Producers of 3 cast gagging order to stop web leaks

After the Kolaveri viral comes a John Doe order! It may sound strange, but the producers of the Dhanush-Shruti Hassan starrer, 3, obtained a gag order against the Internet distribution of the film from the Madras High Court on Thursday.

The court has restrained BSNL and other Internet Service Providers (ISP) from copying and broadcasting the movie or its songs either in full or in parts after a petition was filed.

This is the first of its kind John Doe order from the Madras High Court, granting injunction against anonymous people who might be committing a breach of the rights of the plaintiff.

The John Doe order is well entrenched in the judicial system of the US, Britain, Canada and Australia but is still in its infancy in India.

The film will be released in Hindi and Telugu apart from Tamil on Friday (today). The Hindi version is aimed at wooing a larger audience base and has already been sold for an undisclosed sum. 3 generated a lot of pre-release hype with the Tanglish hit Kolaveri Di and a reported lip-lock between the lead pair.

Now, the makers have turned shy of the Internet after receiving too much publicity. This came as a surprise as the film's promotional song Kolaveri Di became a national anthem via the Net with more than 50 million hits on YouTube to date.

In her order, Justice KBK Vasuki also restrained distribution of the movie through DVD, VCD and YouTube as well as other social networking sites. Further hearing in the case is on April 18.

The strict order by the court has helped the film in drawing the audience to the ticket counters. The weekend bookings for the movie are almost full.

There was a long queue of Dhanush fans at the ticket counters for an advance booking for the weekend.

The online ticket booking sites claimed that all the tickets were sold within a few hours.

However, other film producers did not seem bothered with the hype surrounding 3. At least two new Telugu films - Lovely and Balaraju Aadi Bammardhi - clashes with 3. The Hollywood film Wrath of The Titans may give stiff competition to the Dhanush-Shruti starrer as well.

The film marks the coming together of Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan - the two heavy weights of the southern film industry.

Kamal's daughter Shruti Hassan is paired with Dhanush who is married to Rajinikanth's daughter Aishwarya. The film has been directed by Aishwarya also.

Fans unhappy with shabby ‘Kolaveri Di’ concert

When a song or a star becomes an overnight sensation, everyone tries to bask in their reflected glory and ride on their success. At least that seems to be the case with a Bangalore based event management company.

The company recently organized a ‘Kolaveri Concert’ and promised the public that Dhanush would be performing. What they didn’t say that even though the concert was being called ‘Kolaveri Concert’, Dhanush would only perform in the fag end for only 10 minutes.

The fans of the southern star were kept waiting for nearly three hours and sources claim that the entire concert was organized in a shabby manner.

The fans, of course were left fuming and interestingly, Dhanush himself was unaware of what was going on. In fact, the actor was surprised to know that the concert was called ‘Kolaveri Concert’.

Speaking to a daily, the actor said, "I was unaware of the way the event was organized and the concert was a complete mess. There was a major miscommunication between our team and the organizers. I even tweeted a few days before the performance saying it was not going to be a full-length concert. But I don`t want to blame anyone for this. I thoroughly enjoyed the 10 minutes I was given on the stage and was overwhelmed by the support from my fans. I hope I`ve not disappointed them."

Meanwhile, one of the organizers tried to clarify and said the delay in concert happened because of security reasons. "We requested Dhanush to perform for 10 minutes on the stage and he did just that. We couldn`t start the performance early as we received threatening calls from people from the Kannada film industry. They asked us as why we had not got Sandalwood stars to perform at the concert. However, we did invite a few people from the Kannada film industry to watch the performance. Keeping safety issues in mind, we delayed the programme. It was not completely our fault,” said the organizer.

Amidst confusion and clarification, it were the fans who had to wait long to catch a glimpse of their favourite star.

Dhanush has released his anthem for Sachin

Here’s some really good news for all the crazy fans of Sachin Tendulkar. India’s latest youth icon Dhanush is all set with his tribute to the cricketing legend. The Tamil film star’s Sachin anthem is out on YouTube.

Dhanush took to Twitter to announce the video on Youtube. He wrote, “THE SACHIN song officially out 4m today!Here s d link:) let`s sing along-u.A humble attempt from a simple fan.god bless(sic).”

Young and happening music composer Anirudh Ravichander too expressed his excitement by tweeting, “Sachin anthem is out! Check it out folks :)(sic).”‘Kolaveri Di’ became a national sensation. Hope the anthem on Sachin follows suit.

