Divya..

I came through photos of Super Singer host Divya.. we dont really find many photos of her and I thought I will post it for you guys..

TRAI view on entry of channels by June 30

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has assured the government that it will give its opinion on regulating entry of new TV channels by June 30 as it has started collecting views of broadcasters. The Ministry for Information and Broadcasting had on October 8, 2009 written to TRAI Chairman Mr J S Sarma, seeking his opinion on how to regulate the entry of several television channels.

In response to the ministry’s request, TRAI had issued a consultation paper on “Policy Issues relating to Uplinking/Downlinking Television Channels in India”, and had sought views of broadcasters on it. TRAI has assured the Ministry that it will give its response on the issue by June 30 as a couple of broadcasters have already sent in their reactions while major players in the sector too would be sending their responses soon.

I&B Minister Ms Ambika Soni had asked for TRAI’s advice on how to put a cap on new channels amid reports of several illegal channels running in the country, whose contents had affected law and order situation in various states. The Ministry has asked state governments to take stern action against cable operators showing illegal channels in their areas, which don’t have uplinking or downlinking permission of the government. - PTI

Courtesy - Hindu business line

Super Mom

This show salutes the strong and efficient member of a family -- mother. What makes this show special is that children have to assist their moms in completing various tasks. Judges for the first round auditions are TV personalities Uma Padmanabhan, Badava Gopi, Haritha Gopi and Dr. Sharmila along with Viji of 'Thillu Mullu' fame.

The mothers have to take up the challenges to reveal their true parenting powers. The winning pair has loads of surprise gifts in store. Actress Kalyani is the host. The show takes off from April 5.

Kadhal Unplugged.. Few more stills

Get ready for "Azhagiya Thamizh Magan"

Friday & Saturday, 8 p.m

The hunt is on for the ideal Tamil man on television. The talent hunt will see actor Kushboo at the helm. To be chosen the Perfect Bachelor or the Ideal Man, participants have to undergo various tough tasks that will test their perseverance, temperament, attitude and enterprise!

The first leg of auditions saw 200 candidates from across the State participate. They were short-listed from 10,000 entries.

The judges for the first level auditions were TV personalities DD, Divya, Priya and playback singer Suvi Suresh. Sixty men were short-listed in the second round of auditions, for which the judges were Sivakarthikeyan, Michael, Mani and Craig. Ramya hosts the show.

Get ready for "Super Mom"

Monday-Thursday, 2 p.m

This show salutes the strong and efficient member of a family -- mother. What makes this show special is that children have to assist their moms in completing various tasks. Judges for the first round auditions are TV personalities Uma Padmanabhan, Badava Gopi, Haritha Gopi and Dr. Sharmila along with Viji of 'Thillu Mullu' fame.

The mothers have to take up the challenges to reveal their true parenting powers. The winning pair has loads of surprise gifts in store. Actress Kalyani is the host. The show takes off from April 5.

Bhakti Thiruvizha is back

Vijay TV is back with Bhakthi Thiruvizha, a spiritual fest from April 5-9, 5 p.m. daily, at Narada Gana Sabha. Noted speakers will participate in the five-day event. The festival will be inaugurated by Sri Muralidhara Swamiji on April 5, 5 p.m. Suki Sivam will speak on Thiruvasagathein, with a brief note on Thiruvasagam. Following this is ‘Isaiyum Uraiyum’ by Anantha Padmanabhachariyar and Vasundhara Rajagopal. They will talk and song about ‘Sri Krishna Gaanamrutham’. Udayur Kalyanaraman will present namasankeerthanam.

On April 6, Embar Kasthuri will discuss the topic ‘Sollin Selvan’ on Lord Anjaneya. Following this, Tiruchi Kalyanaraman will speak on ‘Parthanum Pasupathiyum.’ Ilampirai Manimaran’s topic will be ‘Arangan En Amudhu.' Dr. Ganesh will perform namasankeerthanam. The discourses on the third day begin with Vadhavooran whose chosen topic is ‘Variyaar Kattum Vazhum Vazhi.’ Then Bala Srinivasan plans to talk about ‘Thayumaanavar’, while ‘Kandapuranam' will be explained by Vijaya Sundarai. Parasuraman is to speak on ‘Arunagirinadharin Ramayanam.’ Namasankeerthanam will be by Kalyani Margabandhu.

April 8 will see Bharadhi Thirumagan speak on ‘Pattinathar', one of the 18 Siddhars. Then, Devaraj Swamigal will discuss ‘Tamil Thalaivan Namazhalvar.’ And finally Sangaranarayanan will talk about ‘Pamban Swamigal.’ Savitha Sriram will present namasankeerthanam. The last day begins with Harikatha. Following that, Isaiyum Uraiyum will see Suchitra sing on 'Sri Ramakrishna Pattabishegam'. Nagaimukundan’s chosen topic is ‘Ottagaiyum Yaanaiyum,’ a story of Hastinapuri where Panchali's fate was sealed. 'Kaalum Thaalum' will be presented by Karunakara Chariar.

Special prasadams has also been organised for the audience on all days. Tickets, issued on a first-cum-first-served basis, are available at Vijay TV, No. 15 Jagannathan Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai on April 2 and 03, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Complimentary passes will be issued until stocks last. For details, contact 044 - 2822 4722.

Pugaipadam director in trouble

Few best films remain unnoticed at box office with accordance to inappropriate situations – say like, unavailability of theatres and keeping low-profile in promotions. In all likelihood, Pugaipadam directed by debutant Rajesh Lingam is considered as an apt illustration. Despites the film carrying outstanding traits of best narration and top-notching technical attributes, it couldn’t reach the audiences as the theatres had other big releases at that point of time.

