How stars 'Cee' success

IT STRUCK Kollywood with `Minnale'. And now is hopelessly in love with the industry, playing `Majunu' (well, the industry has its own logic with spellings!).

Cee (I) TV, one of the newest banners in Kodambakkam, has created quite a name for itself in this brief while. `Minnale' boosted Maddy after `Ennavalle' had him sagging. Kodambakkam found a new heroine in Reema Sen.

But the biggest find of them all, would be the talented soft- spoken music director - Harris Jeyaraj who is finding his new found status more than demanding in terms of time and effort. The music director has been working with the production company for a couple of years now. Though he started work on `Majunu', it was `Minnale' that hit the screens first.

Now, to the person who has literally been behind the scenes all the while. Dr. J. Murali Manohar, is the man responsible for running the show. Yes, the same person who brought Jackie Chan starrer `Protector', `Bruce Lee - The Legend' and `Godzilla' to India, promoting Metro Film Corporation.

Remember, Rajnikant's brush with Hollywood? `Bloodstone' was co- produced by the same man. And `Jeans'. And `Kadhal Kavithai'... Well, to complete his resume, he also has a hand in launching `Gemini Television'.

Talking of TV channels, Cee (I) TV also launched a Tamil channel in UK (Channel 693) apart from providing content for various other TV channels.

``We have a few more films under production,'' Dr. Murali Manohar tells us. ``Apart from Majunu which will be released shortly, we have `Love You Hamesha', `Arasatchi' and another Hindi film,'' he says.

`Love You Hamesha' stars Akshaye Khanna and Sonali Bhendre, and is directed by Mumbai-based ad film-maker Kailash Surendranath. The songs (A.R.Rahman's scored the music) have been on air on the music channels for quite a while now. If Lara Dutta was seen recently at the cassette release function, that's because she's playing Arjun's sweetheart in `Arasatchi'.

The film is directed by Vallarasu fame Maharajan. But you would have to wait for a while before `Arasatchi' hits the screens. It will be `Majunu's turn first.

``Majunu would be out for a September release,'' sources from Cee (I) TV say. ``It's a love story with a twist. It could happen to anybody in India. There's nothing Superman-ish about the hero,'' a spokesperson says. The film stars Prashanth and Rinke Khanna.

``We would be starting work on `Arasatchi' by end of the month and `Love You Hamesha' will take a little while more because the stars are now busy with their projects.

Just a little bit of dubbing is left,'' is the buzz from the production house.

By Sudhish Kamath

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Activity 2001
Next     : The call of enterprise