Resul Pookutty wins Oscar award

Noted Keralite sound engineer Resul Pookutty has bagged the Best Editing award at the Oscars for Danny Boyle's much-acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire, which also won the Best Adapted Screenplay award, the Best Cinematography award and the Best Film award. Resul Pookutty is the first Keralite to win an Oscar award. The 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Hailing from Vilakkupaara village near Anchal, Kollam, Resul Pookutty has been in the top of headline after he won an Oscar nomination for his work in Slumdog Millionaire, a film in the Oscar race with ten nominations, including three for music director A.R. Rahman.

A graduate of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Resul Pookutty has been in the music industry for 13 years now with a filmography of more than ten blockbusters. He started his career with Rajat Kapoor's little-known Private Detective in 1997 and came into the limelight with his work in Black (2005).

Interestingly, Black was a film without songs, but the sound got everyone talking. His next venture, Gandhi My Father, was a challenging experience in his career since the film demanded extreme attention on the variations in Gandhi's voice from his youth to old age. However, his hard work paid off when he got an opportunity to work with one of his favourite directors Danny Boyle in Slumdog Millionaire. His other noted films include Saawariya (2007), Ghajini (2008).

Nikita: Dr. Vishnu’s heroine

Nikita is the lucky actress who will be the leading lady in Aptha Rakshaka, Dr. Vishnu’s 200th film. Aptha Rakshaka is a sequel to Apthamithra, a remake of the famous Malayalam film Manichithrathazhu.

Aptha Rakshaka will be directed by P. Vasu and produced by Krishnakumar. The pooja was held at Krishnakumar’s residence on February 19th in which Vasu and the other crew members participated. The film will start rolling from March 10 and it is heard that Lakshmi Gopalaswami will play an important role. Apparently, Lakshmi will also appear in Dr. Vishnuvardhan’s upcoming Nam Yejamanru with Avinash, Sreenivasa Murthy, Ramesh Bhat, Shobharaj also playing important roles.

Vamshi, Nikita’s first release in Kannada, was a huge hit and she is presently working on two big-budget films: Dubai Babu with Upendra and Darshan’s new film.

Ravichandran to re-shoot Manjina Hani

Crazy star Ravichandran had completed the shooting of his forthcoming film Manjina Hani but it is heard that he is re-shooting the entire film again. The film even had gone to the post production table when Ravichandran had second thoughts. Apparently, he believes that the film does not have enough commercial elements in it to pull audiences into theatres.

So he rapidly re-wrote the script, adding the extra commercial and entertainment elements he thought necessary and made plans for the re-shoot. Interestingly, hehas repaid the investment of the producer and now, he is the producer.

The latest news is that Manjina Hani will be re-shot in March with the addition of a few more artists. The songs will also be re-shot.

Shivaraj Kumar's 100th movie Jogayya

Hat-trick hero Shivaraj Kumar has titled his 100th movie as Jogayya. Director Prem is turning producer through the movie. He will be director as well as the producer for the movie. Prem's wife actress Rakshita is said to be acting opposite Shivaraj Kumar.

According to sources, Shivaraj's fans have to wait for the film for long, because he has several movies, which are still at the beginning stage. Only after completing all the movies, Jogayya will go to set.

Presently, Prem is very busy with Puneet Rajkumar starrer movie Raj. If everything goes well, the movie will hit the screens in the last month of April. Shivaraj Kumar is also busy with Cheluveye Ninna Nodalu. After completing these movies, They will plan for the shooting of Jogayya.

Jogi is an unforgettable movie in the career of Shivaraj Kumar. The super hit movie has created records in Kannada Film Industry. For this reason, Shivaraj Kumar has already discussed with Prem about his 100th movie. Both of them have agreed to the title Jogayya.

Shivanna entered the Kannada movies through the movie Anand in 1986. After that many of his movies like Rathsaptami, Manamechchida Hudugi, Om, Nammoor Mandar Hoove, Janumada Jodi AK 47 and Jogi have created new records in the industry. His 50th movie AK 47 was super hit.

Chetan-Chaitanya team is back

It’s been a long time since Aa Dinagalu was released and director Chaitanya was on a self imposed exile after it. He has been busy writing the script for his next film Suryakanthi and has finally announced his latest venture. Chaitanya’s new film will feature Chetan, who was the hero of Aa Dinagalu also. It was Chetan’s debut film; his second film Birugali released just a week ago.

The script for Aa Dinagalu was by Agni Sridhar who later wrote the script of Slum Bala featuring Vijay. Suryakanthi will have Venu as cinematographer and Ilayaraja, who scored the music for Aa Dinagalu, will be the music director.

B.G. Manjunath, who had earlier co-produced A by Upendra, is the producer of this new film

Raj team donates ambulance

In an act of kindness and care, the team of Raj - The Showman donated an ambulance to the Parappana Agrahara Jail. Jailer K.C. Vishawanth received the key of the Maruthi van from the Raj team at the Press Club, Bangalore.

Puneeth Rajkumar is the hero of Raj produced by Suresh Gowda and Srinivasa Murthy; Prem is the director. Raj is constantly in the news because of the presence of Puneeth who holds the record for giving 10 consecutive hits since his debut in 2002. Also, the film features a song in which Puneeth dances with five of his father Rajkumar’s heroines. The song was shot recently in Bangalore with Puneeth and actresses Jayaprada, Jayanthi, Dr. Jayamala, Bharathi Vishnuvardhana and Urvashi participating in it.