Without any options left, Rajesh Lingam had his plans of re-releasing the film this weekend in more theatres feeling that summer vacations would draw more audiences. But unfortunately, the film’s producer had already sold out the satellite rights to Vijay TV, which indeed decided to telecast the film on Sunday (March 28).

Now, it’s turning to be a terrific combat between these two producers: one who vows to re-release the film while the other one about telecasting it on TV channel at the scheduled time. Wedged between these challenging producers, director Rajesh Lingam is infrangibly stuck in confusion.

Courtesy - One India

Kadhal Unplugged - Photos

Kadhal Unplugged - Photos
Courtesy - Behindwoods

Kaadhal Unplugged - Review

“Kaadhal Unplugged” left you longing for the love-soaked melodies of an era gone by

A musical journey of 50 years of love songs in Tamil cinema, we were told. Expectations ran high, and you mentally made note of the innumerable ditties that soared straight into your heart, set your pulse racing and got you all teary-eyed.

Sadly, the mind was where most of them remained at the end of “Kaadhal Unplugged” organised by Vijay TV at St. George's School Grounds. For starters, the show which was supposed to begin at 6.30 p.m. began a sweltering 90 minutes later. This, after we sat through, and even enjoyed in parts, a 20-minute instrumental medley. The audience waited, in the hope that the singing would compensate. It quite did, initially, when Vijay ‘Jai Ho' Prakash started off with the rocking “Oho Ethanai azhagu”. But, the joy was short-lived. It turned out to be a medley of songs, including the lilting ‘En iniya pon nilaave', ‘Sangathil paadatha…', ‘Pen ondru kandaen' and ‘Nenjukul peiydhidum maamazhai'. Next came Devan Ekambaram and Subhiksha with ‘Anbil Avan' from “Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya” (VTV) — incidentally, the programme almost turned out to be another stage to celebrate the Gautham Vasudev Menon film!

Old is gold

Next was the turn of Sunitha Sarathy, usually a good singer, who attempted to infuse new life into old gems, but failed sadly. She started off the medley with ‘Nenjodu kalandhidu', before moving on to numbers such as ‘Kannale pesi pesi kolaathe', ‘En uyir neethane', ‘Hey goodbye nanba' and ‘Kannan vandhu paadugindran'. The last number left you sad thinking of what the melodious number had been put through!
Lesson to be learnt: Leave the classics alone!

Blaaze, a surprise package, was up next, wearing his trademark coat and a flaming red-orange shirt. He, along with Star Vijay Super Singer 2008 winner, Ajeesh sang the hit “VTV” ditty, ‘Omana penne'. Then, it was the turn of Neha Bhasin (the girl can do wonders with some songs, but it was just not her day!), who upped the glam quotient with a toss of her curls and a throw of her head. But, that was about it. Her song roster started off with ‘Ninaivo oru paravai' before moving on to ‘Oh! Butterfly' (the butter-soft glides of the song turned into something else altogether), ‘Kanne kalaimaane' (far removed from the lullaby it is!), ‘En vaanile', a cha cha with ‘Andru vandhadhum athe nila', ‘Pesugiraen, pesugiraen' and ‘Jil allava jil allava'.

In between, Vineeth put up a show of beatboxing.

Alphonse was up next with the intense ‘Aromale' from “VTV”. A performance that spelled class. It was then time for star performer Shruti Haasan to take the stage in a striking red sari, with ‘Paartha njabagam illayo', ‘Uravugal thodarkadhai', ‘Adiye kolluthey' and the like.

In fine form

Finally, Haricharan came in like a breath of fresh air, singing Tamil the way it should be. He started off with the melody, ‘Ennai thaalaata' before moving on to ‘Anjali Anjali', ‘Mandram Vandha', a song dedicated to Nagesh, ‘Avalukenna azhagiya mugam', ‘Kaadhal sadugudu', ‘Namma ooru singaari' and ‘Manjalveyil maalai neram'. Subhiksha and he teamed up for ‘Ram bam bam aarambam' and ‘Kandukondein Kandukondein'.

This was probably the most enjoyable segment of the show, with the hitherto-mostly silent audience clapping with gusto. With everyone calling out for ‘Hosanna', Vijay Prakash and Blaaze came up with a wonderful rendition of the Rahman number, again from “VTV”. Before they called it a late day, Gautam was called on stage, and so was Ganesh, who starred in the film, to share their feelings about love, and the film.

But, even as it concluded, hardly a few left the venue with a love song on their lips. That was the biggest failing of the show that boasted such high-profile talent. Though there were so many great songs to choose from, the show did not do justice to a period in which composers such as M.S. Viswanathan and Ilayaraaja left their mark. Notable omissions included songs from films that celebrated love — “Alaigal Oivathillai”, “Ninaivellam Nithya”, “Payanangal Mudivathillai” and “Mudhal Mariyaadhai”, to name a few.

And, finally, when it is a show celebrating Tamil music, can we please have anchors who speak Tamil? At first, many thought Craig was pulling a fast one with his pronunciation, but when Pooja joined him and they continued in the same strain, we could only listen, dumbfounded!

Courtesy - The Hindu
Author - SUBHA J RAO

Shruti Haasan @ Kadhal Unplugged..

Naallum Namadhae

Former Chief Election Commissioner of India T.N. Seshan has a new job… he will be at the helm of things in a talk show on Vijay TV. The show, to be anchored by comedian Madan Bob, will take up burning social issues and find solutions to every problem thrown up in every episode. Of the 16 participants, the best four will make it to the grand finale.