Prabhu Deva, hot hot!

Nobody expected Bharath -- chosen more for his dancing skills than acting talent for Shankar's film Boys -- to get noticed. But he got Jayaraj's 4 The People, a Malayalam blockbuster and a big Tamil hit.

Then came Chellamey where he excellently played a teenager obsessed with an older woman. Kadhal is the icing on the cake. The film, with Bharath as the sole hero, is doing excellent business all over Tamil Nadu.

Bharath plays a motor mechanic in Kadhal. In the forthcoming February 14th, to be directed by Hoshimin, another assistant of Shankar, Bharath is a happy-go-lucky college student.

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Bharath is one young actor well on his way towards domination of the Tamil film industry.

Meanwhile, the young man set to dominate the Malayalam film scene is Sunil. If he succeeds, he will be the first 'dark' hero to achieve stardom in Malayalam. The late Satyan (in the 1950s and 1960s) was the only dusky hero the Malayalam film industry had, but then he was more of a character actor than a hero.

Though Sunil worked as an assistant cameraman with well known cinematographer, Rajeev Menon, his dream was to become an actor. When legendary filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan visited Rajeev's studio Sunil confessed his love for acting to Adoor, who gave him a small role in Nizhalkuthu.

That won him the major role of a police officer in Jayaraj's 4 The People. Though he was flooded with policemen roles after the film's supersuccess, Sunil spurned all of them and accepted only the hero's role in Satyan Anthikad's Achuvinte Amma, opposite Meera Jasmine.

Sunil is fantastic in Achuvinte Amma. Though other exciting offers are coming his way, he will once again act as a police officer -- in the Bengali version of 4 The People.

Jaya meets Gemini

It was J Jayalalithaa's 57th birthday, and the Tamil Nadu chief minister chose to make a rare personal visit. The recipient of this honour was 84-year-old screen legend Gemini Ganesan, who has been ailing for some time. He was Jayalalithaa's co-star in Annai Velankanni. Jaya was also his daughter's schoolmate.

The chief minister was received by the wellknown Chennai gynac, Dr Kamala Selvaraj, Gemini Ganesan's elder daughter, at his home. Dr Kamala said later, "The minute he saw her, his eyes brightened and he smiled. I have not seen such a big smile from my father in a long time." Gemini's younger daughter, the equally legendary Rekha was not present.

From London to Chennai

Spice Team Entertainment, a wing of Inspired Movies in Britain, is on a movie-making spree in India. They have made 15 films in 10 months in English and Hindi, and are now getting ready with their first Tamil film London, starring Prashanth and Ankita.

Almost the entire film has been shot in London, hence the title. The makers have decided on their next Tamil project, with Arjun as the hero.

Jyothika lends her voice in Tamil

The Tamil movie industry is full of actresses who speak other languages, so their voices on screen are dubbed. It took a long time for the Mumbai-born Khushboo to learn Tamil, but she has now become so proficient in the language that she conducts talk shows on television.

Another actress from Mumbai who learnt the language well is Simran but, except her last film, she never dubbed her own voice. Similarly, the Mumbai-born Jyothika, one of the busiest Tamil actresses, has her voice dubbed by someone else. Now, Nagma's kid sis has decided to dub her lines for the first time in Mayavi, a film produced by Bala.

Prabhu Deva, hot hot

Prabhu Deva shot to national fame with his amazing dancing ability. He won his first National Award for Choreography for Rajeev Menon's Arvind Swamy-Kajol-starrer, Minsara Kanavu (Sapnay in Hindi).

After working as a dancer, choreographer and actor, Prabhu Deva decided to direct a feature film. His first film, in Telugu, Nu Vusthanante Ne Othanatena starring Siddharth and Trisha, has become such a huge hit that he has been offered another film by the same producer.

His next film, Pournami, will also be in Telugu.