54th National Film Awards Photo Gallery

54th National Film Awards Photo Stills

The 54th National Film Awards were awarded by Indian President Pratibha Patil at the Vigyan Bhawan in the Capital on Tuesday after a delay of almost one year. This award was the 54th National Film awards for the year 2006. It was the country’s regional cinema that dominated the ceremony with Priyanandanan bagging the best film award for his Malyalam film Pulijanmam.

Soumitra Chatterjee was named the best actor for Bengali film Podokkhep, while Priyamani was judged best actress for her performance in Tamil film Paruthi Veeran.

The Best Popular award went to Sanjay Dutt starrer Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani were present to receive the award.

Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Dilip Kumar, veteran actress Saroja Devi and Lata Mangeshkar whose award was collected by Adinath Mangeshkar on her behalf.

Filmmaker Tapan Sinha was awarded the Dada Saheb Phalke Award that was collected by Anandya Sinha in his place.

CNN-IBN’s video journalist N Dinesh Rajkumar recieved a national award for Best First Film in the Non-Fiction category.

Video Journalist, CNN-IBN Dinesh Rajkumar say, “With the National Film awards for 2006 done with, we are waiting for the announcement for 2007.

The announcement is expected later this month which will bring the National Film awards up to date. Source: www.ibnlive.com

Google Chrome - New browser for Windows

The new rival to Explorer and Firefox, now available for testing in Windows, makes up in exceptional speed for any minor shortcomings. And it’s got a nice array of features.

Google’s much-anticipated new Web browser, Chrome, arrived today like a shiny new sports car: It’s streamlined, has some great new features and is very, very fast.

Chrome, the most talked-about new tech product since the iPhone, became available shortly before noon as a free download at www.google.com/chrome — for Windows only — in what is officially called a beta test version. But after a short test drive, it promises to be a worthy contender for alpha browser.

Not that it won’t take some getting used to. Unlike the familiar Internet Explorer and Firefox, which put functions such as print and save at the top, Chrome goes for a minimalist look, with controls hidden under the hood. Its overall color scheme — after-Labor Day white with sky-blue trim — is a bit harsh on the eyes.

Not everything worked right out of the showroom. Oddly, several of Google’s own applications, such as Gmail, didn’t function when we took the beta version out for a spin. And although the company said it was working on Mac and Linux versions, no release dates were given.

But Chrome’s shortcomings and unfulfilled promises can be forgiven for one basic reason: This baby flies.

Even on a pedestrian Dell laptop, most pages popped up on the screen almost before the finger left the mouse.

If Explorer and Firefox are the Toyotas of browsers, Chrome is the sporty Mini Cooper.

Downloading the Chrome beta is painless and comes with a nice surprise for Firefox users. Their bookmarks, passwords and browsing history get automatically incorporated into Chrome, ready for use.

Among the Chrome features:

* The standard home page is all about you. It includes links to the sites you visit the most and recently added bookmarks.

* At start-up, you’re given the chance to pick up where you left off — not just on the last page you visited but also on all the screens you had up when you shut down. This is especially handy for folks who have to regularly monitor numerous pages.

* The URL address bar at the top of the page doubles as the Google search field. For example, you could type www.latimes.com in the space to go directly to the site or type “Los Angeles Times” for a search.

It’s a nice, streamlining touch, like the radio controls on the steering wheel.

* Functions such as print and save are hidden under a small pull-down window, thus giving the browser a cleaner look and more room for content.

If you don’t like using the pull-down window, those functions can be reached with a right-click on the mouse.

* Like tinted windows, Chrome allows for privacy while cruising the Web. In its incognito mode, sites are kept off the browsing history list.

* If you don’t want to go to the same designated home page every time you start up, you can create several of them as shortcuts that live on your desktop. Click on one, and the browser opens up and takes you there.

All in all, a nice array of features.

But what’s likely to make Explorer and Firefox especially nervous is Chrome’s exceptional speed, which could leave the older browsers in rush-hour gridlock as it zooms on by.

Even problems can be amusing to discover.
An error page that cropped up in browsing resulted in this message:
“Aw, Snap! Something went wrong while displaying this webpage. To continue, press Reload.”
Who could resist? Source: www.latimes.com

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery - More Stills

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery

After giving an avarage success with Pandi, producer Hitesh Jabak has booked Raghava Lawrence again for his next project. Pandi had Lawrence and Sneha in the lead with Saranya and Nasser playing supporting characters. Now, their new venture together will be directed by Pon Raman, who was an assistant to director KS Ravikumar.

The Nemichand Jabak production house is curiously searching for other artistes and technicians for the film, which is yet to be named.

