Talk of the town

* WITH THE elections approaching fast, the DMK regime is at peak efficiency when it comes to its political opponents. A case in point - the filing of a fresh chargesheet in a new wealth case against AIADMK leader Ms. Jayalalitha and the party M.P., Mr. T.T.V. Dinakaran.

The normally taciturn DVAC officials were expansive towards the media, giving even a gist of the case in a printed hand out. ``One fact missed out by many was that the Governor's sanction was obtained only on March 22 to prosecute the former CM in the case. Within 24 hours, the chargesheet was filed before the Principal Sessions Judge'', lawyers say.

Everyone now keenly awaits the PSJ's decision on whether to summon the AIADMK General Secretary to appear before the court. It could well coincide with the dates of hectic campaigning.

* IT'S FINALLY out. The word on Kamal's next release, that is. Kamal Hassan's next film after `Aala Vandhan' slated for a Tamil New Year's day release would be Diwali-release `Pammal K. Sambandham' (PKS), a full-length comedy to be directed by Mouli.

And guess what? It's Simran who's playing his lady-love, for the first time. Pssst! It was supposed to be kept under the hat, for the pooja is happening only on April 2.

Now that the news is out, here is more dope on Kamal's movie after PKS. Yes, it will be director Shankar's `Robot', the special effects special science-fiction flick with dialogues by Sujatha and music by... who-else but Rahman for a Shankar film!

`Robot' will get rolling by July, after Shankar's done with the `Mudhalvan' remake `Nayak'. Now, what's interesting is both `PKS' and `Robot' are films under the Media Dreams banner.

* TALKING ABOUT `Media Dreams', the company is keeping its fingers crossed with `Little John', it's third release after `Bharathi' and `Nila Kaalam', hitting theatres in April.

Now, `Little John', the trilingual starring Bentley Mitchum, Jyothika and Prakash Raj in a cameo, will be released in Tamil, Hindi and it has a Hollywood date this summer.

Insiders say that the Hollywood version has been ripped off the songs, and the melodrama. With subtle changes and subtle emoting, and special effects of some 40 minutes, the producers hope that `Little John' makes it big in the wild wild West.

KAHIMSA IN motion. The world music rhythms of K. J. Jesudoss are now being given form, by feminist- dancer-researcher Vidya Bhavani Suresh, with a choreographed performance.

``There is a combination of Karate, Bharatanatyam, Chau and folk forms,'' says an effervescent Vidya, who is savouring the success of two of her books on music, published by Skanda Trust.

The four tracks from ``Ahimsa'' have been choreographed by Vidya, who will present her creation on April 13 in Chennai, and in Delhi and Mumbai earlier. The stage and props have been done by her, she says. A performance in Dubai is also likely.

KSUCCESS HAS its problems. The `tehelka' episode blew the lid off the sleaze in Government corridors, but it is bad news for dotcoms.

Many Government offices have an unwritten ban against ``big brother'' dotcom personnel entering. A reporter from a dotcom who was doing the rounds of the Southern Railway, found many officers closing doors, with a ``no dotcoms please'' appeal. Someone will have to come up with ``camera detectors'' next.

By K. Ramachandran,

Sudhish Kamath

and S. Vydhianathan.

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