We already know that Kamal Haasan will be doing a cameo on martial arts in the film ‘19 Steps’. The Ghajini-star Asin will team up with her ‘Dasavatharam’ hero again where she plays a princess and Kamal plays her guru in martial arts for the movie. Asin is paired with Japanese superstar Tadanobu Asanno for this flick, which is directed by Bharat Bala.

Bharat Bala and AR Rahman are schoolmates and dear friends. Rahman’s Vande Mataram was directed by Bharat Bala, as was Jana Gana Mana, which featured India’s leading musicians sing or play the national anthem.

AR Rahman will be composing music for ‘19th Step’ as well, and has teamed up with Japanese musician Joe Hisaishi, making the film an interesting musical collaborative venture. The music genius had, in fact, paid an exclusive trip to Japan about two weeks ago, to learn about their music style for this film. Academy Award winning Resul Pookutty will also join hands with Rahman for this ambitious project that will be produced by Walt Disney.

It has been quite a while since we saw this veteran director K.Balachander directing a movie. His production house Kavithalaya has produced several movies; there were talks about the remake of his own yesteryear production Manmadha Leelai. In reality, Balachander, one of the sculptors of Tamil cinema, has decided to leave cinema for a while and get back to stage dramas, a genre where he once ruled the roost. His comeback will be marked by Pournami, which is the name of the play and the protagonist. Moreover, the story takes place in a time between two full moons.

Pournami is Balachander’s play after nearly four decades; the last one was Navagraham, directed by him in the late sixties. What spurred him to make a comeback? Though today’s movie formulae and audience tastes have changed, Balachander is quite sure of offering a clean and complete story packed in his style. Since stage dramas have a better scope for presentation, he has chosen to revive his style on stage. Who can forget the classic plays Major Chandrakanth, Edhirneechal, Neerkumizhi and Naanal and his path-breaking films such as Avargal, Achamillai Achamillai, Kalki, etc..

Pournami too will have his trademark touch of debate in the script and it will certainly be ‘fresh and contemporary’. Needless to say, it will be a trendsetter too.

Kambakkht Ishq, the Akshay Kumar – Kareena Kapoor starrer, is the remake of a Tamil film starring Kamal Hasan titled, Pammal K. Sambandam. The Tamil film was a big hit in South.

In that film, Kamal Hasan had played the title role and it also starred Simran and Abbas. Their roles have been substituted with Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani respectively. It was directed by Mouli. In the Tamil original, Kamal enacted the role of a film stuntman while Simran was a doctor in the making. In the Hindi version, Akshay Kumar is a renowned stunt artiste while Kareena Kapoor plays a super model. Pammal K. Sambandam was to have been remade in Hindi by Anees Bazmee for South producer GV Films which had acquired the remaking rights for Rs. 5 lakh.

However, Sajid paid Rs. 75 lakh for the same remaking rights. Reportedly, Sajid Nadiadwala has spared neither efforts nor money in remaking the South hit. Although it is directed by a new name (Saabir Khan), it is said to have cost over Rs. 60 crore. Incidentally, the film’s release has been postponed, thanks to the face-off between multiplexes and producers/distributors. Instead of 29th May, it may now come in August or July.