Shilpa Shetty hosted Bigg Boss reality show is marred with controversies one after the other leading to set backs. After Jade Goody's unexpected exit from the show, now it is caught up with a criminal dimension. The entry of Bollywood starlet Monica Bedi has raised a legal question that law enforcers would like to get clarified. Monica Bedi extradited from Portugal with Mumbai don Abu Salem in 2005 and lodged in the City's central Jail in connection with fake passport case and now she is under bail. She was acquitted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's (CJM) court here and later by the Sessions Court; the prosecution has appealed against her acquittal in the High Court. Now the police have to probe how she influenced the team of Bigg Boss and got an entry in to the show. It is suspected that underworld pressure ensured a place for Monica in the reality show since there was a similar practice prevailed in the past. In the controversies side Aamir Khan's brother Faisal Khan and Ramdas Athawale, President of RPI and MP, Lok Sabha have complained about their being dropped out. Faisal Khan filed a case against the organizers for not disclosing the reason behind his removal. Athawale went a step further and alleged that he was dropped because of his Dalit background. It is reported that his supporters ransacked the Colors TV premises and broken windowpanes, furnitures and fittings both inside and outside.

When Prakash Jha is busy thinking about his modern big screen adaptation of the epic Mahabharata, Mani Ratnam is to bring out a film based on the other immortal epic Ramayana on to the big screen. The film is a bi-lingual and will be made in Hindi and Tamil. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai will portray the roles inspired by Rama and Sita. Govinda will be seen in the role of savior Hanuman. The most catching peculiarity of this film is that Tamil film star Vikram who will be seen as the Ravan in the Hindi version of the film will be doing the character of Rama in the Tamil one. The production of the film is expected to start by the end of September and will be produced under the banner of Madras Talkies owned by Mani Ratnam.

Vipul Shah would be a happy person after realizing his strength of direction skill that even fetches an ever sold price for his yet to shot film London Dreams. It is now officially confirmed that a deal for the film including Satellite, theatrical, video and music rights crossed a billion INR mark. Theme of the film is based on the contemporary Asian underground music group's rise and fall. The film starring Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan will go for shoot in September and mainly in London. Based on the track record of the Producer-Director which includes recent hit Singh is Kinng, Aankhein, Waqt—Race Against Time and Namaste London, The Indian Film company has bought the rights for such mammoth price. Global Indian musician A R Rahman is composing music for this Indi-Rock band based film which is an unconventional Bollywood musical genre.

Sheryll Brindo is a happy woman for her second venture 'Engal Aasaan' too is opposite Vijayakanth. " 'Arasangam' gave me an identity and hopefully 'Engal Aasaan' would take me close to the masses", she says. "I thank Vijayakanth, who was co-operative and helpful in the sets. He was very helpful and would tell me so much about camera angles, dialogue delivery and how to emote", she adds. "I am very confident that 'Engal Aasaan' would click at the box office", she adds. She is currently acting in a Telugu film 'Sathyameva Jayete'.

Actor Narain and Pooja came together for the film 'Pandhaya Kozhi'. Interestingly Ramya Nambeesan, the girl from Kerala, plays a meaty role in this film. She has completed shooting for 'Raman Thediya Seethai' alongside Cheran. If both these films click, this girl from Kerala has a great opportunity to make it big. 'Pandhaya Kozhi' is directed by M A Venu. It is the story that delves into the relationship between a mother and a son. The son strives hard to keep up his mother's desire. It is said to be a pacy action movie packed with sentiment. 'Pandhaya Kozhi' will see a September release.

''Challenging'' was the term, ace actor Mohanlal used to describe his role in the new film, ‘Aakashagopuram' (The Castle in the Air) - a take on Ibsen's classic ‘‘master builder''. The actor was seen visibly emotional after the premier of the movie at Kochi, which was attended by all the eminent personalities of the industry. Mohanlal recalled the praises that was showered on him by the late 'Bharat' Gopi, after watching ‘Aakashagopuram’ on screen for the first time. “After watching the whole movie, sitting next to me, he touched my hands and told that he didn't saw me but playwright Ibsen in the entire movie."Mohanlal plays Albert Samson, a middle-aged architect who shoot over to prominence while the late Gopi plays Abraham, Samson's former employer and mentor, who is presently at decrepitude. Lal also describes the movie by K P Kumaran as a daring attempt. Shot entirely in London, ‘Aakashagopuram’ is also a dream come true for the director. Working on the project for the past twenty years, Mr. Kumaran said that he was attracted to it due to the psychological insights into human nature that the story provides and as he could attempt a story which says something ''universal''. The movie also showcases some breath taking visuals by Santhosh Thundiyil, for which he is sure earn a lot of accolades. 'Aakashagopuram’, the first truly international project of Mollywood, will reach the theatres on Friday

