To Sneha with love

"She is young, fair and looks dazzling. That's why so many young actors are drawn to her," this is what an Industry insider has to say when asked why Sneha finds herself involved in so many gossips. Even as she stepped into the Tamil cine industry for the first time, she was known as a controversial person.

She already had done a few Malayalam films, but she hide the fact and began her Tamil film career as the winner of 'Kumudam' magazine's new face contest. The contest was being conducted to select the heroine for the film 'Virumbugiraen'. With that lie she made her entry! The lie didn't hold for long. When asked about this lie, she replied coolly that the producers of the film had done that entire stunt in order to create some publicity. That was why she was launched as Kumudam's new find. So, her very entry into this industry was made by taking the audience for a ride.

Few months later the very same magazine carried a gossip. The special feature about that gossip was Madhavan's regret about his marriage. "Had I seen you before I got married, you would have been my wife (!)," he reportedly confessed to Sneha. This gossip was in the air until Shyam and Shrikanth arrived.

Some people believe that the main factor that led to such a spate of gossips about her was her muddled up call sheets and the problems it had created. The fact that 'Virumbugiraen' had weakened so badly because of her and that she had even managed to play the dodging game with director K.B himself during 'Paarthaaley Paravasam' made other producers think. This is why after 'Ennavalae', she was not seen as the sole heroine in any film. Instead, she was only seen as one of the many heroines in some films, they observers say.

Shyam had always been quiet frank about his liking for Sneha. Truth is, Sneha's performance in her movies was not all that stunning or remarkable. In spite of this, he likes her. And, through 'Hey Nee Romba Azhagaa Irukkae', he conveyed his preference to director Vasanth. For that reason alone,she was signed up.

As expected, 'Hey Nee Romba Azhagaa Irukkae' ended with a romantic note. That was when the now famous news that Shyam had bitten Shena's lips, surfaced. The news made its appearance in all the daily newspapers in the state. It brought in publicity for Sneha and the film. Though both the concerned parties denied the incident, this particular gossip was named the most romantic gossip that had ever surfaced in the Tamil cine industry. Long live the genius.

Then came the news that Shrikanth had sung 'apple pennae nee yaaro' (who are you oh apple faced girl?) not for Bhoomika as suspected earlier. It was Sneha he was singing this song to offscreen, says another group. Note the fact that though they had been booked for ' April Maadhathil', they hadn't shot a single sequence for the film yet.

Both had the same manager and both were Telugu. So, rumors wasted no time in appearing. But, this rumor could become true, because the unit people of 'April Maadhathil' were shocked, to say the least, when they saw the tender loving care that Shrikanth was showering upon Sneha when she was hospitalized after her accident.

There are lots of people in Tamil cine industry, so why do rumors spring up about Sneha alone? When we enquired, we found out that there are also lots of people who flee at the mere mention of her name.

"Her call-sheet tortures were nightmares. And there are many who were badly affected by that. She easily shifts the blame on others. This is the actual reason behind her false accusation against the director of 'Virumbugiraen' (she had accused the director of trying to murder her!). She does this to the very director who had introduced her! The sin shall haunt her forever," say some of the directors who had been affected by her.

"As of now, the rumors about her could go either way- they could become true or they could be false. But, she will only have love marriage because quiet a few heroes are crazy about her for the simple reason that she is young and looks gorgeous. If only her family relaxes its hold on her and gives her a little bit more freedom, then you don't even have to ask. Our heroes will waste no time to grab her away," goes a list about her.

In Tamilnadu, on one side we have the personal lives of Roja, Simran and Mumtaz unraveling in the courts. On the other hand, we have our sweet Sneha. She is often the center of some very juicy bits of information in Tamil cinema. Lets see, as time goes by, she could either prove them all false or she could make them come true and give us the shock of our lives.


Parthale Paravasam !

If you were to conduct a survey among the young Tamil speaking women in countries like the US, Malaysia and Singapore (and not just in Tamilnadu), to find out who their favorite actor is, chances are, more than 75% of them would vote for Madhavan. Why? Let's analyze.

Before 'Alaipaayuthey', young Tamil women had to choose their heartthrobs from the list of Vijay, Prashanth and Ajith. It all changed the day 'Alaipaayuthey' hit the theatres. Since then, the waves were all directed only towards Madhavan.