Raghava Lawrence is now busy with director Shakthi Chidambaram’s production titled Rajathi Raja.

The dancer-turned-actor got tremendous response when he played the lead role in Pandi, which probably made him tie up with Hitesh Jabak again. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Stills
Cast: Ragava Larencce, Mumtaz, Meenakshi, Snigtha, Samiksha, Kamna Jethmalani, Karunaas
Direction: Sakthi Chidambaram
Production: Sakthi Chidambaram
Music: Dheena

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery

While she would be much more comfortable in Mumbai discos and Kolkata chaat shops, Tamil filmmakers seem to think otherwise. A village lass in her first film Karuppuswamy Kuthagaitharar, she seems to be getting many more such roles. Meenakshi is currently busy doing films like Perumaal, Rajathi Raja and TN 07 AL 4777. While she plays a village girl in the former, it’s a modern one (“an extrovert, party-going character”) in the latter.

“I relate more to modern characters and wish that I’m given more such roles,” she says. “While I enjoy village-based characters, I would like to experiment more with urban-based roles.”

Having been cast as a village girl, has she ever visited villages? “My grandparents used to live in a village near Kolkata… I love visiting that place!” The actress has a background in theatre and is sure that the experience would help her perform better in Kollywood. “I’ll surely not do a bikini act but am open to glamour roles,” she adds. A trained Bharatnatyan dancer, Meenakshi feels that she is comfortable with dance numbers too. Ask her if she’s interested in doing item numbers and she grins. “Nothing now,” she smiles, “Probably after I’m an established name in the industry!” Now, that’s quite an item! Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Stills

Cast: Ragava Larencce, Mumtaz, Meenakshi, Snigtha, Samiksha, Kamna Jethmalani, Karunaas
Direction: Sakthi Chidambaram
Production: Sakthi Chidambaram
Music: Dheena

Rajathi Raja Movie Photo Gallery - More Stills

Kanagavel Kakka Movie Photo Gallery

Kanagavel Kakka Movie Photo Gallery

Karan’s subsequent movies ‘Karuppasamy Kuthagaitharar,’ ‘Thee Nagar’ and ‘Kathavarayan’ did good business at the box-office and propelled his career as a hero. At present he is busy working in ‘Kandha,’ ‘Kanagavel Kakka’ and ‘Malayan.’ Karan, who got introduced through the Kamal Hasan-starrer ‘Nammavar,’ says that he got to learn a lot from the veteran actor.

Kanagavel Kakka Movie Photo Stills

Cast: Karan, Haripriya, Kota Srinivasa Rao, Raj Kapoor, Samapthraj,
Direction: Kavin Bala
Production: Saravana R

Simbu gets himself a new look

The photoshoot of Simbu-Varalakshmi’s next film titled Poda Podi was done in Mumbai by Dabboo Ratnani, the famous still photographer who rarely does films in Tamil.

Toni & Guy, the internationally reputed UK-based chain with salons worldwide has given Silambarasan a new look in the film. The film, directed by Vignesh Siva, will be shot in Toronto in a single schedule of 90 days. The movie is said to be a feel-good love story with music by Dharan of Paarijatham fame.

The puja of Poda Podi will be held in September in Chennai. Simbu is trying to avoid the camera these days, even as he tries to hide this new hairstyle by wearing a cap. Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Simbu sings for Ennai Theriyuma

The actor has sung the remix version of ‘Thanni Karuthudichu’ for ‘Ennai Theriyuma’, whose audio launch is on Sunday. Superstar Rajinikanth has been invited to be the chief guest. But will the actor perturbed by Kuselan’s problems, make an appearance is anybody’s guess. ‘Thanni Karuthudichu’, a popular song from ‘Ilamai Oonjalaadhugiradhu’, has been remixed and rendered in both Tamil and Telugu for ‘Ennai Theriyuma’, which launches Mohan Babu’s son Manoj as the hero.

Sneha Ullai and Riya Sen play the heroines of this movie, which has music by Achu. Achu, actually Arun, is the son of popular Malayalam music director C Rajamani.

The music of this movie is said to be a fusion of carnatic and hip hop. This film was made in Telugu as ‘Nenu Meeku Telusa’, directed by Ajay Sastri. In the movie, Manoj is said to play the role of an amnesia patient. With Mohan Babu being a bosom friend of Rajinikanth, it is expected that the Superstar will make it to the audio launch function on Sunday.

But sources close to the Superstar reveal that he is perturbed by the entire controversy shrouding ‘Kuselan’, and may not appear in public to launch the audio. Source: www.newindpress.com