After Tabu [Images] and Milind Soman [Images], it is Jackie Shroff [Images] who is looking towards the south. He is acting as a scientist in Athisayam, a film directed by Vinayan, who created history by making a film called Atbhutha Dweep with hundreds of dwarfs.

Shroff, who is very close to Priyadarshan [Images], expressed a desire to act in at least two Malayalam films a year so he would be able to "enact characters that have depth, and are different".

'Gana' Ulaganathan, a craze in Tamil

A man who has studied only up to the ninth standard has become a craze in Tamil Nadu these days. Yes, we are talking about 'Gana' Ulaganathan, who is creating history with his 'gana' song Vaala meenukum valnaga meenukum kalyanam in Chithiram Pesuthadi. Wherever Ulaganathan goes, people surround him and ask him to sing the song. People are fascinated not only his singing, but the style in which he renders the song.

Myshkin, the director, was so impressed by Ulaganathan's actions while singing the song that he picturised the song on him too. The rest is history.

Radhakrishna back with mellifluous music in Telugu

K M Radhakrishna, who gave the melodious score for Anand, is back with Godavari � another Sekhar Kammula film. Radhakrishna's tuneful composition Nuvve Naa Naaku Nuvve Naa (sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Radhakrishna himself) is still echoing in people's ears. Radhakrishna has a sound base in classical music, having learnt the violin (Carnatic style), besides vocal. He has been interested in music since childhood. So, it isn't surprising that his music has a melodious and harmonious quality about it.

Apart from the script, the music of Godavari is a USP. "It's a mix of Hindustani, Carnatic, Western classical," says Radhakrishna, while Sekhar chips in, "there's a bit of folk as well." Radhakrishna's second film (as composer) Kanchana Mala Cable TV may have gone without notice, but the music of Godavari is likely to have chart-busting quality. He is currently busy with Maya Bazaar, to be directed by National Award-winner Indraganti Mohan Krishna, and an untitled Tamil film as well.

Indrajit Lankesh wants to quit direction

Indrajith Lankesh, whose Kannada film Monalisa won the Best Film award at the state level, has decided to say goodbye to his film career. The reason: he is disgusted with the way Monalisa, a big box office hit, was discredited by a section of film directors.

According to Indrajith, they didn't want any new talent emerging in the industry. Indrajith edits the popular tabloid Lankesh Patrike.

"These people want to discredit my film out of frustration and jealousy. As a young director, I am pained and have decided to quit direction altogether after the release of Aishwarya [Images], which is on the floors," he said at a press conference. Aishwarya launches Deepika Padukone [Images]'s career as an actress, opposite Upendra.

Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding last year's Karnataka State Film Awards refuses to die down. Noted film directors like Girish Kasaravalli and P Sheshadri, who have won awards, boycotted the function alleging that films remade from other languages were given awards. Though they did not name films, it was clear that they were referring to Monalisa and Gowdru, which won the first and third places.

Inputs from Radhika Rajamani, R G Vijayasarathy and Shobha Warrier