6th Dubai film festival from 9th to 16th

6th Dubai film festival from 9th to 16thThree category1.Muhr Arab awards2. Muhr asia Africa awards – Yogi participating in this category feature film segment3. out of competition1. MUHR ASIAAFRICA AWARDSThe 2009 edition of DIFF will continue to present the Muhr AsiaAfrica Awards in three different categories (A) feature films, (B) short films and (C) documentary films.2. ELIGIBILITY FOR SELECTIONA- General EligibilityUnless a special waiver is granted by DIFF:a) Films must have been produced after September 1, 2008.b) Films must not have been screened in the Gulf region for any audiences before DIFF. With exceptions for films that have participated in the second edition of the Gulf Film Festival (“GFF”), films from outside of the Gulf region must be Gulf premieres and films from the Gulf region must be UAE premieres.c) Until the end of DIFF, films must not have been broadcasted and/or made available on television, the internet, mobile phones and/or any other public viewing platform now known or thereafter devised.d) Films must be directed by a filmmaker of AsianAfrican Nationality or Origin as defined in the attached Appendix 1.e) The subject and storyline of the film should be centered on the Asian or African world, Asian or African history and/or Asian or African culture.f) Films that have been submitted to earlier editions of DIFF will not be considered.In the event that a film is not selected by DIFF for the Muhr AsiaAfrica Awards, DIFF reserves the right to select the said film for any of DIFF’s Out of Competition sections.B- Eligibility by CategoryFeature Films: Films must be a work of fiction that equals or exceeds 60 minutes in length. For this category DIFF will only select 10 to 15 films.3. SELECTION COMMITTEE & JURYSelection Committee: DIFF will solely appoint a selection committee to review submitted feature, documentary and short films. The committee will decide on the official selection to enter the three categories of the DIFF Muhr AsiaAfrica Awards.DIFF Jury: DIFF will solely appoint three separate juries from the international community to decide on prize winners for each of the categories in the Muhr AsiaAfrica Awards. The jury for the feature section will be composed of five members each and the jury for the documentary and short films categories will comprise three members each.4. AWARDS & PRIZE MONEYThere will be 8 Muhr prizes awarded in the Feature Films category: Best Film – US$ 50,000; Special Jury Prize – US$ 40,000 where the cash prize will be awarded to the Director(s) of each film; Best Actor – US$ 8,000; Best Actress – US$ 8,000; Best Scriptwriter – US$ 8,000; Best Editor – US$ 8,000; Best Composer – US$ 8,000 and Best Cinematographer – US$ 8,000.There will be three Muhr prizes in the Documentary Films category: First Prize – US$ 40,000; Special Jury Prize – US$ 30,000. Second Prize – US$ 20,000; the cash prize will be awarded to the Director(s) of each film.There will be three Muhr prizes in the Short Films category: First Prize – US$ 30,000; Special Jury Prize – US$ 20,000. Second Prize – US$ 10,000; the cash prize will be awarded to the Director(s) of each film.Country eligible to participateAsiaAfrica Nationality or Origin shall mean people from one or more of the following countries: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, People’s Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic Congo (Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, North Korea, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liberia, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Reunion, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Zanzibar and ZimbabweNumber of film in the competition – 25 only

Appavi to be released in December

New face Gowtham is doing the lead role in the film Appavi directed by R Raghuraj. Suhani is pairing with him. K Bhagyaraj, Manobala, Suri, Sree Ranjini and Mahadevan are also in the cast.This film is to be released during the month of December. The final stage of the shooting was held at Coorg Hills in Karnataka. A song sequence Railin Padhayil Pookindra Poo Nan was shot in Coorg Hills. The song which was written by Na Muthu Kumar was sung by Hariharan and Shreya Ghosal.Joshua Sridhar has composed the music. Krishnasamy is handling the camera while V T Vijayan is in charge of editing. Dinesh is taking care of the choreography.Action king Pazhani Raj is handling the stunts while Vairamuthu and Na Muthukumar have penned the lyrics. R Raghuraj who is directing this film has written the story, screenplay and dialogues. V L Dhandapani is producing this film.

