On May 15, Rajikanth was the special guest at the silver jubilee celebrations of Tenali. The function was also attended by Kamalhassan, K.S.Ravikumar and other personalities of the Tamil cinema industry.

Many personalities who spoke at the function expressed the desire that Rajnikanth and Kamalhassan should act together in a film. Reacting to this wish, Rajnikanth said that even though he was elder to Kamalhassan, Kamal was his senior in the film industry and that he would act with Kamal if Kamal asked him to do so. K.S.Ravikumar also revealed that it was Rajnikanth who had selected the name Tenali for the film.

Speaking last, Rajnikanth said that Kamalhassan had helped him at several points in his life. He mentioned the time in his life when he had been ready to give up everything and run away. But it was Kamal who had adviced him against this. He said that there was no competition between the two of them. His competition was only his earlier movies and similarly, Kamal's competition consisted of his own movies. He said that the two of them had mutually agreed not to release their films on the same day to ensure that there were no problems between their fans.

VOTING

Rajnikanth cast his vote for the TamilNadu State assembly elections at the Stella Maris college election booth around noon on May 10, 2001.

STATE AWARDS

Rajnikanth has won the 1999 Tamil Nadu State award for best actor for his performance in Padaiyappa. Padaiyappa was also adjudged the best movie of the year.
Ramya Krishnan won a special prize for her performance as Neelambari. The awards will be presented by the Chief Minister during a function in January 2001.

FANS' DISAPPOINTMENT

Were you disappointed and sad that there was no Rajnikanth movie this Diwali? You are not alone. Disappointed Rajni fans expressed their sadness about Diwali without a new Rajni movie by printing such unique posters. This one says that "a Diwali without a Rajnikanth movie is no Diwali at all!"

VANITHA WEDDING

Rajnikanth recently attended the wedding of Vanitha, the daughter of Vijayakumar. Here is a picture from the fuction.

STORY, SCREENPLAY - RAJNIKANTH!

Rajnikanth's new role is as story and screenplay writer for a Telugu movie. He is helping out his friend Mohan Babu by providing him with a new story and writing the screenplay for it also. The movie's title, which was also provided by Rajnikanth himself is Rayalaseema Ramanna Choudhary.

Mohan Babu's last association with Rajnikanth was in Peddaraayudu which turned out to be one of the all-time hits in Telugu cinema. Rajnikanth has told Mohan Babu that this movie with also be a big hit. Mohan Babu, whose last few movies have not done too well, hopes that this movie will bring back into contention.

While Mohan Babu wanted Rajnikanth's name to be associated and publicised with the movie, Rajnikanth has graciously told him to put the name 'Arunachala Creations' in the departments where he has contributed. Mohan Babu also wants Rajnikanth to do the role of a very powerful character in the movie but so far, Rajnikanth has said no. Lets hope he decides to play the role himself and offers us another memorable character as in Peddaraayudu

AJITH-SHALINI WEDDING
Rajnikanth, alongwith his wife, attended the wedding reception of Ajithkumar and Shalini on April 24, 2000 in Madras. Here are a couple of pictures from the fuction.

PADMA BHUSHAN

Rajnikanth received the prestigious Padma Bhushan award from the President of India K.R.Narayanan in New Delhi on March 30, 2000.

TENALI POOJAI

Rajnikanth recently attended the inauguration of Kamalhassan's next movie which is titled Tenali. This movie is director K.S.Ravikumar's first own production. Both Muthu and Padaiyappa were directed by K.S.Ravikumar. Rajnikanth and Kamalhassan jointly lighted the huge lamp at the function.

AANDAVAN
An old hindi movie that Rajnikanth acted in is being dubbed in tamil and readied for release as Aandavan. The Hindi original was called Aatank Hi Aatank and also starred Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla.
Information about the story and Rajni's role in the movie will be posted soon.