Dhanush signs first Hindi film direction by Aanand L Rai

Aanand L Rai will direct the Kolaveri Di singer in his next film, set against the backdrop of Banaras

Director Aanand L Rai has signed Tamil actor Dhanush for his film. He says, "For the past six months, I've been looking for a simple boy to play the lead in Raanjhnaa. My requirement was a man who could look vulnerable on screen. When I saw Dhanush in the Tamil film Aadukalam (for which he won the National award), I liked him immediately. He looks very ordinary and honest, and that was the demand of the character."

Dhanush doesn't know Hindi; won't language be a problem? Dhanush says, "The problem is not language. It's culture. I will learn the culture and the language will come automatically."

Rai adds that he's not worried about it. "The film is an intense love story. Just like my film Tanu Weds Manu, the film and its characters will take you to Delhi, Punjab, Chennai, etc."

When quizzed about why he chose Raanjhnaa as his first Hindi film, Dhanush says, "The passion Aanand had for the script and his reasons why only I could do this film convinced me. I liked the fact that he wanted me in the film even before Kolaveri Di happened. It's a big deal to get a launch like this at the beginning of my career here. Aanand's script is different from regular cinema; it's one of those 'made to make a difference' kind of films." Dhanush says he'd never visited Banaras before signing this film. "I felt ashamed when I went there with Aanand for the first time. I didn't know anything about it, and it's in my country! I didn't understand the language, the culture...but I was fascinated by its beauty and divinity. I'm planning to hire a coach and have also bought a book to learn Hindi. I am sure by the time the shoot gets over, I will communicate fluently in it."

Mallika Sherawat beats Vidya Balan

Actress Mallika Sherawat has beaten Vidya Balan to the finish line of the 'Sexiest Vegetarian Female' poll conducted by PETA.

The announcement has come as quite a shock as all hopes were pinned on Vidya Balan - especially after her The Dirty Picture act - to win the coveted title. However, representatives of PETA insist that the verdict is solely based on the votes collected.

Vidya Balan is known to have re-defined 'sexy' and 'hot' after her popular 'dirty act'. But we guess people had their reasons to vote for the oomphy Mallika Sherawat.

Dhanush successfully bagged the Sexiest Vegetarian Male award, a tag previously enjoyed by Shahid Kapoor. His Kolaveri Di number took the world by storm. However, the simple Dhanush says, "I'm anything but sexy. But if people think I am, I don't know what to say."

Congress to adopt Kolaveri Di as campaign theme

Dhanush's " Kolaveri Di" has the Congress interested for its upcoming poll campaign in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Punjab, it has been learnt.

Buzz has it that the party plans to buy the copyright of the song and adopt it as the theme for its campaign. Actor Raj Babbar, chairman, UP Election Media Campaign Committee, said, "The suggestion for the party's theme song came from our party workers. "Kolaveri Di" is one of the four or five songs we are considering. We'll seek the copyright for the song that gets maximum support."

Now, Tokyo swoons to 'kolaveri di' song

On Wednesday evening, visiting Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda had a special guest at his dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: Dhanush, the current rage after his sensational hit, 'kolaveri di'. The Tinglish number that has gone viral on the Internet and spawned dozens of copycat versions.

Also, Dhanush is Rajnikanth's son-in-law. Rajnikanth has a large fan base in Japan and his film Muthu was the first Tamil film to be dubbed in Japanese.

'Kolaveri di' is now hot property in nightclubs and discos throughout Japan. If the humorous lyrics and Dhanush's evident enjoyment of his song made the video go viral in the cyberspace, the equal enjoyment of disco-goers in Tokyo has added to the song's international appeal. Not only does the song have Gujarati and Punjabi versions, Pakistani artistes have done their own version of this song, with "democracy" as their keyword. Dhanush may come up with a Hindi version too.

Ending the year 2011 with a smile!

From India lifting the World Cup to Vidya Balan making women feel comfortable in their own skin, 2011 gave us much to smile about. reports

As 2011, four days shy of lapsing into the past, makes way for 2012, we recall the people and events that had us breaking into a smile. A smile, like the Mona Lisa painting has famously taught us, spreads forth from the wellspring of happiness as it does from the depths of despair. Smiles that emanate from the cockles of our heart were aplenty this year, and smiles that say 'serves him well' abounded too. And, best of all, smiles that assured us that all's truly well with the world. Here's our pick...

Anna Hazare: His war cry against corruption and the corrupt galvanised a countrywide movement and mobilised the young and old like never before in post-Independent India. That he refused to be cowed by powerful politicians or critics, who identified with his cause but questioned his means, made him the unyielding crusader whom neither prison nor Parliament could tame.