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, the most famous of india's living auteurs will now have a book on his life and creativity, published in Tamil language. Adoor, is perhaps one of the filmmaker about whom a lot of literary and critical works had been made in his home language. Akbar Kakkattil, a popular short story writer has penned this Tamil biography based on a few interviews with the director, in the title 'Idam Porul Kalai'. The book was released at a function held at Mind Screen in Mylapore, Chennai in the presence of celebrities like director vasanth, and actor Rohini. The book, also deals with writings on Adoor's relationships with his contemporary film-makers like G. Aravindan and John Abraham.

One of the thinking actresses of our times, Padmapriya, has already expressed in many interviews, her desire to direct films in future. As a primary step she has joined actor - Director Cheran's new film 'Pokkisham' as an assistant director. Padmapriya is also one of the heroines of the film, but finds time to appear early in the sets to have script and directorial discussions with Cheran, even on days when she has no shooting. The actress had earlier associated with Cheran in 'Thavamai Thavamirundhu' in which she also acted as the heroine..Cheran, who has watched her work is in all appreciation about Padmapriya's directorial talents. 'Pokkisham' is being shot at Gopichetty Palayam.

Young singer Vidhu Prathap got married to classical dancer and T V -film actress Deepthy, amidst the heavy strikes that the state witnessed yesterday. The marriage was solemnized at the Subrahmaniam hall in the capital city, which was attended by many celebrities of the field. The marriage was indeed special due to the hassles that the strike offered to those who attended the function. The state ministers arrived at the venue via walking kilometers while many like maestro Yesudas has to order special vehicles to come over to the Hall. Vidhu has also arranged for a reception at the Lulu centre, Thrissur on the 23rd of August. Vidhu who debuted through Paadamudra has his real break with ‘Devadasi’ (1999), in which he sang 'Pon Vasantham'. He became popular after singing a fast youthful song, 'Shukriya' in ‘Niram’ (1999).In 2002, he was introduced to Tamil by Ilayaraja through ‘Solla Marantha Kathai’. Some of his recent hit songs include 'Changathi' (‘Notebook’), 'Kasavinte' (‘July’), 'Sundariye' (‘Pandaya Kozhi’), 'Hello hello' (‘Hello’), 'Mazhamani Mukile' (‘Kangaroo’), 'Inale Mutathu' (‘S.M.S’.) and 'Kolusal Konjum' (‘Malabar Wedding’). He has bagged the Kerala State Best Male Playback Singer Award in 2001 for the song 'Kalame Kaikolluka nee' from ‘Sayahnam’.

After playing Udayabhanu, a film director in Roshan Andrews classic Udayananu Tharam, Mohanlal is once again taking the director's megaphone on-screen in Rajeevnath's Pakal Nakstharangal. He plays the role of an 80's director Siddharthan in the film which has started rolling in Thiruvananthapuram. Suresh Gopi plays a cameo in the film, which also has Murali, Jagathy, Nedumudi Venu, Sindhu Menon and Manianpillai Raju. The story is about script writer-director Siddharthan getting entangled in a murder, while writing a murder mystery. The script of Pakal Naksthrangal is by Anoop Menon, camera by Shyam Dutt. The shoot of the film will also take place in Mumbai.

As popular as to be telecast 53 times, almost once per week, with in a year of release, My Friend Ganesha a children genre blockbuster coming with a sequel on 22 of August. The popularity of INDIA's First composite animation film is so tremendous that Mr. Ajhai Acharya of BABA Arts Limited has joined hands with the entire team & have completed its sequel – "My Friend Ganesha II" which is scheduled for release this July, and they are so confident of the movie that the work for "My Friend Ganesha III" has already started.