According to theatre owners, Madhavan films are the ones that most young women flock to. They say that this is the unofficial truth. Even after the arrival of Shyam and Shrikanth, the Madhavan wave is yet to subside. That's why though all his films after 'Minnalae' and 'Dum Dum Dum' had flopped miserably, he still remains popular. Not only Tamil; he has two Hindi films with him too.

Before he was launched in Tamil, he was introduced in a Kannada film called 'Shanti Shanti Shanti', before that, he had worked in some Hindi teleserials (in olden days, theatre plays were the training grounds for actors. Nowadays, its TV!). Its difficult for moustache-less actors to make it big in Tamil cinema. Abbas couldn't repeat his success after 'Kaadhal Desam'. But, the college dames don't seem to mind the fact that MAdhavan doesn't have a moustache.

Cartoonist Madan once mentioned in Aanandha Vikadan magazine that after MGR, Madhavan is the only one who managed to sway the audience with his smile. He is right. Madhavan was the one to destroy the myth that only a beautiful girl's smile sets the spring in full bloom. He was the one to show us that even guys' smile could be equally beautiful.

Madhavan's unassuming good looks and the romantic hero characters that he plays had been some of the reasons why women fell madly in love with him. In spite of his fan following, when he attempted to do some heavy roles in 'Paarthaley Paravasam' and 'Kannathil Muththamittaal', they flopped miserably. That brought his position a bit down.

The verdict is clear- women want to see Madhavan doing the kind of roles he did in 'Alaipaayuthey' and 'Minnalae'. According to the director of 'Minnaley', Goutham, there were only two reasons why the film turned out to be such a huge hit- the fabulous music of Harris Jeyaraj and the fact that Madhavan was the hero.

Women generally don't like the heroes who go about romancing the onscreen heroines with kisses and love plays. Probably that was the reason why Kamal is better known as a performer than as a romantic hero. 'I shall never give a lip-to-lip kiss to my onscreen heroines. This is an order from my home minister,' says Madhavan. Another reason for his immense popularity among women is the fact that he wouldn't indulge in any of those cheap titillating games with his heroines onscreen.

These days, it is as common to hear the 'Oh! I love Madhavan' statement as it is to hear Tanglish. 'One ahs to search real hard to come across a girl who doesn't like Madhavan,' says computer programmer, Hema.

'I see the spunk of Shahrukh Khan and the craze of Hritik Roshan in him. Do you know, even my mom likes him,' says Amritha, an Accounts student.

'If Madhavan is going to be online for a chat, then my friend and I log on to the site without fail. Chatting with someone you like is like a dream come true. Hey, do you know that some girls have all the information about his new films on the tips of their fingers?' says Sudha, a friend of Amritha's.

'God! He should not have done films like 'Ennavalae' and 'Paarthale Paravasam'. When you are enjoying Madhavan, you naturally expect the story to be along those lines too,' drooled Sudha, with million watts happiness on her face.

'Ennavalae' director Suresh says that it's surprising that the fact that Madhavan was a married man even before 'Alaipaayuthey' happened, didn't affect his image at all. 'Madhavan had spent his youth pursuing good education and his interests in diverse fields. The perfection that he had acquired there reflects in his acting too. Why else would he appear in three of Manirathnam's films as the hero?' says his mom with pride.

Madhavan's was a love marriage. You'd be surprised to hear the story behind it. Those days, he was conductin consultation classes for the students. Saritha had heard rave reviews from her friends about his looks. She turned up to see things for herself. Soon, she began appearing everyday. She used to occupy the first bench to simply get a good look at him, she said.

In order to avoid unnecessary gossips, Madhavan used to introduce his co-stars to his wife Saritha and get friendly with them. This way he avoids gossips and suspicion at home and he is able to be friends with his female co-stars. 100% true.

In our industry, there is a practice to come up with the 25th day posters that proclaim the undying support of the womankind for the film. In Madhavan's case, it was not necessary at all. With his very first Tamil film, he became the collective Casanova of all the young women. The people who wait impatiently for the release of his next films like 'Run' and 'Anbae Shivam' are invariably young women. (Sigh) Madhavan is one lucky dude. He is the Krishna of all the gopikas. May he continue his dream like life.