BULANDI

Bulandi, the hindi version of Nattaamai has been released. Rajni, in a special appearance, plays the same role that he essayed in Peddaraayudu, the telugu version of the movie. He received rave reviews for his role in Peddaraayudu and his performance was considered an important reason for the movie becoming one of the all-time hits in telugu cinema.
Rajni seems to have come up with another superlative performance in Bulandi. Here is a portion of the review for the movie from Rediff.

"But it cannot be dismissed, mainly because of the star cast. Rajinikant, who makes a spectacular special appearance in the film, steals the show. The film perks up as soon as he enters the scene. His mannerisms -- the way he juggles his scarf or throws a cigar in his mouth -- are a treat to watch.
There is a scene where Rajinikant accepts the adulation from the crowd and Anil Kapoor stands near him. One actually tends to forget that Anil is a star in his own right -- so overshadowed is he by the towering presence of Rajini."

THE RAJNI-25 OFFICIAL WEBSITE
The Rajni-25 celebrations have an official website. Its very nicely done and has lots of cool pictures. Its at http://www.rajini25.com/

MORE ON RAJNI-25
The logo for the Rajni-25 celebrations has been decided. It will feature the 'rudraksham', the band he wears and the number 25 itself will be written using film reels. Rajnikanth was reportedly happy with the design and Latha Rajnikanth said that it was designed by children of the Ashram school.

THE LATEST RUMOURS
According to the latest rumours, Rajnikanth is all set to play a double role in his next movie. Aishwarya Rai and Simran will be his heroines.
Watch this space for more details.

RAJNI-25
Rajni fans now have something to look forward to as the new millenium nears. Latha Rajnikanth is arranging a mega-show to celebrate 25 years of Rajni in tamil cinema. The theme of the event is 'Entertainment for a cause' and the proceeds will go towards the 'Ashram School' run by Latha. The events include a film festival of Rajni's movies - selected by the Superstar himself - and an exhibition of wigs, guns and other props used by Rajni in his movies. At the end of the festival a star-studded , public meeting will be held. Latha plans to invite international stars like Jackie Chan too for this extravaganza. Watches with the Rajni-25 logo, posters, coins and other souveneirs will be released to mark the occasion. The whole festival is expected to start on December 12, Rajnikanth's birthday.

RAJNI IN JAPAN
For those skeptics who wanted proof of Rajni's populatiry in Japan, here you go! Here are pictures of a hoarding for Arunachalam, in the midst of the hoardings for the latest Hollywood releases, in Tokyo's equivalent of Times Square.

THE RUMOURS CONTINUE
Rumours continue to make the rounds about Rajnikanth's next movie. According to Aananda Vikatan, the 'puja' for the movie is going to be on Vijayadasami day. The heroine is Aishwarya Rai (The Superstar and the Supermodel. Now that would be something to look forward to, wouldn't it?) The director's choice is either Suresh Krissna and Shankar while the music director would be A.R.Rehman or Deva. According to some other sources, Suresh Krissna already has a script developed according to today's environment and Rajni has also seen it and given it the OK.
Watch this space for more details.

THE RUMOURS HAVE STARTED
Now that the Padaiyappa craze has subsided, speculation has already begun on Rajnikanth's next movie. One of the rumours is that Rajnikanth is going to do a movie for old friend Amitabh Bachan. It is well known that Amitabh is in the doldrums financially and his ABCL, having incurred several losses, was recently declared bankrupt. So Rajni is supposed to have stepped in to rescue his old friend (if you remember, Amitabh played a guest role in Rajni's first Hindi movie, Andhaa Kanoon). So, though he had announced that he would act in only his home productions, Rajni is setting aside that policy to act in a movie for ABCL. Both Shankar and Suresh Krissna have been mentioned as possible directors. Watch this space for more details.

THE ELECTIONS
Rajnikanth has announced that he is not supporting any party in the upcoming elections. In a speech telecast on SUN TV, he said that both Karunanidhi and Moopanar were his good friends and that he greatly respected both of them. He stressed that nobody should use his name or associate his name with any party and those who did would face the consequences.

