After Rajni's'Robot', son-in law Dhanush film in limelight

Chennai, Nov 5 : Though the sound and fury over Director Shankar's super star Rajnikant blockbuster, science fiction film ''Enthiran' is slowly wearing off as its critics say but this Diwali has not yet brought in any 'explosive' films in its place either.

The number of traditional Diwali releases once 'phenominal' by sheer numbers in Kollywood where meaningful films with smaller budgets have been enjoying critical acclaim as well as box office success, has been dwindling.

The changed distribution and selling pattern of films with few production and distribution companies dominating, has contributed to this, based on the availability of theatres to release a film on Diwali and other festivals.

This Diwali has had just five new releases, of which just two are being talked about. One of them is 'Mynaa'(the song bird) directed by Prabhu Solomon, a simple love story, according to the promotional blurb. The title is the name of the character the film's heroine Amala plays. Vidarth is the hero.

The second hyped film is Rajnikant's son in law Dhanush starrer 'Uthama Puthiran'-the title resembling that of an old evergreen Sivaji Ganesan folklore film of 60s. In fact, this film is a remake of a Telugu hit ''Ready''. With Genelia as the leading lady, the film is directed by Mithran Jawahar. Predictalbly, this is also a love story with some humour in the form, of kidnapping of the heroine by mistake thrown in.

Another film that woos audiences with its rather unusual title is'Quarter Cutting' directed by Pushkar Gayatri and stars Siva who had impressed in 'Thamizh Padam', a spoof on Tamil commercial cinema, which holds good for other languages also. Famous playback singer S P Balasubramaniam's son S P B Charan, himself a producer, also plays a role in this film.

'Chittira Poove', seeks to compete in this small field with new faces. Its Director Kalai Murugan, as is common in Kollywood, has written the story-dialogue and lyrics, besides scoring music.

With his previous film although appreciated for its technical richness, but a flawed screenplay, action king as he is called by his fans, Arjun's 'Vallakottai', is trying to make amends for the actor who needs a hit.

Directed by A Venkatesh, who had earlier directed three average hits with Arjun, has Kannada actress Haripriya as the heroine.

The most popular hero Vijay, son of veteran director S A Chandrasekharan, was to have a release. But the release was put off to Christmas, which he himself celebrates. Neither actor Kamal Hassan nor any of the current young breed of actors like Surya not having any 'hyped'releases is what made the 'Diwali releases' rather lukewarm this year again.