Virender Sehwag: He gave us a two-ton reason to smile. Kolaveri became Kola-Viru as he, in 219 masterful strokes, erased the ignominy of our England tour. With the World Cup win and Viru's veer double knock against the West Indies, we pretty much owned the game .

Vidya Balan: The actor taught us how to embrace sexuality without being apologetic. With her role in Dirty Picture, she conveyed a message to women that fat and flab were no reasons to feel insecure about or ashamed of their bodies.

Veena Malik: It takes guts to pose the way Veena did on the cover of a magazine. And if you're from the other side of the border, it takes much more than that. Heck, we even sniggered at the ISI stamp inked on her arm.

Kapil Sibal: No one quite knows how and when this once enlightened and suave political figure went senile in his 60s, but advocating for Internet censorship in today's age and time was evidence enough that Sibal is a man far removed from ground realities. He had the country's Netizens laughing away at the absurdity of the state playing net nanny.

Dhanush: The actor gave Tamil and Kollywood a leg-up in a country where Bollywood and item songs rule the entertainment roost. His Kolaveri-di video became such a 'murderous rage' online that many think this could well be the beginning of the end of the north-south divide. Despite some venerable critics slamming the song, its popularity continues unabated. The rip-offs too!

Beti B: Hers was easily the most anticipated delivery of the year. While bookies placed huge bets on Aishwarya and Abhishek's baby, its sex, the due date, and whether it would be a normal or Caesarean birth, Beti B slid forth into this world on a sweet 16 November morning, proving most speculations just that, and also proving that from day one she's very much her own person. She's also become the nation's new blue-eyed (or is it green?) girl.

Sunny Leone: When she made the transition from Karen Malhotra to Sunny Leone, little did we know that one day she'd have us furiously scouring the net to get to know her better. She added luscious variety to a reality show that was becoming jaded and boringly scripted. She raised the show's TRPs and enlarged many an err.. eyeball! The men made sure they had an academic reason to justify their playful pursuits by insisting they were simply 'checking out' the Bigg Boss inmate!

Harvinder Singh: Though some questioned his literally strong-arm tactic, for young India, disillusioned and let down by the political class, the fact that he'd taken on the high, mighty and heavyweight politico Sharad Pawar was reason enough to smile and feel empowered.

Siddhartha Mukherjee: This biographer of cancer put the dreaded C-word centrestage and brought it to the realm of everyday conversation. The Emperor of All Maladies, which won him the Pulitzer Prize, is neither ominous nor reverential or steeped in sentimentality peculiar to diseases that, generally, have a terminal consequence. It is anchored in reality, and narrated in tellingly impactful prose.

William and Kate Middleton: They made us believe in fairy tales and happily-ever-after endings. If Diana had become the people's princess, Kate Middleton arrived as one.

Pippa Middleton: Boy, did she lead from behind! Her pert, firm butt became this year's most photographed and Facebooked posterior. A bottom(less) reservoir of happy smiles!

The World Cup victory: After 28 years, we were holding aloft the Worl Cup. It was full-on celebration unleashed in the entire country. And when teammates lifted Sachin Tendulkar on their shoulders and did the victory lap around the stadium, the smile on our lips had the tear in our eye for company.

Formula One: With the fiasco of the Commonwealth Games behind us, we'd lost belief in our ability to pull off an event of this magnitude and sophistication. But we raced to victory with this one!

The world's not coming to an end next year, or indeed in a zillion years, so have yourselves a Happy New Year, and spread the cheer!

Actor Abhishek: Dhanush much more than 'Kolaveri' song

Hindi film actor Abhishek Bachchan feels that it is unfair that people associate Tamil star Dhanush, who has an impressive body of work, just with the " Kolaveri di" song.

"He is a very dear friend of mine, Dhanush. Very famous and very prominent actor from Chennai. Off late, unfortunately they only seem to know him because of 'Kolavari Di' but, he has done great work down there. He is a wonderful actor," said the 35-year-old actor.

"Kolaveri Di" has received over 17 million hits on Youtube till now and Abhishek terms it as one of the greatest hits of the year.

"I think it's outstanding and I think it's wonderful because it has been made by two very dear friends of mine, Dhanush and his wife Aishwarya. I think it's a fantastic song. He is a very talented guy and Anirudh, the music director has done a great job. I wish them all the best. It's one of the greatest songs of the year," said Abhishek who is awaiting his next release "Players" by director duo Abbas-Mustan.

"Players", which is releasing Jan 6, also stars Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Sonam Kapoor.

Abhishek is also working on Rohit Shetty directed "Bol Bachchan" and "Dhoom 3".