PADAIYAPPA - A SUPERHIT
Though there never was any doubt about it, Padaiyappa is now officially a superhit. The movie has run for 100 days in 86 theatres throughout TamilNadu. To celebrate the 100th day, Rajnikanth conducted free marriages for 20 couples.

RAJNI'S POPULARITY IN JAPAN
Rajnikanth has proved to be a superstar not just in India but in Japan as well. His blockbuster 'Muthu' ran for 23 weeks at a theater in Tokyo, attracting more than 127,000 viewers and collecting about $1.7 million. Dubbed as "Dancing Maharaja", the Japanese love everything about the feel-good movie - the dancing, the singing, the romance and the sentiments. So far, nearly 500,000 Japanese have paid to see "Muthu," either on the big screen or on video. It premieres on satellite television in June. Yejaman, dubbed as "Dancing Maharaja II", is now a big hit, solidifying Rajni's position as Japan's trendiest heartthrob.

PADAIYAPPAA SONGS
Listen to Padaiyappa's songs here. These are all in Realaudio format suitable to listen as a live stream on a 28.8 kbps connection. To listen to the songs, you need a sound card and RealAudio Player installed on your system. If you do not have RealAudio Player, you can download the free version here.    

Song	Singers	Play
Padaiyappa...	S.P.Balasubramaniam, Chorus
Vetrikodi Kattu...	Sriram, Chorus
Minsaara Poove...	Srinivas, Sriram, Nityasree
Suthi Suthi...	S.P.Balasubramaniam, Harini
Kikku Erudhe...	Mano

PADAIYAPPAA PHOTO ALBUM
Check out the new Padaiyappaa photo album.

'SUYAMWARAM' POOJAI

Rajni, alongwith Kamalhaasan, recently lighted the traditional lamp for the launch of Suyamvaram, a unique venture in tamil. The producers of this movie plan to complete the shooting for this movie in just 24 hours and enter the Guinness Book of World Records! Directors S.A.Chandra Sekar, P.Vasu, R.K.Selvamani, K.S.Ravikumar and Sunder C will be working at different locations to make this possible. The story revolves around an old head of a family who wishes to see his 3 sons and 6 daughters married within the next 24 hours. There will be four songs in the movie scored by four different music directors Ilayaraja, Deva, S.A. Rajkumar and Sirpi. Vijayakanth, Parthiban, Karthik, Arjun, Prabhu Deva and Prashant heroes in the movie while Simran, Ramba, Roja, Devayani, Keeriti Reddy and Kushboo are the heroines. Active efforts are on to get Rajni and Kamal involved too. Shooting begins on the morning of March 24th.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
On Dec 12, 1998 Rajnikanth celebrated his 49th birthday. After being out of town for the last couple of birthdays, he was in Chennai this time for his birthday. There was a huge crowd of fans outside his house right from the morning. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Karunanidhi and TMC leader G.K.Moopanar called Rajnikanth on the phone to wish him while Stalin and some other ministers visited him at home to personally convey their wishes. At AVM studios, where the shooting for Padaiyappaa was taking place, Rajni cut the birthday cake and director K.S.Ravikumar's unit presented him with a rose garland weighing 25kg.

THE PADAIYAPPAA LOGO

NEXT TAMIL PROJECT (News Courtesy:Ananda Vikatan)

Rajnikanth with K.S.Ravikumar

After all the rumours about Rajnikanth's next project, its now official! The movie is Padaiyappaa. The 'Muthu' team is getting together with KSRavikumar behind the camera and ARRehman tuning the music. Soundarya and Ramya Krishnan are the heroines while 'Sivaji' Ganesan is slated to play the role of Rajni's father. According to Rajni himself, Padaiyappaa is another name for Lord Muruga and also means commander-in-chief (Thalapathy). As was the case in Arunachalam, Padayappaa will be produced by Rajni's friends and the revenue from the movie will be used to help deserving but financially deprived students. With KSR busy with the telugu remake of his tamil hit 'Natpukkaaga', Padayappaa is slated for a December start and a 1999 Tamil New Year release. Lets keep our fingers crossed...