Actor Dhanush is on a roll with a string of movies that have done well at the box office. He is currently working for the film 'Padikkathavan' which is directed by Suraj and stars Tamamma as heroine. Once this project is over, the actor would team up once again with the makers of the successful 'Polladhavan'. Vetri Maaran, director of 'Polladhavan' had made an exemplary script about the plight of a young boy who loses his beloved motorbike and the travails he has to undergo caught up with menacing gangsters laced with terrifying incidents. The director was quite successful in showcasing an interesting tale of love in the narration along with the dark realities of the underworld. Appreciated highly by all sections of society for coming up with a spellbinding narration especially on debut, much is expected of the young director with his second film. It would most likely be another gripping tale from Vetri Maaran. An interesting fact about this new film is that a Hollywood actress would be playing a very prominent role in the film that would be based on the Chaos Theory (absolutely nothing to do with 'Dasavatharam'). An Indian actress however would be roped in soon to play the heroine. An incident responsible for other events to happen in a powerful fashion could form the crux of the story. With Vetri Maaran's 'exploring' kind of narration, this facet could be the perfect foil for another stunner. The film is expected to start filming by the end of next month and an April 14, 2009 release is on the cards.

Priyadarashan who started his filmi career as an assistant director in the early eighties has always been trying to express his creativity even in pucca commercial filmi versions. In 'Kalapani’, he even outdid his contemporary filmmakers with stylistic narratives which never bowed down to commercial compromises. Now after making a big name in Bollywood with half a dozen commercial hits, Priyadarshan is back to South to complete his first art house movie ‘Kanjeevaram’ – based on the plight of weavers in the Temple town of Kanchipuram. The movie set at 1942 – 57 also exposes the communism and its preachers which took root among the weavers here and motivated them to fight for their rights. Prakash Raj appears in the lead as Vengadam, a weaver who sows the seeds of revolution among the weaver community in the film. Produced by Percept Picture Co and 4-Frames, the 145-minute film was shot in Mysore on a very limited budget. The film will be screened at the Toronto Festival under the Special Presentation category. ''The movie will also expose the nature of Indian Communists who preach a lot but to practice virtually very little'', says Priyadarshan. Having completed the film with a shoot of just 30 days, Priyan admits “For the first time I have made a realistic film, a film I made for me... straight from the heart." ‘Kanjeevaram’ will have its premiere at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival starting Sep 4. The film will be screened Sep 12 in the special presentation session along with Deepa Mehta’s ''Heaven on earth''. The movie will be released in Tamilnadu, by October with 12 prints.

After playing the mother of Suresh Gopi in the latest 'Laptop', Shwetha Menon will be playing the role of Mohanlal's wife in the new film 'Aakasha Gopuram'. This former Miss India-Asia Pacific, will be ''Alice'' in the film, wife of Albert Samsun, the world renowned sculptor, played by Mohanlal. Directed by K P Kumaran, this much awaited movie will grace the theatres on the 22nd of August. The industry was in the long wait to know what all surprises will the film and its characters hold, as the movie still doesn't have made a preview in the state. Shwetha had earlier surprised critics by appearing as an aged wife of Mohanlal in P T Kunju Mohammed’s offbeat film, ‘Paradesi’. Shwetha who debuted in Malayalam with Mammootty in ''Anaswaram'' at a very young age, continued with her low profile acting career in Malayalam in films like ‘Nakshtrakoodaram’, Welcome to Kodaikanal and Koushalam. She then got busy with her modeling career grabbing great publicity with her Kamasutra and associated ads. Shwetha also appeared in many popular albums and a few Hindi films after her Miss India title. Later she mesmerized Keralites in Priyadarshan's ‘Kakkakuyil’ with the number '' aalare Govinda'' which was an instant hit. 2006 saw her return to Mollywood with quality roles like the ones that she had in ‘Keerthi Chakra’, ‘Mission Ninety Days’, ‘Abraham and Lincoln’ and K.J. Bose's ‘Tantra‘. Her roles in films like, ‘Rock 'n' Roll’,and ‘Paradesi’ were also well appreciated . Now the actress and her admirers are in the lookout for what all luck, will her new character in Akashagopuram’, brings to her.

Sreenivasan is back to playing heroes after a gap of a few months. His new flick titled 'Samayam' is into its final phase of shooting at Ottappalam. Directed and scripted by debutante Satheesh Pothuvaal, the movie is produced by S Shajahan in the banner of Royal Arts. Based on the life of pot makers, the movie will also have Saikumar, Jagathy, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, T G Ravi and Shwetha Menon in the other important roles. M J Radhakrishnan will wield the camera while Sajin Raghavan will handle the art department. Kaithapram will tunes the lines written by Anil Panachooran for the movie .