Shakeela, who sizzled Malayalam screens with her soft porn films a few years ago, soon got fed up with the way Malayalis treated her.

She has since been acting only in Tamil and Telugu films.

But when the actress received an unusual offer from debutant Malayali director Alex Thankchan, she could not refuse. He asked her to play a nun who takes care of orphaned children in his Ee Abhaya Theeram.

The actress plays Sister Mary Magdalene affectionately called Maryamma by the children.

2004 had been a frustrating year for Mohanlal, with no great offers coming his way. Of course, a couple of his films succeeded at the box-office but as a creative person, he was restless.

It was then that young filmmaker Bijoy Nambiar approached him to act in his short film, Reflections. Mohanlal spent three days acting in this seven-minute film.

His costars are Ahlem Khan, son of the late Amjad Khan and Juhi Babbar, daughter of Raj Babbar.

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With the success of New, it was a hat-trick for director S J Suryah. All his films, Vaali, Kushi and New were box-office hits. Now, he is getting ready with BF, short for Best Friend. His best friend in the film is a new girl from Delhi, Nila.

What has angered 'lovers of Tamil language' is the English title. But Suryah is undeterred. He has decided to go ahead with the title, saying 'just because I have given a title in English does not mean I am against Tamil.'

After tasting success as an actor in New, Suryah has decided to play the lead role in BF too. He has roped in A R Rahman for BF. Rahman also composed music for New.

What seems to have made Suryah's fans happy is his declaration that like New, there will be a lot of sex in BF too.

Kamal Haasan [Images] and Sarika [Images]'s daughter Sruthi has made her movie debut. But not as an actress. She has sung a song under the direction of Bhavatharani, maestro Ilayaraja's daughter, for Kathiruppen. It is directed by L T Karthik.

Time will tell whether Bhavatharani will be a success like her brother Yuvan Shankar Raja, who has been churning out excellent albums in the last few years.

It is not Meera Jasmine [Images] but Padmapriya, who will be the heroine of Cheran's new film. She shot to fame with Blessy's Kaazhcha, where she played Mammootty's wife. So good she was in the role of a villager that nobody believed she was a business executive working in Bangalore. She aspires to be an IAS officer.

Thavamayi Thavamirundu, a soft romantic film, is scripted and directed by Cheran who also will play the lead role like he did in Autograph.

Rahman back in Malayalam

Rahman, 16, was spotted by the late Padmarajan at a residential school in Ooty to play a major role in Koodevide. He played a schoolboy with a crush on his teacher, Suhasini. Mammootty was Suhasini's fianc� in the film. Koodevide was a big hit and with that, Rahman became a heartthrob!

In the 1980s, Rahman acted in several films as the younger brother of Mammootty and Mohanlal, and dominated the Malayalam film industry as much as the senior stars. Soon, offers started pouring in from Tamil and Telugu too but he did not become as big a success as he was in Malayalam. Slowly, he faded from the film scene.

Meanwhile, he married A R Rahman's sister-in-law.