Kamal Haasan recently told an anti-war rally in Kannur, Kerala, that he did not belong to any political party and the ideology he followed had no political colour.

Ever since the actor wrote the story for his latest film Anbe Sivam, he seems to have made new friends among the Communist parties. The film had several lines glorifying Communism. Communist leaders visited him after the film was released and applauded him.

Desabhimani, the Communist Party of India-Marxist daily in Malayalam, carried a quote from Haasan saying, the 'Soviet Union might have disintegrated but Communism as an ideology will never die or disintegrate.'

At the Kannur rally, Haasan chose to speak in Malayalam. 'In the field of art I am the pampered child of Kerala,' he said. 'My earlier films were made in Kerala and most of them had a tinge of red.'

Haasan made it a point to mention his Kerala connection, stating, 'If K S Sethumadhavan had not given me a chance to act in Kanyakumari after I became an adult, an actor called Kamal Haasan would not have existed.'

While the Tamil film industry mourns its hard times, Dharani's Dhool has been declared a hit in Tamil Nadu. His first film Dhill was also a big success and established Vikram as a star after his stellar performance in Sethu. Dhool came at a time when some of Vikram's films had failed at the box-office.

Dharani and Vikram have been friends since college. Vikram struggled for over 10 years before making it big in Sethu. Dharani had the same fate, before he found success in Dhill.

Speaking of friends, another well-known set of friends are Mohanlal, Priyadarshan, Maniyanpillai Raju, Rajeev Kumar, Ganesh and M G Sreekumar. Known as the Trivandrum gang in the Malayalam film industry, they were contemporaries at one of the oldest schools and colleges in Kerala, the Model High School and the Arts and Science College respectively. Though two of them (actor Mohanlal and filmmaker Priyadarshan) became more successful than the others, the comradeship of the gang is not affected.

Looks like Malayalam superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal want to become bachelors. One is in his early 50s and the other in his early 40s and yet, their upcoming films are Chronic Bachelor and Mr Brahmachari.

These are the same actors who acted as fathers to grown-up children in the early years of their careers. Mohanlal had just graduated and Mammootty was newly married when they joined the film industry.

The income tax department in Tamil Nadu has forged an alliance with film stars to popularise various IT schemes to appeal to the public to file their tax returns without fail.

The two-minute publicity film Jingles is directed by Shankar and stars Kamal Haasan and Sneha. Sukumari acts as Kamal Haasan's mother in the film. Vairamuthu has penned the lyrics and Ilayaraja has scored the background music. Actor-turned-activist Partheepan is the film's narrator.