YOGI MOVIE REVIEW

Starring: Ameer, Madhumitha, Snehan, SwathiDirection: Subramaniam SivaMusic: Yuvan Shankar RajaProduction: Team Work ProductionAmeer’s Yogi, as presumed, is a multi-layered gritty saga set in the mean slums of Chennai where the mere act of survival is a mammoth task in the despicable living conditions. The movie opens up a Pandora’s Box of lives of the children of the lesser God and as scene after scene unfurl, you get a dreadful insight into the world of those people hidden beneath their cringe-worthy surroundings. Ameer is a slum-dweller who graduates from petty crimes to murder for better revenues. During one of his assignments, he makes way with a car and inadvertently bestowed with the ownership of a child. The child’s mother gets hurt in an accident after the car stealing and the reluctant Ameer is left with the custody of the toddler. It takes no time for him to abandon the kid in one of the street corners, but he holds himself back and brings the kid home for he had never forgiven himself for the loss of a life in a similar manner earlier in his life. Though Swathi and Vincent Ashokan are married, the toddler that is born to Swathi is not Vincent Ashokan’s. With the affluent Swathi now in the hospital, Vincent decides to seize the opportunity to put an end to thetoddler’s life to inherit his wife’s wealth. Ameer crosses roads with Vincent in his hunt and unintentionally kills his aide, played by lyricist Snehan. The rest of the movie forms the cop’s hunt for Ameer, Swathi’s quest for her kid and Vincent Ashokan’s search for the kid (for different reasons). After playing out a near-gripping tale, Yogi culminates in a rather theatrical climax. Ameer gets into the skin of a petty goon who gradually becomes a criminal, accidentally owning a baby. The razor sharp dialogues in his coarse voice accentuate his performance and the way he carries a repulsive past with him can be quite depressing for the viewer. His father character, played by journalist Devarajan, is impeccable. He metes out domestic violence at his wife, unapologetic about the death of his little daughter and uses his wife’s dead body to make money. Quite disconcerting and it doesn’t feel that Devarajan is a newcomer. Another revelation in the movie is (actually there are two, another being Snehan who effortlessly portrays a mean thug) Madhumitha, playing the role of a single mother whose husband walks out on her. Her eyes speak volumes than actually her words and when she is forced to breast-feed the baby of a stranger, she becomes the epitome of motherhood. A picture of whatever little love is left in the world. The scene in which Ameer inconsiderately leaving condensed milk in the baby’s lips to make it stop crying from hunger and returning to find the baby’s mouth infested with ants is really unsettling. On the flip side, there is a liberal dosage of melodrama; the way Devarajan gets killed can be off-putting, Ameer’s efforts at engaging the baby can seem slipped in for no reason and a few unwarranted fight sequences are out of place. Director Subramania Siva seems to have faltered while trying to make the movie for the masses. This often dilutes the substance of the movie, but largely, Siva has succeeded in the direction process. Yogi is definitely not a time pass movie, it can be distressing. On the other hand, if you are looking for a heavy duty movie with some brilliant performances, try it. It wouldn’t hurt to see the darker side of human life once in a while. It tells you the tryst of happiness with life’s strange play of fate, when hope gets crushed. Verdict: Heavy weight saga!

Think Music acquires ‘ASAL’ audio

Think Music, an association of Sathyam Cinemas and Hungama network has acquired the audio rights of ‘ASAL’.Ajith Kumar’s ‘ASAL’ is fast approaching the completion and the dubbing works have already started. With couple of songs pending to be shot in abroad and studio in Chennai, Sivaji Productions is planning to launch the audio by December.However, nothing has been confirmed by Saran or Ajith Kumar about the film’s release for Pongal. With many releases lining up for Pongal release, Ajith may opt for the Republic Day on Jan 26 to release the film

Harris Jayaraj inaugurates Sapthaswara Musicals

Music Director Harris Jayaraj usually doesn’t let himself take part in social junctures of parties and showroom inaugurations. But he seems to have shared a great connection with ‘Sapthaswara Musicals’. The music director was herein Anna Nagar to inaugurate the new showroom of Sapthaswara Musicals.The musical showroom was launched somewhere in 1979 and has been the favorite hub of all leading musicians, playback singers and ardent buffs of music. As well, it offers musical education and as well carries the best and rare instruments present in the World. Totting up to these bonanzas, the showroom features books, CDs and cassettes and everything pertaining to music and dance for sales.So, what’s stopping you? If you’re a great admirer and learner of music, go ahead and make your day great visiting this showroom.

Rahman’s tribute to TN Police

The latest from the camp of our Mozart of Madras is that he is composing music for a documentary of Tamil Nadu Police.The Tamil Nadu police officials have made a special documentary as a tribute to the police department that has completed 150 dutiful years. This documentary film will be featuring every single development and building blocks of the department. The film will have the old style uniforms that the police wore during their early days to the recent technological growth and advanced equipments they have.Sources say that the police department had requested A R Rahman to score music for their documentary even before the musician won the Academy Award and Golden Globe award. But unfortunately as Rahman became too busy he was not able to compose for the whole film. Anyways the music genius is composing for one song that sings the praise of the State’s Police.Rahman who is in London will work on this after he comes back. Moreover the documentary will be released by the State’s CM M.Karunanidhi, they say.

Costliest Slums Of ‘Sura’ In Pondicherry

‘Costliest Slums’ – the term seems to be quite weird, isn’t? Of course, the strikingly unusual grandeur is spotted at the shooting sets of Vijay’s ‘Sura’. The film is shot across various beaches of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.Recently, a breathtaking stunt sequence choreographed by Kanal Kannan was canned at Hyderabad and now the entire team has headed towards Pondicherry…According to the sources, grand sets of Slum locality has been created across the shores of Pondicherry. Few talkie portions and song sequences are likely to be shot at the place and next schedule is planned to be done at Vizag…